Casual food
Jan. 26th, 2006 07:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI've been a trifle moody lately, and so not all that inspired to write.
Bacon. I like bacon. There's a charcuterie in town and I keep meaning to go and buy a flitch. The idea of being able to slice it myself and use it in chunks and the like was just so tempting (and comes from reading books as a kid which referred to doing things like this. Much as I recall reading about someone who had the chore of carving a bit off the hanging ham and then dipping the cut face in salt again, every morning before breakfast).
So one of the members of the Tuesday Night Supper Club Crowd used to work at some meat distributor and he gave me a flitch. Whoo-hoo. I used some of it in the baked beans of a a couple weeks back.
It's fatty. The top rind is thick. So thick I actually can't eat it if it's been fried, because it gets tougher than shoe leather.
So night before last there was no Supper Club meeting, because it was moved to tonight (I am planning to fake some chicken gumbo-ish dish so I can disappear to the dojo for awhile.) The housemates were out (one was working, and the other was bowling) I decided it was time for comfort food. Mid-afternoon I boiled some potatoes (Yukon gold, waxy, good boilers, when mashed {even through a ricer} they are a tad gummy. Butter in the mix would probably help with that) and let them cool.
I decided, years ago, the secret to hash browns is the cooking, and cooling, of the potatoes; before they get saut&eacut;ed. For chunky ones, boil them whole and cut them later, for the sort one gets in a diner, shred them, and toss them in boiling water (I use a pasta pot) and the plunge them into ice water. The cooking gelatinises the startch, and the cooling makes it easier to brown them without burning.
I wanted some bacon. So I took out the flitch, cut off a slab (about five slices worth; of the sort stores would call "thick" in packaged bacon) sliced the top-rind off (which was then chopped into pieces for using as treats in training the dogs) and cut that piece into three pieces (of what I would call thick) and put it on a low fire.
I wanted the fat to render, so I could use it to do the potatoes.
It smelled divine. I think (from the texture of the rind) that this was really smoked. The smell is potent, even when all that's done is opening the bag. The fat is silky, greasy, and pure white. It renders out wonderfully. I got about an eighth of an inch in the pan.
Maia didn't want any bacon, so I ate it as I was cooking the onions in the renderings. When they (bermuda) were almost done I put them in a strainer and set them aside, while the potatoes were browning. The bacon was great. I am not a big fan of fat, qua fat. I like marbled meat, but the gobbets that sit on the outside of a piece of prime rib, or a pork roast, &c, not so much. I usually cut them away and feed them to the dogs. This wasn't like that. Maybe it's the smoke and the age, but it was good. The best part of it was the salt. It was low. If you wanted this to taste like bacon you'd have needed to add salt.
On the other hand, if you wanted a milder, meatier, and slightly nutty flavor, this is the stuff for you. Now I want to get some bacon from pigs fed on mast.
When the potatoes were almost done, the onions went back in. In my omelette pan went five eggs, some white pepper and a dash of cumin. Ten minutes later dinner was on the stove.
For planning ahead, one can cook some potatoes, leave them in the skin, and use them later (they'll keep a week in the fridge). For a slightly different bit of planning ahead, make some potatoes in parsley and butter for supper. Just make more than will be eaten, put the rest in the fridge overnight and use them (with a little olive oil) for making hash browns in the morning.
Bacon. I like bacon. There's a charcuterie in town and I keep meaning to go and buy a flitch. The idea of being able to slice it myself and use it in chunks and the like was just so tempting (and comes from reading books as a kid which referred to doing things like this. Much as I recall reading about someone who had the chore of carving a bit off the hanging ham and then dipping the cut face in salt again, every morning before breakfast).
So one of the members of the Tuesday Night Supper Club Crowd used to work at some meat distributor and he gave me a flitch. Whoo-hoo. I used some of it in the baked beans of a a couple weeks back.
It's fatty. The top rind is thick. So thick I actually can't eat it if it's been fried, because it gets tougher than shoe leather.
So night before last there was no Supper Club meeting, because it was moved to tonight (I am planning to fake some chicken gumbo-ish dish so I can disappear to the dojo for awhile.) The housemates were out (one was working, and the other was bowling) I decided it was time for comfort food. Mid-afternoon I boiled some potatoes (Yukon gold, waxy, good boilers, when mashed {even through a ricer} they are a tad gummy. Butter in the mix would probably help with that) and let them cool.
I decided, years ago, the secret to hash browns is the cooking, and cooling, of the potatoes; before they get saut&eacut;ed. For chunky ones, boil them whole and cut them later, for the sort one gets in a diner, shred them, and toss them in boiling water (I use a pasta pot) and the plunge them into ice water. The cooking gelatinises the startch, and the cooling makes it easier to brown them without burning.
I wanted some bacon. So I took out the flitch, cut off a slab (about five slices worth; of the sort stores would call "thick" in packaged bacon) sliced the top-rind off (which was then chopped into pieces for using as treats in training the dogs) and cut that piece into three pieces (of what I would call thick) and put it on a low fire.
I wanted the fat to render, so I could use it to do the potatoes.
It smelled divine. I think (from the texture of the rind) that this was really smoked. The smell is potent, even when all that's done is opening the bag. The fat is silky, greasy, and pure white. It renders out wonderfully. I got about an eighth of an inch in the pan.
Maia didn't want any bacon, so I ate it as I was cooking the onions in the renderings. When they (bermuda) were almost done I put them in a strainer and set them aside, while the potatoes were browning. The bacon was great. I am not a big fan of fat, qua fat. I like marbled meat, but the gobbets that sit on the outside of a piece of prime rib, or a pork roast, &c, not so much. I usually cut them away and feed them to the dogs. This wasn't like that. Maybe it's the smoke and the age, but it was good. The best part of it was the salt. It was low. If you wanted this to taste like bacon you'd have needed to add salt.
On the other hand, if you wanted a milder, meatier, and slightly nutty flavor, this is the stuff for you. Now I want to get some bacon from pigs fed on mast.
When the potatoes were almost done, the onions went back in. In my omelette pan went five eggs, some white pepper and a dash of cumin. Ten minutes later dinner was on the stove.
For planning ahead, one can cook some potatoes, leave them in the skin, and use them later (they'll keep a week in the fridge). For a slightly different bit of planning ahead, make some potatoes in parsley and butter for supper. Just make more than will be eaten, put the rest in the fridge overnight and use them (with a little olive oil) for making hash browns in the morning.
