I can’t believe I’m sitting here thinking that this is the first time I’ve had bacon as a main course for dinner. Sure we’ve all had bacon with dinner. Or bacon as dinner, at least some of us anyway. But this is the first time I’ve served bacon as the main course in dinner.
Last weekend I received an email from Chilebrown, he was starting up another load of his homemade bacon. Each batch varies a little, smoking temps, cuts of meat and cure times. I’ve been pleading for a bacon with more smoky flavors. And brother, or sister, he came through in flying colors.
I enjoyed this batch a lot. It had great pork flavor and was matched by an applewood smoke that left you smacking yer lips. Both Mama and agreed it was on the salty side, but it seemed to go over fine because everyone’s plates were clean.
Saturday’s supper was easy, fast and a topnotch way to end a nice afternoon.
Meathenge recommends you try having bacon as your main course for your next Saturday Supper.
Xo Xo
Author Archives: Biggles
Fatted Calf Newsletter – Pork Crepinettes with Mariquita’s erbette chard, pine nuts and lemon & a fancy pork loin!
Yeah yeah, still running late these days and this week is no exception. Not much going on at the Lab this week, not much to report. I almost cooked something fancy last night, but chickened out. Oh wait, I did cook something GREAT this week. But I didn’t post about it. I figured there wasn’t anything stellar about what I did other than how great it tasted in the bowl with rice. It was a Cajunny dish for Fat Tuesday, not sure what to call it other than Pig Foot Soup.
My only regret was that I didn’t do a roux, that would have put it over the edge. It had the garlic & onion browned of course. Then I tossed in a smoked pig’s foot from Highland Hills Farm, a load of fresh Andouille from Fatted Calf and a leftover fried pork chop! Some jalapeno, can of maters, can of black eye peas, smattering of broffs and a toss of hearty red wine. At this point I added too much “Cajun Seasoning”, this means it was too salty and spicy. But that was fine because once you added the rice? Perfection. It sat on the stove top for 3 hours, oh yes.
Reheated a few days later? Just as good.
Enough of that, on to the Fatted Calf’s menu for Saturday morning.
Their special this week is the Bone in pork loin roast stuffed with brandied prunes and peppery sausage. While I haven’t had this specific combination, I can tell you the quality of the pork loin roast is incredible. I attempted to find something in my archives, but it’s too vast a search and couldn’t find anything in a reasonable amount of time. Just take my word for it, the roast is beautiful with or without the stuffing. As you can see, it has peppery sausage in it. This could very well mean that if you show up a tad early you very well might get some of that in casings! It could happen you know.
Next up we have the crepinettes, they’re pork with Mariquita’s erbette chard, pine nuts and lemon. I believe these will be exceptionally good this week cause they gots citrus! Did you catch that Shuna? Citrus !!!
I’d like to point your attention to the Rabbit Boudin, these are skinny little dudes with sweet rabbit meatses. Be careful if you grill them, they tender.
OoOo OoOo, check out the Salumi isle! They’ve got the Spanish Style Chorizo listed! Listen up, this is a wonderful treat. Rich, and wildly tasty on the buds. Taylor has figured out a fat to meat to spice ratio that sends these flavors to all corners of your mouth in a rush. It’s crazy, get one, you’ll see.
And last but not least in any sense of the word is the Sugo di Carne (meat sauce). Just get some, don’t care what you say. Kate and I were discussing how incredible the junk is. Warm and spread on toast, veggies or whatever. Add maters and you have a pasta sauce worth sharing with your mother. That means it’s good, you knob.
No matter how you slice it, this week’s lineup looks great. Do yourself a favor and head to Berkeley Saturday morning at maybe 10am, you’ll be glad you did.
Xo Xo
ps – Make sure you have a front license plate when you park. I didn’t and got a fix-it ticket, costs me 25 bux.
Roast Chicken Stuffed with Duck Proscuitto & Fresh Herbies
I believe it was Wednesday when I remembered I’d picked up a little package of duck proscuitto from fatted calf last Saturday. I wanted to move fast and since it was during the week it had to be an easy meal that wasn’t too involved AND the little chilrens would eat. So a badass juicy pasta dish was out of the question, along with most other things with ingredients and flavors.
We hadn’t had a roast chicken in over a week, it was time.
Fatted Calf Newsletter – Little lamb leg roasts stuffed with olive tapenade
Hey Everbody!
I hope this week has been treating you okay. Thursday morning ruffled my feathers considerably and am attempting to bring my self back to earth. Maybe a few meat related thoughts will steer me towards the light.
HEY. Fatted Calf gots the Little lamb leg roasts stuffed with olive tapenade! I’ve had a few of these, one oven roasted and one smoked. The lamb is so fresh and bright, not all gammy. The hand made tapenade matches the meat as though they were together from the beginning. I love these roasts and if you’re going to be around I’d suggest placing your order right now. If you show up when the market opens, the roasts could have very well sold out already. If not, there’s one and the guy in front of you will buy it. I’ve seen it happen, it’s happened to me.
The crepinettes look really good this week too, they’re pork with roasted shallots, walnuts, red wine and herbs. Not sure where you are, but here the weather is getting nicer by the day. It’s grill time!
oh oh oh oh, hey they’ve got the Duck sausage with Kirsch! MMmMm, duck sausage.
I bought some Duck Prosciutto last week and will be using that in tonights dinner. I’m going to stuff it under the skin of a whole chicken with some fresh herbs, roast at 450 for an hour. Heh, I’ll let you know how that works out.
There’s a lot of good things that are going to be available this coming Saturday at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market, come have a gander.
Biggles
Brasato al Midolo – Tuscan style beef pot roast stuffed with marrow and rosemary
I received an inquisitive email from Shuna of Eggbeater last week. She was interested in preparing the Fatted Calf’s special this week, the Brasato al Midolo. I had to admit I hadn’t purchased / gnawed on one as of yet. It couldn’t be that tough, it’s a simple pot roast and they did most of the work already. After a few more emails it was clear I needed to reserve myself one. Interested to see what went on that lazy Sunday afternoon?
Sunday Morning Bacon Delivery, a present from Petaluma
Earlier this morning Chilebrown was busy getting himself to work and dropping off a load of bacon he’d driven all the way to Petaluma for yesterday. It’s so fun to yell Bacon Delivery and run to the front porch and dig in to the bag to see what gift the baocn fairy has left this time.
Come join Meathenge Labs in a little Sunday morning bacon romp.
Arrosto Di Maiale Al Latte or Pork Latte au Meathenge
What seemed like a simple, yet easy recipe has turned in to one of the best experiences in cooking and food in the last 6 months for us here at Meathenge Labs. Yup this would be Arrosto Di Maiale Al Latte (Pork Braised in Milk).
Earlier this week I was monkeying around at Kate’s Accidental Hedonist and came across a recipe she did, this Pork Braised in Milk. It was simple, it included pork and I hadn’t done anything remotely close to it ever before, I was sold.
I read through Kate’s adventures a few times, she’d used a pork loin roast. While this will render you a wonderful meal, if you must keep a close watch on a pork loin roast. Once it arrives at an internal temperature of 138 to 140 degrees, it must be pulled. It doesn’t have enough internal fat to keep it moist much beyond that range. The next obvious step would be to choose a pork butt roast, but I didn’t want to deal with all the fat coming out in to my ‘sauce’. I know that sounds odd, Biggles recoiling from pork fat, but I’m sure you understand at some level. Next up is the pork sirloin roast! It’s fattier than the loin and leaner than the butt, it’s what I chose for this meal. So, it was off to the market for a pork sirloin and some whole milk. Wanna come see this most amazing of pork adventures?
Tuscan style beef pot roast stuffed with marrow and rosemary, seasoned with lots of black pepper – Fatted Calf Newsletter
Some people look forward to their food magazines each month and many of us look forward to the Wednesday edition of the paper so we can get our weekly fix of the Food Section. I’m not really in to food magazines, many of them are going in directions that not only don’t interest me, but I’m just not able to follow. One of which (I had a subscription to for 2 years) just plain made me mad and forced me to write snarky letters to the ‘editor’. Magazines also make me froth due to the Accumulation Factor. Man, before you know it they’re all over the damned place and you know what? They’re heavy, especially in boxes and/or stacks. Pretty soon you’re forced to deal with it and all of a sudden it wasn’t worth the money or return. But that’s just me and … where was I?
The reason I write these introductions to the Fatted Calf Newsletter is because it’s something I look forward to each week. It arrives about Thursday or so, sometimes later and sometimes earlier. This gives me a few days to salivate over the menu and see what the weekend will bring. I also write about them because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, nyah.
This weeks special is the Brasato al Modolo, Tuscan style beef pot roast stuffed with marrow and rosemary, seasoned with lots of black pepper. I’ll be honest, I haven’t had one yet. They’ve had them a few times now and it’s time! I’ll let you know how it comes out.
OoOooO, the Crepinettes look good this week. They’re lamb with Nicoise olives and red wine. The lamb is so darned fresh, no gammy. Hey, I ran down the list here and saw Duck Proscuitto! OH YES, oh yes. This I must have, I can hardly wait!
Well, this pretty much wraps up this weeks Fatted Calf ramble from Biggles. I’ve had a really great time and hope to see you Saturday at the Berkeley Farmer’s market.
Xo Xo
Char Siu – Cantonese roast pork Meathenge style
I’ve been monkeying around Barbara’s Tigers & Straberries for quite a few months, reading posts, checking out recipes and leaving odd comments when possible. I stumbled upon this recipe for Char Siu last Thursday and knew it was for me. A quick jaunt to the Asian grocery and we were set, Meathead visits often and knew where everything was, thanks MH.
Are you ready?
Meathenge Crawls from the Ashes
I’M ALIVE !!! I’M ALIVE !!! Oh man that felt good, like a warm spring rain or a light jog down a sandy beach in September. I lit a FIRE !!! I think boys & girls need to light fires at least once a week, that’s how I see it. Going a month or two just won’t do, nope.
I’ve been in a fog for a little bit and the nasty winter weather hasn’t been helping. Well, here we are at day 2 of daytime temperatures in the mid 70 degree F range and I couldn’t be possibliy feeling any better. Yesterday at 4:30pm Biggles was at the grill, in shorts and lighter in hand, cool refreshing beverage in the other. It was time to light a fire and cook dinner, wanna see?
A sharing of yesterday’s meal – Meat Treats with a side of Volcanoes !
I found myself early Saturday morning (9:45am) at the farmer’s market and still hadn’t come up with a menu for Sunday’s meal. While I don’t enjoy sports during the year, it doesn’t hold my attention. I do love getting everyone together, drinking & eating too much and screaming stupid phrases for hours. Ahhh, good times.
It wasn’t until I was randomly buying vegetables, most of which I didn’t know the name of, that I could do some volcanoes and a stuffed roast of some kind. I felt relief that I’d finally finalized something for Sunday’s Hoorah.
If you plan on grilling this Sunday, when were you going to open your grill?
Addition made 2/4/2006 at end.
Hooboy, take a close look, maybe click on the image. See if you can find my moldy que gloves there.
While I consider myself to be a year ’round griller and smoker, there can be dry spells. And this dry spell took place during the wettest part of the year, the last few months.
Look, you’ve only got a few days left to get your menu for Sunday ready. I haven’t a clue as to what I’m doing, except for tonight. Tonight it’s Cuban Sammiches, I can hardly wait. I knew my grill needed some attention, just didn’t know how much. If you haven’t checked your grill lately, you may want to do that.
Biggles is here to help.
Grill Time is nigh, get thee to Fatted Calf brother.
Fast approaching is one of the largest grilling sessions of the year. Chilebrown’s menu will probably include enough fancy smokin’ & grillin’ to feed a small army. Dr. Jones of The Five Pints will probably be doing up a whole duck in his new smoker, even though football makes him hurl obscenities. It’s time to start looking for goodies to hork down on Sunday. A good start would be with some tasty sausages and salami. At least that’s where I’m starting.
This week Team Fatted Calf has rolled out a wide assortment of excellent grilling friendly sausage. An easy start would be with the Pork Crepinettes with Red Wine Soaked Figs & Hazelnuts, wine soaked figs? FIGS & PIGS !!! Figs & pigs, a match made in heaven. There’s Boudin Noir, Calabrese, Merguez, Toulouse (that’s from France, eh), Chorizo and a few others. One of those others would be the Organic Grass fed Beef Hot Links. These bad boys would be perfect for Sunday. They should be cooked quite low and for hours with hickory smoke love. I’ll get a handful, me thinks. Please see their list in the F.C. Newsletter following.
The special this week are the Hoffman Farm Quail stuffed with Wild Mushroom Sausage. HA !!! That would be a nice way to go, one quail per drunken idiot. Although, you’d have to keep an eye on yer guests. Those quail have small bones and drunken fools can easily choke and make quite a mess if not careful.
As I’m reading down the list, it gets better. The Terrine section is outstanding; Guinea Hen Terrine, Pate Maison, Coppa di Testa (not sure, but that last word has me a little cautious), Duck Liver Mousse and the list continues. The next hop down is the Salumi department. A few handfuls of the Fegatelli and Petit Sec Aux Herbes would be a perfect snack every minute while you’re waiting for the grill to produce. Oh man, check this out, they’ve got Spanish Style Chorizo in salami form !!! I’ve had this quite a few times and it’s a must have. And last, but not least, don’t forget to pick up some bacon. You’re going to need some to wrap roasts, sausage & chicken pieces for the grill. Never forget the bacon.
And this pretty well wraps up Meathenge’s view on Fatted Calf’s weekly Newsletter. Please read on to see what else they have going on for this coming Saturday’s Farmer’s Market in Berkeley and I hope to see you there!
xo xo
Note: If you want to make sure you get what you need for Saturday and/or you have a large order, please use their Online Order Form.
Disclaimer: I ain’t workin’ for FC and never have, I’m a huge fan and enjoy the weekly newsletter as do many others.
Torchbearer Sauces on sale !!! 50% off for a limited time
Hah! Just got an email from David Lynch of Torchbearer Sauces. Turns out they finally got their online store up and going. So, to test to see how their new system works, they’re offering 50% off!
What? You don’t remember the few reveiws I did on Torchbearer? Here’s the Torchbearer’s #23 Fever Sauce review I did last year. They range from a very mild every day sauce to one that’ll give any hot sauce a run for the money. I’m going to go order a few more, my favorite is the Fever Sauce. It seems to be right in the middle, enough burn to let you know it’s hot, yet something I can actually eat.
Here’s how you get your deal, enter the code word: onions
Please feel free to pass this information along. It’s only on for 10 days, Feb 1- Feb 10. This is too good of a deal to pass up, I’m off to get more, right now.
xo xo
Sauteed Cauliflower, toasted walnuts with quark cheese – Recipe comin’
As I left today for work with my new borrowed book in tow, Mama said she wanted a picture of me reading this vegetable book (insert gasp here). I beat a hasty exit, stage left.
That’s right, a vegetable book. And a darned good one too. I’ve been wracking my meat riddled mind for new things to try, do and experiment with. Up until this last weekend, I haven’t been inspired enough to do anything, at all.
Friday evening Jlee offered up her Chez Panisse Vegetable book, yay!
Oh shaddap, yeah I know Alice is living in her own little world and gets a lot of flack for it. But this is an excellent book, even if I don’t know anything about vegetables. I like it cause the recipes are arranged by vegetable and at each entry you’re told what time of year to expect it. Very handy for us novices, I must say.
Wanna see my version of what Alice originally called, “Whole-wheat Pasta with Cauliflower, Walnuts, and Ricotta Salata?