The weekend's been busier than the week that preceded it, for the first time in a while. With Sharon out of town, I needed to keep myself busy, and the rainy - or always threatening - weather meant that gardening would just have to wait. Not that there's much to do at the moment beyond watering, and nature seems to be taking care of that.
Knowing that I'd have too much free time on my hands, I actually made up a to-do list for this weekend. Among the activities:
Bresaola
After sitting in curing salt and spices for two weeks, eating up valuable refrigerator space, it was time to dry the bresaola. For the next three weeks, it'll live in the basement, slowly drying out and intensifying in flavor. The whole dry-curing concept is still a little frightening, since it seems to fly in the face of the food-safety wisdom I'd been so used to. But, then again, when I was growing up, the notion of packing food in salt was completely foreign. Food preservation, in my family, meant freezing.
Not that this is a bad thing. Those containers of homemade tomato sauce, stacked in the basement freezer, were one of the early stages of my cooking education.
IPA
Jared came over to give me a hand with the bottling process, for which I'm rather grateful. I can do it myself - and have done, too - but it helps to have an extra set of hands. He then took the bottling equipment to his place, so he can repeat the process with his first batch.
Lessons learned:
- When dry-hopping, hanging the hops in a bag in the secondary fermenter is a great way to avoid clogging the racking cane. The downside? Getting the saturated hops back out the little neck of the carboy takes some doing. My method involved slowly digging them out, spoonful by spoonful. Then clogging the garbage disposal - briefly.
- When hanging that bag of hops, remember the concept of capillary action. And tying a knot to close off the bag means it'll stay damp enough to foster mold growth. Not much, but it means I'll have to sanitize the bag again.
- When cleaning a bucket with a hole drilled near the bottom, it's best to take care to avoid spilling water all over the floor. I learned this lesson the hard way some time ago. Now, Jared can say he's learned through experience.
Asparagus
Though Sharon can't stand it, I adore asparagus, and it's fresh and abundant at the markets now. Since I can only eat so much, I figured I'd try my hand at pickling. I now have a pound of pickled asparagus spears, flavored with hot peppers, garlic, black pepper and coriander, packed in jars. Or, I will, once they've sat for a week or so to soak up all that pickle brine.
One of the unsettling characteristics of pickling and canning is the way some vegetables look withered and shriveled immediately following the hot-water bath. Like you've done something horribly wrong. But I'm sure it'll work out - the cucumbers did this last year, like the recipe said they would, but plumped back up after a little while.
Trout
Since I'd cleared out a corner of the fridge by removing the bresaola, I needed to fill it with another food experiment. Seafood options are somewhat limited here in Wisconsin, but fresh trout are available at the farmers' market. Eventually, when I get the cold smoker set up, I can make smoked salmon (and trout, and scallops, etc.). The first step, though, is curing the fish, packing it with salt and sugar and flavorings, which should make something a lot like gravlax.
I decided to go with what I had handy, so these trout fillets are flavored with orange zest and black pepper. Right now, they're being pressed beneath a random assortment of heavy cans from the pantry. After just a few hours, the weight and salt had drawn out so much moisture that the dry cure had transformed into a brine, which just amazes me. By midday tomorrow, it ought to be entirely transformed.
Farmers' Market
The focus of the weekend, it seems, is the farmers' market. Without Sharon around, I decided to go a little earlier than usual, then take my time chatting with the vendors. This weekend's highlights:
- I spent a good while by Fountain Prairie, chatting with the Priskes and meeting a few new folks. I can't remember names, though. Tory Miller asked if I had any new sausage to try this time1, which was heartening. It's good to know that the chef from your favorite restaurant recognizes your face. It was funny when he explained that he's apparently incapable of working a fax machine: every week, he faxes an order to certain regular vendors so they can have everything boxed up for him. Somehow, he didn't manange to get the order through to Harmony Valley, and so they had to scramble to get fifteen pounds of ramps together for him.
Due to some hiccup in the communication with the processing plant, the Priskes ended up with some cured, smoked hog jowls. I was thrilled to discover that they consider me one of their favorite customers, and gave me one of the two packages to do something with. So, sitting in the freezer, I've got two pounds of pig cheeks to put to use. - Farmer John is always a good guy to exchange goodies with. I brought him a pair of my last batch of homebrews, since he got such a kick out of that last year. I didn't expect anything in return, but he gave me some blocks of his colby caliente anyway. Mmm... nachos.
- JenEhr Family Farm has officially signed me up as a market worker this year. I hadn't seen Kay since last November/December, so it was good to talk with her a while. At least until she needed to get back to work. Now, I'll get to pick up a few extra bucks working every other Saturday at their stand, selling produce and chickens. It means early mornings at the market, but Sharon gets to sleep in. Plus, my wages include free produce and birds, which can always be put to good use.
Kay was also thrilled to learn of my sausage-making ways, and even offered to trade me chickens in exchange for sausage. If nothing else, this means that I can really start to perfect my charcuterie skills without overloading the freezer. As much as I enjoy the process, playing Tetris with the freezer is not my favorite game. - Morels are out now. Yes, they're fantastically expensive - about $40 per pound - but they're well worth it and only available for a few weeks a year. A quarter pound is the perfect amount for a meal for two. They're just the most amazingly earthy and intense flavor, the sort of thing that can be the centerpiece of a dish with only a minimal quantity.
For lack of a better description, I think they taste like great sex. Not entirely literally, of course, but there's a reason, a sensation beyond the range of my language skills that makes that the best one I can come up with.
1Tory had tried the pork mole and pork thai curry sausages a few months back, and given me a thumbs-up. Clearly, they made an impression.
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