Results tagged “charcuterie”

Isn't that pretty? After two weeks of curing, dry aging, smoking and slicing we now have 8 pounds of pancetta and bacon. The pancetta (pictured above), was ready for slicing and cooking. Here's something we discovered: For the bacon we had considered doing an applewood smoking of the bacon. Instead we went with hickory. For that, we set up our bullet smoker (a Weber Smoky mountain is ideal, we have a Brinkman bullet smoker) to reach a temperature of 120 degrees and smoked the bacon for 2 hours. You don't want the bacon to cook during the process, so try to keep the temperature constant.

     

When you walk into the Spice House in Old Town with 10 pounds of pork belly strapped to your back, you're telegraphing to the employees what you need. What we were looking for was four ounces of sodium nitrate, aka "pink salt."

"Is it true that you have a side of beef hanging in your closet?"

  

We were explaining the guanciale experiment and process in making it Saturday night to Benjy's lovely wife Ella. Mrs. Lipsman asked all the pertinent questions about making one's own charcuterie, most important among them, "What if you get food poisoning?"

What a difference a week makes. And a lot of salt, pepper, sugar and thyme. The pork jowl has been cured (compare the shot above to how it looked before curing last week) and looks like it's well on its way to becoming rich, savory bacon.

Our Town's better restaurants are constantly adding new dishes to their menus and we found ourselves at Publican staring at some dishes that we hadn't seen before. Saturday night was a good one to fix an organ meat jones and we had a choice between duck heart and beef tongue. We opted for the latter and were faced with an epiphany.

  

Since Goose Island renewed the lease on its Clybourn brewpub in December, there's been a sense of excitement around the premises. While the emphasis on the brewing has changed from hoppy to sour, the food menu at Goose Island is undergoing an even more radical transformation under the guidance of new Executive Chef John Manion (ex-Mas and Old Oak Tap). Manion is slowly updating the menu to bring it on a par with the Bristol, the Gage and Duchamp.

Looks like we aren't the only ones diving into podcasting. Our pals at Serious Eats have an interview with Stephanie Izard posted where she offers more details on the Drunken Goat (she wants to offer tripe and lots of charcuterie), breaks bad on facebook ("543 friend requests?"), and talks about her recent trip to Madrid.

Between deep fried bacon, smoked meats, cured mulefoot pig dishes, head cheese and rillettes, charcuterie has been a staple of our diet the past month or so. which is why when a reader hipped us to this amazing recipe for rillettes at home, we decided to jump at the opportunity to share it with you. Looks like we're adding something to the to-do list this weekend. We'll let you know how it turns out. [Just Cook It ]

Arguably the most anticipated restaurant of the year, The Publican finally opened its doors before they were torn down by the hungry, excited masses. We were initially surprised there wasn't a wait, being 8:00 on a Saturday, until we saw the space. Eyeballing it, The Publican is about the size of three avecs and although we were seated immediately, the German-style beer hall was full of people at long wooden communal tables, small groups at pig pen-esque private booths, and others just sitting at the bar for a drink.

For those of you asking about when the Publican, Paul Kahan's new beer, seafood and charcuterie palace in the Fulton Street Market (845 W. Fulton Mkt.) helmed by Executive Chef Brian Huston, is finally opening, pencil in Thursday. This definitely trumps "Must See TV."

This has been making the rounds at other blogs, but we still wanted to share it with you. Mike Gebert at Sky Full of Bacon followed around localvore hero Rob Gardner as Gardner acquired a pig's head from the Oak Park Farmer's Market, then took it to Mado, where chef/co-owner Rob Levitt promptly made testa (aka "head cheese") out of it. This video is not for vegans or the queasy, nor should it be.

It is not an uncommon experience to look at a restaurant menu, have a general idea what an item is but not recognize all of the ingredients or methods used in the description of that item. We’re going to look at some Chicago restaurant menus and discuss both common and uncommon terms that will help you become a more knowledgeable consumer at the table.

Someone apparently reads the site: former Chicagoist staffer Lisa Shames attended Sunday's beer and charcuterie seminar at Custom House and e-mailed us to say that there were at least four people in attendance beside her who found out about the seminar via Chicagoist. We ran into at least that many people last night who said the same.

One of our favorite dinners last year was a fixed price dinner at Custom House featuring beer pairings from Unibroue. The dinner was so successful that they're teaming up again on January 20 for a beer and charcuterie seminar from 6-8 p.m. The six-course event will match select Unibroue brands with two different types of charcuterie selections each. The full menu can be read here.