Johnny's! EPIC Guanciale Inspired Birthday Breakfast

It was my brother's birthday on June 2nd or 3rd (I always forget), which coincided perfectly with the curing of my pig cheek.  To celebrate his 26th birthday I decided to make an EPIC pork-filled breakfast and it was EPIC indeed.

First, about my brother.  We are five years apart (I'm older) but are really close friends - I think he's a pretty cool guy.  A former academic, he has given his life over to spoken word poetry and is rather good.  Our hang-outs often involve the spontaneous spouting of poetry so I get to be an early ear for his stuff, what fun!  You can check out one of his newest creations here.  He is the water bowler.

The Menu

• Guanciale Omelette
• Sweet Potato sauteed in Guanciale fat
• Guanciale fat topped Toast with a Grapefruit-Cranberry Marney

Whenever I plan a menu I always have a few focal ingredients that I like to use to tie the meal together.  For Johnny's! EPIC breakfast my focal ingredients are guanciale and thyme.  If you remember from Roman Bacon: Part 1, thyme was used to cure the pork cheek, so it was a natural choice.  Tying the meal together does not mean that thyme needs to be used in every dish though, I just used it with the sweet potato so it didn't overpower the real star.

Ingredients

• Guanciale - a large chunk, about 1/4 cup
• Sweet potato - 2 medium
• Eggs - 4
• Bread - I used
• Cranberries - 1/2 cup
• Grapefruit - 1
• White sugar - 1 tablespoon
• Honey - to taste
• Thyme - a couple sprigs
• Salt - a healthy amount

Directions

1) Start by scrubbing the sweet potatoes and then putting them straight on the oven rack and turn the oven on to 400 degrees F.  If you don't have anything protecting the bottom of your oven then you might want to put the potatoes on a tray because the sugar drips out as they bake and forms beautiful (but very hard to get off) black bubbles.  I eat a baked sweet potato every day so I just cover the bottom of my oven with tin foil and throw that out every few months.

Start to check your sweet potato at about 20 minutes by reaching into the oven and giving it a little squeeze.  Meltingly soft?  It's ready and should be taken out and allowed to cool.

2) As that is baking, put the cranberries in a heavy saucepan on medium and get to work peeling the grapefruit.  The marney is a combination of marmalade and chutney.  It's not sweet, it's not savoury, it's perfect.

Having said that, you can leave a bit of the pith (the white stuff) on your peel so just use a veggie peeler to get most of the peel off the grapefruit.  Slice into thin strips and add it to the cranberries.

 I cut the grapefruit open at this point and cut out most of the fruit (into chunks), throwing it in with the cranberries and peel.  Now add a good solid pinch of salt to the marney, because this cuts the bitterness of the grapefruit and cranberry.  Also add the white sugar.  Turn it up to medium-high and give it a good stir.  This will be cooking away as you finish the rest of the breakfast.  You can let it hard boil for a while making sure to check the consistency.  Once it reaches a nice thickness turn the heat down to low and just let it sit.  

3) It's time for the guanciale! Cut your chunk of guanciale into three pieces - one piece cubed and the other two into thin slices.  Heat a small (omelette-sized) saucepan for a few minutes, and toss in the cubed guanciale.  Let the fat render out and keep the heat to just below medium.  If it starts to smoke, take the pan off to let it cool down a little and then return it to the element.

Once the guanciale cubes have given up most of their fat and are looking crispy, take them off the heat and put them to the side and turn the heat down or off under your small saucepan.

4) As the cubed guanciale is rendering, one pile of guanciale slices should also be rendering with the sprigs of thyme in a large saucepan.  The heat and oil help to release the thyme essence.  Yummy.  Again, make sure the fat doesn't smoke!

Once the fat is rendered from the slices, take your sweet potatoes (now cool) and slice them in half.  Put the cut side down into the fat.  If you don't hear a sizzle then your pan isn't hot enough.  Sprinkle some salt and grind some pepper onto your potatoes and let them cook until they are golden brown.  Once they are done, take them out of the pan and pop them into the oven to keep them warm.

5) Using the sweet potato pan, render the last pile of guanciale slices.  As you are doing this, put the small saucepan back on the heat and start whisking the four eggs.  I find that if I whisk the eggs and then immediately pour them into the saucepan my omelette is ultra-fluffy!  I like ultra-fluffy.

Put your toast on when your omelette is close to done.

Don't overcook your omelette.  I tend to take mine off the heat when it is still slightly liquidy.  If it is left on too long then your eggs will get tough.  Tough eggs = a no no.

6) Now to put it all together!

Take your sweet potatoes out of the oven and onto the plate they go.

Cut the omelette in half and put it next to the potatoes.

Put the rendered fat slices on the toast and then pour, yes pour the rest of the fat onto the toast.  Smear a large dollop of the marney on top followed by a drizzle of honey.




Notes

• If you have skin on your jowl, you should remove it but put the fatty side down into the one of the sauce pans and melt the fat out of it.  Maximize your pig fat!
• Cut the potato into whatever size you want.  If you like crispiness then cut into smaller pieces and brown for longer. 

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Shonagh writes An Offal Experiment - exploring the guts of food

Roman Bacon: Part 2

The roman bacon was ready.

Unfortunately I had quite the time getting it out of my storage closet.  I have lived in my apartment building for seven years.  I have had a key to my storage closet kicking around solo for seven years.  I have never lost it, or misplaced it, ever.  When do I lose it?  Yeah, that's right when I have a pig cheek hanging from the ceiling.

First, I searched.  Nothing.  Second, I fretted.  That also did nothing.  Third, I posted an ad on craigslist looking for a lock pick.  Again, nothing.  Fourth, I attempted to pick the lock myself from the oh so useful collection of youtube videos on lock picking.  Can you guess? Nothing.  But, as I am attempting to pick the lock, I notice a gap at the top of the closet!  Is it possible?  Will the cheek fit through?  Eureka!  My pig cheek is rescued!

And then my love affair began...

I danced around my kitchen after unwrapping my guanciale, oohing and ahhing.  "My God, you are beautiful!" I exclaimed.  "Oh my Lord, I think you are luscious!"  I ran my fingers over the pork fat and it melted at my touch.  I felt like the poet Petrarch who wrote 366 poems to a woman he had only just glimpsed.

How will I feel once I taste it?

I have big plans for this guanciale.  A small piece is being used in the morning to make breakfast for my brother - it's his birthday.  It will also become pasta carbonara.  Having recently bought locally grown and milled flour I am also making the pasta.  This will be a meal to remember and a post to look out for.  My father might even get a chunk for father's day or at least a meal because I am not sure that he will know what to do with a piece of pig fat.  Subscribe to my blog to learn the fate of my little pig cheek.

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."

  -Angela Monet

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Shonagh writes An Offal Experiment - exploring the guts of food

Five Spice Duck Pancetta

It was time to play around with charcuterie again.  I have been contemplating making more sausage because I'm out, but I'm in the middle of training for the Spartan Sprint so having pound upon pound of delicious sausage tempting me off my strict diet didn't seem logical.  Ditto for three pounds of pork pancetta.

An innocent duck breast?  That's an entirely different story.  It's small.  And duck fat?  Is that ever a bad thing?  I'm sure it will just make me run faster.  So here is the story of my duck pancetta.

I started with a lone breast from Brome Lake Ducks.  In the future I want to find a locally raised duck but this was what my butcher had so I went with it.  This is the Peking duck variety so it suits my spice combination nicely.  Rather than just use salt, I decided to add a five-spice blend to the mix.

My spice blend is based on a Chinese five-spice adapted to my taste buds.  My background is in aromatherapy and perfuming so I always have that in the back of my mind when balancing my spice blends. 

Five-spice blend

2 ml pink peppercorn - milder than black pepper and a beautiful color!
2 ml cubeb pepper - mix between black pepper and clove, lends a beautiful richness
3 ml fennel seed - gives a gentle anise flavour
2 cloves - I find clove can quickly overwhelm so I just used two buds
2 ml cinnamon - probably cassia rather than cinnamon (that is what commercially sold "cinnamon" tends to be because cassia is cheaper to produce and tastes very similar)

I always toast my spices before grinding.  It refreshes them I've heard so these got a quick toast in a dry skillet and then into my mortar and pestle they went! 

I wish you could smell the toasted spices being ground.  Because of my background in aromatherapy I am very scent-driven, scent-delighted and I almost swooned when the perfume of the spices first drifted up to my nose.

The duck breast was rinsed, plucked (just a few little feather ends remained) and scored.  The kosher salt (use a good amount) was mixed with about a teaspoon of the spice mixture and packed into a ceramic bowl with the breast.  I felt quite strongly about using ceramic versus a metal or plastic container.  It just seemed more respectful to the duck.

And then into the fridge it went and I waited.

According to Michael Ruhlman, the breast only needs 24 hours of salt curing before being hung up to dry.  Once the curing period was over, I rubbed the remaining spice mixture into the breast gently, and left it in the fridge to dry out for a week.

I don't know if the difference between the breasts is obvious.  It dried out quite a bit, which I think is a good thing.  In the recipe it was hung up to dry in a cool spot but I don't have a cool spot so I decided to keep it in the fridge like I did with the pig pancetta.  That probably led to it drying out more than it should have but I've decided to use the entire breast in a braised dish so it should turn out fine.  I can't wait to try my first attempt at 5-spice duck pancetta.

Notes

• I will probably try a different (or no) spice mixture next time
• This really opens up the possibilities of what I can use to make pancetta...
• Speaking of pancetta, I just looked it up and the word originates from "paunch" or "pancia" in Italian, so I wonder if a cut of meat should be from the belly in order to be called pancetta?   

References

"pancetta, n.". OED Online. March 2012. Oxford University Press. 9 April 2012 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/240770?redirectedFrom=pancetta>.

Duck Pancetta
Chinese Five Spice

Pancetta-Apple Chutney

I was walking home from school today contemplating breakfast.  I often contemplate breakfast because it is my most favorite meal.  As I contemplated I remembered the hunk of pancetta in my fridge.  I've been wanting to make something resembling bacon jam for a while and it seemed like a really good way to use up the last of my pancetta.  Rather than follow a recipe, I decided to make one up.  I've made chutney before so let's see if that holds me in good stead.

Pancetta-Apple Chutney Ingredients:

A chunk of pancetta (3/4 of a cup)

An apple

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp white sugar

1/2 cup water

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp coriander seed

Cracked black pepper

A pinch of red pepper

Directions:

1) Cube the pancetta.  Keep the pieces small, maybe a 1/4 of an inch.  They shouldn't be too small though because they will shrink as they render.  Put the pancetta cubes into a sauce pan on just below medium, lowering the heat as the fat renders out.  Pour out the excess fat periodically.  Once the majority of the fat has melted out and has been poured out of the saucepan, take out half of the pancetta cubes and set them aside.

2) As the pancetta is rendering, dice the apple with the peel on.  You can remove the peel if you would like but I enjoy the added texture.  Toss the apple cubes in the white wine vinegar to prevent them from browning while the pancetta cooks.  When the pancetta is ready, throw the apples in as well as the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on medium heat until the apples have almost turned into apple sauce and you like the consistency. 

3) Add the remaining pancetta just before serving and stir well to combine.  This gives the chutney a bit of texture. 

Notes:

• I like leaving the rind on the pancetta for the texture but you might want to remove it.  Whatever your preference.
• The pancetta was homemade and the centre had black pepper and bay leaves so that is why I chose the spices that I did.  Coriander fit nicely I thought but change the mix to suit your tastes.
• Don't be afraid to stir the chutney vigorously as it cooks to help the apples break down.

I dug into my chutney so quickly that I forgot to take a picture of it once it was completely finished.  That is what I call proof positive of success!

My first batch of pancetta

Yay!  Here it is!  My first ever finished batch of pancetta!  I put ground black pepper and bay leaf in the middle and then rolled it up.

 People who make pancetta are probably thinking - that is a tiny roll.  You are correct.  After struggling to roll the darn thing up, I gave up, cut it in half and did two mini-rolls.  What can I say I have very small hands and they are a bit weak.  

This is just a small segment of it.  There were three pounds in total.  I just forgot to take a picture before chopping it up and freezing it in smaller amounts.

I am enjoying my pancetta tremendously.  Mostly I am cubing it and using it to flavour braised greens and brussel sprouts - that's my dish of the moment.  I'm also slicing it thinly though and eating it on sandwiches.  It's just so sweet and spicy and delicious.  I love the addition of the bay leaf.  Yummy and might I add a great gift for the holiday season.

My first attempt at pancetta...

 Mmmm... a fresh slab of pig belly...  3 pounds worth

 The first coating of salt

 Doused in brown sugar, salt, coriander, black pepper, lemon peel and maybe other things...  I can't quite remember.

After its first week of curing.  I cut off a slab to give it a taste test before drying it.  Sweet, herby, quite delicious. 

It is now rolled in two pieces and sitting in my fridge giving up its moisture.  I will post more pictures once it is finished.