Pork Belly Futures ... Economics Of Pork



Your initial investment ...



... yields dividends like these ...

... and these.

Don't worry, this isn't an essay about the stock market.  Just a recap of our recent pork projects ... no, not a critique on wasteful government spending either, hahaha.  With apologies to our friends in the financial sector, butchering and curing your own pork products is much more fun than analyzing the stock market; and with no apologies to bureaucrats, our charcuterie is very frugal.  Nothing gets thrown away except a few bones that have already given up all their porcine goodness.

As posted here:  Plunging Headlong Into Charcuterie ... Homemade, Home-Smoked Bacon, I was lucky enough to purchase three bone-in pork belly chunks recently.  I weighed them after removing the bones from all and also removing the skin from one portion for pancetta, and weighed them again when finished.  If you're lucky as are we to live near some good Asian markets, it's easy to find pork bellies with or without bones.  Once we really master this process, I'd like to start ordering pork bellies from local, organic purveyors to get an even higher quality product, but we'll stick to the less expensive bellies while we're learning.

Trying to compare costs is a bit apples to oranges.  The homemade bacon and pancetta is more expensive than crappy store-brands, but less expensive than gourmet market products.  I think ours compares very favorably to the gourmet stuff.  Plus essentially everything is used, bones, skin, and all, and you know exactly what's in your food.

Bone-In Pork Belly Price, $2.99/lb.


Beginning Weight of Pork Belly


#1  8.55 lbs. (final product peppered bacon)
#2  6.32 lbs. (final product regular bacon)
#3  5.57 lbs. (final product pancetta)


Trimmed Weight of Pork Belly


#1  6.18 lbs. (bones removed)
#2  5.6 lbs. (bones removed)
#3  3.62 lbs. (bones and skin removed)


Finished Weight of Yummy Pork Delicacies


#1  5.96 lbs. peppered bacon ($4.29 per lb. for the pork)
#2  5.41 lbs. regular bacon ($3.49 per lb. for the pork)
#3  3.17 lbs. pancetta ($5.25 per lb. for the pork)

Waste Not, Want Not.  I braised the racks of ribs that I cut off the pork bellies, removed the meat from the bones, and made an al-pastor style filling for tacos and enchiladas.  Even the liquid from braising the pork ribs was so tasty that I froze it to use for braising something else later.

I saved the skin that I removed from the pancetta chunk to be smoked along with the bacon and saved that and the smoked skin and excess fat from the bacon chunks to use for cooking beans or stews, just like you'd use fat back or salt pork, but much more flavorful than anything you can buy.

Although I have most of the cure ingredients on-hand already, there is obviously a small cost associated with the cure ingredients and for charcoal and smoking wood, which I haven't tried to quantify yet.  The only unusual item you'll need for curing is pink salt, which you'll probably have to order online. 

If you're the kind of cook who's considering doing charcuterie at home, it's likely that you already have the kitchen equipment and supplies you need.  You need a really good, sharp knife, specifically a boning knife if you're working with bone-in pork.  It's essential that every serious home cook have a good knife sharpener.  You'll want to use a plastic cutting board so it can be sterilized in the dishwasher.  You'll need heavy-duty 2-gallon zip top bags.  You may want to use rubber gloves.  Although it's not absolutely necessary, it's best to use a food scale for weighing the cure ingredients for accuracy.  And last, but certainly not least, make the small investment in a really good instructional cookbook.  I love Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn.

Goodies From Jimmy's Food Store

Paid a quick visit today to Jimmy's Food Store to stock up on Italian provisions.  Got some speck, bresaola, pancetta, gorgonzola, canned piquillo peppers, canned San Marzano tomatoes, canned artichoke bottoms, pickled green peppercorns, and some cool varieties of dry pasta.  If you're in the Dallas area, check out this terrific little grocery store and take-out deli, just east of downtown on Bryan at Fitzhugh.  It's a treasure.  Their Italian version of the Cuban sandwich is famous around here and for good reason ... they're terrific.

Christmas Lunch

The court reporting firms I contract with had their annual holiday lunch on Monday. It was so great to see everyone, our office manager, the other court reporters, our videographer, and the owner of the Spanish translation service we use. Following are the recipes I prepared for the lunch:

STEAMED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH SUNDRIED TOMATO AIOLI

Brussels Sprouts

1 1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, rinsed and bottoms trimmed off
1/4 lb. thin-sliced pancetta, finely diced (can substitute bacon)
½ cup finely diced shallots

Fill a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes and set aside. Using a steamer basket placed inside a medium saucepan with a lid or an Asian-style bamboo steamer, steam Brussels sprouts for approximately 10 minutes. They should still be a pretty green color and should still have slight resistance to a fork pressed into the base or into the middle of the sprouts. Remove from steamer and drop into the ice water to stop the cooking and maintain the pretty green color. Drain sprouts and place in serving bowl.

In a skillet over low to medium low heat, slowly cook pancetta. Cook until it renders its fat and becomes slightly crispy. Increase heat to medium low to medium and add shallots. Cook slowly until shallots are tender. Pour pancetta-shallot mixture over Brussels sprouts and mix well. Serve with sundried tomato aioli.

Sundried Tomato Aioli

¼ cup oil-packed sundried tomatoes, drained
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Finely chop sundried tomatoes in food processor. Add egg yolk, garlic, mustard, and lemon juice and blend well. With machine running, gradually add oil through feed tube in slow, steady stream. Blend until smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper. Blend for a few more seconds.


Notes:

I also added a little squeeze of anchovy paste to this recipe, about 1 teaspoon. It adds more flavor depth. If you have anchovy paste handy and like it, give it a try. If not, no problem.

Next time I make this aioli I’ll use only half the amount of sundried tomatoes so that the aioli will be a bit more subtle.


SIMPLE GARLIC SHRIMP

1 lb. medium (about 25 per pound) shrimp, rinsed, shells removed except for tail section, and de-veined
1 head of garlic
Zest of 1 lemon
6 tablespoons butter
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Italian seasoning
Salt (if needed)

Separate the head of garlic into individual cloves. Remove root end and skin from garlic cloves. Divide the garlic cloves in half. Slice half of the garlic cloves very thin. Finely dice the remaining half of the garlic cloves.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over low to medium low heat. Add the olive oil. Add the sliced garlic and cook very slowly until browned. You want the garlic to give a nice toasty garlic flavor to the oil without burning. When browned, remove garlic slices. Add lemon zest.

Keep temperature at low to medium low. Add the diced garlic and slowly cook until garlic is soft. You don’t want to brown this garlic. Sprinkle the butter/olive oil/garlic combination liberally with your favorite Italian seasoning, 1-2 teaspoons.

Add the shrimp to the skillet in a single layer and keep the heat low. Shrimp cook very fast and you want to give them a chance to absorb all the great garlic flavor, so cook them very low and slow. After a few minutes, flip the shrimp over and continue to cook them in a single layer. When all shrimp have turned pink and curled up a bit they’re done. Taste a shrimp and the buttery sauce for seasoning. If needed, add a sprinkle of salt.