Karen Solomon's latest book, Cured Meat, Smoked Fish and Pickled Eggs ($19.95, Storey), is a must-have for anyone interested in preserving proteins. In addition to more than 60 recipes, Solomon explains each preserving process -- pickling, water bath canning, pressure canning, dry curing, brine curing, freezing, fat curing, hot smoking and cold smoking -- in detail with plenty of color photographs to illustrate various steps in the process.
Florence Fabricant, in The New York Times raves about Solomon's recipe for rousong (pork floss), something we didn't even know existed until reading Fabricant's column. We expected rousong to be complicated and daunting, but it wasn't. It calls for easily obtained ingredients -- pork tenderloin, soy sauce, sugar, apples, ginger, garlic, star anise, rice vinegar and vegetable oil -- and requires only a pot, a spoon and a rimmed baking sheet.
Other new-to-us dishes include Czech Pickled Hot Dogs, Honey-Preserved Pistachios and Preserved Egg Yolks.
Hunters and anglers will appreciate the recipes such as Duck Breast Prosciutto, Big Game Jerky and Hot Smoked Fish.
But one needn't catch, raise or hunt his own fish, livestock and game to enjoy these recipes. Solomon also includes tips and advice for preparing her recipes with items from the grocery store.
Food on 08/01/2018