See, the way sourdough works, “that sandwich was the last sourdough baguette” isn’t enough lead time. Even if you have a good starter, you’re still looking at hours, or in my case a day and a half, before you have more. It takes a fair bit of time, but it’s …
Sourdough starter is pretty easy to make. Mix flour and water, wait, then add some more flour and water, then (wait, remove half, add more flour and water) repeatedly until it’s good. Starter Recipe The recipe always involves adding equal parts (by weight) of water and flour, but you do …
Ten days after I started brining the ham, it’s time to smoke one ham, two pieces of Montreal-style beef, and two pieces of corned beef. I stopped scoring the skin on top of the ham. I think between being just a little too warm and my knife not being sharp …
I didn’t think to take pictures as I went, mostly because I do this often enough that most of it is old hat. I’ll try to remember next time. Poolish, equal parts by weight of water and flour, with a bit of starter, isn’t that profound to look at. Here’s …
I’ve got two options today. One is a corned beef, the other is more or a Montreal-style beef. Start with a couple chunks of cow.These are pretty lean, just what we want. Did I say lean? Well, there’s not a huge amount of marbling, true, but this fat cap has …
It’s honestly not much of a story, I just wanted to contrast the three. The top is a basic brine, the bottom right has a brine for corned beef, and the bottom left is a brine for a more Montreal-style beef. Basic Brine This is about as simple as a …
I’m trying a new recipe for making ham. Not ‘cooking ham’, but for converting an unsuspecting chunk of pig into something pink and delicious. It’s actually pretty simple. I’m starting with an eight-pound picnic shoulder, shown below, and a dry brine mix (kosher salt, brown sugar, pinking salt). I coated …
I look back, and I find that of the good teachers, I not only remember who they were, but what I learned in their classes. That is, what specifically I learned. I mean, I remember somewhat of history and chemistry, of French and cooking… but that’s just information. I’d have …
