Since Christmas I've become obsessed with both Charcuterie and Molecular Gastronomy. I've been meaning to make a couple threads on some of the things I've been doing. I put together a curing "cabinet" for meat that can fit into any small closet or room where the temp is in the 60's, I've come up with a hot/cold smoker that folks can use even indoors, I've made sausage (Spanish Chorizo,) Duck breast prosciutto, pancetta and a couple of Spanish cured meats. AND I've even infused bourbon with my maple bourbon bacon.
I've also found out that a few of the compounds used in molecuar gastronomy, such as agar agar, and tapioca starch are readily available, and cheaper than online in Asian groceries.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to have some friends over for a homebrew/charcuterie tasting and I've been putting together and testing some recipes.
I was trying to come up with a dessert for the night, and decided to do a riff the old bourbon balls, using some of my maple bacon bourbon. The classic bourbon balls are usually rolled in powdered sugar. I was looking at a Molecular Gastronomy blog and saw how tapioca maltodextrine or tapioca starch has the power to turn any fat into an intensely flavored powder form, that when exposed to water or saliva turns back into the fat.
So I decided to take some rendered bacon fat and turn it into a powder that I would roll the balls in.
The balls turned out pretty insane, so I thought I'd share with you what I did....
So here's the finished product.
The first thing I did, around the holidays was cure up some Maple Bourbon bacon, the recipe which I found on my new favorite cooking blog Punk Domestics;
The recipe is,
2 ounces/50 grams kosher salt (about 1/4 cup)
1 tsp/12 grams pink curing salt
1/4 cup/50 grams maple sugar or packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup/60 milliliters maple syrup
1 - 5 lb/2.5 kilogram pork belly
Combine the salt, pink salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well.
Rub this mixture over the entire surface of the belly. Place skin side down into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag. (The salt will make the pork release water creating a brine).
Pour in the maple syrup and make sure it's distributed on all sides of the belly.
Refrigerate, turning the belly and redistributing the cure every day for 7 days until the meat is firm to the touch.
Remove the belly from the cure, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Place it on a rack set over paper towels in the fridge and allow to dry, uncovered for 12-24 hours.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place rack in a roasting pan. Put the belly on the rack and pour bourbon into the pan. Cook the pork belly to an internal temperature of 150 degrees F/65 degrees C; about 3 hours; replacing bourbon as necessary as it evaporates. Let cool slightly when it's cool enough to touch, cut off any skin; leaving as much fat as possible (the piece I bought already had the skin cut off).
Allow to cool, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
I rigged up a smoking box, and a venturi cold smoker and smoked the bacon for 2 hours.
After cold smoking it, I baked it in a low oven til it reached the safe internal temp.
I trimmed off a few nice thick slices.
The same night I decided to infuse some bourbon with my own maple bourbon bacon. It was a way basically to recycle the bourbon and maple syrup I doused the bacon with repeatedly while baking it, along with the rendered drippings. I used this recipe to make the bourbon.
So when making the bacon, there was a lot of dripping in the pan.
I also took some of the bacon and cooked it off in a pan,
I grabbed a mason jar, some maple syrup and the bourbon.
I took some bacon rind, and a table spoon of maple syrup and put it into a mason jar.
I poured the drippings from both the baking pan and the fried bacon into the jar, and added 2 cups of bourbon.
I covered it with cling film and let it sit for a few hours for the flavors to mingle.
After a few hours I transferred it to the freezer for 24 hours, so that fat would separate from the bourbon.
I've also found out that a few of the compounds used in molecuar gastronomy, such as agar agar, and tapioca starch are readily available, and cheaper than online in Asian groceries.
In a couple of weeks I'm going to have some friends over for a homebrew/charcuterie tasting and I've been putting together and testing some recipes.
I was trying to come up with a dessert for the night, and decided to do a riff the old bourbon balls, using some of my maple bacon bourbon. The classic bourbon balls are usually rolled in powdered sugar. I was looking at a Molecular Gastronomy blog and saw how tapioca maltodextrine or tapioca starch has the power to turn any fat into an intensely flavored powder form, that when exposed to water or saliva turns back into the fat.
So I decided to take some rendered bacon fat and turn it into a powder that I would roll the balls in.
The balls turned out pretty insane, so I thought I'd share with you what I did....
So here's the finished product.
The first thing I did, around the holidays was cure up some Maple Bourbon bacon, the recipe which I found on my new favorite cooking blog Punk Domestics;
The recipe is,
2 ounces/50 grams kosher salt (about 1/4 cup)
1 tsp/12 grams pink curing salt
1/4 cup/50 grams maple sugar or packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup/60 milliliters maple syrup
1 - 5 lb/2.5 kilogram pork belly
Combine the salt, pink salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well.
Rub this mixture over the entire surface of the belly. Place skin side down into a 2 gallon Ziploc bag. (The salt will make the pork release water creating a brine).
Pour in the maple syrup and make sure it's distributed on all sides of the belly.
Refrigerate, turning the belly and redistributing the cure every day for 7 days until the meat is firm to the touch.
Remove the belly from the cure, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Place it on a rack set over paper towels in the fridge and allow to dry, uncovered for 12-24 hours.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place rack in a roasting pan. Put the belly on the rack and pour bourbon into the pan. Cook the pork belly to an internal temperature of 150 degrees F/65 degrees C; about 3 hours; replacing bourbon as necessary as it evaporates. Let cool slightly when it's cool enough to touch, cut off any skin; leaving as much fat as possible (the piece I bought already had the skin cut off).
Allow to cool, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.
I rigged up a smoking box, and a venturi cold smoker and smoked the bacon for 2 hours.
After cold smoking it, I baked it in a low oven til it reached the safe internal temp.
I trimmed off a few nice thick slices.
The same night I decided to infuse some bourbon with my own maple bourbon bacon. It was a way basically to recycle the bourbon and maple syrup I doused the bacon with repeatedly while baking it, along with the rendered drippings. I used this recipe to make the bourbon.
So when making the bacon, there was a lot of dripping in the pan.
I also took some of the bacon and cooked it off in a pan,
I grabbed a mason jar, some maple syrup and the bourbon.
I took some bacon rind, and a table spoon of maple syrup and put it into a mason jar.
I poured the drippings from both the baking pan and the fried bacon into the jar, and added 2 cups of bourbon.
I covered it with cling film and let it sit for a few hours for the flavors to mingle.
After a few hours I transferred it to the freezer for 24 hours, so that fat would separate from the bourbon.