Fitz,

For omelets I recommend checking out Jacques pepin and Julia child omelet videos on YouTube. Jacques makes both a more cooked country style omelet and a less cooked classic French style.

Thanks! The coppa is easy to identify once you learn the layout of a shoulder. Basically it's the opposite end from where the blade bone enters. If you search for BBQ money muscle that muscle comes out of the muscle group that forms the coppa. You can also get a mexican butcher to cut one for you as "cabeza del lomo".

Not necessary to age it but I think it matures the flavor. This wasn't cured for 18 months, only about two weeks in cure and then hung for 2 months until it dried at which point I vac packed it and stuck it in the bottom of the fridge.

I tie and hang uncovered, don't see any need to mess with casings especially as I cut my coppae smaller than most.

This thread is definitely the best OOT general cooking thread we've had -- not to rain on the parade of the posts in previous threads but **** everyone is bringing their A game in here lately.

When last we spoke, I had made 2 jars of (roughly) momofuku vinegar pickles -- one of cucumbers and one of carrots and radishes.

Sweet jesus the radishes make the whole jar of pickles smell like dirty feet. That is so rank and it takes over the whole kitchen. The ball jars seal up pretty well, so for now I just capped it and put it back in the fridge, but I might just pitch it and pickle something else next time.

All the pickles, even the smelly radishes, were really tasty though, if a bit sweet.

I have a tub of hot chili peppers doin' the Momofuku vinegar pickle thing. About 10 days or so in, and I used them the other day for Octo vinaigrette on Canuck Thanksgiving. Delicious !

thx brother!

I grind about 90 pounds of shoulder a week and we're trying to remove the coppa piece and save it to cure. I think I have the right spot but I'll see if I can find a mexican butcher to help me out.

I gotta work on my reading comprehension, "aged" registered as "cured" in my random brain. Have you noticed a big difference in the flavor from the longer aged coppa?

We apply a salt rub to the coppa, put it in the fridge for 9 days, then apply some more salt rub and back in the fridge for 9 days. Then I wash it off with cold water, pat dry and apply a final rub of assorted spices (cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, etc) and then hang in a fridge at approx 60 degrees with 85% humidity. Are you doing something similar?

The above sounds right for the first stage of drying but I would typically lower the humidity after a few weeks to around 70%. I also add nitrites. You don't ever want the surface to be wet to the touch. I have found that solid muscles are pretty bombproof in re drying conditions though. Generally no botulism risk and they'll dry eventually.

The benefit of aging is twofold. It changes the flavor subtly by mellowing spices and making the meat sweeter. It also eliminates any case hardening or uneven drying by allowing the remaining moisture to distribute internally.

thanks, im having a bit of trouble controlling the humidity in our set up, all we have is a humidifier, is that what you're using?

I put pink salt in with the initial rub

For you Momofuku fans:

Here Is the Trailer to David Chang and Anthony Bourdain's PBS Show

Ok, I need a challenge.

Someone please challenge me to make a dish they want to see made. I will take pics along the way and post in thread with a TR.

Caveats for me:

1. Has to be fish or poultry (two of my family don't eat red meat)
2. Has to be somewhat kid friendly (ie not really spicy etc)

gogogogo

The trailer looks pretty cool, I'll definitely check it out when it airs

I saw this yesterday - it looks insane.

I have a subscription to Lucky Peach, and a lot of this looks related, as mentioned in the article. It may be that they bailed on the concept of an Ipad app, and gave Bourdain a call and asked if he would narrate.

damn, do you have issue #1? Have you seen what they're going for on Ebay?

Wish there was a dang Ipad or kindle version so I could be reading it now

I do have #1 (and the rest), and had no clue about the price on Ebay... I am shocked actually.

Kind of interesting to ponder when the first issue will reach its max value.

Is it now because their is limited availability with high demand? Or will it be later if the magazine happens to get huge in 10-20 years?

how about pork?

I would love to suggest something, but the limitations seriously impact what I can come up with.

I would love to see something old school French, like a gallontine, or some form of bad ass terrine. I love a simple pan fried chicken with a tarragon cream sauce, but a TR of that won't help anyone too much... maybe it would actually? I am seriously not sure.

It's value must arise from Chang's current status, and the fact that it is the first issue, which many folks were not aware of until later issues. The other issues are worth pretty much what I paid, unless I was to ship them to Australia or something.

I cannot see demand for this edition increasing much beyond next month, when PBS starts broadcasting the Chang show, narrated by Bourdain.

I have no real interest in selling it, but if the price ever hit ..maybe $500 or so, I would carefully photocopy it and sell it. I am not nuts!

I'm fighting a cold but I had all these Veggies from this week's CSA haul so I had to cook something -- soup!

Inspired by:
http://heirloommeals.com/recipes/roa...th-swiss-chard

We have:


Roast turnips, garlic, and onion/shallot/leek whatever. Blend with chicken broth, and add salt, pepper, cream, and chopped chard. Easiest soup ever. And the turnip seems to have just enough starch to trick me into thinking this is just a light, flavorful, potato soup.

Speaking of roasted veggies and soup (can you tell how lazy I'm being?):

Roasted eggplant soup


Roast an eggplant, a few medium tomatoes, an onion, and a couple cloves of garlic. Blend w chicken broth, and season w salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes. I garnished w feta (wanted to use sour cream tbh but I don't have any). Also I added way more feta after I took the picture and tasted it.

Recipe based on http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/...eggplant-soup/

I use a Dayton plug in humidity controller like you can find on amazon. Also some minor 15 minute daily air exchange with ambient using a small computer fan built into the side of the fridge.

I like the Momofuku cookbook quite a bit as you all know (though I think Mozza has taken over as my favorite), however I really don't care for The Lucky Peach that much, and tbh, I'm starting to sour on Chang a little bit. I met him a few months back at a book signing, and he's a bit of a douche. I'm also a bit annoyed with the level of praise he's received for basically trotting out standard asian fare on the east coast. Granted some of his dishes are original and inspired, but for the most part, a lot of his stuff is fairly standard korean inspired.

Maybe I'm just cranky today.

Of course Chang is a douche, 90% of chefs are douches, and that goes up to like 99% in NYC. But good food is good food.

I got the Milk Bar cookbook a few days ago, I skimmed through it and it looks interesting. I'm gonna try some recipes from it and post them here maybe next week. It appears they use a ****ton of milk powder in everything, so I'll have to get some.

I thought it pretty clear from reading Momofuku that he is a giant dick.

I read the book cover to cover and somehow missed this clear concept. Anything specific in the book that you didn't like?