"Corned" Veal Breast

I had such success with the turkey breast I brined for some pastrami around Thanksgiving, plus some other basic curing projects. All successfull, and something I am finding I am good at. Past cures have been done with Tender Quick, or a sugar kosher salt cure. I did not like working with TQ, its mix of nitrites & nitrates is ok, but I dont like the salt content. I want to control the salt, sugar and spice. The answer, Pink salt # 1, a nitrate, pink in color, used for curing meats. I found some from the cats @ the wild game shop in Homer Glen, like $4 for a lb.

I threw myself a curve on this first attempt with pink salt & making "corned beef". I had a veal breast I wanted to use. A cut from under the shoulder with a couple rib bones, and a nice fat cap. I mixed the cure in a stock pot:

1/2 gallon water
2.5 tsp pink salt # 1
1/2 stick cinnamon
garlic powder
black peppercorns
pickling spice
1 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar

I brought the above mix to a boil,a nd then let it fully cool and put in the fridge. I took the 3.5 lb veal shoulder and put it in a 2 gallon frezzer bag and poured in the cure. I cured the veal breast for 7 days, turning it every day or so. Once done I took it out of the cure and rinsed really well. I tossed it in a stock pot with some pickling spice & garlic powder. I simmered the veal breast for about 4 hours, and then pulled it out and set it to cool. I pulled the fat cap off, it had a nice thin layer of meat attached. underneath around the ribs was some fantastic veal. Cured all the way to the bone, fantastic pink color, and great corned beef flavor. Texture was perfect.

Into the cure:

Cured, 7 days:

fat cap with attached stip of meat:

great color, texture and flavor. darn juicy too:

another of the cured breast:

A winning cure that I will be putting to use in a couple weeks when I do a brisket 1/2 for corned beef for St. patty's & 1/2 for a nice pastrami. Really rewarding when a project works out.

Chicken Pot Pie

Comfort food at its finest, a fresh from the oven chicken pot pie in a crock. This classic topped with puff pastry and using a brined whole chicken. Fantastic version, creamy broth, steaming layers of puff pastry to dip.

I brined a whole amish bird for about 16 hours in a lemon herb brine(kosher salt, organic sugar, brown sugar, thyme, lemon, rosemary, etc.). Rinsed, slathered with olive oil the bird was roasted in the oven til done. Meat picked off the bones and reserved. A side note the brined chicken on its own was great, crispy skin, moist popping meat.

A basic pot pie filling, carrots, celery, cubed potatoes, milk, chicken stock, garlic, flour, etc. Cooked down to make a cream of chicken soup. Filled the crocks and did topped with a puff pastry round cut some holes to vent steam and cooked in the convection oven til ready.

Voila:


Brined, roasted bird:

Pot pie filling ready to get topped:

Not a bad first try:

Tasty:

Chicken & Dumplings(rolled style)

Comfort food for a Monday supper to end the New Years weekend.

Some Chicken & Dumplings from scratch. I took a whole chicken and cut it into 8 pieces, and took out the backbone. I took the wings, the backbone, the chicken neck, some garlic 7 some onion and tossed them in a pot and cooked them down. I then added water a bay leaf and the rest of the chicken. i cooked this for about 35 minutes, or until the chicken was just done.

I reserved the broth and striend it through a cheesecloth to get out any impurities. I set this aside and worked on the dumplings. Basic flour, eggs, milk, water, butter, salt, black pepper, baking powder version. Combined, refridgerated, then rolled out and cut into squares. i dig dumplings this way(growing up i only was exposed to the spoon dropped style which I did not care for, but i enjoy now). Like a pasta noodle.

I brought the stock to a boil, added some steamed carrots and celery, and the chicken I had picked off the bone. I added the dumpligns quickly, reduced heat to a simmer and covered and cooked the dumpligns until done, about 11 minutes.

Great version, great on the first night, stellar after a night in the fridge.

rolled out dumpling dough:

cut:

voila:

2012 Anticipation

Thanks to all the folks who check out my blog, 2011 has been a great year imho.

The circle of life moves on, made some new friends, some friends moved on, and I strengthened bonds with the inner circle. All good.

Foodwise a fantastic year that started with the blowout trip to New Orleans in January. If there is a better food city than NOLA I have not found it(no disrepect to Chicago, but I think I need to move to Louisiana). Some goo eats in Chicagoland, but the most of the focus and fun has been out of the city in Wisconsin, Iowa, and NW Illinois. Great finds like Johnnies Meat Market in Davenport, IA., etc.

Just ran out of time/warm weather for some of the things I started or wanted to do. I still see a fried shrimp shack crawl in the works as well as a tied house tour, and other historic explorations.

Happy New Year.

Red Gold Ketchup, Sauce and Spares

Grabbed up some fantastic local pork spare ribs from a butcher shop over in Sublette, IL. Perfect opportunity to whip up some ketchup, and then a basic bbq glaze for the ribs using Red Gold whole pealed tomatoes.

Basic ketchup recipe(onion, garlic, cinnamon, vinegar, water, etc). SImmered downa nd run through the food processor. Made a nice base for a sweet and hot bbq sauce(cayenne, black pepper, vinegar, molasses, brown sugar. Used this as glaze for the spares after they came off the WSM.


Red Gold Ketchup:

Spares"

Mopped:

Glazed:

Really simple process, using your own ketchup in your bbq sauce makes a big difference.

Country Village Meats - Sublette, IL.

Part of the joy of just pointing the RL in a direction and driving is the places you discover. Found a magnificent meat market about 35 minutes from my home, just north of Peru in Sublette, IL. Right on route 52, i spied it, and quickly pulled into their parking lot. Nondescript building with animal pens on one side.


Inside I found a clean, well stocked meat market, large processing area, and friendly staff. Prices on a chalk board, and if you dont see it ask. I went with some of their hot dogs, snack sticks and spare ribs.


Spare ribs were in cryo, but from local pigs, the meat was well marbled, and bright pink(thinking it was a duroc or berkshire mix perhaps by the color, fat and flavor). Top notch spares, already trimmed into skirt, tips and spares. Id prefer to do the trimming myself, but these were good. Extemely porky, and juicy. Hot dogs were good as well, some of the beefiest and garlicky dogs i have had. Snack stick were solid as well. Dont you could go wrong with anything from these folks.


The best part about this place is the animal pens on the side of the building, thats where locals bring their livestock and deer to be processed. Fresh, local meat. Cant beat it. They offer whole and 1/2 pigs and beef. 1/2 pig, 115 lbs... $242..... Big difference between going to the source and paying $9/lb at some boutique meat market inChicago.

Spares I smoked, really porky:

Country Village Meats

401 N. Pennsylvania

Sublette, IL.

Star Union Brewery(closed) - Peru, IL.

Illinois history, and breweries have become a facination of mine. The Illinois river Valley was home to many breweries and distilleries back before and some even after Prohibition. Large ammounts of grain, corn, artesian springs, the river, and folks who knew how to make beer and spirits(Germans, Irish, etc.), made for the perfect environemnt.

I previously visited a long shuttered brewery in Morris, IL. I just recently visited 2 brewery sites in Peru, IL. The first is what remains of the Star Union Brewery. The last day beer was produced at this plant was January 9, 1966. All that remains is a portion of the bottling plant a current distribution business. To the east is a wooded area littered with red bricks. That is where the chimney and other buildings of the plant once stood.

Here is a link to a picture from bakc in the day. I parked my truck in front of the closest building and took my photo from across the street and to the far left.

http://www.1964lp.com/nGallery/photos/11/47.aspx

Really amazing to see the before and after shots, and perspective from being on site. The field where the bricks are are private property so I did not venture into the field. Also there had been a cave in recently of some of the tunnels that used to run under the brewery.

Brews produced under the Star Union label were Sepp'l Brau & Star Model starting in the 1920;s and 1930's. The brewery was in operation, besides the Prohibition years, from 1856 - 1966.

Not much of this brewery left, the other brewery site I checked out was in really good shape, and for sale.... :-) More on that to come.

Star Union Neon @ the Water Street Pub - Peru, IL.:


Portion of former bottling plant:

Star Union Brewery bottle:

Star Union Bottle opener:

An ice pick from the White Way Tavern - Peru, IL.

Star Union Brewery

102 Pike Street

Peru, IL.