We have pork!

I picked up a half pig from Richardson Farms this morning, and now its in much smaller pieces.

The Home Stretch...

We're in the home stretch here at Salt & Time. Last week, my dad and I drove down to Houston to pick up a bunch of supplies at Allied Kenco. Whether you're a home sausage maker or producing commercially, Allied Kenco can hook you up with everything you need. Cody and the staff there are super friendly and helpful and a pleasure to work with. They do mail order, but since I was ordering a couple hundred pounds of curing salts and casings, I figured I'd save on shipping costs and pick them up. Plus, I've never been to Houston, and I've been hearing great things about Feast. Feast lived up to the hype with its menu. We were still full from lunch, and we needed to get back on the road, so we had a light dinner. The highlight for me was definitely chicken hearts on toast. I have to admit, that I'm not much for chicken liver, but chicken hearts are yummy. I did have flashbacks to my days at Marin Sun Farms when I would sort through chicken offal to separate out the hearts from the livers for the farmers market.

With the pantry now full of supplies, we finished up the last major work on the shop this week, and are ready to start production. Next week, I'm picking up my first batch of pork from Richardson Farms and we will be off and running. I'll have some pictures up of the first batch, but in the mean time, here are some photos of the shop.

And now for something completely different.

If you're bored, check out one of my favorite non-food blogs The Selvedge Yard's gallery of Tom Waits photos.

Happy New Year

Update: I added a couple of photos of the porchetta before it went on the fire.

I'm very excited about 2010 and all the opportunities and possibilities it holds. Things are coming along quite well here at Salt & Time. I'm just about done with my shop (I will post some pictures soon), and if everything goes according to plan, my first batch of salume will go in the drying room sometime next week.

In the mean time, I took the shop for a test drive and made some sausage and a porchetta for Christmas dinner. The sausage was a (slightly) Spicy Italian with fennel seeds. My brother in law smoked them with great care and they came out tasting great. The porchetta was quite tasty, but also a bit of an adventure. Weighing in at about 30 lbs, it quickly overpowered the electric motor on the spit. Not spinning, and sitting a little too close to the fire, the outside of the porchetta quickly went from crispy to blackened at the twine I had tied it with began to catch on fire and burst. A little quick thinking and a handful of metal skewers and we managed to avoid disaster. The skin was too charred to eat, but the meat inside was well protected and came out wonderfully moist and flavorful.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

I'm really enjoying incorporating the influence of my new home with the Italian traditions that first inspired me, and nothing says Texas like applying a healthy dose of fire and smoke to meat. I'm looking forward to continuing to experiment with Texan food traditions in the coming year.

So much fun...

I had a great time at the Spartan and Bows + Arrows party! Thanks to all my new friends and fans of salty foods. I can't wait until next time!




We're gearing up for the holidays at home, and its a mad house of decorating, pickling, cooking and listening to Christmas music. Our favorites are the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the Christmas albums by Low, John Fahey and Bob Dylan. Have a happy holidays, and I'll check back in in the new year with lots of exciting updates.

Salt & Time, out on the town

If you're in Austin and looking for something to do on the evening of Thursday December 10, consider stopping by two of Austin's finest retail establishments Spartan and Bows & Arrows. This is the perfect chance to finish up your holiday shopping, pick a little something up for yourself, grab a drink and snack on some tasty treats made by yours truly. Unfortunately, this will be a vegetarian affair, but I hope to have some salume ready for the next party they throw!

Come eat this pickled fennel!

Spartan
Bows & Arrows
215 S. Lamar
6:00 ish

What the hell is going on around here?

Seriously, how do I expect anyone to take my blog seriously if I can't get my act together to at least post every once in a while? And I know you don't want to hear any excuses. Plenty of people who are busier than me still manage to post on there blog. I mean, didn't you see Julie & Julia? She was crazy busy, and she still managed to cook all those recipes AND post about it. It's true, it's all true.

Nonetheless, for those of you who have persevered, and have continued to come back despite the obvious lack of update, I have some news for you: I'm going pro. I had the great opportunity to learn from the talented folks at Marin Sun Farms, the Fatted Calf and Avedano's, and while I never got around to blogging about it, it changed my life. For the last couple of months, I've been investigating all of the legal and logistical issues around producing and selling cured meat products in Texas, not to mention getting to know some of the great farmers and ranchers in the area, and now I'm ready to start making salume. As you know, making salume takes time (and salt, of course) so it will be a while before I have much to sell, but if all goes according to plan, the people of Texas should be able to buy Salt & Time Salume early next year.

I'll keep you updated, I swear.

p.s. I had an absolutely amazing meal at Olivia. Lamb's Tongue Fricasee, Rabbit Confit with Gnocchi and Natalie had the Salmon Crepe. All wonderful, and had a great chat with Chef and Owner James. Should have Twittered it, but I'm worse at Twittering than I am at blogging.