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Post by Olga on Feb 2, 2014 0:29:48 GMT -5
Is anyone on this board familiar with using caul fat in cooking? Wrapping roasts in caul fat was a common technique in Russia. And just recently I read some great ideas on using it for kabobs in my new favorite Uzbekistan cuisine cook book. There are other names out there for caul fat, like "pig's net" for example. Let us know if and how you use it and what you call it in your neck of the woods.
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Post by Olga on Feb 2, 2014 11:32:03 GMT -5
Oooh, Sheri, you've got me drooling! "Pate" - yum! If you tell me that you don't save the tongues from all of those lambs, I think I'll cry! And the tails? And the kidneys? On the subject of butchers, I think that sometimes it's the loss of craft among them. They have to process the animals quickly and efficiently, so each succeeding butcher knows a bit less on "what's inside". At the butcher I use, and I like him, and know him, and trust him, when they gut the animal they will get the liver and kidneys and heart if you had asked for them, but everything else just falls straight into a 55 gallon barrel for disposal. They don't save any of the intestines for stuffing sausages - takes too long. And the veil, the caul fat, goes right into that barrel along with the guts. I have 2 lambs that I'm taking to have processed as soon as the weather lets up, and I will have to bring a picture of the veil in order for them to understand what I'm talking about. I had tried to explain numerous times, without knowing the word for it, about "the fat that surrounds the intestines". The only thing the butcher knew is the leaf fat, around the kidneys.... argh. But one of their guys, the initial processor who puts the animal down, hides and guts it, is from Mexico, so I almost guarantee that he'll know what I want and how to get it. A while back I asked around about getting "cottage bacon", but nobody here knows what the heck that is. And at the 3 local processors they skin the hogs. Next time I have one ready, I'll be taking it almost 2 hours away to a place that actually scrapes and scolds them. Something, by the way, that can also be done with lamb - according to my Uzbek cook-book.
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Post by hollydzie on Feb 2, 2014 14:57:51 GMT -5
Oh sorry girls reading this makes me want to be a vegetarian. I like a good steak or ground beef, but I am not the least bit adventurous when it comes to eating much of anything else. My husband however likes ground cow tongue. A friend of ours is from Mexico they grind the tongue, cook it and use it a type of tortilla.
Holly
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Post by Olga on Feb 2, 2014 15:47:00 GMT -5
You just can't go wrong with tongue - it is a perfect meat! It will come out good even if you do the minimum - boil it in a pot of water. You could add salt, pepper, a bay leaf, some peppercorns, a small onion and a carrot - but it's not essential. In about an hour or two (less for tongue from a young animal or from sheep/goat), when a fork easily goes into the tongue, get the tongue out and set it on a plate. Let it cool enough to handle with your hands but don't wait too long, or it will become harder to peel. Peel the ruff skin and voila, you have the perfect lunch meat. Leave whole for storage; slice as needed, put it on a piece of bread, add cheese and/or veggies and a sauce (I like something with a bit of a bite to it, like Kraft Mayo Horseradish-Dijon) - heaven! If you think that this is strictly European - just look up what the American settlers hunted the buffalo for! They valued them for their hides and... their tongues!
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Post by Olga on Feb 2, 2014 16:24:50 GMT -5
Sheri, that sounds great! And sometime when you're not too busy, you'll have to tell us about "the aging cave" and show us a couple of pictures!
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zephyrhillsusan
member
Caught Dexteritis in Dec. 2009. Member of this forum since Oct. 2013.
Posts: 1,502
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Post by zephyrhillsusan on Feb 2, 2014 16:47:59 GMT -5
Now I understand what put me off tongue many years ago when I was a little girl. A dear elderly maiden lady from our church invited my parents and us three girls for Sunday dinner and served us cold tongue with lemon sauce--but she definitely left the skin on with all the big bumpy taste buds! Of course we were raised right and ate what was on our plate, but my poor little sister who was about 4 at the time STILL talks about how horrible that was--and that was 50 years ago!
Our butcher is great, he asks if I want the liver, heart, kidneys, etc. I take the liver because I like to make pâté, too, but I let him take the rest. My husband likes the hog jowl bacon, but it feels slimy to me. I didn't expect it to be any different, but it is.
I'd love to see photos of your "cave," Sheri. I tried to age my Dexter cheese in our basement, but it wasn't cool enough and my only other option was the fridge, which is too cold. We're having a cheese plate tonight for the Super Bowl, among other things, with some of our Dexter farmhouse cheddar alongside the French cheeses that I pay shocking prices for, but after 11 years in France sometimes I just crave them.
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