Day 86: Guanciale

Guanciale (pronounced gwan-CHA-lay) is a bacon that's made from pork cheeks. Cheeks are wonderful parts of animals that are totally underused. They have lots of fat, lots of texture, and they can be cheap. Think Halibut cheeks or Barbacoa. Just little flecks of Guanciale are nice in scrambled egg or on a salad, and it can be amazing with corn. It's the best way to go for Spaghetti Carbonera (the pasta that has an egg-based white sauce and bacon). In Southern States, they smoke the cheeks (guanciale is unsmoked)  and call this "hog jowl" and used in dishes like collard greens. It can be substituted with Pancetta, but the fattiness is a different taste.

The texture is nice and chewy, but you really get that genuine dark meat and salt flavour in every bite. In the picture, you see lots of meat, but much of it below the picture is actually super fatty. And the texture on the edges, if you cook it right, gets nice and crispy. I prefer it cubed, because you get the chewiness of it, but thin like this is good and a little goes a lot further. I got this from Brickworks Farmers Market. At  a whopping $50/lb, this is something of a treat. A little $10 or $15 piece will flavour a good pound of pasta. To put this in perspective, your regular breakfast bacon usually retails at around $3-$5/lb. Pancetta is a bit more than this. Something like Iberian Ham de Bellota can run you up to $600/lb, so with that in mind, $50 is a deal, right?

On guanciale
Guanciale is Italian cured pork cheek or jowl. It's traditionally used in classic pastas, like spaghetti all carbonara and bucatini all'amatriciana. Because it's largely fat, guanciale has a more seductive pork flavor and delicate texture than cured meat that comes from the belly (like pancetta, which is a common substitute, though the flavor isn't the same).

To make guanciale, you rub pork cheeks with some combination of salt, sugar, pepper, herbs and spices and then air dry them for several weeks.

Day 40: McDonald's Local Hawaii Breakfast

Yes, McDonald's...

the local menu includes a platter with rice, portugues sausage, spam, and egg. And yes, Aloha brand soy sauce. Rice in Hawaii is surprisingly nice. Even at McDonald's, it's soft, slightly sweet, and slighlty sticky. Fried spam is particularly tasty when forked in the mouth with rice.

The best part was hearing ukulele music in the background. Few people realize how important music is to the enjoyment of food.

Day 28: Iberian Ham de Bellota from St.Lawrence Market

Let's put the price of this meat in perspective: I can get organic chicken for $4/lb. I can get chorizo sausage for $3/lb, and pork tenderloin for $2/lb. If I got out on a limb, I'll get a filet mignon for $15/lb. I used to be in the food business - I carried the most expensive item on almost all of my clients' deli counters. They would retail my product for around $17/lb.

How much is Iberian Ham de Bellota? I paid over $600 per pound ($611 to be exact, but what's a few dollars between friend and butcher)!!! Sure, I might have been ripped off, but keep in mind that until 2007, it wasn't even available in the US. So as I got my hands on some, I'm not really complaining.

What are my thoughts?

The first thing you notice is how incredibly oily it is. The whole piece of meat glimmers almost like it's made from fine Italian marble. You also notice the marbling of the meat,with large rivers of fat running through it. The smell... unequivocally pork.

Now when you put it in your mouth, the texture hits you - it is almost buttery. If you have been so fortunate as to have experienced tuna belly, then you'll recognize that the texture is pretty close to that. Enter the flavour - a very rich bone soup floats on the tongue and inner cheek, followed by a finale of warm sea salt.

I'll be honest, I got weak knees, and man did that feel good. Today, recall, is Day 28 of my quest, and as I started to lose hope that I would ever come close to my quintessential food, my morale has been revived - I think Iberian ham makes the short list.

I have gotten one step closer, and take a deep breath, hope revived, and ready for more. I continue down the road - it will be a long journey, but one that must be made.

On Iberian Ham de Bellota:

Jamón ibérico, Iberian ham, also called pata negra, is a type of cured ham produced mostly in Spain, but also in some Portuguese regions where it is called presunto ibérico. It is at least 75% black Iberian pig, also called pata negra (literally, black leg). According to Spain's Denominación de Origen rules on food products, the jamón ibérico may be made from cross-bred pigs as long as they are at least 75% ibérico.

Immediately after weaning, the piglets are fattened on barley and maize for several weeks. The pigs are then allowed to roam in pasture and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns, and roots, until the slaughtering time approaches. At that point the diet may be strictly limited to acorns for the best quality jamón ibérico, or may be a mix of acorns and commercial feed for lesser qualities.

The hams from the slaughtered pigs are salted and left to begin drying for two weeks, after which they are rinsed and left to dry for another four to six weeks. The curing process then takes at least twelve months, although some producers cure their jamones ibéricos for up to 48 months.

The hams are labeled according to the pigs' diet, with an acorn diet being most desirable:

The finest jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). The exercise and the diet has a significant impact on the flavor of the meat; the ham is cured for 36 months.

Day 17: Duck Liver Pâté with Pink Peppercorns from St.Lawrence Market

Chris the Cheesemonger is one of my favourite stores in St.Lawrence Market - a true this gem. Great staff, huge selection, and top quality ingredients.

This pate was not entirely up to standard because it was too subtle on taste. That said, it was silky smooth in texture, not at all liver-like, slightly sweet, and little bitter nuggets of pink peppercorn plays off of the subtle saltiness.

The jelly was flavourless, so definitely they missed an opportunity to add some a sweet or winey touch to the Pâté.

Overall, okay.

From wikipedia:

Pink peppercorn refers to spice made from dried berries of the shrub Schinus molle. Jars of pink peppercorn may also be labelled "baies roses."

Day 15: Prosciutto Ham from San Daniele

I found this ham to have a bit of an overly raw flavour, a bit too close to fleshy to be comfortable. However when cooked with a bit of an acid (in my case, a red wine vinegar), the carpaccio nature wore off. The texture was slightly slimy, and the flavour aired on the side of iron-like, almost gamey.

From Wikipedia:

Prosciuttois an Italian word for ham. In English, the term prosciutto is almost always used for a dry-cured ham that is usually sliced thin and served uncooked; this style is called prosciutto crudo in Italian and is distinguished from cooked ham, prosciutto cotto.

The most renowned and expensive legs of prosciutto come from central and northern Italy, such as those of Parma, and San Daniele (note, although the name of the brand of this prosciutto, it does not mean that the pig is from that region). The prosciutto di Parma has a slightly nutty flavour from the Parmigiano Reggiano whey that is sometimes added to the pigs' diet. The prosciutto di San Daniele, on the other hand, is darker in color and sweeter in flavour.