Dried meat v2
: food, December 15 2024 ▶
Improved, refined and more precise version, without any shenanigans.
The meat:
- Any pork as long as you can cut it on ~25x10x5cm (plus/minus) clean slabs - no membranes, veins, threads.
For curing (per kilogram meat):
- 13g regular salt
- 13g curing salt
- 2g sugar
- 3-4 crushed juniper berries
- 2g fenugreek
- 1g cumin
- 1g black pepper
- 1g saltpeter (potassium nitrate, E252, optional)
- starter culture (optional, the package should contain info on the dosage, usually 0.5g/kg meat)
Rub the spices, let it rest for 8 days in a bag in the fridge.
Every 2 days "massage" the meat.
At the end rinse and pat-dry.
Then press it down for 24 hours.
For drying:
- 4g savory (grind it first to fine powder)
- 4g sweet paprika
- 2g fenugreek
- 2g garlic powder
- 2g cayenne pepper
Rub the spices and hang the meat with a thread in a ventilated area.
On 1-2 pieces put a note to show the date and the weight so you have a reference point.
When it loses ~50% weight, it is ready.
Mine got that after 3 weeks at 10-15C, 60% humidity.
The optimal conditions should be 13C, 75% humidity.
Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk
: food, December 01 2024 ▶
A friend of mine gave me the recipe to be put in the "hall of fame" - soon to be tested on premise. What you need:
- Tender beef (rib lifter)
- salt (22g/kilo)
- sugar (1g/kilo)
- potassium nitrate a.k.a. saltpeter(1g/kilo)
- ground black pepper (2.5g/kilo)
- ground cumin (2g/kilo)
- sausage casing of your choice
Preparation:
- Cut the meat in large pieces, put it in a deep bowl and add the salt
- Mix well and leave it to rest for 24h in the fridge
- Remove the liquid and transfer the meat to anoter bowl
- Add the sugar, saltpeter, pepper and cumin, mix
- Use the large-hole gitter of the meat grinder to grind the meat
- Mix well and put it in the fridge for another 24h
- Use smaller gitter to grind the meat one more time, mix again
- Fill the casings at 45cm lenght, use string to tie the ends
- Use a needle to make several holes in each casing
- Slightly press the sausages to remove excess air
- Hang them in a cool, dry place
- On the third day (and every 5 days after) use a rolling pin to flatten the sausages
- Edible after 25 days
Marinated mushrooms
: food, November 19 2024 ▶
Why are these things so freaking expensive in the store? I finally sat down and made my own. A perfect cold appetizer, lasts ages in the fridge and very easy to make.
Ingredients:
- 1kg small button mushrooms - these are the most common ones
- sunflower oil - 8ts
- vinegar - 120ml (~1/2 tea cup)
- water - 120ml (~1/2 tea cup)
- sugar - 2ts
- salt - 3ts
- bay leaves - 4
- black peppercorn - 8
- 1 clove of crushed garlic or 1ts dried garlic
- 1 red onion for garnish (you can skip it)
Action:
- rinse and clean the mushrooms carefully, if they are bigger, just cut them in half
- mix all ingredients (without the mushrooms) together and bring them to a boil
- put the mushrooms in for 7-8 minutes
- let the whole thing cool down. I usually prepare more than 1kg and keep it in a big jar for several servings. You will be surprised how mushrooms shrink after cooking.
- serve cold, garnish with thinly cut onions if you wish
Fish soup
: food, October 15 2023 ▶
It has 2 parts - the soup itself and the garnishing sauce. As my father says "without the sauce you are just wasting the soup". You can use whatever fish you have, preferably different types. The important part is to be cleaned good, slow cooked and properly deboned. The key ingredient here is the lovage - I would not even try to make fish soup without it. Sadly, I had only a dried one.
For the fish stock:
- 1kg dorade (sea bream, zipura)
- 2.5l water
- 2 celery sticks
- 2 bay leaves
- 1ts black pepper corns
- 2-3ts salt
Put the stock ingredients in a proper pot. Boil for 1 hour. Strain the stock and put it aside. Remove the fish from the other ingredients (discard them) and let it cool down, then debone it. You need small fish pieces.
For the soup:
- 2 medium sized potatoes
- 2 medium sized carrots
- 1 celery stick
- 1 red pepper
- 1 big onion
- 4ts chopped lovage
- 80-100g butter
- 2-3 table spoons finely grated horseradish
Thinly chop all components from the "for the soup" part above. In a new big pot saute the onions with the butter for ~5-7 minutes, then add the carrots, celery, pepper and potatoes. Cook them for 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Add the fish stock and the deboned fish pieces. Boil everything another 30 minutes. If using fresh lovage, add it after you turn off the heat.
For the garnishing sauce:
- 2ts lovage
- 2ts chopped parsley
- 2ts chopped dill
- 8-10 cloves of garlic
- 1-2ts salt (you can adjust this to taste)
- 1ts sugar
- 2ts hot chili flakes
- 150g vinegar
Press the garlic into a paste. Chop the spices. Mix all ingredients.
Honestly, every soup that I cook, tastes better on the next day, but I just could not resist.
After serving, put 2-3ts sauce in your hot bowl of soup and enjoy (yes, 50ml brandy is a nice addition).
Chinese tea eggs
: food, May 04 2023 ▶
A colleague of mine introduced me to this wonderful recipe a while ago, but I wanted to test it several times, before recommending it. The existence of this article proves successful trials.
A brief history: the tea eggs are typical Chinese street food. Hard-boiled eggs, pickled in a savory five-spice marinade, served as an appetizer (I believe, initially, the main idea is food preservation).
Again, mine thing here is a "variant". In the original recipe, you crack the egg shells and leave them on the eggs during the pickling. Thus you get a beautiful marbling, but less flavor and longer preparation time (that's why I discard them). The best thing is you can keep them marinating in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and quickly grab a snack at any time.
Hint: you can buy pre-made spice mixture from your local Chinese shop. If you do that, you need only eggs, soy sauce, sugar and salt.
Ingredients:
- 8-10 eggs
- 2 table spoons five-spice powder (ground cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, cloves and Sichuan pepper)
- 2 bags black tea
- 2 cups soy sauce (~300ml)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 table spoons sugar
- 1 table spoon salt
Preparation - the eggs:
- hard-boil the eggs. Meaning, bring the water to boil, put the eggs in, count ~8 minutes, depending on the size of the egg. 9 mins won't hurt here.
- put them out, cool them down in cold water immediately, peel the shells.
Preparation - the marinade:
- 300-500ml water.
- add the soy sauce, bay leaves, tea bags, sugar and salt.
- bring to a boil and let it simmer for 10 mins.
- cool down completely (room temperature) before moving on.
- use a strainer to remove any hard particles.
Pickling (marinating):
- put the peeled eggs in the marinade. Here you can use a deep dish or a bag. The important part is to have them fully submerged in liquid.
- leave them in the fridge for 48 hours.
- done.