1 tsp sea salt
I adore this fermented pickle in tomato soup, on grilled sandwiches, and as an accompaniment on the charcuterie board.
Method
1. Place all ingredients in a large bowl, and punch and squeeze everything with your hands until you’ve released the fennel’s juices and melded all the ingredients well. Pack into an airlock jar and leave to ferment at room temperature at least two weeks. You can also pack into a mason jar, if you like, but you’ll need to weigh the fennel mixture down so that it is underneath its liquid brine as it ferments. You can accomplish this with a smaller jar, washed and pushed down on top of the fennel mixture, then forced down with the lid of the fennel mixture’s own jar.
CANDIED JALAPEÑO PEPPER
INGREDIENTS
Pint mason jar with lid
16 oz. jalapeño pepper, sliced thinly, with or without seeds (wear gloves!)
5 oz. white vinegar
2 oz. apple cider vinegar
2½ to 2⅔ cups cane sugar
You’ll want to double or triple this recipe, though.
Method
1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the vinegar and the sugar, and add the jalapeño slices. Bring to a low boil and simmer, until the jalapeño is tender but not mushy. Cut off the heat, and using a slotted spoon, remove the jalapeños from the syrup and packing them into the mason jar. Pour the hot syrup over the jalapeños, to cover, then put the lid on the jar and cool to room temperature. Then store in the fridge.
PIMENTO CHEESE SPREAD
INGREDIENTS
2 cups shredded cheese. A mix is nice. Some sharp cheddar, some gouda, etc.
Some plain cream cheese
Some mayonnaise
A pinch of mustard seed
1 cup fermented sweet pepper (see above)
2 Tbsp candied jalapeño, diced (see above)
2–3 cloves of confit garlic (see Pork Shank Confit, page 76)
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
Not your Grandma’s.
Method
1. Mix everything but the mayonnaise and cream cheese in a bowl. Add cream cheese and mayonnaise in small quantities, until you get the consistency you’d like. Chill the spread well. Taste, and season some more as your taste buds advise.
You cannot scream at the world
no matter what you know
from
behind your sunglasses,
your gorgeous
tattooed
blogroll.
it doesn’t matter what you know
you have to feed the world
not a feast
just a bit of
sugar on a biscuit
if that’s your thing
or
a drum beginning,
one
single silent stroke
of color.
Wear your story
on your skin, be it
a smell of burning
that echoes
a curse word,
a moment of pain.
Everything is food
that’s alive,
requires work,
or if it comes with
a side of pickles
or burns the back of the throat.
Everything is a metaphor so
ruin some shirts,
loathe the sucking
of fingers
but record it
overtop the sweet
sounds of your laughter.
Everything is food
get your bib
get your spade
you cannot drive thru
this
is one way
with no window.
Everything is delicious
that reminds
us
and shows us our small
and
amazing
lives
going by
too fast.
RESOURCES
BOOKS
The Ethical Meat Handbook: Complete Home Butchery, Charcuterie & Cooking for the Conscious Omnivore by Meredith Leigh, New Society Publishers, 2015
Butchering Beef and Butchering Poultry, Rabbit, Lamb, Goat and Pork by Adam Danforth, Storey Publishing, 2014
The Art of Charcuterie by John Kowalski, The Culinary Institute of America, 2011
Charcuterie & French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson, Penguin Books, 1967
The Art of Making Fermented Sausages by Stanley & Adam Marianski, Book Magic, 2nd Edition, 2012
SUPPLIERS
Butcher and Packer (butcher-packer.com)
The Craft Butcher’s Pantry (butcherspantry.com)
Weston Supply (westonsupply.com)
Sausage Maker (sausagemaker.com)
LEM (lemproducts.com)
GEM (gemcultures.com)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THANKS TO MY colleagues, most especially Rocco Sinicrope and Dan Hettinger, who are both owed credit for smoker design. Thanks Ingrid, mama duck. Thanks to Jeremy Umansky. Thanks to my teachers and my students of butchery, curing and cooking (there are too many of you to name). Thanks to the farmers, every day, the earth, the leaves and seeds and beasts. Thanks to my family. Thanks Josh, I love you so big I can’t believe it. Ela, Rose, Cash, Tucker: love, love, love, love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OVER THE PAST fifteen years, Meredith Leigh has worked as a farmer, chef, teacher, nonprofit executive director, and writer, all in pursuit of sustainable food. She has developed a farmers cooperative, catalyzed nonprofit farm ventures, raised flowers, vegetables, and pastured meats, owned and managed a retail butcher shop, and more. Currently Meredith lives and teaches, handles sheep, cooks, and does outreach at Living Web Farms, a nonprofit educational and research farm in Mills River, NC. She is mother to two boys, many plants and numerous fermentation projects.
by Erin Adams
A NOTE ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
New Society Publishers is an activist, solutions-oriented publisher focused on publishing books for a world of change. Our books offer tips, tools, and insights from leading experts in sustainable building, homesteading, climate change, environment, conscientious commerce, renewable energy, and more — positive solutions for troubled times.
We’re proud to hold to the highest environmental and social standards of any publisher in North America. This is why some of our books might cost a little more. We think it’s worth it!
• We print all our books in North America, never overseas
• All our books are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free, with low-VOC vegetable-based inks (since 2002)
• Our corporate structure is an innovative employee shareholder agreement, so we’re one-third employee-owned (since 2015)
• We’re carbon-neutral (since 2006)
• We’re certified as a B Corporation (since 2016)
At New Society Publishers, we care deeply about what we publish—but also about how we do business.
New Society Publishers
ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS STATEMENT
For every 5,000 books printed, New Society saves the following resources:1
19
Trees
1,752
Pounds of Solid Waste
1,927
Gallons of Water
2,514
Kilowatt Hours of Electricity
3,184
Pounds of Greenhouse Gases
14
Pounds of HAPs, VOCs, and AOX Combined
5
Cubic Yards of Landfill Space
1 Environmental benefits are calculated based on research done by the Environmental Defense Fund and other members of the Paper Task Force who study the environmental impacts of the paper industry.
A Guide to Responsible Digital Reading
Most readers understand that buying a book printed on 100% recycled, ancient-forest friendly paper is a more environmentally responsible choice than buying one p
rinted on paper made from virgin timber or old-growth forests. In the same way, the choices we make about our electronic reading devices can help minimize the environmental impact of our e-reading.
Issues and Resources
Before your next electronic purchase, find out which companies have the best ratings in terms of environmental and social responsibility. Have the human rights of workers been respected in the manufacture of your device or in the sourcing of raw materials? What are the environmental standards of the countries where your electronics or their components are produced? Are the minerals used in your smartphone, tablet or e-reader conflict-free? Here are some resources to help you learn more:
• The Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics
• Conflict Minerals: Raise Hope for the Congo
• Slavery Footprint
Recycle Old Electronics Responsibly
According to the United Nations Environment Programme some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. Toxic chemicals in electronics, such as lead, cadium and mercury, can leach into the land over time or can be released into the atmosphere, impacting nearby communities and the environment. The links below will help you to recycle your electronic devices responsibly.
• Electronics Take Back
• Canada - Recycle My Electronics
• United States - E-cycling central
Of course, the greenest option is to keep your device going as long as possible. If you decide to upgrade, please give some thought to passing your old one along for someone else to use.
Pure Charcuterie: The Craft & Poetry of Curing Meat at Home Page 11
