Emulsifying, Stuffing, Poaching and Shocking Sausage

Before emulsifying any forced meat make sure all tools are cold threw

Meat, fat, aromatics, water, cream, egg, beer, salt and spice

Add all ingredients in chilled bowl

Mix on 1 till all is emulsified

Once farce is emulsified, stop mixer, turn the dial to 2 and mix for 50 rotations

Emulsified farce

Sausage stuffer

Make sure you lube your cylinder

Carefully add your farce and try to avoid any air bubbles

Screw on the lubed piston

Make sure your piston relief valve is open to avoid any air bubbles during the stuffing

Hog casings

Slide casings onto the stuffing tube

Slide on while not twisting the casing

Leave a little bit of room to work with

Lightly start to stuff and leave slack, don’t fill all the way

Every five inches or so pinch and fold the sausage back and forth

Folding back and forth will help push the sausage back. This is key when you are by yourself

Grab the sausage were you pinched and start to twist

First twist backwards, next forward, next backwards…

Continue to go back and forth with the twisting till all casings are skin tight

When sausages are tight, fat and full, wrap them around each other

Once you have made a sausage pinwheel, go threw and quality control

Tie both ends of the sausage pinwheel

Every inch and a half prick the sausage with a sausage pricker to avoid bursts during cooking

Heavily salt any sausage poaching liquid

Have a rack on the bottom of the pot and bring to a simmer

Carefully transfer sausages into simmering water

Make sure all sausages are submerged

Turn heat fully off and cover

Poach sausages for 15 minutes

Remove cover, sausages are ready to eat

Ice bath

Transfer sausages to your ice bath

Make sure all sausages are submerged

Let sit till fully chilled through

Foie Gras Torchon

2# loab of Foie Gras

Carefully pull the loab apart

While still cold, break apart the foie being careful not to tear the large veins

Cleaned foie nuggets and the extracted veins that are garbage

Salt and pepper the cleaned foie nuggets

Cover with plastic and let foie cure for 24 hours

Red wine and balsamic vinegar

Sugar

Reduce till thickens and the flavor is sweet and sour

Pour over cleaned and cured foie

Mix till foie nuggets are fully glazed

Cheesecloth

Lay torchon mix on cheesecloth

Tie and twist tightly till foie starts to come threw

Tie torchon very tightly and let sit in fridge for 2 hours

Remove the knots and extra cheesecloth, roll into a old apron or serviette

Tie again with someone assisting you while tying the torchon as tight as possible

Go back in fridge for another 24 hours

Place the torchon into simmering water for 20 seconds

Flip and let simmer for 20 seconds more

Ice down torchon

Remove the previous serviette and roll tightly in a new apron or serviette

Tie as tight as possible and refrigerate for 24 hours

72 hours from start to finish and ready to go

Cut into any shape you want when it is fully chilled

 

Rabbit Head and Lengua Terrine

Fresh head

Start by cutting the face off below the chin were the neck was

Carefully remove the face with a sharp knife trying not to damage the fur

While removing the fur leave as much meat on the skull as possible

The fur on the tip of the ears is very fine, remove the top part of the ears

Lightly season the heads and necks, let cure overnight

Leeks, thyme, carrot, garlic, ginger bring to a simmer and maintain for 2 hours

Remove and pick the meat, tongue, brains and anything else edible

Keep skulls for decoration or Christmas presents for friends and family

Weigh the clarified Rabbit braise

Rabbit braise and gelatin

Add bloomed gelatin to the clarified Rabbit head braising liquid

Beef tongue, parsley onion and Rabbit head meat

Chanterelles mushrooms

Plastic lined terrine mold

All ingredients mixed in a bowl and slightly chilled so gelatin starts to set

Yuba lined terrine mold

Add all into mold and pound bottom on a table top to remove all air bubbles

Wrap yuba up to cover filling

Lightly press with a towel and cast iron lid, not to much weight

After terrine has been refrigerated overnight, slice with hot knife

Having the terrine wrapped in yuba really helps keep it together and adds a crunchy texture

Head and tongue terrine, brioche, mustard, and rabbit jelly

Egg White Clarification

Unclarified Rabbit braise

Egg whites are 2/3 of the eggs total weight

Whip egg whites to a soft peak

Temper warm braise into whipped egg whites

Mix both well

Put everything into deep sauce pot

Carefully bring to a light simmer, till raft starts to puff up, turn burner to low

Once raft is cooked through and settled, carefully pull raft away from the edge of pot

Let consomme rest till raft has set up a bit

Carefully pour consomme into coffee filter without the raft

Hold raft with a fine mesh spider, while passing threw filter

Clarified Rabbit braise

Corned Beef Tongue

Below is one method of corning any type of tongue, the beef tongue is very large so it needs to cure for 1 week.  You can add herbs and spices to your salt cure too.  If you are going to cook more then 1 tongue at a time you can braise them in a deep hotel pan covered in the oven.

Clean, trim and wash beef tongue

Salt and rub the tongue

Fully cover the tongue with salt so it will cure

Refrigerate the salt covered tongue for 1 week

Remove the tongue from salt

Rinse and scrub tongue lightly

Tongue, onion, garlic, ginger, soy, thyme and chili garlic paste

Cover with stock or water and simmer for 3-5 hours till cooked threw

Remove tongue from liquid once it has cooled fully in liquid

Carefully slice skin and pull away from tongue meat

Fully braised corned tongue

Portions from the fattiest part of the tongue

Seared tongue on seeded sourdough with brussels sprout leaves

Farm egg, mustard, shredded horseradish and blue cheese

Rendering Back Fat

 

Lard is something you always need on hand, especially if you are breaking down whole animals and you need to use all the fat.  Here is step by step of rendering back fat.  You can also render back fat by grinding and cooking it down in a pot with a little bit of water. 

If there is still water or impurities in your lard bring it to a simmer and let it cook till it is fully clarified.

Chunks of back fat

Grind the cold fat with a super cold grinder

Ground back fat

Bake the lard in the Cvap or a oven on low

Pull when fully rendered and fat is clear

Pass threw a chinois with a coffee filter or fry filter in it

Keep in the fridge til ready to use

Viva la Turducken!

Turducken is something I do every year for Thanksgiving.  This year I did the more traditional Turducken with the whole birds and cornbread stuffing.  I have a lot of fun with it cause I think it is really cool to stuff it into the shape of an actual turkey… but with no bones (except the leg and wing).  

I made this one for all my friends at Orson on my last supper. The turkey itself was a 25 pounder to start.   The Turducken was about 38 pounds before going into the oven.  The massive bird happly feed 25ish waiters, cooks, dishwashers, wives and we had leftovers for late night snacking.

I am sold out of Turduckens for Thanksgiving, but I am already taking orders for all your Holiday parties.  Click on the picture of the Turducken above for more info.

Turkey, Duck, Chicken

Pull the neck skin up and remove the wishbone

Dry the wishbone

Plan your attack

Cut around the skeleton cutting threw the hip joints to release the legs

Cut threw the wing joints and free the rest of the meat from the bones

Remove the thigh bones and save all the bones for stock, sauce or gravy

All snug

Deboned birds, apples, cornbread, onions, carrots, thyme, bay and chicken sausage

Corn bread chicken sausage stuffing

Once all birds are deboned… stuff the duck into the chicken. Stuff the birds with the cornbread mix

Stuff the birds into the turkey, then sew her all up, be careful not to tear the skin

Flavor injector

Inject some brine into the meat

Tempering

Half way there

Instead of covering her with foil, I like to blanket her with onions and herbs

6 hours later cooked through and resting

Browned her up in the broil before carving

Cut in half

Top view

I love America!

Carefully remove all strings

Transfer to cutting board, have towels close by

Carefully and slowly pull out thermometer probe

Slice right down the center

Separate the bird into two pieces

Side view, kale, carrots, chicken sausage, garlic and onions

Lay down flat on cutting board

Remove drumsticlk

Remove wing

Start to slice the Turducken in half inch to 1 inch slices

Carefully lay slices down to keep it all together

Make sure your knife is nice in sharp or the Turducken will fall apart

Ready to go

Butchering half a pig 101

 

Here is a quick overview of how I like to butcher a pig.  Later I will go threw a more detailed step by step demo and finishing cuts for portions.

The tools plus a hacksaw are what I like to use while buchering a whole animal

Beautiful Devils Gulch pig

Side view

Remove the head

Cut threw the meat till you get to the shoulder blade and chop threw it

Its important to always keep your product in clean containers on ice

Remove the tenderloin

When removing the leg make sure you make a clean and precise cut

Remove the spine with the hatchet

Remove the ribs

Separate the loin from the belly

Put her all back together

Burn or shave off all the hair before or after

Ready to braise, roast, confit, render or stuff

Be there or be square!

Amuse Cochon Napa                       
“Five Chefs, Five Pigs, Five Winemakers”
November 2nd, 2008

WHAT: A group of top Bay Area chefs will each prepare a heritage breed hog from head to toe for this competition. Guests and professional judges will determine a winner based on creativity, classic preparation and overall best flavor. The winner will be crowned the “Prince of Pork”. In addition, five selected family-owned winemakers will showcase their wines. 
 
WHO: A Taste Network Event featuring:
Chris Consentino, Incanto  www.offalgood.com Watch on Iron Chef this Sunday the 26th!
Allan Benton, Benton Smoky Mountain Country Hams www.bentonshams.com
Peter Pahk, Silverado Resort www.silveradoresort.com
Taylor Boetticher, Fatted Calf Charcuterie www.fattedcalf.com
Ryan Farr, Orson www.bestbyfarr.wordpress.com
Wineries: Palmaz Vineyards, Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyard, Hill Family Estate, Saddleback Cellars, and Thomas Michael Cellars.

THE JUDGES
Chef Rob Lam of Butterfly SF
Chef Jesse Wall of Bounty Hunter Provisions
Jan Krupp of Krupp Brothers Estate | Veraison | Black Bart 
Dave Mclean of Magnolia Brew Pub
Kylan Hoover “Entre-pig-nuer” Red Mountain Farms
Tim Borman City of Napa Fire Chief
Todd Anderson of Conn Valley Vineyards
Bob Hurley of Hurley’s Restaurant & Bar 
Jill Techel City of Napa Mayor
Lynn Giacomini Stray of Point Reyes “Original Blue”
Tom Stafford of Black River Caviar 
Sam Mogannam of Bi-Rite Market
Sheamus Feeley of Rutherford Grill
Nick Heinrich of Triple S Ranch, Calistoga 
Pam Simpson of Chase Family Cellars
Jan Newberry of San Francisco Magazine
Dick Steltzner of Steltzner Vineyards
Scott Boggs of Hudson Ranch 
Erin Sullivan of ACME Fine Wines
Mystery Judge to be announced…

WHEN: Sunday, November 2nd, 4:00 p.m. 

 

WHERE: Silverado Resort 1600 Atlas Peak Road, Napa, California  94558  

WHY: A portion of the proceeds will benefit the City of Napa Fire Explorers program, a vocational firefighter training program for Napa County youth.

HOW: The cost is $100 per person and is open to the public. For tickets or more info visit www.amusecochon.com. Advance ticket purchase required. $20 discount for member of Slow Food and Industry.

Suckling Pig Porchetta

 

Babe and Wilber

Here is a method of making your own Suckling Pig Porchetta.  Its real important you get the skin real crunchy!  I chose to deep fry these guys, you can also roast them in a hot oven.   

Babe and Wilber

Side view

Relaxing on the gurney

Cut threw the ribs

Cut the spine free from the scull

Remove the spine

Remove the skull

Remove the ribs

Remove the hips, leg bones and anything else you don’t want to eat

Halloween mask and cape

Face, feet in lard for confit

Half of the pig is shaped into a rectangle

Sausage inside of a sausage… farce

Rolled up in plastic and tied

All tied up

Babe and Wilber

Going into the CVap

Coming out

Resting

Cooled overnight

Middle sausage is 50% face and feet confit and 50% fresh leg and shoulder meat.

Cut into smaller pieces and tied

Suck and sealed and ready for travel

Score the porchetta to have 1 inch squares

Deep fry!

Fry it longer

Perfect

Perfectly crunchy and golden brown

A electric carving knife works best

Lightly flash the meat before it goes on the plate

Yes please

Start with the primal cuts

Here is beautiful pig we bought from Four Story Hills, they raise a supior product and care deeply for there animals.  While butchering the whole animal it is easiest to break everything into primals first and then when needed a more refined cut.  Keeping everything in primals and only portion what you need will give you a longer shelf life and a fresh product.  

Yummmm!

CHEFS

I am very excited to be involved with CHEFS.  CHEFS (Conquering Homelessness through Employment in Food Service) is a great program that teaches the culinary arts to some of San Francisco’s homeless and formerly homeless adults.  The 24 week program starts with 12 weeks of hands-on training followed by a 12 week internship program.  The goal of the program is to provide culinary training and job placement for certain San Franciscans aspiring to an independent life.  CHEFS is an organization developed by the great people at Episcopal Community Services of San Francisco

http://www.ecs-sf.org/programs/chefs.html

Lobster, Salted and Compressed Melon, Melon Sorbet and Caviar

A real tasty dish, the only thing the that is missing from the picture is the melon sorbet, aged balsamic and olive oil.  The sorbet was made out of ripe melon puree and equal parts of corn syrup and sugar.  We added the sugar mix to the puree till it had a brix level of 21.5.  Froze it overnight, then spun it with a paco jet. 

 

Step by Step Blood Sausage en Croute

Soak bread in cream mix, when real soft blend with hand blender until smooth.  Blanch fat back in boiling water until soft all the way through (for about 25 min.), set aside.  Sweat the onions in butter until soft, but do not brown, add flour and cook on low for 2 minutes.  Add the thyme, spices, carrageenan, cream, and fat back, cook on low heat.  Add blood and gently mix on low with rubber spatula for 3 minutes.  Once the protein starts to thicken, add pears and remove from the heat.  Immediately pour into a food safe plastic kryovac bag.  

Your Cvap should be preheated at 85 degrees celsius with 0 browning, set the timer for 45 minutes.  Put the blood on a perforated pan, put into the Cvap and hit start.  Once your timer goes off and the display says SELL, remove the blood bag and lay another hotel pan on the bag.  Put both hotel pans with the blood bag in a ice bath making sure the bag stays flat while it is cooling.