Holy cats fur!

I dont really have much to say about this one...

Perfect Capicollo

Sometimes. It just doesnt get better then this.

This is a monster cap off a berkshire from Fred at perth pork.

This guy hung for about 4 months and had a beautiful 5 spice added to the cure and the aroma makes me salivate everytime i smell it.

Using good pork makes a world of difference. The fat in this is incredible. Luckily i have about 40 more still hanging.

Larzo

This is Larzo. Yes i've made this word up. And you know what, im gonna copyright it. Right here, right now. March 24th 2010. Larzo. Blam!(<-kitchen slang)

I've always disliked Lonzino, Lonzo, Lonza, Lomo, cured pork loin.

I've cured it numerous amounts of times and have never really fallen in love with it. Theres always something that has been missing. Its always very blah to me, regardless of the aromatics i've added. What really sold me on my dislike for this cured meat was when i tried some iberico de bellota lomo, it was ok, but it was ridiculously priced at like 250 a kilo.

And then there's Lardo, I love lardo. who doesn't? Well, a lot of people. It breaks my heart when i see pieces of yummy, melty, strips of cured white back fat coming back on a charcuterie plate and into the waste basket. What is it about cured fat that turns some people off? I mean look at our blueberry bison salami, its littered with cubes of fat but people eat that up like msg laced doritos. Perhaps people feel guilty about eating straight fat. I guess i can understand that. Well i cant, but i can try.

So this here Larzo, a cross between cured pork loin and cured back fat, is the answer to my dilemma of the two when cured separately. You have the leanness of pork loin that takes on flavor easily but you have the finish of the Lardo which keeps it moist and offers richness on the tip of your tongue. We dont screw with it much. We dont clean it up, we dont take off the strapping, it comes right off the bone and into the salt. It cures for 14 days and hangs for 3-4 weeks. To do it right, you must weight it during the salting stage so you get a flat compressed brick. It slices well and has the richness of prosciutto, only richer. Do everyone a favour and dont use shitty pork for this. This is only good with the best pork possible. If you can, use whey fed pork. the whey goes straight to the fat and makes it like butter rather then that typical pork fat with a chew. Enjoy!

New Website

Well its been a while...

Perhaps i should rename this blog "Its been a while..."

Moving on, The Black Hoof and Hoof cafe are finally getting a website.

Yes i know, its about freakin' time.

What kind of restaurant in a major metropolitan city doesn't have a website? The only one i can think of is our restaurant. But the time has come and i feel good about this one.

You see this isn't the first time we've embarked on this journey of HTML.

But this is definately the most promising one of them all.

I think what all the past web designers have been lacking is kowledge of what Black Hoof is. Who we are. What food we serve. The environment, the culture, the vibe, and our passion. So, we've finally secured, and by secured i mean we havn't paid them nor have they started the website yet, a duo of web geeks, errr guys, who dine enough at our restaurant to get it and there past work gives me good hope to expect something refreshing compared to the stale typical restaurant website.

This website will be a look into our restaurant, the people who make it all possible, the staff, the dishwasher, our suppliers. It will be interactive. No flash. No bullshit. Hours of operation and contact info will be fully displayed so hopefully people dont continue to show up on tuesdays and wednesdays, because it breaks my heart having to watch them from across the street through the kitchen window of the cafe as i prep on my days off.

I havn't posted in a while since we decided to embark on this "getting our act together website thing" because blogspot is so fucking depressing and all i keep thinking about is this website Jen and I have been designing in our heads.

But, i came on tonight and checked this new blog counter/stalker/CIA thing i added a while back and was surprised at how many people actually read this page. Malta? Australia? UK?

Crazy!

Ok, for real, who's in Malta makin charcuterie....? Show yourself!

Anyways, i've had so much stuff stockpiled these days, so many pics, so many stories, and i was hoping this was going to be a week long web construction but apparently html stuff takes time.

My web guys gave me an itinerary of all there objectives and projected dates.

These guys have there shit together broken down into how many hours they distribute amongst various duties, etc...

And the projected launch date is in april.

So I will have to be patient.

And despite the fact that i cure meat for a living, patience is not one of my virtues....i want everything now now now!

So, to sum it up. Charcuterie Sundays will be integrated into our new site. This Blog on blogspot will no longer exist. It will be much more interactive, pictures will be better, and Jen (My biz partner, not my girlfriend contrary to popular belief) will be sharing her gift in concocting drinks as well. We still have a month and a 1/2 or so left but I will let you know when things change.