Category Archives: Hunting and Fishing

PANCETTA

By this time of the year Pancetta stocks are almost depleted in the BYF pantry and the wheater being kind, new stock will be made soon

Get some nice thick pork belly (skin off and fat on!) hopefully raised free range and chemical free, or you may be lucky enough to shoot a nice young and fat wild pig

Trim the edges so as to have an almost uniform, in thickness, belly. Now cut the belly in managable sizes of about 300 mm X 200 mm

Mix the following ingredients per Kg of meat

2 Cloves Garlic – finely chopped

1 small sprig of Rosemary – finely chopped

3 g grated Nutmeg

3 g ground Black Pepper

1 g fresh Chilli (optional) – finely chopped

Mix the spices well and thoroughly rub it into the belly, covering all the cracks and crevices

Get a container large enough to lay out the pieces of meat in a single layer. Spread a thin layer of sea salt covering the bottom of the container, then lay the pieces of meat onto the salt and cover them completely with more salt in such a way that no meat is exposed. Place the container with meat in the fridge at about 3 – 5 C for 2 days. After 2 days, remove the salt, turn the meat over, drain off any fluid and cover with the same salt and return it to the fridge. If the belly is thin (about 25 – 30 mm) remove from the fridge and discard the salt after day 3. If the belly is thicker than 30 mm, leave for another day and remover from the fridge and discard the salt after day 4

Now rinse the bellies very well with cold running water and then wash with good red or white wine

Your Pancetta are ready to commence the curing process now by hanging them in such a way that they do not touch each other. Conditions must be about 15 C for the first week and then about 7 – 10 C until ready to use. Make sure the area is well ventilated, but NO DRAFT on the meat. The Pancetta should be rotated in such a way that uniform drying is achieved

After about 30 days, depending on the thickness, ventilation and temperatures of the Pancetta, they should be ready to taste and eat when you think they are ready and of the correct consistency – no harm in eating them too soon. Always remember to slice your Pancetta VERY thin. An old hand can tell when the Pancetta is ready by just feeling them

Once the consistency and moisture content is acceptable, vacuum pack and store in the pantry

The Pancetta can be enjoyed as is or in any cooking or fried, like bacon

Another version of pancetta can be made with the skin on and the pancetta rolled and tied

ENJOY and do not forget the home red wine to compliment the good Pancetta

CAPOCOLLO (COPPA)

If your Capocollo looks, smells and tastes like this, you know you have done something right!

COPPA

Capocollo (Coppa) is made from the whole neck muscle of a young pig to the fourth rib. Cut a round section of about 200 – 250 mm in diameter and 400 – 500 mm long. Trim and clean the section properly so it does not have any loose pieces of meat and fat.

For every Kg of meat, mix the following ingredients:

35 g Salt

6 g Black Pepper (Ground)

50 g Garlic (Finely crushed)

50 Rosemary (Finely chopped)

20 g Sage (Finely chopped)

10 g Nutmeg (Fine)

5 Bay Leaves (Finely chopped)

6 Cloves (Finely chopped)

Mix all the spices well together and make sure it is all very fine, then rub well into all surfaces of the meat

Tie the meat down with natural twine, then put into Butchers Netting, tightly fit, to keep it all together

Hang at room temperature (17 C is ideal) for 4 days, then hang in the pantry / cellar at maximum 10 C until ready. Make sure the room is well ventilated, but NO DRAFT. This may take up to 24 months, depending on temperature, ventilation and meat size. Feel the consistency for readiness every so often and also rotate the meat position in the pantry, as well as top to bottom turnover (hang on the other side)

This is a dry cured SALUMI and needs to be sliced very thinly

Enjoy as antipasto with home-made bread and home-made red wine !!

RABBIT PIE

Another day, another rabbit. Discovering new, tasty ways to prepare this tasty kitchen staple of ours is a joy. Today Mrs BYF made rabbit pie. 

INGREDIENTS

Heat the oven to 180C 

For the crust she made a short pastry using a few handfuls of flour, maize  meal fines and a bit of bran. A good rule of thumb is 400g flour to 150g butter. Use more butter if you like the pastry ‘shorter’.  You can buy puff pastry, it works just as well. Halve the pastry. Line the pie dish with half of the pastry and put the dish and leftover pastry in the fridge. 

2 large rabbits, meat cut from the bones and chopped. Use the bones for stock

1 Large leek or 2 smaller ones

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons of olive oil, butter or other plant oil is also good

1 tablespoon of fresh tyme 

1 teaspoon of fresh marjoram

1 teaspoon of fresh chopped sage

1 cup of white wine

A bit of stock  if needed

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Put the oil or butter in a pan big enough to take all the rabbit pieces in a single layer. Brown the rabbit well and then remove the rabbit, keep aside. Cook the leek and garlic in the same pan you browned the rabbit until translucent. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Add the rabbit and the herbs and cook over medium heat for about 20 min, stirring well to coat the rabbit in the herbs. Season with salt and pepper 

Put the rabbit in the pie dish roll out the other half of the pastry and put the pastry ‘lid’ on the pie. Cut slits in the middle of the pie to let the steam out.  Bake at 180 C until well browned – about 30 minutes

FAGIANO ALLE CASTAGNE (Pheasant with chestnuts)

A friend presented us with two lovely pheasants, not the normal, much appreciated rabbit. Mrs BYF found a recipe for chestnut dumplings, and decided to make a stew and use some of the foraged chestnuts to compliment the dish 

RECIPE

2 pheasants – Plucked and cleaned. Keep the livers, hearts and giblets

150ml stock – Any kind will do but Mr BYF automatically makes stock out of the wings and backbone of any bird, so we used pheasant stock

150g butter

a few pinches of salt to taste 

Black pepper to taste

4 cloves of garlic crushed

100ml white wine.  I suppose you could use red or even Madeira. I used dry white because, again, the chestnuts are quite sweet.

Cut the pheasant in to serving portions. Season the meat, salting it well.  The seasoning should ideally happen a few hours before cooking. In a lidded pan that will take all the pieces of the birds in a single layer (use two pans if needed) brown the pieces.  Remove the pieces from the pan and keep them aside.  Sauté the garlic in butter until fragrant and brown. Add the livers, hearts and finely sliced giblets and sauté until brown, remove from pan and keep aside with the rest of the bird.  Turn the heat to high and deglaze the pan with the wine, boil for a few minutes. Return the pheasant to the pan and add the stock. Cover the pan and cook for 40 minutes, adding a bit of stock as needed. 

Heat the oven to 180 C 

Chestnut Dumplings

100g plain flour

50g butter 

Pinch of salt 

25g cooked and peeled chestnuts, mashed 

Whisk the flour and salt together to mix.  Rub the butter in to the flour until fine crumbs form. Rub the chestnuts into the crumbs and mix until combined. Roll small dumplings the size of a large walnut. Add more stock to the birds if the liquid has evaporated to make sauce. Put the dumplings on top of the meat, pushing  them under the sauce. Cover the pan tightly and cook for 30 min without lifting the lid. 

We served the pheasant with polenta

ENJOY and do not forget a good glass of homemade RED

Abalone con Riso allo Zafferano

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A dear friend gave us four abalones. We have not often cooked this before but we knew that we could not mess this up. Many videos were watched, shockingly some recipes included so many additives that one could replace the abalone with just about anything and not notice. Mrs BYF’s simple effort was absolutely delicious so here is the recipe:

Firstly, lock all the doors so no one can come in and share. Then tenderise the abalone by beating it with as mallet or, go the dramatic African way by tying it in a tea towel and smashing it repeatedly on the back step. Both ways worked beautifully.

Recipe

Heat a large cast iron skillet

4 Abalones tenderised and sliced in 2cm thick slices

150g Butter

2 Cloves garlic chopped

Handful of parsley

No salt was needed, so don’t be tempted lest the abalone goes tough

Melt the butter in the hot pan and add the garlic, then the abalone. Stir the abalone turning it over a few times and fry for about 2 minutes. The result was lovely soft abalone that tasted of the sea. We like raw fish so if some of it was a bit underdone we were happy. We ate it sprinkled with parsley, on saffron rice and with a fresh salad from the garden.

We opened a bottle (or two) of wonderful Prosecco for the occasion. After lunch we had to have a nap.