Journal

2012 - Week 19 Cooking Results

No pictures today, or at least no pictures until later when I get my desk and computer back up and running.

Crooked Gap Bratwurst

It's good to have Crooked Gap back at the market, so I went a bit overboard on my pork.  I allowed myself double of my new normal farmer's market budget (normal: $60).  Their bratwursts are pretty good

Crooked Gap Pork Burgers

I added a little spring onion and spring garlic to pork and the fried it in a pan.  I don't remember what cheese I used, but I've been collecting many left over cheeses, so I have been doing my best to whittle them down.  It was good, I missed good fresh pork.

La Ventosa Ranch Ground Beef with Crooked Gap Jowl Bacon

So the Jowl bacon, doesn't come in the long strips, it had a nice smoky taste, like their normal bacon, did crisp up, but didn't have that crisp tender that you get out of bacon from the pork belly.  It was good, and could easily be used to top things, or as a flavoring, but it doesn't render that much fat off, so if one was hoping save the fat, or add the fat to the burger or something like that, it is a lot harder to do.  Anyways, combined w/ the beef (pretty good) you end up with a pretty good burger.

Spring Onion and Crooked Gap Jowl Bacon Frittata

So I had leftover ground pork and beef, and less time and was a bit tired (first day of painting) so I used them instead of the bacon.  I started with the ground pork and beef, then after there was some fat in there, added some sliced spring onions, and then the eggs.  It came together pretty quickly and tasted pretty good, though I cooked it a bit to long, maybe an extra minute or two when finishing it in the oven.  Still pretty good.

Classic Chicken Salad (p20 Cook's Illustrated May & June 2012)

So I can't remember the whole article but it did talk about Sous-vide which is inappropriate when describing the method used to cook the chicken.  It turned out pretty good, but no better (and harder) then buying a roast chicken.  The chicken came out tender, but the herbs were starting to turn so I winged it, usually the base recipe (mayo, Dijon, lemon juice), used some dried herbs a bit of spice for some heat some pickle relish and it came together pretty well.  The rosemary country Italian loaf that we served it on?  That was pretty good to, though I was disheartened to only be able to use the edges since it was still quite doughy in the middle (from South Union).

Crooked Gap Jowl Bacon and Spring Onion over spaghetti

I made this before heading out on the town with Josh.  The big problem here, was, again, that the Jowl Bacon didn't render off enough fat to create a sauce for the spaghetti.  Even so it turned out ok.