The **Now Eating** Thread

I'm... probably less good at taking care of it than I should be :p

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Here's the salmon candy so far.

Fresh on the smoker. Has been cured for about 20 hours in 2.5% salt and 2.5% brown sugar.

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Here it is after about 1.5 hours. I have regularly basted it with a mix of brown sugar, maple syrup, water and naga chilli flakes. I'll probably move to pure maple for the very end - about two more hours from the point this pic was taken at.

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Looking really good FT, some dishes are just worth a little effort. I'm going to have a bash at coppa di testa on Friday, ball ache to do, but amazing results! (If I can do it right!)
 
I'd really love to see progress pics on a coppa di testa :eek: I'd love to have a go myself though I'm kind of banned from having an entire pigs head in the house and if I'm honest the idea of clearing out the ear wax also icks me out a little :p

How did the brioche buns turn out? My last attempt was, if I'm honest, awful but I have have spent quite a lot of time recently getting to grips with dough so I think I'm ready to tackle them again.
 
FrenchTart said:
I'd really love to see progress pics on a coppa di testa :eek: I'd love to have a go myself though I'm kind of banned from having an entire pigs head in the house and if I'm honest the idea of clearing out the ear wax also icks me out a little :p

How did the brioche buns turn out? My last attempt was, if I'm honest, awful but I have have spent quite a lot of time recently getting to grips with dough so I think I'm ready to tackle them again.
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They were ok, had the oven up a little too high (first time really cooking them in the house and my oven is not the best)

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Burger really lacked flavour, but I expected as much as it was just the fillet tail minced.
 
I did wonder about the cut based on your picture. I need to get a new grinder. Since chucking my old (very cheap, but still awesome compared to pre-ground) I've been making do with some fairly blah forms of minced meat.

The buns look good from the picture though :)
 
FrenchTart said:
I did wonder about the cut based on your picture. I need to get a new grinder. Since chucking my old (very cheap, but still awesome compared to pre-ground) I've been making do with some fairly blah forms of minced meat.

The buns look good from the picture though :)
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Don't get me wrong they were good, but I'm looking to do a few pop up kitchens in the new year, so for that purpose they're not what i'm looking for. I was worried about too much butter (I want more of a rich bread than a sweet sponge) so I went for 27%, but I think it needs a little more.

The coppa di testa I'll be doing is from "Cured meats and tall tales from an American charcuterie" by Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson, a little different to the traditional, but as pigs heads are free, it's worth a go!
 
The fillet tail was simply a bit of trim, so would have only got minced anyway, so I grabbed it first :P

Only just got a "proper mincer", grabbed a bargain last week on amazon warehouse, Kitchenaid classic £188 delivered (On a sunday too!!!) Has a scratch on the side but thats it!!!! Managed to inherit the mincer from a friend who "can't be arsed with the hassle when the butchers is down the road", so win win!

said mincer

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Nice. I'm pretty envious if I'm honest :) I absolutely do not have the space at the moment for even a single additional kitchen gadget but as soon as I do something like that is at the top of my list.

Salmon is done with smoking. I'll probably let it rest overnight in the smoker (brought inside) as I'm lazy. After that I'll vacuum-pack some of it and then probably snack on far too much of the rest...

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edit: I might get one more pic indoors so there's a recording of what it looks like without my potato cam flash :eek:
 
I've been really impressed with it, I was going to go for the heavy duty lift one (They can be had in Costco for £400+ vat often) I was worried about the lack of motor power in the classic, but it's handled everything I’ve thrown at it, and for home use, it's more than adequate.

Saved myself £300+, which I intend on spending on attachments!!!

edit : Plus the footprint on the classic is tiny, much less than my cheapy salter stand mixer.
 
Salmon candy is awesome and very much unlike eating salmon. It's closer to jerky/biltong (though obviously has a fish component to that). I know a few people that really don't rate salmon but love salmon candy.

Final pic of it once I'd brought it inside. Again, both my camera and my photography skills suck. This gives you a better idea of the final colour and shine on the salmon though.

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@lego - definitely good to know. How do you find it for dough mixing?
 
FrenchTart said:
@lego - definitely good to know. How do you find it for dough mixing?
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It's fine, i've done a kg of t45 / t65 /00 / campagrain and the brioche (which takes a 250g uncut block of cold butter!!) No issues.

I'll get the pasta machine out on the weekend and bash a kg of dough through it, but I'm not expecting any issues.

Whats the salmon like at the end, does the brine / sugar add a crunch to the outside?, is it sticky? or does it become more of a glaze?
 
It's certainly a strong flavour though not as fishy as you might expect as the smoke, cure and maple all duke it out on your taste buds :)

The curing does pretty much what you'd expect. The glaze doesn't ever get crunchy (or at least doesn't the way I cook it) but it's more of a slightly tacky sweet coating. The entire thing has sweet and savoury flavours coming off it in waves so it's quite hard to really pin any one part down. It's utterly delicious though.
 
Salmon looks and sounds amazing. Reminds me of this hickory/honey/maple cured mackerel they do in Tesco. That stuff is like crack, I've tried not to buy it because I figure normal smoked mackerel is healthier.
 
Details of method and recipe for salmon FT!

I need it. Now. Please. Looks tasty as!

I did a Christmas dinner/ bday meal for myself Chez Jones on Friday and cooked for 16 adults and 3 kids. My god that was some amount to cook.
2 beef wellingtons, 2 pork bellies stuffed and rolled, sous vide for 36hrs (came out well!), veggie wellington, 2 stuffing rolls (like a christmas meatloaf), veggie stuffing, roast beets, roast potatoes & parsnips, dauphinois potatoes, sous vide carrots and sous vide sprouts with bacon.
Quick leftover wellington shot...
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Mrs did desserts; massive champagne trifle, black forest cake and then my birthday cake.

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Oh and nothing is quite complete without a 15L bottle of Tatt. Man, that took some drinking. Since it followed the 6L we just drank.

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