liquid gold

If you need one good reason to buy a duck, besides being tasty, sustainable and low impact happy meat, this is it. Duck fat. Liquid gold! Think potatoes. Fried golden crispy potatoes done in the oven or in a pan. Think the best potatoes you'll ever taste. Dont think of your arteries. This fat imparts an incredibly rich and rounded flavour to the potatoes, not at all greasy nor 'ducky'.

Duck fat is very easy to render out from duck skin. Just put chopped duck skin and excess fat trimmed from the bird in a pan and shallow fry on a medium heat for about 20 minutes. All the fat will render out from the skin and leave you with molten gold in a pan as well as lots of 'quackling'; crispy duck skin fried in its own fat. Oh my god. It all sounds soooo bad for you!
When the skin pieces hit a deep brown and become really crispy, remove them and then drain the slightly cooled fat through a sieve into a storage container and refridgerate. It keeps well for quite a few months and can probably be frozen. While youre rendering out the fat, you may as well stick the duck carcass in big pot with some of those vegetable trimmings that you stash in a bag in the freezer and some seasoning and make stock, right?



So heres what you can get from a duck:
:: a meal for 4 using the meat (2 legs, one breast)
:: one duck breast proscuitto, enough for 8
:: enough duck fat for roast potatoes for 8
:: 6-8 litres of duck stock
:: quackling

An amazing amount of goodness from a small bird. The boybean was quite partial to a bit of quackling, having discovered them for himself when he climbed up to the benchtop. He must have eaten, ohh about ten of these tasty morsels before i intervened. The crispy rendered duck bum i fed to the cat.

dry cured, wild meat chorizo and salami/cingaliere

It took me all afternoon, not bad for four hours work with a small bean hanging around being very interested and wanting unreasonable things like food and drink with me all up to my elbows in minced pig fat with some aromatherapy herbs and spices to cut the stink of the hog casing! that stuff is pretty rank! phew-eee! But I managed and its worked, so far. 'Scuse the crappy pics throughout; various issues with kids taking some, fat smeared on lens, no light in the pantry and computer issue so no editing available.
I have made sausages many times beforebut never salami. Im not sure why as when watching some River Cottage it looked so damn easy, and i thought 'what they hey? charcuterie adventure here i come'. I have the requisite mincer and sausage/salami nozzle and Im always up for learning and trying something new. And when it means you can actually EAT SOME SALAMI, Im all in. I dont eat salami anymore as i havent found any free range or organic stuff and Im sure if i did it would cost me an arm and then two legs. I do buy a local free range chorizo occasionally but i treat it like gold as its pretty expensive; $11.50 for two 10cm lengths. So, i forked out the cash for some wild boar and venison and some back fat and i reckon i might just be about two hundred and fifty ahead if this stuff proves edible. If you can get over the obvious similarities with some rather adult activities and body parts this is something you can try with the kids. The teen beans found this whole process highly snortable and in betwen trying to elevate the process out of the gutter, I resorted to a few, 'hey check THIS out' myself.
No nitrites (saltpetre) in this salami, so i hope the natural fermentation process steps up tot he mark! Its all about the salt and the ambient temperature.

Wild boar and venison salami and chorizo.
The primary mix is the same for both so i combined all meats and seperated them into two lots when it came time to add seasonings specific to each type of cured sausage.

2.5 kg diced wild boar meat (cinghiale)
1.5 kg diced venison
1.5 kg boar/pork backfat (you can use 'salami fat' but its floor scraps)
hog casings (about 6 metres)
20 cloves garlic minced with meat
salt (to equal a minimum 2.5% total weight of meats) I used murray river salt flakes.
hooks
meat string

The pork backfat came with skin so first task was to remove the fatty strip so it could be minced, my knives are terribly blunt knife and I hacked away after doing my two knife sharpening trick that seems to work but really just makes a great sound.
It was strangely satisfying. Then i minced all the meat using the coarse mincer attachment, with the garlic, then the fat and mixed them together with salt. I did this all by hand as you need to really get in there to mix without mashing the fat completely and used a big plastic box to do the mixing as it makes it much easier.

I split this 5kgs in half to make half salami and half chorizo.


Salami seasonings for half the meat mix.
2 tsablespoons lightly smashed black peppercorns.
2 tablespoons lightly smashed fennel seeds.
1 tablespoon ground coriander seed.
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons coriander seed.
1 tablespoon cumin seed.
3-400ml red wine (i used elderberry)



Chorizo seasonings for the other half
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 tablespoons smoked sweet ground paprika
1-2 tablespoons ground hot paprika
3-400 ml white wine (i used quince)


Mix seasonings well into the meat paste using your hands. Now begins the fun stuff!
Slide washed casing length over the stuffing nozzle and tie at end. Turn on machine and begin to stuff! Being rather impatient, i must admit that i had begun the session without really checking some good tying off techniques so i ended up with soe pretty random and not very professionally tied salamis. Next time i will brush up on knotting and finishing technique before I start as having this knowledge would certainly would have made the flipping and contorting process easier. I pricked any air pockets i could see with a pin sterilised in the flame of a match.
2.5 kgs of wild boar and venison salami and chorizo now hang in the pantry, 2.5kgs of each. It smells ..interesting.

One thing to definitely ensure before you begin the process of salami making is to nail down and prepare your hanging place;it needs to be airy and cool. We hung ours in a walk in pantry and lined its drip line with a sheet of newspaper and despite the room being made of mostly rock it still was alrady stinking out the house, so much so that i got concerned that something funky had already happenned to my lovely looking specimens which were dripping a little and Googled 'what should homemade salami smell like'. Gives you some idea of the pong. I was glad to read the following...

The smell of rot — the ripe funk you breathe in Italian pork stores and French charcuteries — has always been part of the craft of curing... the raw meat is stuffed into natural casings and left exposed to each stage of a salami's life: gocciolamento, dripping; asciugamento, drying; stagionatura, ripening in the air, picking up wild yeasts and cultures that start fermentation.
"When I was a kid, the salamis used to drip on the customers' heads, and the smell was fantastic," said Louis Faicco, an owner of Faicco's Pork Store in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. "Now they are all locked away upstairs where no one can see them or smell them." I felt much better after reading this.

No one tells you this when you start.

'smell of rot'...'dripping'...reassuring words to this novice! Doesnt sound very appetising does it? just gota keep you nose on the prize, that lovely rounded, sweet, rich full flavoured and aromatic air dried salami taste. So the pantry is now smelling delightfully of rot (we opened the ceiling window and this has helped with ventilation no end) so i really wouldnt recommend drying it in your clothes closet in the bedroom (unless you're into the exotic, rather feety smell of fermenting pig) If the pong doesnt become more manageable we will move them to the garage and shroud them in a loose cage of wire to stave off the hungry hoardes of wild urban animals.

Most salami sold is apparently cooked, this reduces cost, time and potential litigation due to the sometimes unpredictable nature of dried, fermented meat product. This risk reduction strategy has also reduced the flavour. When i think about it , this explains why they dont have the traditional white, chalked look! no mould as no fermentation occourred and hence no bacteria growth! The white mould on the outside is all good. It's when it's green there's a problem.


They'll be ready in 4-6 weeks, in time for the good weather and wood fired pizza. Next time i make salami i wont forget to do it traditional style; with coretto (coffee with grappa) that might just make it extra interesting, oh and some extra hands on deck might be a good idea too!

Click here for updates on the salami

Cheesed off

Since the weather turned and outside is no longer enticing, the bloke and I pack up the bean and go to market every Tuesday to do the weekly shop and have lunch together. For the last few weeks i have been taking along containers to bring home the cheese. Plastic itself doesnt bother me unless its leaching BPA into my system or its single use packaging. Im often compromised with plastic vs glass bottles as I have read that, as usual, 'it depends' on what you're purchasing as sometimes the glass bottle is shipped in from whoop whoop and the energy consumed making it nd getting it to you in glass is way greater than the energy used to get the plastic made, transport the plastic to you and then recycle the plastic. 'It depends'. Sigh

So today I front up to a new cheese shop, ask the woman behind the counter for some feta cheese and ask her please can I use my own container. Sure, its no problem she says and then proceeds to reach over and rip off a plastic bag from the roll beside the counter. I stand there quite dumbfounded, watching while she uses the bag as a glove to pluck some feta from its brine bath and to cup it on the scales. The feta is being tipped from the plastic bag into my cheese box when i finally speak up.

Dont people get it! I tell her that i may as well take the cheese in the bag NOW because my guess is the bags going to be tossed, right? Right. If i take it at least i can reuse it.

No tongs for cheese removal at that cheese stall! Apparently it may crumble the edge of the feta... gasp! hence the use of bags for picking up the cheeses and then for holding the cheeses. If i return to that stall Im gonna have to give a key note address before i hand over the box!

Pandemic preparedness

As an epidemiologist i have to confess to finding an emerging pandemic quite a fascinating occourrence. However as a planet member, I know that the destruction which a virus can wreak on the population is devastating.

The emergence of any zoonosis is a worying thing. The transfer of a virus from one species to another is quite a rare event and flus are particularly problematic as they mutate very quickly, making treatment tricky. By the time the scientists have developed a vaccine for one flu strain, its mutated to another and being a socially transferred illness, it spreads quickly. So flu shots are rarely beneficial unless youre a medico in a hospital and get exposed to many strains at an intensive level.

So when the Queensland Chief Medical Officer yesterday advised members of that state to start stockpiling food and was promptly contradicted by the Federal Health Minister i wondered what was going on, thinking that some 'other' pressure must have been at work to make Ms Roxon object to such a simple suggestion.
I came upon an interesting article from the food industry which i believe explained MS Roxons 'dont panic' response. This article on food supply shows that Australias urban food supply is one of the most vulnerable in the world. Our reliance upon 2 big guns in food distribution who at best are shown to have only 3 days supply on their shelves, without panic purchasing, and 80% of Aussies get all their food from these distributors. I found this incredible and rather worrysome.

Another article which was very interesting from the Medical Journal of Australia was 'the food lifeboat developed by Sydney University which details energy requirements and energy allowances for general non perishable foodstuff which we should all have in stock in case of a major disaster of any kind. The biggest danger is probably panic buying if you rely on supermarket food! Its an easy to follow read and really quite interesting.

Now Im not one to run around shouting 'the sky is falling' and I think the international response to this emerging flu strain has been incredibly efficient and well co-ordinated and I dont actually percieve a level 6 pandemic being declared due to the diseases timeline. However i am relieved to know that we have just over 2 months food stock in the pantry, just as a matter of intellectual and practical interest.

Op Shopping

I dont know if its due to current circumstances or being reinspired by fellow bloggers' finds, but Ive been out trawling the second hand shops 3 days in a row, sometimes with the whole clan and sometimes alone. We've been bringing in the loot i have to say; never worn patent red flats for B1 ( shes got size 10 feet and is hard to buy for) and vintage Nina Ricci sunnies; B1s find of the century (she is a VERY pleased bunny) mint condition Custo tank top for my SIL (damn! she got to that rack before me!) baby tupperware (sad and suburban but great for travel) and more. Its been cheap, philanthropic and public service therapy and good practice of the 3 R's (she says hopefully, nothing like ignoring a problem to make it go a way). I was flicking through some really great scarves in one shop today wondering if i would wear some of the funky retro silk ones but feeling unadventurous i came home emptyhanded. Reading Vegan Yum Yum this afternoon, and her cross post on Etsy featured buyers, I found inspiration for using some of these great scarves! Reusable silk sacks for bulk purchases. weightless, washable, strong, durable and tieable and puts an end to my plastic bag reusing , washing, and waiting for them to bust! So, im going to keep my eyes peeled for silk scarves on our travel, and when we return im gonna run myself up some recycled silk scarf bulkfood sacks.

bulk buying

Tuesday is Central Market Day and since B1 has been schooling at home, she has been coming along too. Once a fortnight or so we make the 'trip into town' down the freeway and we get a bit excited; abundance is on its way. Being on leave has made it easier to be able to shop for items in bulk more regularly. Goodies and Grains is my favourite shop and its certainly an advertisement for buying like this. Looking at all the stuff they have in there is certainly inspiring; although lots most of it i would never use, like the fruit and veg washing gel!? sheesh. Im of the one surface cleaning product can do it all ilk. Been there with the baking soda but if i want to get simon or the girls in on the cleaning action, then its citrus spray all the way.

(Im being very brave in posting this pic of me. B1 took it. she's getting braver in her old age, wandering around taking random pics in public. She wouldnt have been caught dead doing anything 'attention drawing' 6 months ago, hmm, me neither).

So far, we buy in bulk the following, organic and australian produced where i can, yahdah yahdah...

:: flour - pasta
:: flour - bread
:: flour - bakers
:: flour - chick pea
:: sugar
:: pasta
:: lentils
:: beans
:: weet bix
:: oats
:: semolina
:: rice - jasmine
:: rice - brown
:: muesli
:: on-the-spot peanut butter
:: dates
:: eco dishwasher powder
:: eco hand dishwashing liquid
:: eco clothes washing powder
:: eco bodywash liquid
:: yeast/spices/tea/chocolate/oil/tamari/miso/tahini

The olive oil selection is very impressive, lots of locally grown and pressing varietals to choose from and some really high quality.


Discounts are given for bringing your own containers and bags and extra discount for spending over $50.00. Its great incentive. I take along plastic or thin cloth bags , empty bottles and empty tubs/jars and empty them when i get home. the kids actually love doing this, tipping the loaded bags in to the bins; its the whole abundance thing im sure. we wash/dust out the bags and store them in the granny trolley,ready for next time.

slowly i have increased what we purchase in bulk and having food grade bins and a good selection of really large jars in the pantry is certainly a great help, well having a pantry full stop really helps and its a luxury. The pantry is built utilising passive solar or biological design. Its walling is in the earth as the lower level of the house is built into the side of the valley. The window is actually just at foot height if youre out the front of the house. So, its really cold in there and makes for a great cellar for storing fruit and vegetables.

When we first introduced the bins the kids loved it, they felt like they had a shop at home and were quite competitive about who's turn it was to get the flour/pasta! it was the catalyst to get us making our own bread. I included that on B1's must do each week; to keep us in bread now that she is learning at home. She actually loves making it, she feel very competent and like she is contributing meaningfully. There's something very symbolic about bread making and i think she just feels it.

Its quite tragic being so locally minded. the most painful to resist are definitely le fromage. the french cheeses are displayed perfectly, itty bitty little things rolled in ash or herb, shaped like cones, small cylinders or just a fantastic big hunk in black cloth. If we lived in France then we could indulge...whenever...we fantasised how we could make this happen as we walked around.

I have discovered a fantastic stall 'Wild Oz' which sells 'green' meats (ewww) - crocodile, wild boar, wild goat, roo and duck.
The wild boar and goat taste fantastic and are growing a local economy by removing an incredibly destructive feral pest from the outback. I cant quite come at crocodile myself, its the whole aversion i have to scaly lizard type creatures...