Cochon Butcher, NOLA: Make the pilgrimage

I've been lucky to do some traveling this year for work, and in the cities I was in, I would try to seek out local meat spots, Butchers, BBQers, and sausage specialists.

While in New Orleans, spending beautiful spring days inside the convention center, I found this nearby oasis.


Conchon Butcher:

Inside:

They make a huge selection of house made meats and sausages as you can see

This is first butcher shop I've been into that has a liquor license:

Also I'm definitely gonna do this soon: jambalaya stuffed chicken

They also serve lunch, this is a tex-olina style house made hot dog with slaw and chili house made chips

this was washed down with a beer and a shot special that reminded me of home

Draining the Pork Water

Every few days you have to drain the hams. The salt does it's job slowly absorbing and pulling moisture away from the meat. These guys could lose up to half it's body weight.

It was a wet mess and I do my own photography so you'll just have to imagine the pork water.

As you can see in this close-up this bone used to be even with the meat and now it's about a inch higher than the meat line.

Then they get wrapped up again. I've also bought more ice.

Oh and this happened:

A flesh wound, no blood, didn't even notice at first. I think when I was moving the slate tiles, a scratched myself on a loose slate chip.

Bacon Beta

My first pork belly -> bacon attempt:

The pork belly spent it's first week curing in a basic dry-cure mix of salt sugar and pink salt.





The salts have pulled a few cups of pork water out.

After a week of this, pull it out of the container and rinse it all off.

I started to cut the skin off, I probably could have waited to do this, it might of have been easier.



The rosemary/xmas tree my wife bought died, so I decided to recycle it.



I used the dried rosemary pines and fresh cracked pepper to rub into the meat



Then I made a rigged indirect "smoker" with the rosemary branches



This thing is kinda embarrassing, and totally justifies all of you chipping in and getting me a proper smoker for my birthday.



Then wait until the internal temp hits 150dgF, so wait, this will take at least an hour


You'll get this - which I think is a little over cooked. This white is sweated out salt



Profile pic



After some frying



Sliced & bagged



All in all very good, different than the bogo bacon from acme. Still a little saltier than I would like, and next time either done in a proper smoker or not at all.





Zero Waste Policy



I threw the skins next to the bacon in the smoker and then finished on the griddle. They'll make great dot treats

So easy -So Sexy - Duck Proscuitto

This only takes about a week, perfect for a staying-in date night. With a little bit of timing you can pull out perfectly aged duck prosciutto on just in time for Saturday night.

Get out your duck breast, this is organic duck from NY state near my parents house picked up at the same place we got our thanksgiving turkey.

So simple I didn't even photograph it. On a small dish cover both sides with a healthy cover of salt, wrap entire plate in saran wrap, place some heavy cans on top of the duck to squeeze it, throw it in the fridge for 24 hours.

There the hard part's done.



Rinse off salt and pat dry. The meat will be firm and a deep red



Rub both sides with a layer of ground white pepper, will slightly flavor the meat and helps keep the bugs away.




Wrap them up in a few layers of cheesecloth and let them hang out for about a week. If you don't have a sweet dry-cure room, they can hang at any space that's between 50-60 dgs, basements, garages, etc.



A week later, grab your breasts and get in the kitchen. Disrobe the cheesecloth, you should see something like this:





Mostly online I've seen it cut into strips allowing each to have a thick sliver of outer fat.

I sliced mine lengthwise, from the inside to the outer layer of fat. I don't care how you do it. I used the meat slicer my wife bought me. If your wife didn't buy you meat slicer, you can get a new one or a long sharp knife.



Super easy, and pulling out some secretly made duck prosciutto, unwrapping it from it's pouch and serving it can make staying in with a bottle of wine an extra fun time.

Zero Waste Policy: I took the fatty remains and rendered them down and saved the fat, before it solidifies, I threw some garlic and rosemary. The Fat will be great in grilled veggies, french fries, popcorn or any other butter/oil replacement

Managing room temp

The biggest challenge will be keeping the room at optimal temp 34-38 dgF for nearly a month straight. Luckily it's December so that helps.

I am doing a combination of things in order to keep the room at a safe temp.

1. Under each ham tray is another tray with a layer of ice between them.

2. Another 50 pounds of ice is in a cooler directly under the work table.

3. I have cut a hole in the insulation that is in front of a drafty basement window. A steady stream of cold air gets in the room and stay there.

4. The wine fridge I put in the wall is on full blast with the door open.

I've been able to keep it from 34-38 on average and never over 40 dgs which happen in your fridge all the time.

After this initial salting is over I will be bringing the room up to 50-60 dgF which will be easy

Salting the hams

For the first three weeks of their second life these hams will be salted, wrapped, pressed and cooled to a temp of 34-38dgF

Here is my work table



Aluminum pan with a layer of salt with ham on top



A healthy salt massage



Wrapped tightly with saran wrap, which a workout and weighted down with heavy slate tiles

The Meat has come

My order of pork, two hams (Fresh not frozen legs with bone-in and skin on) and five pounds of pork belly.

The pork is from Meadow run farms and was processed here at Blixer's country meats.



This place was about 2 hours northwest of Philadelphia also referred to central nowhere. Great farms, dying small towns and snowdusted mountains.






From left to right: 27 Pound ham, 23 Pound ham, and 5 pounds of pork belly