Pork online?

You just gotta love a guy that shows up a your door with pork products! My father-in-law showed up at the house last week with the most delicious bacon. He and my Amish-o-file brother-in-law just came back from Pennsylvania with 12 packs of the stuff! He said it was "Amish-made" bacon and that there was a website where you could order it online! We scratched our heads over this for along time. How could the Amish have a website? It just didn't make any sense. But wouldn't it be so cool if they did? I imagined ordering huge sides of smoked pork from a man in a funny straw hat with a funny accent named "Brother Obediah" or something. Then I found the website and to my disappointment the Stoltzfus family are not Amish. But they used to sell their products at an Amish farm stand. You can see the confusion. The good news is that they still make some pretty awesome bacon. It has finer texture, a more rich and less salty, really subtle, smokey sweet flavor. It's got it all over that garden variety supermarket stuff. And, *news flash* if you want to order a Stoltzfus Ham for Easter, tomorrow is the deadline! My brother-in-law is ordering one, so I'll be sure to sample it and report back. He also added that their ham loaf is "to die for". So order up some pork product. And while you're at it, get some of that delicious bacon for your special someone. Nothing says love quite like bacon.


http://www.stoltzfusmeats.com/index.php

When Your Goose Is Cooked

Our nieces and nephews call us "Weird Uncle Neil and Aunt Sue". It seems to stem from our reputation for eating just about anything. I suppose that's why our friend offered us her geese. She had too many and couldn't afford to feed them through the winter. As it was mid-December, we couldn't get the thought of Christmas goose out of our heads. The problem was: Geese not Goose. Oh yeah, and the fact that we had never cooked one, eaten one, or butchered one before. While we weren't quite up to eating all eight, we figured we could help our friend by pawning a couple off on friends and family. Giddy with holiday spirit, we generously volunteered to deliver cleaned birds to all who wanted them. This, we found out, was an exceptionally bad idea.

The deal was, we were chiefs-in-charge of catching, killing, and plucking and dressing these beauties ourselves. No time like the present for a crash course on butchering fowl! So we caught a quick primer from our indispensable copy of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living"by Carla Emery. The day arrived and we butchered the geese and hung them. This part went pretty smooth. After the geese were thoroughly bled, we brought them up to the barn where we had prepared a hot water bath to scald the birds before plucking. Here's where things got tougher. Turns out geese are impossible to pluck! Given their naturally water repellent nature, it seems the hot water doesn't easily permeate the feathers down to the skin. This was a messy, hard, process that took many hours. Our friend, who thankfully helped us, had heard skinning was easier, and since she was keeping some of the older geese for her dogs Xmas dinner, we decided to try this. After we were through, we really couldn't tell if it had even been any sort of bird let alone the kind you might want to eat. So save yourself the trouble and don't skin a goose! Since we were unsure of the ages of all these geese we decided to hang them for a week to see if that tenderized them a bit. Actually, you really shouldn't eat a goose that's more than 9 months old, but we were willing to gamble. It was pretty strange to see eight goose carcasses strung up in the garage! We silently hoped none of our neighbors were comming by unannounced to borrow yard tools! I wish I had a photo, but this was B. B. (before blog).

In the end, our Christmas goose very tasty, but a little on the tough side. I think we lost the younggoose/old goose lottery. Our friends and family seemed to have better luck. The true reward though, wasn't the warm fuzzy feeling of doling out fresh Xmas geese to our friends- it was actually the eight ultra fresh and juicy goose livers!!! Now, I have tried foie gras, but I don't think that it's much better than plain old goose liver. I know there are French folk and foodies scowling as I write this, but the process by which foie gras is produced is really at the border of what seems fair to do to an animal. At our holiday get-togethers we featured fresh goose liver pate which turned out to be absolutely divine. It was rich and creamy with a surprisingly mild liver taste. I'm not one to gnash on a big ol' hunk of liver, but this pate is really good! Even Madame Yum Yum (who claims that pate gives her the shivers) had a bite!

Anyhow, if you are ever faced an over-abundance of goose liver, here's what you should do with it: http://www.roastgoose.com/recipes/goose_liver_pate.htm

The only part of this recipe we skipped was the port syrup. We felt the pate didn't need any accompaniment- save crusty pieces of bread. Port syrup does sound really good though. This recipe is from Shiltz Goose Farm. They have a great site for goose and goose products including livers, and cruelty-free fattened goose liver if you just can't hang up that craving for foie gras.

Sew your wild hops

I have the good fortune to have a sister that lives in the heart one of the finest beer countries in Europe. She resides in "Pilsner Central" a.k.a. the Czech Republic. My Czech brother-in-law would say it is the only place you can drink true pilsner. For family reasons, I am not, in any way, prepared to contradict this. I think he is still mad at us for bringing Belgian beer to his house for Christmas. Anyway, my sister reminded me today that Europe is full of wild hops. She said that she had some growing on her fence and would like to send some to me. Of course, I could never condone that sort of behavior because I know it is highly illegal to send unauthorized produce through the mail! Apparently though, there are wild hops growing all over the world- even in China and Japan! This got me thinking about the current hops shortage. I think there's gotta be someone out there willing to brew with wild hops. Just think of all the mysterious new brews! Beer brewed with "local, wild hops"- sounds like something that would send Barbara Kingsolver and her locavores into raptures.

In Pursuit of Fiber

Sometimes I want a little something to eat besides meat. No matter what those anti-carb freaks say, bread is always a good choice. Until just recently, I've been a miserable failure at bread baking. Without describing all the lumpy, pathetic attempts, I will tell you this: what usually comes out after kneading, proofing, shaping, rising again, and baking never seems particularly worth the effort, time and clean up. Then Lynne Rosetto-Kasper of The Splendid Table saved my life. As some of you know, I have had one leg in a cast for the last five weeks. No doubt about it, this truly sucks. I don't watch any TV, so I pass a lot of my time listening to stuff online and checking out other people's blogs. A couple weeks ago Lynne's show featured the authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", J. Hertzberg and Z. Francois. Lynne was good enough to post the basic recipe on her website http://www.splendidtable.org/ . I couldn't hobble out to the kitchen fast enough to try it! This is a truly easy way to make bread especially if you're like me and refuse to buy a bread machine. No kneading, No proofing, No raising dough! The dough is kept in the refrigerator until you decide to bake as little or as much as you want, whenever you want, for up to two weeks! I urge you to try this recipe. It is a life changing experience. The photo above is an example of the tasty rye bread recipe, which Neil now claims is the only bread he will ever need. I haven't bought supermarket bread now in over a month. But that may be have more to do with the fact that my butt is permanently grafted to the couch......

The Great Monkey Kegerator!

So a while back I mentioned I got a kegerator for my birthday. I thought those of you who don't already have one would like to know how easy they are to make. As I was never into Greek society in college, I didn't have any first hand knowledge. Actually, I agonized over the possibilities for about 6 months. Do I get one of those fancy pre-fab keg coolers? One tap or two? Would it be easy to make my own? What is the price difference? Will it really save money? After much research and soul-searching, I decided to call Terry Boyd of Mountview Plaza Wines and Liquors in Naugatuck CT. If you are ever in the area check this place out!Terry has an excellent assortment of imported and domestic bottled beer. But most importantly, he also has access to an impressive variety of kegs at a very fair price. Not only this, but as I found out, he knows a thing or two about kegerators. His store even sells some spare parts for them! It's a good thing I called Terry because he had some wise words:
1: Go with a two tap system (if you have room). It's not that much more expensive and in the long run, and two taps offer a lot more versatility. For instance, Chimay for you and Bud Light for your guests who don't know any better.
2: If you are planning to drink wheat beers or stouts its way better to go for the G-mix system. G-mix is the term to describe a gas tank that combines CO2 with nitrogen, making it less reactive with certain types of beer. Although you can pour all other beers on a G-mix system, the same arrangement does not apply for a CO2 system. Your results could be very foamy, problematic, and ultimately cause serious depression.
3. Get two air tanks because you will never run out of Co2 unless you're having a party and it is a holiday weekend.
4. Place your order for a keg conversion kit with Micromatic.com because they have pretty amazing service. This turned out to be true. When we finally ordered our kit, it came the next day (no special shipping charges) and only cost $210! This is great news if you are in a hurry to drink delicious beer on tap!

The truth is, when we accepted our free refrigerator, we had no idea how perfect it would be for a tap system. It's a compact (freezer on top) model. It turns out we can fit three logs (2 tapped and 1 chilling) or a half barrel plus the 20lb. g-mix tank fits in the door! Other than taking out the shelves, all we really had to do was drill two holes through the front door and the rest was totally easy. Just screw in the taps, hook up the hoses, and order yourself a keg! Oh yeah, and put up a drip tray. Micromatic sells drip trays with their conversion kits but Neil decided to get crafty add these hip monkeys instead. It was a fun way to add a custom touch. Besides, we're not holding frat parties or serving Bud, so why should our kegerator look like it? All in all we only spent about $260: Kit- $210, full g-mix tank -$50, monkeys and tray- priceless! Not bad considering the $700 I almost dropped on a new pre-fab cooler, which, mind you, does not come with monkeys!

If you'd like to look at pre-fabs coolers http://www.beveragefactory.com/ is a good place to start. They also have great directions for installing conversion kits at http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/conversion-kits/tower-kits/How+to+Build+Kegerator.shtml

The Language of Beer

Neil and I visited Belgium about a year ago. It is a beer lover's paradise. First rate beer and chocolate- not to mention a culture of serious foodies. What more could anyone ask for? You just have to love a culture whose idea of a quick snack is mussels and cream sauce. I realize all other European countries have their own private jokes about Belgium, but the truth is- they are just jealous. Belgium really has it all and that is why I want to be Belgian. Almost everybody in Belgium speaks at least 3 languages, Flemish (Dutch), French, German, English and usually a couple of others. This made me feel really silly and language-challenged. While taking in some exceptional beer in Bruges, we struck up a conversation with this really nice local lady. We asked her what the etiquette was for language and who spoke what language, where, etc. She replied that although most people spoke french and Flemish, you had to speak Flemish to become a citizen. This was all I needed to hear, hence, Flemish lessons. I couldn't find any podcasts in Flemish so Dutch is the next closest thing. Here's the website: http://www.lauraspeaksdutch.info/?paged=3
Check out Episode #26 and #27. I wish I had found this before I went to Belgium! While delivering some completely impossible-to-pronounce Dutch phrases, he gives a very brief but informative history of Belgium, and then goes into a little description of the language issues there. In episode #27 he explains how to say some really helpful things in Dutch like, "Thank you" "What kind of food should I order?" and "What Beer should I order with this meal?" not to mention explaining how to say "waterzooi". Perhaps, some day I will actually learn to speak Flemish and become an honorary Belgian. I dare to dream.

Tongue For Breakfast

Our farmer friend who supplies us with beef isn't really an adventurous eater. She often pulls some mysterious package of beef out of the freezer and asks us what the heck to do with it. Her favorite type of beef seems to be hamburgers. Understandably so, since her grass-fed ground beef is some of the tastiest we have ever had. However, I think she has nominated us "most likely to clean out her freezer" because our orders of beef usually come with one or two curiosities, which we always readily accept. I think there's a novelty factor to getting an unusual food item and deciding how to make it delicious.
Well this was just the challenge we were confronted with when we were asked us if we'd like a beef tongue. Yes! Beef tongue! How novel! We were genuinely excited until we realized that we were now committed to eating it, as a meal, for dinner, that night. Since Neil had brought it home, he took it upon himself to be the chef. The recipe he settled on seemed basically like corned beef, boiling meat in seasoned water. The part that seemed unusual were the instructions for peeling the tongue- until we opened the package and saw what it looked like- a big gnarly muscle encased in a spiny, white, fibrous skin. Perhaps we had made a mistake. Perhaps tongue wasn't readily available in the supermarkets for a reason. Perhaps we would be ordering pizza later instead. But, there was no turning back so into the boiling pot of water it went. 2 1/2 hours later, Neil peeled it, sliced it and made a mustard and horseradish cream sauce.
We were both uncharacteristically hesitant. Even sliced and covered with sauce it was still very, ahem, tonguey. But with no alternatives, or dog to pawn it off on, we dug in. Surprisingly, it did taste like a very tender corned beef. Neil was able to eat his but confessed to being haunted by having to peel the taste buds off his meat before eating it. Not being privy to the tongue peeling, I had a more positive experience and thought the somewhat velvety texture and subtle flavor was really enjoyable. Regardless, neither of us were brave enough for seconds. However, we still couldn't bear to waste it. Another recipe we saw had suggested tongue hash. Hopeful, I took the rest of the tongue and shredded it into benign looking little pieces for breakfast the next morning. And, let me tell you, that if you ever find yourself with an opportunity to cook beef tongue- make hash! You will not be sorry! This was the most delicious hash I have ever ingested! Tender, tasty, and less salty than the usual corned beef. Who knew beef tongue could be so yummy? I guess now we have to decide what to do with this beef heart...any suggestions?

Recipe from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/103380
The only change to this recipe was we didn't add the anise to the water. We thought the flavor would be too strong.

Tongue Hash:

1/2 a boiled tongue per recipe above then chopped
two small potatoes boiled and chopped
2 small boiled carrots also chopped
1 medium onion chopped and lightly browned with butter in a non-stick pan
Paprika
hot sauce
salt/ pepper to taste
Dash of onion and/or garlic powder

Add boiled potato and carrot, and tongue to pan with browned onions, season everything in pan to taste. Mush the mixture down flat in pan and let brown adding butter or oil if necessary. Let brown until crusty on both sides, break up and re-brown, serve with eggs (over-easy) on top and rye toast.

A Beer Secret

Maredsous 8. In our opinion, not a bad beer, but not a great beer either. In all fairness, Neil and I don't drink too many dubbels, they can be really delicious, but tend to be too sweet and heavy for our taste. However, I read in Tim Webb's book "Good Beer Guide To Belgium" that he suggests cellaring this particular beer for year for a better effect. Now, I don't know about you, but I have trouble cellaring anything. Like any silly American, I just get too thirsty for deferred gratification. However, the planets really aligned in this case. We found Maredsous 8 on sale and bought a few bottles. We didn't really like it much, and so it sat in the cellar, miraculously untouched, for an entire year! In a moment of desperation the other night, probably a Sunday (because of the archaic blue laws in CT you can't buy liquor on Sunday). We popped open a bottle of Maredsous 8. It was distinctly different! Much drier and more well balanced than we had remembered. A truly delightful, easy drinking beer- if you're the patient, hoarding, type.