madbaker | Testing, one, two...

Not for the first time, I was inspired by

ken_albala - specifically, this post. So I tried something along the same lines, and this post is partly an attempt to track what I did when I break this out in three months. (If all goes well, of course.)

I made two batches of one pound each so I could try different flavors. I planned to use wide-mouth pint jars, but reconsidered when I mixed everything together and went with the less-easily-filled 1.5 pint jars. Turns out the pint jars would have been fine; oh well.

Since Ken's recipes are conceptual rather than numeric, here are my adaptations in progress.

7/8 lb boneless pork shoulder
1/8 lb pork back fat
1 ounce garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp curing salt #2
4 tsp salt
spices 1: 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp chili powder-type mixture
spices 2: 1 tsp white pepper, 1/2 tsp fennel pollen
duck fat to cover

Chop the meat and fat and mix thoroughly with the garlic, salts, and spices. Sterilize jars and lids; pack meat mixture into jars, pour fat to cover, and close up. Store in the oubliette for three months.

I used duck fat because I still have close to five pounds in the freezer. I thought I'd try one chili-type spice mixture and one Finocchiona-type. That may have been too much fennel pollen; it's the first time I've used it.

Jarred 'Nduja