Pork Rinds (AKA Pork Cracklins)

So over the big labor day weekend here in Chicago we decided to stay local and just chill out, a big part of that "chilling out" for me was, of course, including doing some sort of home brewing and random culinary endeavour...this time we're looking at Pork Cracklings.

..by the way-this pig off to the left was from a petting farm we hit up in Wisconsin a few years back..as far as I know he's still in good shape :)

This snack is one of those guilty pleasures (for the health conscious folks out there...by the way I need to again join your ranks ;)...but I digress) that I rediscovered a month or so back after a trip to World Market which I snagged a few bags of pig snacks that were heavily spiced with some sort of spicy Mexican concoction..which were delicious.

Its funny how these sort of adventures in cooking start...

Weeks later I noticed on Stonch's blog (UK) that he had a pole up measuring his readers love of Pork Cracklings..then weeks later another on having his cook create their own Cracklings...now thats all the inspiration I needed! So after picking up a few 2lb pork bellys at my local butchers I quickly skinned and saved the rind for some Monday Night Football goodness (my Broncos did not come on until 9:30pm...yeah..thats F'ing late for a damn Monday night game but I'm no fair weather fan!).

The pork bellys, by the way, are busy curing in the fridge as we speak and will be hung and turned into a fine salt cured, air dried, appetizer ready to be enjoyed in about 3 weeks..which of course I'll post on.

After seasoning the rinds with small amounts of salt, pepper, and some cayenne pepper I baked them at 300F for 3 hours, after which I tossed into a small cast iron pan of mine and fried in some veggie oil to finish...this is where I kinda f'd up....I got caught up in the 1st quarter where the Bronco's first started to dismantle the Raiders and when returning found that..well..I burned some of the rinds...shit.

Whats the end result you ask?

Well let me say that I enjoyed approx 30% of the rinds and that the game was fantastic! I'll be trying my hand at pork rinds again..sometime in the near future...I mean shit-there are only 16 weeks in the regular season :)

Cheers,

Brian

Berliner Weisse-Round 1

I introduce to you "Higgins der Eroberer Berliner Weisse" (german for: Higgins the Conqueror)!

Thats Higgins off to the left here ;)

So ever since I first tasted Dogfish Heads "Festina Peche" I've been interested in the Berliner Weisse style..however the $15 per 4 pack price set by these folks and moderate sourness (those who know me know I love me some sour beers..) has made me a little more stand offish about this particular brew..and had kept me from learning more until I ran across a random brew at my favorite local beer warehouse which was titled simply "1809" .


I noticed on the label that this style was once labeled (supposedly) by Napoleon as being the "Champagne of the North" and was very much appreciated as he swept through northern Germany. This style is unique in that the bulk of the grains used are German wheat, and the remainder being German pilsner and hops..well you don't need to worry much about those..just use a 1/2 oz of something with a Alpha higher than 5 (now if your really savvy with today's raw grain costs you'll notice that wheat is much cheaper than other grains..and the costs of hops have literally doubled in most cases..and tripled in others).

But the most interesting factoid in brewing a Berliner Weisse..and I mean this is F'ing HUGE is that this particular brew does not require a boiling stage of the wort which easily shaves off 4 hours of the brewing process..leaving a batch just 2.5 hours (with cleanup) to complete! Now if you couple that with my appreciation for sour and refreshing ales..well...you've got a front runner in beers that I will continue to brew and attempt to perfect at home.

Another cool factor is that this style is damn near extinction..not that many breweries are really attempting to replicate any sort of Berliner Weisse recipe state-side. Now in Germany that's another story..this would be considered a very common beer there which is mixed with syrups and served at almost every pub and restaurant (not confirmed but I have had 2 barkeeps tell me this and according to what I've read is the case).


Considering the Lactic culture introduced you can guarantee that this brew will continue to sour over the next 10 months or so until its ready as a summer brew for the obnoxiously hot and humid summers of Chicago, IL. I also plan to toss a new batch of heavier Berliner onto the yeast cake of this Round 1 batch, thinking something that will end up around 5% ABV (Round 1 will have 3.8 ABV when its done...damn near child friendly!). So by mid October I should have roughly 4 cases of Berliner aging relaxing in anticipation of the summer of 09.

Here is the process. For my first time out of the gates I took 5lbs of German wheat and 2lbs of German pilsner (and 1 lb of rice hulls to stop any sort of stuck mash when draining off) and mashed at 153F for 1.5 hours. Sparged with 175F water and collected 5 gallons of wort into my fermenter. Chilled, and pitched my Lacto culture and let sit for 24 hours. After which I pitched a smack pack of German Ale yeast to finish off fermentation (2 weeks in primary max).

For future batches I plan on utilizing the existing Lactic cultures on the raw malt and allowing a portion of my grain bill to sour naturally (like you would with Sour Dough) which is much more traditional to style...


Cheers!

Hefeweizen..Hey Brother Tamarind Hefeweizen!

I've become more and more interested in brewing ales that consist of a grain bill which is majority wheat. Why you might ask? Well for one wheat is still (comparatively) cheap, and for the second reason I believe I can have more of an influence on the flavor of wheat beers by utilizing my yeast effectively as well as adjuncts and/or additional yeast or bacteria.

This is the second wheat beer I've brewed this month. The first was a heavier wheat ale which is coming along nicely in the keg but was never posted upon due to my Charcuterie. This batch however was done after my wife requested a "Hey Brother Hefeweizen" which is named after one of our favorite shows "Arrested Development" and a a nice gift to give her friend and her husband (again-more AD fans).

Another aspect I really wanted to try out here was the use of Tamarind in a beer. I was unaware of tamarind until I viewed a "Simply Ming" video podcast and started wondering how to use it in a beer. My search turned up another home brewer who had experimented with Tamarind (Beerme over at Beer and Firkins..) who had some success with it. So off I went!

Recipe is below (please click image to enlarge), very straight forward outside of the introduction of the Tamarind into the 4.5 gallon batch. After racking to secondary (corny keg) to took 1 gallon off and dropped in on top of 5 tablespoons of Lingonberry preserves which would show me even more sourness and some slight fruitiness.

So there you have it..I have 2 corny kegs..both of which are filled with Wheat beers. The first being a heavier wheat (6.3 abv) and the second being my "Hey Brother Hefeweizen" which comes in with a lower ABV (5.4) and a host of new and interesting flavors for a wheat beer.

Next up: Berliner Weisse, Sausage Part 3, and Chicken Liver pate!

Cheers!