Mangalitsa, Freeform Cheddar and Concord Hooch

I've been speaking in public lately about various kitchen tasks. I will be speaking again at Oregon State this week. DO come by. Three talks free and open to the public. In the course of writing, I have been struck that these operations are performed rhythmically, some every week like baking bread, some every month or so like curing meat, some every few months, like cheese making. Distillation is usually once a year now. At least when using my own grapes. I can't say any of this is well thought out or premeditated. The ingredients themselves dictate these rhythms, as well as storage space, rates of consumption. Quite interesting. And rarely are there examples of everything sitting around at once.

But this week there just happens to be. Above is some Mangalista pig I found at Corti Bros in Sacramento yesterday. Just a pound, to see what it's like, in a hog middle. To the immediate left is an amorphous blob of cheese. Raw milk cheddared, dried a few days and washed with arrack. Don't ask me why, I just like the grassy flavor and thought it would do nicely. The shape is thanks to a kitchen towel, in which I drained and squeezed the cheese. Why not?

Then lastly, today was hooch day. My concord grapes have been fermenting about 2 1/2 weeks. Pretty crude as wine, but distilled, just delightful. A full 3 liters make about half a bottle. I also tossed some with wine to see how it would taste fortified. Then a rather large bottle of gin made from zin. It was an 08, made by a friend of a friend who I helped at a pressing a few weeks ago. With juniper, rosemary, bay berries and leaves. Should be lovely. Can't wait till Thanksgiving when we down them!