As you may recall, one of the things I wanted for Christmas was a bag of Chris Cosentino’s Boccalone lard caramels (amongst other things).

After the holidays I was able to cross a few things off that massive list (I Know How To Cook, the dough press, a scraping beater, a rolling pin and the spice storage solution, specifically), but I was still no closer to tasting those caramels.  As I probably mentioned at the time of writing, unless I get myself (or someone I know) to California (which is highly unlikely) I don’t have much chance of partaking of them any time soon, either.

You may also have noticed that this past weekend I rendered down the better part of 10 pounds of pork fat into lard, the majority of which has been earmarked for sealing the prosciutto.  Even after taking that into consideration, there was still a fair amount of fat left over.  Some I planned to freeze for another day, but it occurred to me that I had enough of a surplus to sacrifice a little to a lard caramel experiment.

When I first read about these fancy lard caramels, I assumed there must be some magical twist to them.  Further research revealed that wasn’t the case, and in fact the only thing unique about them (compared to other caramels) is the fact that the lard supposedly comes from Cosentino’s restaurant.  Beyond that, everything I read indicated they’ve employed a fairly standard caramel recipe.

So, with that in mind, I took my variation on Alice Medrich’s caramel recipe and lardified it.

But that wasn’t enough.  I also had to see if lard caramels could translate into my favourite variety; the chocolate cream caramel.  I’m not talking about that insipid Tootsie Roll stuff, but a chocolatey, chewy lump with grown up flavour.

I started by combining the typical caramel ingredients (sugar, salt, golden syrup) in 2 pots.

Gradually, I added chopped 78% chocolate, lard and cream to one mix and ground vanilla beans, lard and cream to the next.

Once those were in, I continued to cook the caramel until the temperature rose to about 265*.

After it achieved temperature I poured the hot goo into prepared pans and let it sit.

Several hours later… voila!  Vanilla caramels (above) and chocolate cream caramels (top of post).

So how do these stack up to regular caramels, you’re wondering?

Well, the vanilla caramel is rich and lusciously creamy, but finishes with an intriguing savoury note.  To further intensify it I’ve since sprinkled some of the slices with a smoked alderwood salt that counterbalances their sweetness.

The chocolate cream caramel is another story; one that I have not quite made my mind up about yet.  While it is similar in shape, texture and appearance to those old Kraft squares, the flavour is darker, with a demurely refined tone.  It’s also much firmer than the vanilla caramel, which may be the result of a slight scorching of the chocolate in the pan, I’m not 100% sure.  The smoky pork flavour is also much more prevalent in the chocolate version, in a way I’m not sure I like.  As of this writing I have not written them off, but I certainly haven’t decided that I’m loving them, either.  I’ll have to sit on them for a few more days before I declare my final verdict.

Overall though, I’d say the vanilla lard caramels were a smashing success, and along with my garamelic, something that I could see myself eating regularly for years to come.  If you’re interested in recreating or experimenting with it, I just took the garamelic recipe and divided it in half, replaced the butter with lard, and in the case of the chocolate creams, melted 5 ounces of chocolate down into the cream before adding it to the caramel.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezie!

Until next time…

As some of you may recall, late last year I embarked on an attempt to cure my own prosciutto.

And now, as the first stage of that nearly 2 year process draws to a close, we’ve come to one of the more time-consuming and arduous tasks.

Having been rested in a salt and herb coat for quite some time now, the prosciutto is nearly ready to be smeared with a mixture of lard and black pepper and hung to be aged until it’s magically delicious.

Of course, to get to that point, one has to have a fair amount of lard.

Lucky for me I bought half a pig last summer, which came with its own lion’s share of fat.  As you may know, fat can eventually be rendered down into lard.

Which is exactly why I spent most of my Saturday cooking down 10 (of approximately 30) pounds of pork fat I had in the freezer.  The prosciutto won’t require nearly that much, but if I’m going to the trouble, I might as well render some down for myself, too.

But, instead of using the stovetop approach recommended by our organic grocer Bob, I consulted Jennifer McLagan’s Fat and found that it suggested rendering large quantities with the consistent heat of an oven, which is a decidedly more laid back, hands-off approach that I could wholeheartedly get behind.

So, after nearly an hour spent cubing semi-frozen pork fat with a cleaver, I boffed the whole lot into the biggest oven-safe pot I have (my lovely ginormous stainless steel stockpot from Udeal) and settled in for a long afternoon, checking on the fat approximately once per hour and giving it a stir.

Nearly 5 hours later this is all the action that’s happened at 250*:

Now, because it’s all fat, there is a little bit of water in there (McLagan recommends about 1/3 cup per pound) that will evaporate as the fat slowly melts, and at the same time prevents it from burning.

Something tells me it’s going to be a long night.

Until next time…