Back In Business!!

Last Saturday I was milling around Healthy Living Market in So. Burlington. Their meat department is outstanding! The first prize I saw was a pile of fresh pork belly from Settlers Farm here in Vermont! Well....I fought off about one million screaming Chinese women and cleaned them out! I'm sitting on about 60 pounds of pork belly! Woo Hoo!!!!! Ok, Pancetta is first on the hit list! Pancetta is basically Italian Bacon and is great to use in EVERYTHING!! It is basically pork belly cured with salt , seasonings and then dried for a week or two. If you are fortunate enough to get your hands on fresh pork belly keep this recipe in mind! Here's what you need......

3 Garlic Cloves, Minced

1 teaspoon Sodium Nitrate

1 ounce, kosher Salt

1 Tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Crushed Black Pepper

1 Tablespoons Juniper Berries, Crushed

2 Bay Leaves, Crumbled

1 teaspoon Nutmeg, Ground

3 Sprigs Thyme, Chopped

2.5 # Pork Belly

Get everything together..Mise en Place yo!

First thing is to cut the amount of black pepper in half and reserve. Mix all the seasonings together and liberally coat all sides and work it into the meat.

At this point you can either wrap the curing pancetta in plastic wrap, or you can seal it in a Foodsaver bag.

Let this sit in your fridge for seven days. Every day carefully flip the bag over to redistribute the brine. The meat should firm up as it looses moisture and takes on the applied seasonings. When the days have past, remove it from the bag, rinse with cold water and rub in the reserved black pepper. Let this sit uncovered in the fridge for three days. Drying pancetta helps the texture, intensifies flavor, and makes it last longer. Here is where you should be at after seven days.....

I'll update this blog in the later stages of the curing process. Stay tuned!!

Ok, todays project was dinner. The options at this point are wide open. I felt the strong urge to fire up the smoker. The options were short ribs, salmon, scallops, beef back ribs, pork loin or chicken. They all drew straws and chicken won! Before you attempt this, first buy a good smoker. I'm very particular about smokers and will never buy a gas model. It doesn't seem right!

For this I used a local split whole chicken. Not only is this dinner for tonight, but great for leftovers..Hmm...Chicken salad with champagne grapes!!!! First, take the bird and coat it lightly with blackstrap molasses.

Next lightly sprinkle maple sugar all over the bird. After that crush about one tablespoon of black peppercorns and work that into the mixture.

You definitely need some heat with this bird. Sriracha is a welcome addition to smoked maple black pepper chicken.

The Money Shot!

As soon as you're done grab two chunks of your favorite wood to smoke with. In my case it is fresh apple. Take the wood and submerge it in a 50/50 split of vinegar and water until saturated.

Let at least thirty minutes pass before you light your coals. Add the soaked wood to your hot coals and close the damper almost all the way. Once it starts smoking, place your little lady in waiting on the other side of the grill for indirect heat.

Make sure that the bird is fully cooked. It took about 40 minutes at 230 degrees. For tonight while this was cooking I made a quick bean ragout and toasted baguette.

It is well worth the effort! I'm still eating this while typing and enjoying every minute! It's so good that time seems to stand still. It's funny how food can do that to you.

-Peace