bottarga(cured fish roe) & Alicci con pepperoncino sotto olio. Sardines with chilli under oil

[moikel]

Started a thread & will wait for responses. Did a search on venison pastrami got a few ideas.That Truequick is going to be hard to get here. I picked pastrami because I can pack it up & spread it around my tribe.Especially as its a 5kg minimum purchase. I find it interesting that the water buffalo went from domestic to complete feral pest back to domestic in this country. We ship them live to Asia but its only now coming south to big cities recently. There was a real good country song here a while back called Will the real Buffalo Bill please stand. Written about a real life retired buffalo shooter Sarah Storer (?) was the artist. The tropics was the last frontier in this country a truly wild place. I was fishing there last year for a week man Darwin  had changed in the 30 years between trips.

 

[moikel]

Sardines final. Washed in 50/50 white wine vinegar water.Had to do 3 tubs to get it done. Then dried on the towels that have been sacrificed to task. Lots of paper towels they have to go into jars dry.Then its preserved lemon rind,garlic, crushed dried chilli,whole dried chilli,rosemary (good with oily fish) filled with olive oil.No air bubbles left to sit in dark place for at least 2 weeksThey just seem to mature in that time & a bit of the salt leaches out of them as oil absorbs. I do things like chop 2,add garlic chopped onion ,chilli maybe fry that then stir fry blanched green leafy veg,either chinese or Italian. They arent anchovies & they aint dainty sort of salty fish with chilli.

Took me every bit of 3 hours to batch them & clean up before wife gets home. I have a bunch that I  didnt butterfly to small so they will go into seperate jar but still 18kg makes 8 jars 

 

[daveomak]

Moikel, mornin'.......Those jars look sooo goood...........and really healthy too......I love pickled salmon, herring, and sardines............great stuff......
I guess it's the "old country" influence...

 

[moikel]

Hard part now waiting to see how they come out after 2-3 weeks under oil. They need to soften & absorb oil & flavours.Ill stick them in cellar for now.

 

[meateater]

Those look so good and better than anything I've seen in stores. 

  I wish I knew this when I lived in California, I would have saved more bait other than the live squid. 

 

[moikel]

The previous batch is almost finished,so I am looking forward to these.They arent dainty in appearance or taste,an old Sicilian guy told me they used to do this sort of thing in old wine barrels.Food that got families through the german occupation in WW 2. Lots of wild greens,dandelion.thistle,stinging nettles,wild fennel.Salty fish for protein bread made from chestnut flour. He is about 90. Still walks up to cafe for game of cards,coffee & an arguement.

Just put 7lb of spanish mackeral into smoker.

 

[moikel]

 MeateaterTheres a couple of ways that I  do the fresh ones when I  get them. I  can post them if you like. I put one saur e dolci ( sweet & sour )on a while back. But theres an absolute cracker of a pasta sauce thats has wild fennel tops in it thats just so authentic & most of all tasty.