Ground Rules

On Saturday, we were discussing what the ground rules might be for making a sandwich "from scratch."

Here are some thoughts:

• Neither of us are up for raising livestock, at least not in Rosewood, so any meat we use is going to be purchased. Where possible, we are going to look for local sources.
• There will have to be a "kitchen staple" exemption for things that anyone would have in their kitchen, like salt and flour. I'd like to limit this to as few ingredients as possible.
  
• Where feasible, we're going to grow any vegetables and herbs we use, but exceptions will be made for things that cannot be grown in SC under normal conditions.
  
• No commercial yeast will be used in any of the breads we make.
  

What does "from scratch" mean to you?

Day 5 of the Curing process

Pancetta/Bacon is coming along well. Thought I'd post the recipe, in case anyone wants to play along. This is happening all thanks to ruhlman.com.

Pancetta

Slab of pork belly (2 lbs)

For the cure:
1 c kosher salt
1/2 c sugar
10 tsp "pink salt" (sodium nitrite)

1/4 c dark brown sugar
3 cloves garlic
thyme
bay leaf
cracked peppercorns

Cover the meat evenly with the cure. Put it in a big ziploc bag with the rest of the ingredients and put it in your refrigerator for a week. After it has cured, wash it off and hang it for a week in a cool dry place. If you are going to smoke it, put it back in the refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours.

Challenge Accepted

Matt and I have decided to take Michael Ruhlman's Summer Challenge. We're making a BLT from scratch. Scratch means: Grow the lettuce and tomatoes, cure the bacon, bake the bread and make the mayonnaise. We're going to blog it for posterity. And for awesomeness.

Tonight we began the magical transformation of pork belly into bacon. 2 lbs of pork will become 1lb of bacon and 1 of pancetta. Pictures of the process tomorrow.