Banana Bread

This is the banana bread recipe that I use for the camp. The above picture is of some banana bread sandwiches that I made with a little cream cheese in the middle.

The ingredients:
15oz (around 4ea) Bananas
12oz (1 3/4cups) Sugar
3ea Large Eggs
1tea Vanilla
1tea Banana Extract (optional)
1 3/4 sticks Unsalted Butter, melted
12oz (2 2/3cups) Bread Flour
9g (1 1/2tea) Salt
9g (1 1/2 tea) Baking Soda

You want your bananas to be nice and ripe. You know when the outside of a banana starts to go brown and gets spots on it? That is when the starches start turning to sugar. If you use those bananas, your banana bread will generally be sweeter and have a greater banana intensity.

As your bananas start to go bad, peel them and put them in the freezer to use later for banana bread. This is one of my favorite things to make during the summer, because I am able to use up all the bananas that the campers have passed on, and I have almost zero waste on bananas.

First, put your bananas in a mixing bowl. If they are frozen, let them thaw in the bowl before mixing them. The frozen ones will release liquid as they thaw. Do not throw out the liquid.

With the paddle attachment, mix on low for a half a minute or so, just to break them up a little.

Next, add the sugar and mix for another half minute to a minute. The sugar and bananas should cream together. You don't want to mix it to long, as that will work too much air into the batter.

Next, you want to add your eggs in one at a time while mixing on a low speed. Make sure the batter has incorporated the previous egg before adding the next. It should only take a minute to work all three eggs in. Add in your vanilla and banana extract after the eggs have mixed in.

Next, add your melted butter. I usually hand mix it in with a rubber spatula, just so it doesn't splash everywhere, but if you mix it on low, it shouldn't be a problem. Scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle.

Sift together your flour, salt and baking soda. Then add it to the batter and mix on low. You want to mix it just until it is incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl, the paddle and the bottom of the bowl. Mix it again for another 10-15 seconds.

Butter or PAM spray a couple of small loaf pans. Distribute the batter equally between them. Try and even out the tops with a rubber spatula.

You want to bake these in a 300 degree oven until they are done. It usually will take between 40minutes to an hour, depending on the pan size.

The banana bread has bananas, eggs and butter in it. All of those things tend to brown very quickly, and can make you think it is done, before it actually is. Make sure you check it with a wooden skewer or a knife before taking it out. If the skewer comes back "wet," then it needs to bake longer.

Maple-Cured Smoked Bacon

I have been wanting to cure my own bacon for a while now. My first go at it, I went with a recipe out of Charcuterie.

I was able to get a really nice 10LB Skinless Pork Belly from work. The brand is White Marble Farms.

My cure was:
4oz Kosher Salt
24grams Pink Salt
100grams Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Blis Bourbon Maple Syrup
First, let me recommend you buy a bottle of Blis Bourbon Maple Syrup. Williams-Sonoma carries it now. It is hands down the best syrup I have ever tasted. I use it for everything.

Anyway, I mixed all the rub ingredients together and then rubbed the mixture over the entire belly.

I covered it with plastic wrap and refrigerated it. The pork released water into the rub, creating a brine. Every other day, I would flip the belly over, and redistribute the brine/cure.

I cured it for seven full days, and then washed off the cure & put it in a slotted pan.

I let it dry out in the refrigerator for about 20 hours.

I then got to test out my new Bradley Digital Smoker. Which I am so happy with.
I cut the belly into two pieces and put them into the smoker.

I smoked them at 200 degrees with maple wood for almost 3 hours, until they had an internal temperature of 130.

I let the bacon cool & then refrigerated them. To test, I sliced a couple of pieces and fried them off.

I overcooked them slightly, but I do prefer my bacon on the crispier side.

The difference is definitely there. You can really taste the flavor of in-house bacon over the stuff you would get at the grocery store.

Bevo & Raider

So, my mother raises chickens. She loves the eggs she gets from them. My father thought it would be a nice to get her a couple of chicks for Easter, since Easter is all about rebirth.

He ended up getting her a couple of brightly colored chicks. Their names are Bevo & Raider. And they are hilariously shiny. I'll let you try and figure out which is which.

Their embryos were injected with a harmless non-toxic dye. It looks unnatural, but don't be too worried about them. They will look like regular chickens in about 2 weeks when they get their new feathers.

Youth looking at youth:

Though the dyes don't actually hurt the birds, it doesn't exactly help them blend in with their surroundings.

Natural predator of colored chicks:

Brioche Crunchy French Toast

One of my favorite places to go for brunch in NYC is Normas at Le Parker Meridien. They have a fantastic Crunchy French Toast that I have been wanting to recreate.

I apologize for not having taken any pictures of the process. If I do this again, I will take pictures of it and add it to this post.

I first did a full recipe of Brioche. The yield is 3 1/2 LB. I baked it in a large loaf pan. I then froze the loaf to make it easier to cut. I cut it into 10 large slices. I put the slices onto a sheet pan and let it stale out at room temperature for 5 full days.

I made a batter with:
12 whole eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cornstarch

I whisked all the ingredients together.

The batter is just a typical french toast batter, but I added the cornstarch to help keep the coating on them.

I soaked them, 2 at a time, about a minute on each side in the batter. I put about 3 cups of Rice Krispies in a bowl and ground them up somewhat by hand. I transferred the slices that were soaking to the Rice Krispies and coated them gently & completely.

I then deep fried them at 350 degrees for about two minutes. Pan frying would also probably work if you used enough oil.

I then covered them in a simple caramel sauce:
1/4LB Dark Brown Sugar
1 Stick Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
pinch Salt
1 Tbs Brandy

Heat everything but the brandy together in a saucepan. When it comes to a boil, turn off the heat, whisk it around and add the brandy.

After I cover it with caramel, I dusted it with powdered sugar.

And it was unhealthy & delicious.

Coppa (aka Capicola, Capocollo)

Day 1 of Hanging: Day 7 of Hanging:
The Coppas are drying nicely. The good powdery mold has started to show up, which makes me so happy. Things are looking good so far.

Day 14 of Hanging:
I scaled them and they have already lost a good 20%+ of their weight. They are hardening up, yet still have a little too much softness. The zesty coppa smells so wonderful.

---

Coppa is similar to Prosciutto, as it is basically a cured ham. The technique is different, as Prosciutto is a cured leg and Coppa usually uses shoulder or neck cuts and is dry cured in casings.

I based this on the recipe out of Charcuterie. I took 16LB of a shoulder cut and deboned it, trimmed off the outside fat and cut it into large chunks.

I then rubbed it with:
6oz Kosher Salt
37g Dextrose
9g Instacure #2
I then wrapped it tightly and put it in the refrigerator for nine days. So, after the nine days, I unwrapped it, drained off the brine, and rubbed the meat with another:
6oz Kosher Salt
37g Dextrose
9g Instacure #2
Then I put it back in the refrigerator for another 10 days.

Ten days later, I got together three different seasonings to try. I used the recipes for Spicy Coppa & Sweet Coppa from the Charcuterie book. I created a Zesty Coppa recipe based on what Charcuterie said were common ingredients in Tuscany.

For the Spicy Coppa:
32g Hungarian Paprika
9g Cayenne Pepper

For the Sweet Coppa:
40g Sugar
20g Black Pepper, ground
8g Coriander, ground
12g Garlic, minced
4g Mace, ground
4g Allspice, ground
3g Juniper Berries, ground

For Zesty Coppa:
20g Sugar
8g Caraway, ground
4g Cinnamon, ground
12g Garlic, minced
Zest of 5 lemons
Zest of 5 Oranges
I rinsed the pieces of meat under cold water and the dried them with paper towels.
I separated the meat by weight (each batch is 5lb 2oz) and then rubbed each batch with the separate seasonings.
I then hand stuffed them into 3 different Beef Bung Cap Casings (5-inch diameter) that I got from Butcher & Packer.
I pricked them all over with a sterile needle and tied them tight. I trussed them hung them at room temp for 12 hours. Then I hung them in my dry curing room.
They should take 3 to 4 weeks to dry out. I'll post weekly updates.