Basic Dry Cure Master Recipe

225g kosher salt
112.5g sugar
25g pink salt (curing salt #1)

Use 50g/5#

From Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie.

15 November 2015

Bacon is done curing, now to smoke.

Hickory biscuits, an hour and twenty minutes (roughly) of smoke, 3 hours (total) heat at 200*F.

Tasty!

Update: This one was much better than our previous attempt, due in part to the better meat, and in part to measuring out the cure. Last time we dredged it, and it was a little harsh.

8 November 2015

Started some bacon today.

3# pork belly
30g Basic Dry Cure from Charcuterie

6 September 2015

Sweet Garlic Dills (The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving)

1c sugar
4c vinegar
2c water
1/4tsp tumeric
4T pickling salt
Combine and bring to a boil.

4.6# pickling cucumbers ($5, farmer's market)

Per pint jar:
1/2-1 clove garlic (55g total (1 head, $1, farmer's market) medium Germen hardneck garlic)
1 head dill
1/8tsp celery seed

Yielded 8 pints. Seven were canned (JSP/RWB10(16oz)15(32oz), one was left as refrigerator pickles.

Hmmm. Not quite sweet enough.

23 August 2015

Blackberry Preserves

1# 6oz blackberries (1qt at $0.99/half-pint, yielded 3c juice & berries)
1 1/2tsp calcium water
1c sugar
1 1/2tsp Pomona's Pectin

Yielded (7) 4oz jars. A little on the sweet side; we'll probably cut the sugar a bit next time.

22 August 2015

Chokecherry Syrup

4c juice
3c sugar

Cooked this a little too long, it's more jelly than syrup. It also has very little chokecherry flavour.

Pectin Test

Stir together equal parts cooked cooled (room temp) juice and grain or denatured alcohol. The larger the pectin lumps that form, the higher the pectin content. Small lumps that cannot be picked up with a fork indicate pectin levels too low to use as is. Reduce the juice and test again, use apple stock, or use commercial pectin.

15 August 2015

Chokecherry Syrup


Pectin test seemed to indicate a medium-ish level, so we'll try 3/4c sugar to each cup of juice. I need to pectin test the crabapple juice, so I have more of a baseline.


1 1/4c chokecherry juice
7/8c sugar


Bring juice to a boil, add sugar 1/2c at a time, returning to boil after each addition. JSR (since it's just a test, and a very small amount)


Yield: We didn't quite get (2) 8oz jars filled, but almost.

9 August 2015

Chokecherry Juice


Got 2qts plus a 1 1/2c out of 1 3/4 ice cream pails (5qt). The juice is really opaque; I wonder if it's the city water?

6 October 2013

Tomato Sauce


7# CSA paste-type tomatoes
1T lemon juice per pint


JSP/RWB35(16oz)


Yield: 3 pints plus 1.5 cups.

30 September 2013

Shirley Sauce


5.5# CSA tomatoes, mostly paste-type
4.9oz mixed CSA hot peppers
11oz CSA & Candy (our own) onions
2c sugar
2c red wine vinegar
2T pickling salt


Cook til thick. JSP/RWB15(8oz)A


Yield: 10 cups and enough for a meal for two.


This one was quite ketchup-y. We like slicers better in the sauce.

25 September 2013

Salsa Verde


1# 15.9oz CSA tomatillos, chopped (5.5c)
7oz  CSA onion, chopped (1c)
5 cloves farmer's market hardneck garlic, minced (1/2oz)
9.4oz green chilies, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp cayenne
2T minced cilantro
1/4c lime juice
1c vinegar


Combine, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. JSP/RWB15(8oz)


Yield: 6 cups.


Green chiles may have been Anchos. They were not hot, from Marketplace Foods. Recipe came from a box of Ball lids. Probably in the Blue Book as well.

24 September 2013

Shirley Sauce


5.25# yellow CSA tomatoes
16oz onion (farmer's market & CSA)
3.3oz hot Hungarian CSA peppers
2c sugar
2c red wine vinegar
2T pickling salt


JSP/RWB15(8oz)A


Yield: 9 cups plus enough for a meal. Slightly sweeter and hotter than previous (15 Sept 2013). Not as pretty.

15 September 2013

Shirley Sauce


3# CSA red tomatoes
11oz Black Plum tomatoes
1# Black from Tula tomatoes
2.6oz German Pink tomatoes
3-4 Lemon Drop tomatoes
(5.25#, approx, run through SauceMaster)


12 jalapenos, chopped and seeded (approx. 1/3#)
14oz onion, diced
2c sugar
2c red wine vinegar
2T pickling salt


Cook until thick. JSP/RWB15(8oz)A


Yield: 10 half-pints plus enough for a pasta meal for two. Excellent!


Note for July 2015: This may have been the first time we made Shirley Sauce.

27 July 2013

I found some of my previous notes!!!


Sauerkraut


1# cabbage
10g pickling salt


Filled 3/4 of a quart jar--only used a spoon to pack it, though. Used an airlock lid.


28 July: temp is 66*F at 9:00am.
31 July: temp is 67*F at 3:00 pm.
1 Sept : temp is 72*F at 11:15 am. Taste test: Squeaky, needs to go a bit longer yet.

22 June 2015

Pickled Northern Pike


1/2T pickling spice
1T pickling salt
1/2c sugar
1 "ring" dried onion


Didn't have enough fish for a quart, so am halving it for a pint.

Master Pickled Fish Recipe

Master Pickled Fish Recipe


Per quart jar:
1 T pickling spice
2T pickling salt
1c sugar
1 slice onion


Fill jar with cubed fish and cover with vinegar. Keep in refrigerator, shaking twice a day every day for three days, then let sit for an additional two days.

8 June 2015

Watermelon Rind Pickles

1 quarts 1" cubed watermelon rind (white portion only)
1/4 cup canning salt
1/2  gallons water, divided
1 stick cinnamon
1/4 T whole cloves
1/4 T whole allspice
pinch mustard seed
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/8 cup thinly sliced lemon (about 1/4 one medium)
1/2 cup vinegar

Cover watermelon rind with salt and 1 gallon water, stirring to dissolve salt. Let stand 12 hours or overnight. Drain; rinse. Cover rind with 1 gallon water in large saucepot. Cook until tender. Drain; set aside. Combine spices, sugar, lemon slices, and vinegar in saucepot. Bring to a boil; simmer 10 minutes. Add rind, simmer until rind is tranparent. Remove spices  JSP/RWB/10(8oz)


Recipe from Blue Ball Book, quartered. We also added a few drops of red food colouring. Got 2 pints.


20 June 2015: They seem a bit too spicy. We'll be sure and use a spice bag next time, see if that makes a difference.

18 March 2015

Ham test #2-3


Started 2 pork shoulder blade roasts brining. One is 3.26#, the other is 3.09#.


We smoked one, and just cooked the other. The smoke flavor pretty much took over the flavor, so this recipe is probably a non-smoker.

8 May 2015

Bacon!


Basic Cure
113g kosher salt
56g sugar
13g curing salt #1


Plain belly: 1907g


Sweet belly: 1532g, added 100g dark brown sugar.


Coated both bellies with Basic Cure (didn't use quite all of it). Flipping every other day.

Slow Roasted Pit Ham Master Recipe

Slow Roasted Pit Ham, from The Founding Farmers Cookbook


2T whole juniper berries
7 1/2c cold water
1/2 c packed dark brown sugar
1/4c honey
2 1/2T pink curing salt
4 1/2T kosher salt
2T caraway seeds
15 cloves garlic, minced
1 (9-10# boneless pork butt)


Smash and toast juniper berries. Place in 3-gallon lidded container that will fit in the fridge. Add water, brown sugar, honey, salts, caraway, and garlic. Whisk til salts dissolve. Submerge pork in the brine, cover, and refrigerate for three days.
Heat oven to 300*F. Remove butt from brine and place in roasting pan. Roast for 3-4 hours (12-15min/pound) until internal temperature registers 145*F. Remove ham from oven and rest (tented) for 30 minutes.

15 March 2015

Ham test #1




Recipe from the Founding Farmers Cookbook.


Slow Roasted Pit Ham
1T juniper berries, toasted and crushed
3.75ccold water
1/4c packed brown sugar
1/8c honey
1 1/4T curing salt (#1)
2 1/4T kosher salt
1T caraway seeds
7 cloves garlic, minced
4.5# boneless pork shoulder blade roast




Brined roast for approximately 36 hours (about 8 hours per pound). It was not quite long enough. Next test will be 12 hours per pound. We shall also smoke half of it.

Tomatillo Salsa Master Recipe

Tomatillo Salsa, from a box of Ball canning rings. Also in the Blue Book.


5 1/2c chopped, cored, husked tomatillos (about 2#)
1c chopped onion
1c chopped green chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced
2T minced cilantro
2tsp cumin
1/2tsp salt
1/2 tsp red pepper
1c vinegar
1/4c lime juice


Combine ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. JSP/RWB/15(8oz).


We haven't ever cored the tomatillos.

Shirley Sauce Master Recipe

Hot Orange Seedless Shirley Sauce, from Pickles to Relish by Beverly Ellen Schoonmaker Alfeld


12 large Lemon Boy or orange tomatoes
2 large onions, diced
12 large jalapeno of Serrano peppers
2c sugar
2c red wine vinegar
2T pickling salt


Skin and seed tomatoes, cook all ingredients until thick. JSP/RWB10(4oz)15(8oz)20(16oz)A*


By using seed catalogs, I have determined the average weights of the tomatoes, peppers, and onions, and have come up with this:

(12) large Lemon Boy tomatoes = 5.25#
(2) large onions = 1.5#
(12) large jalapeno chiles = 6oz
(12) large Serrano chiles = 2.5oz


We usually run the tomatoes through the saucemaster and coarsely chop the peppers. Using paste-type tomatoes definitely results in a more ketchup-y flavor. We have used yellow tomatoes, but think the reds are prettier.


*JSP/RWB10(4oz)15(8oz)20(16oz)A = Jar Seal Process/Rolling Water Bath 10min for 4oz jars, 15 minutes for 8oz jars, and 20 minutes for 16oz jars Adjust for altitude.

• At 1,001 to 3,000 feet above sea level, increase processing time by 5min
• At 3,001 to 6,000 feet above sea level, increase processing time by 10min
• At 6,001 to 8,000 feet above sea level, increase processing time by 15min
• At 8,001 to 10,000 feet above sea level, increase processing time by 20min