Notes from the Lab 2 (Duck, Pizza Dough and Scones)
Disclaimer: These are things I learned while working in the Lab this weekend. These are just my thoughts and results of my food “research.” They are not recipes, but they often develop into recipes later on.
Duck breast: I know better than to shop at grocery stores, including Whole Foods, if I want the best meats. However, I am addicted to the convenience of just stopping by the store and grabbing what I want, when I want it. Anyway, I was in a hurry to make duck prosciutto and I knew that Whole Foods would have organic duck breast available. I ran into the store, grabbed a frozen package, and I was ready to go. To my dismay, after the duck breasts defrosted I discovered my package contained the thinnest duck breasts I have even seen. (By the way, I am struggling to take the high road and keeping my comments clean…) Sadness ensued… I know that this was totally my fault for not planning and sourcing my meat ahead of time. Next time, I will order Moulard duck breast from my friends at Rain Shadow Meats. Say it with me now! For the best results, buy the best ingredients! Of course I am not wasting the duck breast, that would be a sin. It will just be my testing sample. The duck breast was covered in Kosher salt, dried thyme, and cracked juniper berries and is hanging in my curing chamber for about seven days. Of course I will share the results when it is done.
Pizza dough: I learned two “new to me” concepts, Baker’s percentage and the hydration rates (flour to water) of different doughs. While I have always been happy with the flavor of my pizza dough in the past, I could not get the dough thin enough without using a rolling pin. When I looked at the recipe of my dough, I discovered that the hydration rate was 61 percent. Not bad, but pizza dough for Neapolitan pizza is normally at 65-70 percent hydration. When I added more water to my recipe, I was able to “window pane” the dough for the first time and keep the polling pin on the shelf. I am going play with this for a while.
Scones: Not bad in taste, but I really want a darker outside without drying or burning them up. Any tips? Baking is my worst fear…
Making Pastrami – The Navel in the Coffin
I was not planning on writing another post on pastrami so soon. The pastrami experiment was successful, however there was one thing that nagged me about my last two batches. It was flavorful and reminded me of the NYC Jewish delis I remembered, but there was something still missing…FAT! Pastrami is not diet food and it needs a certain amount of fat to be really good. What I made was the equivalent of diet pastrami. Not a sin, but not close to perfection.
So I started to do my research on who and what makes the best pastrami in the world. The who was easy, Katz’s Deli, 2nd Avenue Deli, and Carnegie Deli in NYC. The what was not so easy. When most of us think of pastrami, we think of the brisket or the round cut of the cow. The top deli’s use the beef navel plate. The beef what? Don’t worry about it, just order it. Oh wait, I tried asking the local supermarket for the beef navel plate and they looked at me like I was crazy. Go to a butcher who specializes in custom orders and has relationships with the local farmers. Those are the folks who are going to get for you the best cuts of meat. Since I live in the Seattle area, Rain Shadow Meats (Butcher) and Painted Hills Natural Meats (Farm) were the people who got me the beef navel plate. This beef was amazing and marbled like Kobe beef. You could eat thinly sliced pieces of this beef like sushi, if you wanted.
In a first for Weekend Food Projects, I am considering the pastrami project done. Of course, I am going to experiment with the recipe from time to time, but I am really satisfied with the results. Thank you, Eric Rivera for helping me source the beef navel.
Ingredients:
1 Beef navel plate (about four pounds and brined for a week)
2.5 tablespoons of coriander seeds
2.5 tablespoons of black peppercorns
Application:
After removing the brisket from the brine, soak for 30 minutes in cold water, rinse and dry thoroughly, and let rest for a hour in the refrigerator. While the navel is resting, toast the coriander and black peppercorns in a small, dry pan. Pour the spices into a spice grinder and grind finely. Remove the navel from the refrigerator and cover it with the spice mixture. Place the brisket in the smoker until the internal temperature of the navel reaches 140 degrees, about two hours. Once the brisket is done smoking, steam the navel for two hours (or until fork tender).
Note: My smoker runs so cold in that I often smoke my meat for two or three hours and finish it off in the oven at 225-250 degrees until the meat hits 140 degrees.
