Monday, September 12, 2011

I know what you did this summer!

Hi All.. this has been a fantastic summer.. one of the best ever!

I've been doing lots of projects, just not many in the cured meats dept.

I have some great new things to show you(smoked salmon, sturgeon, pickles, jams, etc ), as well as an abysmal failure ( my Tuscan style salami )

I'll also show you how my two awesome legs of Proscuitto are turning out.. they're a beautiful mahogany color and I'm looking forward to cutting one open for the holidays in January.. the second is going to become a "2 year " Proscuitto.. or maybe longer.   

Right now it's beautiful in Portland, the sun is shining ( HOT ) and we're starting the flood of tomatoes.  I'll be setting up a pickle party in the next week or two to make about 10 cases of spicy garlic dills.. and in between I'll be doing a few cases of random stuff  ( like gooseneck and pattypan squash baby pickles, okra, dilly beans, green and red pickled tomatoes, and lots of other cool stuff ).

As the weather turns and we start thinking about the grape harvest in wine country 30 minutes away, I'll enjoy helping my friends bring in the grapes and get everything into the fermenters... after that, It's time to start making salami .. and i"ll probably start 2 or 3 more coppa and lonzino to get ready for the holidays.

Hope you're making lots of cool new stuff now.

Here's my first major failure... turns out the salami stuffer I first bought, tended to emulsify the meat paste... you can see the results below.




Here's a beautiful grouping of pancetta finished curing, rubbed in herbs and ready to hang up.   Then the end result three months later.


Absolutely beautiful!
What might be the best jam I've ever made... Peach Ginger on the right... Heaven in a Jar.. along with some Blackberry goodness.


Beautiful carrots Ella and I planted, grew, and harvested

Same carrots turned into canned Cardamom Carrots

Along the way, Amy and I managed to find time to visit Willakenzie to drink some wine.

Ate quite a few dinners on the deck of my pickles, along with great baguettes, fresh goat cheese and tomatoes from the garden...

Went backpacking with JDub to Serene Lake... what a beautiful place and water actually warm enough to swim in....

Made a ton of smoked sockeye... this stuff is going to make lots of folks real happy in 2012....

Of course, had to make time to hit OBF 2011...

Nice hanging out with JDub and drinking a few(dozen) cold ones....

Nocino 2011 is cooking away... should be done by November.

Made some fantastic tails and trotters bacon.

I also tried a new(old) recipe for beet pickled deviled eggs... awesome!...

I even found time to make a new coppa..

and the highlight of the summer... playing with my little girl on the beach in Nags Head, NC...

and watching her catch ghost crabs at night on the beach...

Ran the Epic Relay with my wife and some great friends..

I also tried a new recipe for Kimchee.. and found out that it's so good I MUST be 1/2 Korean.


Now I"m sitting in a hotel In Salt Lake City.... traveling again for work... but in the coming weeks I'll be planting my fall/winter/spring garden, pickling shit tons of cukes, making more jam, and some exotic pickles, as well as making 5-10 pounds of salami before the grape harvest comes and I get to help my friends make their wine.    After that, it's time to make the next batch of proscuittos... then cut one of the ones from last year open around the Christmas holidays. to enjoy the fruits of my labors with friends.

I hope you're all doing well... hopefully my next post won't take quite as long or be as lengthy.