Kombucha-Home brewed!..round 2!

Real quick post here folks. As some of you may know I've been a fan of this drink for a few years now and had at one point a nice little mother cell going ( link at bottom of post ). Well I've decided to get another one going and hopefully keep it going this time around-last time I just kinda pooped out on it..

Process is really straightforward, brew up some strong black tea, add sugar (about 1 tbsp per cub of tea), cool to room temperature and pitch a room temperature bottle of whatever Kombucha you can pick up at the super market (Whole Foods often has a few selections). Now just cover with some paper towels as I did, or you can use cheesecloth I suppose as well. The trick here is to make sure the mix can get some O2 but also ensure that nothing else can get in there (fruit flies etc ).

You can see off to the right that thin layer of the mother cell is starting to develop and eventually will become 1+inches thick.

Check out my other experiences with home brewing Kombucha: http://www.dailyikura.com/search/label/Kombucha

And if your not that familiar with this brew pop on over to Wikipedia to get your learn on!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha

Next up: "Hey Brother Hefeweizen"-Brewing Sunday

Cheers!

Mead-Home brewed! Round 1

So about a 2 weeks ago I started thinking that I best get a mead going. No real reason why beyond the obvious ones-age old fermented drink (dated back at least to 1700BC), the simplicity of ingredients-honey/water/yeast, and of course the most obvious one-Mead's are delicious! I'm also sure I was also very much primed by national mead day which was pointed out repeatably in all my beer literature both online and off.

I really wanted to start this off by getting a good base set, and then (if it took with me) building upon that base recipe down the road to incorporate fruits, ales, and "other" so thats what I did.

Here's the rundown: 7 lbs of honey (5 being local straight up organic honey) and the remaining 2 being Orange Blossom honey (again organic), Wyeast smack pack of "sweet mead" yeast (ie-not bone dry mead as the end product), some yeast nutrient, and enough water to top off 2.85 gallons.

There is some controversy out there over if you should pasteurize the honey or not, I had opted not to but to rather heat up to 100 degrees F or so just so that the honey mixed well with the water, after that it was all aerating and pitching yeast (my reasoning was based in that I did not want to lose the honey aroma and that I trusted the natural protection the honey brought with it against foreign yeast and bacteria ).

Yep thats it!

Starting gravity came out to 1.129..which is the highest OG I've ever had! Its been in primary for one week and will likely stay there for another 2 weeks after which I will move to secondary. Secondary will hold for aa minimum 6 months after which I will move to tertiary for a time (yet to be determined..but likely at least another 4 months) to continue to clear and meld within itself as I'm sure it will basically be 15% rocket fuel for some time. After which all is said and done I will bottle in champagne bottles and give out as gifts.

Cheers!

Korean Stew-Kimchi and Blood Sausage Jigae

Hands down one of my favorite things to cook is a Korean Kimchi Jigae and this time I had the opportunity to incorporate some Korean Blood Sausage (Soondae) into the mix..blood sausage is something that I have truly come to appreciate over the past few years..and should be noted that blood sausage and testicles were origally the two foods I felt I could NEVER get into. One down!

Anyhow, not much to my recipe here, essentially what really makes up the core of a jigae is the use of fermented red chili paste as well as the kimchi and dried pepper flakes. I've got to admit what I really love about a jigae is the simplicity of making a stew..but with the incorporation of these Korean staples of Kimchi, pepper flakes, and pepper paste you end up with this extremely savory chili/tomato taste which encapsulates all other ingredients in the stew. Knowing this is a stew you've really got carte blanche here..make due with what you have and you'll enjoy every last drop of it.

This time around you can see I made use of what we had on hand, the only "special" item I used was the Soondae since it is difficult to find in Chicago. Soondae is Korean blood sausage which uses (obviously) pigs blood, some "bits" of pork, but also incorporates vermicelli noodles which makes for an interesting sausage to be sure (seen above).

Here's a general process on making your own Jigae:

Saute a few tablespoons of garlic, diced onion, and whatever other "hard" veggie you have on hand in 3 tablespoons of Sesame Oil for a few minutes. Add 1 cup o kimchi (your call on what kind), 1.5 cups of water, bring up to a boil and add 3 tablespoons fermented red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of dried chili flakes, 3 teaspoons of sugar and simmer for 20 minutes.

There you have it! You've got your base now toss in whatever you dig eating as a protein! This time around I did Soondae of course but in the past I have used everything from diced pork to duck. Just chill out and make yourself a Jigae and you'll quickly fall in love with the flavor.

Salute!

Charcuterie-Homemade Beef Jerky

Definitely one of my favorite snacks of all time, why before I even started chewing tobacco (did it for 10 years and successfully went cold turkey a few years back) I started with that jerky that was sold in containers matched specifically to the ones used for Copenhagen...coincidence? Absolutely!

But I digress ;)

This is the 5th go around with beef jerky and I will say that after my first batch last year the quality has steadily gone downhill...until now!

When I say the quality has gone downhill I attribute it primarily to 2 things: the cuts of meat used (progressively fattier..which we know does not work so well w/jerky), and when sliced I have made the pieces progressively thicker, which equals longer drying time and therefore tougher/harder jerky.

Flash forward to this weekend as my wife and I had just finished our weekly "Korean breakfast", which is essentially every Sunday when we dont eat anything in the AM and head off to Chicago Foods (AKA JoonGBoo) to catch them when they open up at 10am prior to the heavy lunch crowd. It should be pointed out that Chicago Foods is a Asian Grocery Store and the restaurant area consists of 5 tables and a bar area...and is the best Korean food this city has to offer (plus is the only place we've found that has Korean Blood Sausage soup on the menu..and the sausage to purchase..more on that very soon ;) )

So the point of bringing our weekly trip to Chicago Foods is this: Bulgogia Korean bbq is a meat dish that consists of thinly sliced pieces of beef ( you see where this is going eh?) and then....well no point to go further then right?

Yep, so sliced Bulgogi meat, approx 1/8 inch thickness is good meat for jerky (ie low-medium quality sirloin cut) and is fairly low fat. What fat there is is often on the fringes of the cut and easily removed if desired.

Process and ingredients are very straightforward, and is partially borrowed from "Charcuterie":

2.25 lbs thinly sliced beef
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
.75 tsp Cayenne pepper
.5 tsp Saracha Sauce
1.5 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Worcester Sauce
1.5 tbsp fresh ground peppercorn

-Mix all of the above into a bowl, let cure for 24 hours under refrigeration. After a day in the box bring it out and utilize a well ventilated surface (which I picked up at the Korean Store as well-seen in the pic) and possibly your oven (dependant on the temp you can achieve-ideally 85 degrees will do well) and let dry out for 18-24 hours.

Presto! You've got jerky! And for approx $6 for the beef and seasoning you've got a high quality jerky in the amount that would cost you over $20 easily at any Grocer. Cheers!