Gravadlax and Christmas Curing

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Linda Duffin

The turkey is on order and the Christmas cake is made. Time to think about what else will be on the Yuletide table at Mrs P’s. Our family likes a traditional Christmas dinner: turkey with all the trimmings including chipolatas and bacon, and a whopping great piece of ham to eat cold with the leftover bird on Boxing Day (and to pick at every time they pass the fridge, along with a fistful of cold sausages).

Image of Jackie laying out the wrapping for the salmon

Jackie Kennedy lays out the wrapping for the salmon

Usually I buy my chipolatas and ham from a good butcher but this year I went on a Christmas curing course with charcutiers Jackie and Sarah at Marsh Pig in Norfolk. Continue reading →

Pancetta-wrapped Asparagus

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Linda Duffin

We’ve been on a roll since we did a smoking and curing course with Marsh Pig Salami a few months ago. We’ve been making batches of our own bacon and pancetta and it’s so good I don’t think we’ll ever go back to shop-bought.

Our first pancetta has just finished curing and I couldn’t think of a better way to use it than to wrap it round our home-grown asparagus. Continue reading →

Hot Smoked Pheasant and Partridge

Posted on March 27, 2015 by Linda Duffin

I’ve given up smoking cigarettes. I seem to have started smoking everything else in sight. No, Officer, nothing illegal here, that’s just a side of salmon/slab of bacon/hunk of cheese. Regular readers will know we’ve finally got the cold smoker up and running but this week I’ve been hot smoking game. Continue reading →

Smoking and Curing with Marsh Pig

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Linda Duffin

I’d been bumping into Jackie and Sarah from Marsh Pig Salami at farmers’ markets and food fairs for a while and I’d tried their award-winning products and liked them. Then I noticed a tweet from Jackie talking about their curing and smoking course. They had a curing and smoking course? I wanted to be on it. Continue reading →

Building a Cold Smoker

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Linda Duffin

This was a project we’d had on the back burner, so to speak, for months. Then we went on a smoking and curing course with Norfolk’s Marsh Pig Salami (more on that next week) and came home with lots of tasty things we’d made, including two slabs of home-cured bacon which we wanted to smoke.

We’d had a nearly-built cold smoker in the shed for months but now we had a deadline. Continue reading →

Kickin’ Smoked Chicken

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Linda Duffin

Chorizo crisps are something I discovered recently and I think they’re probably mildly addictive. Easy to make, they are a fantastic addition to this main course summer salad. It’s something you can throw together very quickly, with the delicate smoked chicken given a spicy kick by the crunchy chorizo and unctuous harissa mayonnaise. Continue reading →

Cheese, Please! Challenge

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Linda Duffin

I’m enormously (unfortunate choice of word) fond of cheese. I can scarf a large wedge at one sitting, even after a hefty (there I go again) meal. One of my favourite food bloggers, the witty and always interesting author of Fromage Homage, publishes a monthly challenge for fellow turophiles.

November’s challenge is for recipes with smoked cheese. Apparently you get additional points for smoking your own cheese using a tin can and a soldering iron while wearing a ridiculous cardigan. Continue reading →

Mrs Portly's Kitchen

A Suffolk Aga Saga

Category Archives: Smoking and curing