The Brine Challenge, Southern Style - Charcutepalooza Challence #3

Fried chicken is a big deal here in the South. Everyone thinks their grandmother makes the best. They are wrong of course because my grandmama made the best fried chicken in the world :) When the brine challenge was announced i knew right away i wanted to do fried chicken. My wife makes a decent fried chicken so she is the one who cooks it in our house. My goal was to outdo my grandmama god rest her soul.

I started with the best chicken available, a naked neck chicken bred in Alabama to thrive in the challenging conditions of the South. I got it from Little Red Hen Farm, a vendor at the farmers market i manage. They raise their birds on pasture so it had big legs and thighs and a small breast. Uh, yea, moving on. It was a big bird, weighing a little over 5 pounds, too big to fit whole in any suitable container i had so i cut it into pieces. I put the carcass into the stock pot to start simmering while i prepared my brine.

I used Ruhlman's basic brine recipe with a Funny Farm twist. The sweet component was 1/2 cup of rosemary-garlic jam my wife made. I also added bay leaves and some lemons for a little zing. I left the chicken in the brine for 8 hours. Then i removed it and let it dry uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours to develop the pellicle he describes.

I pulled it out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature so it would cook through better. Then i set up my breading station: one bowl with an egg beaten with a little water. another bowl with whole wheat flour, salt and pepper. In the South frying chicken in a cast iron skillet is a must. I got mine out, turned the stove on medium high and melted about 1/2 cup of duck fat, that's right, duck fat in the skillet. While that was heating up i dipped the chicken in the egg and put it in a paper bag, put in some of the flour mixture and shook the bag to thoroughly coat each piece. I cooked the legs and thighs first until the outside was dark and crispy and the internal temperature was 140º. I don't like my chicken over done. Then i cooked the breast pieces and wings.

My mouth was watering like crazy, it is now too as i recall the experience. I eagerly bit into a thigh. Holy cow!!! Crispy on the outside; moist, tender, flavorful on the inside! My wife said it was the best fried chicken she ever ate by far!

Sorry grandmama, I win!

Duck Breast Proscuitto - #Charcutepalooza Challenge No.2

Duck breast, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and time. Simple, natural and delicious. We had dinner with our dear friend Laurel last evening and I wanted to bring an appetizer featuring the proscuitto. I thought about different things I could wrap it around; fruit, grilled baby leeks, maybe a mushroom ... Ultimately I decided to serve it straight up paired with a creamy deviled egg.
It was the right decision!





















Funny Farm Deviled Eggs
6 large yard eggs
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1 small clove garlic - finely minced
2 teaspoons finely minced bread & butter pickles
pinch of salt
smoked paprika

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a full rolling water. Remove the pot from the heat and let sit for 12 minutes. Pour off the water and add cold water to cool the eggs. Peel the eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yolks into a bowl. Add the mayo, mustard, garlic, pickles and salt. Mix thoroughly with a fork. Spoon the mixture into the egg whites. Dust the tops with the smoked paprika.
Try not to eat them all before leaving for the dinner party!

The Salt Cure - #Charcutepalooza Challenge No.2

Robin and I have been preserving our own food for over 30 years. We learned about canning, pickling and jelly making from our grandmothers. When the #charcutepalooza challenge began flowing like a raging river through my twitter stream last month I decided it was time to launch my canoe and add a new life skill to our repertoire.

My friend chef Terry Kovall had been serving delicious house cured bacon at his restaurant, Farm Burger. I had been considering the idea of trying it myself when the 2nd challenge was announced. I contacted Tink Wade, owner of Tink's Grassfed Beef , a vendor at the farmers market I manage to see if she had a pork belly i could buy. She said she did and brought it to me at the market. When I tried to pay her for it she said she would give it to me to experiment with in return for my sharing my experience with her as she wanted to try it herself. How awesome is that!

What i love about this experience is the community-building that has occurred as a result of over 300 people working simultaneously on the challenges. The majority of us will never meet each other outside the twitterverse yet friendships are blossoming, information and support are graciously shared, and triumphs celebrated. An example: Neal Foley (@Podchef on twitter), chef, farmer and meat curing expert generously posted videos and photos of the simple smoke house he built at his Claddagh Farm in Maine. I am inspired by him to build my own smoke house in the next month or so, adding yet another skill to further our self-reliance.

Oh, we did cure some bacon too! And it is deellliiissshhhuuussss! Salty, peppery, with a hint of sweetness and undertones of bay. It fries up nice and crispy just like we like it! We have another piece of belly rolled up and hanging in the closet to dry into pancetta. It is hanging next to my suit!

Next time i go to a funeral i guess i will smell like bacon.