by Marc Vetri
Remove the fatback from the water and pat dry. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the herb mixture. Rub the herbs over the fatback and wrap tightly in plastic. Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. You can also vacuum seal the seasoned fatback and refrigerate it for up to 1 year.
BEVERAGE—Elisabet, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene NV (Veneto): Prosecco’s soft effervescence, green-apple aroma, and tart citrus flavor makes it an enchanting counterpoint to the creamy luxury of lardo.
To Each His Own
It is scientifically proven that certain flavors will affect other flavors in very well-documented ways. Salt suppresses bitterness, as does sugar. But I firmly believe that those flavor alterations don’t mean the same thing to everyone. If that were true, we would all add cream to our coffee or squeeze citrus into our Diet Coke. The real truth is that tasting is very personal. A platter of salumi is a great opportunity to discover your own preferences. An assortment of spicy Chorizo, creamy Lardo, tender cooked salami, and all the other foods on the plate, like pungent Mostarda and acidic pickles, gives you plenty of beverage options. You could play off the salt with a tannic wine, or choose a beer to tame the spicy chorizo, maybe try a Franciacorta or other frizzante with the lardo. But how will it taste with the Fennel Salami? Try different flavor combinations to find out what you enjoy most!
SHORTCUT Guanciale
Italians cure both pork bellies and pork jowls. But the jowls are where it’s at. With more fat and more collagen, cured jowl (guanciale) has a phenomenally rich mouthfeel. It’s so good that I can’t always wait for a full cure as in Pancetta. So I came up with a quick-curing method that takes less time and still gives you an awesome flavor. After curing the seasoned jowls for a few days in the refrigerator, you slow-roast them with very low heat for a few hours to dry them out a bit. Cubed and browned in a pan with some tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and pecorino, guanciale is perfect in Bucatini alla Matriciana. Or use it anywhere you would use bacon. Just keep in mind that the quick-cure method means that it won’t keep as long. Try to use it up within a week, which shouldn’t be a problem once you have your first taste.
MAKES ABOUT 14 OUNCES
1 pound (500 g) pork jowl
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (20 g) kosher salt
2 teaspoons (5 g) dextrose powder, or 1½ teaspoons (4 g) superfine sugar
½ teaspoon (1.5 g) ground coriander
1 teaspoon (3.5 g) ground pepper
1 teaspoon (6 g) curing salt No. 1 (pink salt)
1 teaspoon (4 g) crushed garlic
Leaves from 4 sprigs rosemary (6 g), coarsely chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
Rinse the pork jowl and pat it dry. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a shallow plastic tub with an airtight lid.
Wearing plastic gloves, add the jowl to the cure and rub the cure all over the jowl. Cover and refrigerate for 3 days.
Preheat the oven to 275°F. Rinse the jowl, pat it dry, and place on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Roast until tender, 2½ to 3 hours.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
BEVERAGE— Brouwerij Bosteels, Deus Brut de Flanders (Belgium): You will likely be using your guanciale as an addition to another dish that will dictate what you drink. However, if you want to nibble on the guanciale by itself, I would go for something effervescent and light in body to lift the salty, fatty meat. Sour ale could work, but so would sparkling wine. That leads me to this great Belgian ale, which is technically a “Biere de Champagne.” A beer that acts like champagne—perfect!
WARM Pork Belly
I like pig. It’s just a fact. I like it cold, sliced, roasted, seared—any way you serve it, I like it. In 2008, we were getting ready for the Great Chefs Event that I host in Philadelphia to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand. That year, Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Paul Kahan, John Besh, Suzanne Goin, and several other chefs were coming out to support the cause. We had about forty chefs from around the globe, including my friend Marco Rossi from Italy, all helping to raise money for pediatric cancer research. The night before the event, I always host all the chefs at a big dinner at Osteria. Jeff Michaud and I usually come up with a fun menu. That year, we decided to switch up our usual charcuterie platter of house-cured soppressatta, coppa, and lardo. This pig ended up being the best thing on the platter.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS
¼ cup (35 g) kosher salt
1 tablespoon (15 g) sugar
½ teaspoon (3 g) curing salt No. 1 (pink salt)
2 teaspoons (6 g) freshly ground pepper
½ teaspoon (1.5 g) ground coriander seeds
1 clove garlic (3 g), minced
2½ pounds (1.25 kg) pork belly
Mix together the kosher salt, sugar, curing salt, pepper, coriander, and garlic, then rub all over the pork belly. Wrap the belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 days.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Unwrap the pork and put it on a rimmed baking sheet or in a shallow roasting pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and cook in the oven until tender, about 1½ hours.
Remove the pork from the oven and let cool in the pan. Slice it like you would a thick slab of bacon—into strips about 6 inches long and ¼ inch thick. Cook the slices in a skillet over medium-high heat or on a grill over medium heat until the pieces are crisp and browned, about 2 minutes per side. Serve warm.
PREP AHEAD
The curing takes 4 days, but you can cool the roasted pork belly and refrigerate it in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Slice off strips and crisp them as you need them.
BEVERAGE—Abbazia di Novacella, Lagrein 2008 (Alto Adige): From one of the most interesting wineries in the region, which belongs to a twelfth-century monastery, comes this earthy, full-flavored red. With hints of violet, Lagrein always pairs well with fattier meats.
PICKLES AND PRESERVES
Canning
• • •
Homemade Spicy Pickles
Pickled Eggs
Pickled Mustard Seeds
Preserved Cherry Tomatoes
Shallot Marmalade
Mostarda
Quince Butter
Hazelnut Honey
Strawberry Pate di Frutta
Honeycrisp Apple Jam
Apricot Jam
YOU MIGHT THINK homemade pickles have gone the way of the dodo bird, but they’re making a comeback as part of the handcrafted foods movement. And they make total sense. Just ask any Italian woman who grew up during the Depression (or anyone, anywhere who has lived through lean times) and she’ll tell you how important it was to pickle the harvest. When I first opened Vetri restaurant in 1998, I pickled everything. We opened in September and so much was coming up—peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, beets, parsnips, radishes—you name it. I pickled it all. And I still do, every season. Great food is fleeting. It’s here one day and gone the next. You don’t find ramps in the fall. And you don’t get sweet tomatoes in the winter. Certain foods ripen in certain seasons, and that’s the time to enjoy them. Don’t bother eating fresh corn on the cob in January. If you really want to eat with the seasons, the way to make the season last longer is to capture ripe fruits and vegetables in a jar. Preserve them. I love surprising people in November with pickled ramps from April. It’s like giving them a gift.
CANNING
Pickling and preserving are very simple processes. Don’t be scared off by them. The two main types of pickles and jams are those that are shelf-stable and those that must be refrigerated.
To make a vegetable or fruit shelf-stable in a jar, you need to set up a boiling-water canner. Bring a big pot of water to a boil, like a pasta pot. Drop a small wire rack into the pot; it will give you good water circulation and keep the jars off the bottom of the pot, where they could overheat. The pot should be deep enough to keep your canning jars submerged. I usually use 1-pint canning jars, the standard ones with two-part metal lids you can buy in most supermarkets. Or look for different shapes and sizes of canning jars online.
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sp; To eliminate bacteria in the jars, I wash them in hot soapy water, then sterilize them with their lids and rings in the boiling-water canner for about 5 minutes, usually while I’m mixing up the pickling liquid or jam on the stove. Pickling liquid is basically brine, a simple mixture of salt, sugar, and water. I typically pickle with a fair amount of vinegar, too. The salt and vinegar (acid) discourage bad bacteria from growing, and the sugar and spices flavor the pickles. For extra-crisp pickles, I use unrefined sea salt or pickling salt. Why does the salt matter? Because table salt and kosher salt are refined to remove trace minerals, but unrefined sea salt and pickling salt retain calcium and magnesium. Those minerals help keep pickled vegetables crisp by interacting with pectins in the cell walls of the vegetables. Nerdy, I know, but the science works. If you want softer pickles, on the other hand, use kosher salt. Or just cook the vegetable in the pickling liquid.
For jams, you simply peel, core, or pit the fruit, then chop it and cook it down with some sugar and whatever spices you like. Adding lemon juice (or another acid) and a little powdered pectin helps the mixture form a gel. Depending on the natural pectin in the fruit, you add more or less powdered pectin to form the gel. (Check out the recipes for a few examples.) Then ladle the hot jam into pint jars. The only thing to keep in mind when cooking jams and pickles is that you need to use nonreactive pans such as stainless steel. The acid in the jam or pickling liquid will corrode other metals.
After packing the pickles or jam into jars, I like to make sure everything is clean by wiping around the rims before screwing on the lids. Then into the boiling water they go. Here’s where the “magic” happens. When you boil a sealed jar, air is driven out of the jar. As it cools, a vacuum forms that prevents air from getting back into the jar. The thin metal lid of the jar will actually get sucked down by the vacuum. If the lid has a “button,” you’ll probably hear an audible ping or thwunk. That’s how you know the jar is airtight. If the lid flexes up and down when you press on it, put the jar back in the boiling-water canner until the lid does eventually get sucked down as it cools. You can use a special jar lifter, good sturdy tongs, or heatproof silicone gloves to move the jars in and out of the boiling water.
That simple combination of salt, acid, and a lack of air—and in some cases, a little cooking—keeps microorganisms from growing inside the jar. Voilà, preserves! Let them cool on a wire rack, then label and date everything. For gifts, I like to use a decorative label and tie a colorful ribbon around the lid. How long will they last? Up to one year is a good rule of thumb. But by then, whatever you preserved should be at the peak of ripeness again, and you can enjoy it fresh.
Homemade Spicy Pickles
HOMEMADE Spicy Pickles
Here’s a universal pickling recipe. Use it with almost any vegetable you like. Just match the cooking time to the size and density of the vegetable. If it’s a bigger or denser vegetable like carrots, cook it a little longer. Change the spices to suit the vegetable. And if you want crisper pickles, use unrefined sea salt instead of kosher (use a little less—about 2 teaspoons here). In early spring, I love dialing back the red pepper flakes and using this recipe with freshly dug ramps. Then in the summer or fall or winter, I can open the jar and still enjoy them.
MAKES ABOUT 4 PINTS
3 cups distilled white vinegar
2 cups water
¼ cup sugar
1½ tablespoons kosher salt
1½ tablespoons dill seeds or coriander seeds
½ to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, halved
2 small bay leaves, each broken in half
2½ pounds small pickling cucumbers, preferably no longer than 4 inches
Set up a canner by bringing a large stockpot of water to a boil. Drop a wire rack into the bottom of the pot. Using tongs, a jar lifter, or silicone gloves, immerse 4 pint jars and their metal lids and rims in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove and keep warm.
Meanwhile, combine all of the ingredients except the cucumbers in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cut the cucumbers if needed to fit them in the jar (4-inch lengths work well for pint standard jars). Add the cucumbers to the hot pickling liquid and cook until tender yet crunchy, 1 minute.
Use tongs to transfer the pickles upright into the warm jars, packing them in. Ladle the liquid to within ⅛ inch of the top of the jars, including some spices, garlic, and bay leaf in each jar. Wipe the rims clean, put on the lids, and tightly screw on the caps. Using tongs, a jar lifter, or heatproof silicone gloves, immerse the sealed jars in the boiling water for 10 minutes.
Remove and let cool on a wire rack. As the jars cool, the centers of the lids should get sucked down. To test, press on the centers of the lids, which should feel firm, not flexy. If they feel flexy, immerse the jars in the boiling water for another 5 minutes.
PREP AHEAD
Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening and use within 3 weeks.
PICKLED Eggs
I remember saying to myself about the Potted Trout Terrine, “What are you going to serve with it?” and I replied to myself, “I don’t know, chef.” “Well, how about a hard-boiled egg? Like you would serve with caviar.” “That works! But how about we pickle the eggs?” “That works!” Yes, I talk to myself. That’s what happens when you work in a kitchen all day and night. You get a little crazy, but you get some great ideas!
MAKES ABOUT 2 PINTS
8 eggs
1½ cups red wine vinegar
1½ cups water
½ cup kosher salt
½ cup sugar
2 bay leaves, broken in half
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
Put the eggs in a large saucepan in a single layer and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let stand for 15 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool the eggs. When cool, peel the eggs.
Meanwhile, sterilize 2 pint jars and their metal lids and rings by bringing a large stockpot of water to a boil. Drop a wire rack into the bottom of the pot. Using tongs, a jar lifter, or heatproof silicone gloves, immerse the jars and lids in the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove and keep warm.
Bring the red wine vinegar, water, salt, sugar, bay leaves, and peppercorns to a boil in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Boil until the sugar and salt dissolve, then let cool until warm.
Loosely pack the hard-boiled eggs into the warm jars (about 4 per jar) and ladle the pickling liquid to within ⅛ inch of the top of the jars, including some peppercorns and bay leaf in each jar. Wipe the rims clean, put on the lids, and tightly screw on the rings. Refrigerate for at least 2 days before using.
PREP AHEAD
The eggs can be refrigerated in the sealed jars for up to 3 weeks. The eggs pick up a nice pink color from the red wine vinegar in the brine. Use the eggs within a week after opening the jars.
PICKLED Mustard Seeds
Back in 2007, I was in the kitchen with my chef, Brad, and he was working on something to pair with the leg of lamb we were roasting. It needed some kind of sauce, but I generally don’t like making classic sauces (except béchamel). We wanted something more like a condiment. Brad came up with these mustard seeds simmered in pickling liquid. They are so good that the simplicity of them is disarming. We started serving them with fish, meat, vegetables—just about everything. I love them with salumi like Soppressata Calabrese and Rabbit Salami.
MAKES ABOUT ½ CUP
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ cup yellow mustard seeds
¼ cup brown mustard seeds
Combine all the ingredients in a medium nonreactive saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer until most of the liquid evaporates and the seeds start to clump together, about 2 minutes.
; Remove from the heat and let steep in the liquid for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days, but serve at room temperature.
PRESERVED Cherry Tomatoes
You want simple? You got it. This pickle has only two ingredients: tomatoes and basil (and a little salt and pepper). Save this recipe for when you get those crazy sweet cherry tomatoes in the middle of the summer. Then later in the year, crack open the pickles and you’ve got summer in a jar.
MAKES ABOUT 2 PINTS
Unrefined sea salt
1 pound small cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes
Freshly ground pepper
4 large fresh basil leaves
Set up a canner by bringing a large stockpot of water to a boil. Drop a wire rack into the bottom of the pot. Using tongs, a jar lifter, or heatproof silicone gloves, immerse 2 pint jars and their metal lids and rings in the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove and keep warm.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Salt the water a little less than you would pasta water, about 1 tablespoon salt per quart of water. Immerse the tomatoes in the water until blanched, 10 to 15 seconds. Remove and immerse in a bowl of ice water. Let the hot blanching water cool down (it will become the canning liquid). Peel the tomatoes, which is a little time-consuming, but necessary. The easiest way is to hold the ends of a tomato in each hand and use a fingernail to tear a hole in the blossom end (the smoother end). Then use the other hand to gently squeeze and pop the tomato through the hole to remove the skin. Get someone to help (hey, kids!) and it will go much faster.
Divide the tomatoes between the pint jars, adding some black pepper and a couple of basil leaves tucked down inside each jar so you can see the leaves through the glass. Ladle in the cooled blanching liquid to within ⅛ inch of the top of the jars. Wipe the rims clean, put on the lids, and tightly screw on the rings. Using tongs, a jar lifter, or heatproof silicone gloves, immerse the sealed jars in the boiling water for 10 minutes.