The Butcheress: The Morning After (I need a pill!)

Here’s what I am doing with the parts, pretty much. Ish.

Head — boiled (with the eyeballs!)  to make head cheese, which I am putting up. Even Rob seemed excited about the prospect of canning headcheese so it wil be shelf-stable. I am not looking forward to picking the meat off the head, dealing with the tongue. Fun Sunday.

Heart and Kidney — I am working on getting a fejoada recipe from John Manion, who is the king of fejoada in Chicago. Rob suggested it so I could deal with the bits I am not hugely excited to eat and also pressure can it so it can be eaten later. John informed me that the fejoada is more about smoked head bits than niggly offally bits, so I am improvising on his authentic Brazilian dish. I’ll call it Nuevo Latino cuisine.

Pork Bones — roasted, making into stock and pressure canning, so it is shelf-stable.

Leaf Lard — we rendered it, creating cicciolis, that we shoved in jars and covered with fat.  They are amazing. I think one should buy leaf lard just to make these things.  But the bonus is that leaf lard is also perfect for making short pastry dough.  I am gonna use the short pastry dough to make a pork pie.  Yum.

Rack — the notes for that cut is that it is the “fancy” bit.  Of course, if you buy the whole pig, well, the rack costs as much as the tongue or, even, the eyeballs.  So, it is odd to think of some of it being fancy. That said, I am having the butchering crew back over for dinner shortly and we’ll sup on this as a centerpiece to the night.

Lomo — I am not sure where this comes from, and frankly, I pretty much forgot what piece I am supposed to use, but it is to cure for two weeks, then smoke. As soon as I figure out which piece it is, I’ll get right on that.

Sausage — we’re dry curing all of it.  Some hot, some not hot.  For pizza, for snaking, because I love salami.  I am grinding it at Rob’s shop because there is a lot to grind.

Tenderloin — it was cured for part of the afternoon, then I am smoking it. Rob kept suggesting sandwiches for it. I have some apple chutney in the pantry I put up last Fall so that seems pretty exciting, though I really wanna make sure I use the right bread.

Shanks — we called it the “date cut” because it is perfect for two. It is re-christened the “Curtis Duffy Cut.” Brined for a few days in a coriander brine and then confit.  Rob said it would last in the cure until Curtis Duffy asked me out on a date, which basically means this stuff while last until the next century.

Skin — there was a lot of discussion during the day about chiccerones.  It was decided that dehaydrating them, at least partially over smoke, is the key to deliciousness. I have a ton of pig skin, lovelingly cut off the shoulder, belly and everywhere else by Paul Fehribach. I’ll have much opportunity to achieve perfection!

Ribs of all shapes and sizes (except the tips!) — I’ll be making Allie’s Award-Winning and, I understand, Cancer-Curing Ragu. Enough said. Lauren Polkow has to come over and make handmade pasta to complement it.

Rillette — my favorite thing on earth. I am making a lot of it. A whole shoulder, at least. Probably more. It is relatively shelf stable if kept covered with fat.  That said, for the sake of science, it was agreed that I should pressure can some just to see if that makes it more shelf stable.

Bacon — I am making straight up bacon with one belly and pancetta with the other.  I am pretty adept at bacon, so this should be the easy part.

Hams — I am making two. A straight up country ham that will hang a year in the garage and develop a satisfying funk and a Serrano.  This is my third attempt at Serrano.  But this time I have a butcher mentor! For those who need to know, essentially, the difference is the cut (Serrano has more meat hanging off and also has a hoof on. I am sure the spice mixture is a bit different, too.).

Collar — I am confiting one half and stuffing and roasting the other half, Austrian-style. OK, I am not too sure if this is the collar, but there are two pieces, one from each half, and I am doing the above to those.

Rib Tips — Yum. Gonna roast these in the soon-come wood-burning oven.

English Bacon — There was some cut we worked really hard at getting right so I could make a molasses-cured English-style bacon like I ate every Sunday morning when I lived in London.  And I mean Every. Sunday. Morning.  — I. Can’t. Wait.

This morning, the morning after, I woke up at 5 am to get started.  I brought everything back up to room temp to start, then

• Tossed the roasted yesterday bones into a stock pot for pork stock
• Am confitting the shoulder bits in my crock pots, to be a little easier.  Not sure how Rob is going to feel about that.
• I tossed the tenderloin into the smoker and am rather eagerly awaiting that, because I am starving.
• I browned off the ribs in the same pans from the bones, since it saved a cleaning step, and tossed in while wine, garlic, whole frozen Roma tomatoes from the freezer (thanks Grant!) supplemented by some tomato paste, Bay, thyme, coriander seed, whole black pepper and water. That’s cooking in a low oven overnight.
• I’ll be dealing with the hams next, which will be cured for a few days in a cedar box Grant made me from old fencing. Then, I’ll start the bacon cure.
• Last, I shoved the head outside, since I just couldn’t deal with it yet.  I’ll likely tackle that tomorrow.
• Sausage grinding Tuesday.