James Bercovici - The Big Red Wine Company

After I posted yesterday about my current obsession with curing meats, I was challenged by a few, no doubt sceptical, readers (yes, apparently I do have them) so here is a shot of what's maturing right now. On the left, some venison pancetta (I just had a bacon sandwich: very meaty but really rather good) and the salamis: pork, venison and (pork) chorizo. These were all started on 17th March so they'll need a few weeks to reduce to 70% of their original weight which, apparently, is the point where they are ready to eat although, from my first attempts, they will need much longer to dry to the point where I would want to enjoy them. At that point I can vacuum seal any that need to have their maturation slowed down. Basic salami recipe: 500g pork belly 500g pork shoulder  – both should be ground fairly thick then mixed with the wine and: 100ml red wine (I used Muro's Rioja Crianza 2015 'Bujanda' since I was also making chorizo, saving the rest of th...

Actually, since off licenses have been deemed permitted businesses, things have been rather busy here but with the whole family at home all the time (except for the daily exercise exeat), the day seems longer than usual. No school runs for one thing. This means my desk is, for once, clear and, whilst I wait for a new delivery from the warehouse, I have time to plant some new asparagus crowns, make a batch of ragu big enough to last the first stage of lockdown (although I am in doubt that this will continue well into the summer) and, for the first time this year, write a blog post. I will endeavour to do more of this in the days and weeks to come although I don't know if anyone is remotely interested - sign up or 'friend' this blog or whatever is supposed to happen so I know someone is reading this! I think there will be two main strands to whatever nonsense I write for the time being: wine and everything else. Everything else will probably be dominated by food since that,...