Today is the start of Eat Local Week in Orlando. You can find a list of the restaurants and purveyors involved at the Slow Food Orlando website. Here is a copy of the menu Chef Windus put together for Bluezoo.
3 Course Tasting Menu $39
1st
Cape Canaveral White Shrimp…
3 way hammock hollows cauliflower, pickled flambeau radish, meyer lemon vinaigrette
Hammock hollows herb co. cauliflower, radish, and meyer lemon,
Gary's seafood fresh florida shrimp
or
Rabbit confit…
maitake mushroom, truffle beurre noisette
Seely Farm, Dunnellon, Fl
2nd
Rosas Farms Grass Fed ribeye…
hammock hollows glazed turnips, baby sweet potatoes
Rosas farms beef, hammock hollows turnips
or
Florida black boar…
smoked shoulder, beer braised belly, celery root
Rosas farms boar, Orlando brewery beer
3rd
florida citrus pavlova…orange ice cream, citrus filled meringue, grapefruit gel, orange caramel
hammock hollows sunburst tangerines, Chinese honey oranges
TASSO!!!
A few days ago I cured another batch of pork shoulder for the house smoked tasso. The shoulder is cut down into slabs and then quick cured, rinsed, patted dry, rubbed down with a mixture of spices and smoked for 12 hours. We then dice it up and render it a bit with some tomato as a base for the risotto on our "Dirty South Swordfish", which is barbecue rubbed and seared in a smokin hot cast iron. I'll try to snap a shot of the finished product and the whole dish and post it up soon before the spring menu change.
Here are some shots of the shoulder being cured....
Here are some shots of the shoulder being cured....
Lardo
When reading about lardo in books and online, I came across a couple of different ways of curing it. Traditionally I believe that the Tuscan "Lardo di Colonata" is rubbed in salt, a mixture of herbs, black pepper and garlic, then placed in a marble tub called a "Conca", which is then placed in caves for 6 months and then hung to dry.
I will do most of my belly in this traditional fashion rubbed with a mix of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, garlic and bllack pepper. This will cure for six months and then I will hang it to dry.
The second method I will do combines the method described in Rhulman's Charcuterie. They cure the fatback for a recomended 10 - 12 days (or until firm throughout). I will combine this with one that was posted on studio kitchen, where the fatback was rubbed with all of the ingredients and then cryovaced, which in theory should reduce the curing time. To this I added red pepper flakes, hoping that a tiny bit of heat may come through.
I will keep you posted on the results before and after hanging, and hope that both of these methods turn out.
the fatback
being salted
ready to be packed and pressed
cryovaced fatback, ready to be pressed
I will do most of my belly in this traditional fashion rubbed with a mix of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, garlic and bllack pepper. This will cure for six months and then I will hang it to dry.
The second method I will do combines the method described in Rhulman's Charcuterie. They cure the fatback for a recomended 10 - 12 days (or until firm throughout). I will combine this with one that was posted on studio kitchen, where the fatback was rubbed with all of the ingredients and then cryovaced, which in theory should reduce the curing time. To this I added red pepper flakes, hoping that a tiny bit of heat may come through.
I will keep you posted on the results before and after hanging, and hope that both of these methods turn out.
the fatback
being salted
ready to be packed and pressed
cryovaced fatback, ready to be pressed
New Year, New Ventures
I must admit, the past year has gone extremely fast. There were many short days, many long days; busy days and slow days. I was able to do some things that I wanted to, but not everything. I hope to be really busy this year with curing meats, making sausages, pickling, preserving, etc. (That's the plan anyways).
The first project that I have begun is some preserved meyer lemons that we got in from Hammock Hollows. The citrus they have been sending us is ridiculous. The Honey Oranges are super sweet, the tangerines are sweet and tart, and the meyer lemons are HUGE!!! They are the size of oranges. I will cure them with a mixture of sugar, salt, some spices and bay leaf. I am also going to be curing some fat back for Lardo starting tomorrow. I am going to try a few different ways of curing, and plan on posting that adventure, so stay tuned......
But for now Happy New Year!!!!
The first project that I have begun is some preserved meyer lemons that we got in from Hammock Hollows. The citrus they have been sending us is ridiculous. The Honey Oranges are super sweet, the tangerines are sweet and tart, and the meyer lemons are HUGE!!! They are the size of oranges. I will cure them with a mixture of sugar, salt, some spices and bay leaf. I am also going to be curing some fat back for Lardo starting tomorrow. I am going to try a few different ways of curing, and plan on posting that adventure, so stay tuned......
But for now Happy New Year!!!!
Service
The Holidays are getting closer, but I will try to also snap some shots of what we do at the restaurant when I can (when my charcuterie is at a standstill) in order to have topics to post about. It is slowly starting to pick back up with the families starting to trickle in(Disney World is a busy time during the holidays), so don't know what I'll be able snap shots of. Nevertheless I will try my best.
Tonight the Sous Chef, Danny (a.k.a. Richard) was brainstorming and came up with this pasta which allowed us to utilize product we had lying around the kitchen. We get crazy amounts of organic produce from Hammock Hollows Herb Farm based out of Gainesville, Fl, but never know what he is going to send us. Today we had 8 cases of organic greens come in consisting of Red Romaine, Arugula, Carolina Mustard Greens, Blue Tuscan Cale, Baby Collard Greens, Mizuna, and also cases of Sunburst Tangerines and HUGE!!! Meyer Lemons (I have to try to remember to snap a shot of them... they are seriously bigger than naval oranges). We also get beautiful root vegetables, such as turnips, watermelon radishes, and kohlrabi from them. But back to the pasta....
So the Chef's pasta special tonight was 'Confit Chicken Thigh, House Pappardelle, Truffle Cream, Fall Mushrooms, Wilted Arugula, and Glazed Turnips.' It came out really nice. The great thing about running the Chef's Pasta special is that with the amount of great produce we get in, the possibilities are endless.
Tonight the Sous Chef, Danny (a.k.a. Richard) was brainstorming and came up with this pasta which allowed us to utilize product we had lying around the kitchen. We get crazy amounts of organic produce from Hammock Hollows Herb Farm based out of Gainesville, Fl, but never know what he is going to send us. Today we had 8 cases of organic greens come in consisting of Red Romaine, Arugula, Carolina Mustard Greens, Blue Tuscan Cale, Baby Collard Greens, Mizuna, and also cases of Sunburst Tangerines and HUGE!!! Meyer Lemons (I have to try to remember to snap a shot of them... they are seriously bigger than naval oranges). We also get beautiful root vegetables, such as turnips, watermelon radishes, and kohlrabi from them. But back to the pasta....
So the Chef's pasta special tonight was 'Confit Chicken Thigh, House Pappardelle, Truffle Cream, Fall Mushrooms, Wilted Arugula, and Glazed Turnips.' It came out really nice. The great thing about running the Chef's Pasta special is that with the amount of great produce we get in, the possibilities are endless.
Pickle Crazy
It was a few months back for my third wedding anniversary that my wife and I traveled up to Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in a hotel just outside of town, but spent most of our time in downtown.
The first day we were there, we were lucky enough to have been greeted by the Sunday morning Farmer's Market. It was awesome!!! There was great food, crafts, produce.... I mean, what an experience. Later that night we had dinner at McCrady's restaurant, and it was a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Sean Brock's staff(if your ever in the Charleston area you must go). But one thing that I had noticed while at the farmers market, and that stood out to me while dining at McCrady's was all of the different pickled items. What a great way to add contrast and/or balance to a dish. You can have salty, sweet, sour or fermented pickles.
So, needless to say, the next day when my wife and I went shopping I bought a couple of old southern pickling books and have been at it ever since. If there is anything lying around the restaurant unspoken for, you better believe I'll take it in a heartbeat. Here are some of the things that we have done. Once again, most of these pictures were taken with my cell phone, so apologies for the quality.
From left to right:
Balsamic/Port Cherries, Spicy Vanilla Cherries, Gooseberry Preserves, Pickled Sunchokes.
From left to right:
Spicy Mango Vinegar, Hasta la Pasta Squash Preserves, More Gooseberry's, Longpepper Cherries.
From left to right:
Sweet Pickle Chips, Chef Windus' Schichimi Carrots.
Pickled Organic Okra
Pickled Hot Peppers
The first day we were there, we were lucky enough to have been greeted by the Sunday morning Farmer's Market. It was awesome!!! There was great food, crafts, produce.... I mean, what an experience. Later that night we had dinner at McCrady's restaurant, and it was a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Sean Brock's staff(if your ever in the Charleston area you must go). But one thing that I had noticed while at the farmers market, and that stood out to me while dining at McCrady's was all of the different pickled items. What a great way to add contrast and/or balance to a dish. You can have salty, sweet, sour or fermented pickles.
So, needless to say, the next day when my wife and I went shopping I bought a couple of old southern pickling books and have been at it ever since. If there is anything lying around the restaurant unspoken for, you better believe I'll take it in a heartbeat. Here are some of the things that we have done. Once again, most of these pictures were taken with my cell phone, so apologies for the quality.
From left to right:
Balsamic/Port Cherries, Spicy Vanilla Cherries, Gooseberry Preserves, Pickled Sunchokes.
From left to right:
Spicy Mango Vinegar, Hasta la Pasta Squash Preserves, More Gooseberry's, Longpepper Cherries.
From left to right:
Sweet Pickle Chips, Chef Windus' Schichimi Carrots.
Pickled Organic Okra
Pickled Hot Peppers
FARMING
So Chef Windus told me the other day that he is planning on clearing off some land he has. I'm pretty stoked about it. He told me that he plans on raising pigs at first, and then seeing how it goes from there. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of farm to table and buying local produce, however am a bigger fan of MEAT. So, I will be helping him clear off the land and hopefully will be able to have my hand in a good bit of learning how to raise the pigs and will be able to help as well. I'll probably do some mini posts about it, but it can be followed to the full extent @bluechef. Here is picture that Chef took of the land.
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