Aesop - A Few Words On Caching

Some great pointers on stashing supplies...




 
You shouldn't depend on all your goodies not getting found, confiscated, or ever needing replacing, and you never know when you'll need to rely on the Bank Of Foresight to make a withdrawal that might very well save your life.

Having noted that a spare or three is a good idea, while you might have just provided yourself the bare essentials, as in the pic above, better still is a cluster of such.

Once you pick your spot, do what surveyors do: make yourself a benchmark:

 


Read the whole thing @ Aesop's place - ( Raconteur Report ) - here 

How to Cure Your Own Bacon and Pancetta

An excellent job of describing the processes involved,only slightly different than my version of these two classic cured meats.
The process is something anyone concerned with long-term survival in the event of a societal collapse should be familiar with.
Now is the time to practice making salt cured meats,smoked meats and fish,and salt and smoke cured meats like hams and bacon.
There’s also a seemingly endless variety of smoked sausages,there’s salt and air cured meats-such as proscuitto ham.
Beef,venison,and other wild game can be preserved by salt curing,smoking,or a combination of the two-think beef jerky,beef sticks-(Slim-Jim’s),dried chipped beef-the stuff SOS is made of.
In the “old days” salt and smoke curing was the only way to preserve meats and seafoods,the methods have worked for thousands of years,but sadly,not many people know how to preserve meats using these methods.

Praise the pork belly — two of the world’s best cured meats are easy to make at home.

By 

Sean Timberlake

 Everything’s better with bacon, and it’s a pretty simple matter to make your own. Bacon and its Italian counterpart pancetta are fundamental members of the expansive world of cured meats. At their most basic, they require just three ingredients — meat, salt, and time — plus a little woodsmoke for bacon. But there’s plenty of room to get fancy.

• —For the Pancetta—
• Pork belly, 3lbs
• Kosher or sea salt, 1½ oz
• Black peppercorn, 1½ tsp, crushed
• Juniper berry, 1½ tsp
• Garlic cloves, crushed (3)
• Bay leaves (3)
• Sprig of rosemary
• Cheesecloth
• Butcher’s twine (cotton)
• —For the Bacon—
• Pork belly, 3lbs–4lbs
• Kosher or sea salt, 1lb
• Sodium nitrite, 8 tsp
• Granulated sugar, 8 oz

Make Pancetta

Pancetta is the simplest to make. Think of it as the gateway drug to making bacon. It’s a meat that is lightly cured, but brings big, porky flavor to classic Italian dishes like pasta carbonara or all’ amatriciana.
Head to your preferred butcher, and purchase a slab of quality pork belly. (Pro tip: If you can find hog jowls instead of belly, you will make guanciale, which is even better.) How much is entirely up to you; personally, I go in for about 3 pounds per batch.

Weigh

Get an accurate weight on the slab, because you want a 3% ratio of salt to meat to get a good cure. For this reason, I usually weigh in metric; for 1kg of belly I would weigh out 30g of salt. If you’re unwaveringly American, that’s ½ ounce of salt per pound of meat.

Trim and Salt

Trim the belly so it’s a nice, even shape. You can remove the skin or leave it on. Lay the meat on a sheet of cling wrap on a sheet pan. Mix the salt and spices, and rub it all over the belly. Wrap tightly in a few layers of cling wrap, making sure the cure is in contact with all the meat.
 *I prefer to remove the skin,seems to cure better  that way*

Cure

Keep in the refrigerator on the sheet pan for 5 days, turning daily. The belly will release some liquid; this is normal.

Rinse and Dry

On the fifth day, unwrap, rinse, and pat dry. Your pancetta can now be cut and cooked.

Hang (dry cure)

You can intensify the flavor by hanging the pancetta, and even turn it into a cured meat that can be eaten uncooked.

Wrap the pancetta in 3 layers of cheese-cloth. Truss the pancetta with butcher’s twine, creating loops on about 1″ intervals. Hang the pancetta in a cool, dark place for 3 weeks or more. The ideal curing temperature is around 55°F, with humidity at 70–75%, but you can get perfectly satisfactory results by hanging it in a basement or any other cool place in the house.
Remember when you got that initial weight? Continue to weigh your pancetta as it cures. In order to be consumed as an uncooked cured meat, it must lose at least 30% of its weight (another reason I weigh in metric). When it’s ready, the flesh should feel evenly firm, not squishy in the center.

Unwrap and enjoy

When you unwrap the pancetta, you may see mold. Fuzzy, white mold is in fact a good thing; it’s harmless, and you can wash it off with vinegar. Ditto green mold. If you see red or black mold, however, you’re in the danger zone, and the pancetta must be tossed. (This is unlikely unless you had it in an exceedingly humid environment.)

Your cured pancetta can be refrigerated, wrapped in paper, for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 3 months.

Make bacon

America’s favorite pig product differs from pancetta in a few key ways. First, the cure typically has sodium nitrite, which, aside from deterring Clostridium botulinum spores, gives bacon its signature pink color and faintly tangy flavor. It’s also often sweet rather than savory. Finally, bacon is smoked.

Sodium nitrite is sold as Prague Powder or Instacure #1, and is often referred to as “pink salt.” (Don’t confuse it with Himalayan pink salt or similar naturally occurring salts.)
TIP: If you’re concerned about nitrate consumption, you could omit the pink salt. The resulting product will still be good, but will lack the signature flavor of classic American bacon. In my opinion it’s better to simply enjoy bacon in moderation.

Trim and salt

Make a cure by mixing the salt, pink salt (nitrite), and sugar. This is enough for more than one slab, and can be stored in a sealed container in a cool, dry place indefinitely.
Again, trim the pork belly to an even shape. Lay ¼ cup of the cure on a sheet pan, and dredge the belly on all sides.

Place the belly in a large zip-top bag and add the remaining cure from the sheet pan. You can also add flavors such as ¼ cup of maple syrup, and a shot or two of bourbon. Remove air and seal tightly.

Cure

Place the bag in a container, and keep it in the refrigerator, turning daily to redistribute the juices and infuse the bacon with flavor.
On the fifth day, give the belly a poke. If it’s still a little squishy, keep curing it. If it’s firm at the thickest parts, it’s ready to smoke.

Rinse and dry

Rinse the belly and pat dry with paper towels. Lay it on a rack, on a sheet pan lined with paper towels, and set a fan on low to blow air over the meat for a few hours. Or, you can just leave it on the rack in the refrigerator for 1–3 days.
The goal here is to create what’s called the pellicule. This is a tacky layer of proteins on the surface that will bond with smoke, creating deliciousness.

Smoke

Preheat a smoker to 200°F. When the meat is just lightly sticky to the touch, place it in the smoker, on a rack over a drippings pan.
The bacon is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F. Remove and let cool. If you left the skin on, wait until it’s just cool enough to touch, then carefully trim it away with a sharp knife.
 ***I use old school meat thermometers-the digital ones always seem to either malfunction,or you find that the batteries are dead just when you need to use the damn thing***

Enjoy

Like pancetta, bacon will keep a week in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer. But, realistically, it will get used much faster than that.
 ***Properly packaged,bacon and other salt cured meats will keep for a full year in the freezer***

Cooking Class Update

In the class description,I stated that a friend was going to assist me with a portion of the class.
The gentleman is now going to be present,and taking an active role in teaching the entire class,and will be doing the same for class II and class III.
We’ve both taught classes in the past,and have similar experience and knowledge.
Gary is far more knowledgeable than I am as far as baking goes,as he went on to become a pastry chef,and spent years creating desserts for area hotels,country clubs and restaurants.
He will be the instructor for all things baking-breads,cakes,biscquits, muffins,pies,tarts,tortes-and whatever else Gary comes up with. I’ll leave that part of the class up to him.
Those taking the class will still be making the actual desserts for lunch and dinner,as well as all the food for lunch and dinner.
Having two different guys explaining the basics that are required knowledge,and that all cooking is based on, does make quite a bit of difference in how much students retain from the class,as no two people teach the exact same way.

For class details,location and date,click on link at right under Feeding Your Tribe Now and During a SHTF Event

Read.
Learn.
Train.
Do more PT!

Feeding Your Tribe Now,and During A SHTF Event

One of the things that people often do not consider important is feeding your tribe,group,clan,team ,etc. as a group.
Cooking for large groups of people is not like having a backyard BBQ,or a holiday meal at your aunt Millie’s house.
There’s procedures you have to follow-just like anything else,there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things.
Do things the wrong way,and everyone you just fed will be grabbing the TP and running to the nearest toilet-or to the woods for the next 24-48hours.
I spent over 20 years as a professional chef,I was the executive chef at private country clubs and first class hotels.
I also cooked for an outfitter on backcountry elk hunts,cooking for the hunters, the guides,and the rest of the staff way back in the mountains,it was usually a 2 day horseback ride to get to camp.
I spent a couple years working fishing boats out of Wanchese N.C. and working for the fish companies on the docks unloading boats and cutting fish.
I am offering a series of 3 classes on cooking for large groups of people,both under “normal” conditions,and in SHTF events with no power,and no natural gas to operate stoves and ovens.

I’ve taught cooking classes in the past-my boss at the time volunteered me to teach the class,at the request of the hotel’s general manager.
I’ m going to use the same methods I used back then,except rather than a 3 day series of classes,I’m going to condense the three days of classes into a one day class.
I will do a series of three classes,each one building on the previous class material,so the classes have to be taken in order,you have to have completed the first class to be able to take the second class an so on.
If there is interest in more advanced classes-I will offer those as well.
Here’s the description of what I will cover in the first class…
Cooking For Large Groups
Class #1-The Basics
This class will be required before taking subsequent classes.

This class will be required before taking subsequent classes.
As of now,I have 3 classes that I plan to offer,with each building on the previous class.
The classes will be one day classes that are the condensed version of 3 day course.
Students will receive quite a large amount of info via e-mail,which includes a series of videos that will be sent to each student as an e-mail attachment. There will also be some additional videos online.
*I’m not satisfied with the quality of the videos I’ve made so far,working on getting a better tripod for the camera,and better lighting for the room I’m using to make the videos. If I can not get the video quality to where I’m satisfied with it,I’ll over that material via e-mails to those taking the classes.
There will also be printed materials distributed to each student on the day of the class that will include material that we will not have the time to cover during class,but that I feel is important for people to know.
There will be a number of recipes included that are my own personal recipes from my years of running kitchens.
I will cover cooking under “normal”conditions,as well as under grid down conditions,to include how to set up a field kitchen.
There will be a “hands on” part of the class,and students will cook our lunch and dinner for the day.
The food is included in class price,as are all the online,e-mail,and printed materials,and a thermometer for each student,as cooking,holding and serving temperatures are critical to insuring a safe meal.
I will provide beverages-coffee,tea,sodas.
Class sizes will be limited to 16 people,any more than that,and the kitchen I have the use of is simply not big enough.
Cost for the class is $125.00.

I just can not make it any lower,and that is a more than fair price for the amount of material,and instruction I will provide. I’ll have 60+ hours into putting together the material for the class,not counting the videos-so this first class is getting a great deal!
A deposit on class fees must be paid no later than 2 weeks prior to class,unless you have worked out a barter deal with me.(see below)
Deposit is $75.00,the remainder is due no later than 3 days before the class,so I know how much food to buy for the class.
I am also willing to barter-I’ll accept silver bars or coins at the Kitco spot silver price day of class,muzzleloding stuff I’l accept in trade-unopened plastic bottles of Triple7 powder,either FFG or FFFG, 240 grain Hornady XTP bullets in .44 or .45 caliber,230 grain Hornady lead roundnosed bullets in .45 caliber-(I’vegot more than enough sabots),quality hunting or tactical kives,fishing gear,20”crossbow bolts,31” aluminun arrow shafts suitable for a 55-70# draw compound bow with a mild cam, NAP 125 grain broadheads.
I can’t accept barter items from everyone taking the class,so if you want to barter-contact me ASAP.
Contact me via e-mail-(gamegetterII@yahoo.com)-and we can most likely work something out.
Anyone planning on taking all 3 classes can also contact me via e-mail,and I’ll knock something off of the total cost for you.
I spent a bit over 20 years as the executive chef, running the kitchens in mostly hotels and private country clubs in Ohio,with some additional experience cooking for an outfitter on backcountry elk hunts in Montana and Colorado,and on fishing boats based out of Wanchese N.C. There may be another guy with similar experience assisiting me in teaching the class-he will be there if he can,depends on what’s going on that day at the restaurant he works at.
If there is enough interest,I can offer more advanced classes after the first three.
As of now,I plan to offer the classes in order,then start over and do the same again.
Material to be covered in Class #1-The Basics
The following is a rough outline of what I will teach in Class #1
Hand washing and the right soaps to use.
Proper sanitation/disinfecting of pots,pans,utensils,kitchen equipment and surfaces.
Proper pot,pan,utensil wash/rinse/sanitization.
Knife sharpening and the correct way to use a chef’s or cooks knife,and other kitchen knives.
The various cooking methods-broil, bake,braise,saute,etc.
Common kitchen weights and measures,use of each.
Basic food prep of vegetables used in cooking.
Intro to the various stocks,soups and sauces.
 Basic food prep of vegetables used in cooking.
Intro to the various stocks,soups and sauces.
Mirepoix
Roux and other binding agents.
Fats and oils used in cooking.
Cooking,holding and serving foods safely.
Cuts of meats and what each is best used for.
Cooking rice and pastas.
Cooking beans.
Cooking vegetables and potatoes.
Intro to baking breads,bisquits,cornbreads.
Roasting meats and poultry.
Cooking fish and seafood.
Intro into baking cakes,pies,brownies,cookies,etc.
Proper food storage methods
Meal planning and prep.
I’ll go over the various ways to set up a field kitchen,and do all of the above in a grid-down scenario.

Class #2 will be focused on grid down cooking,and will involve planning meals,doing the prep work,cooking meals over a fire,how to make the fire,and set up your “kitchen” near the fire,and all the food safety during prep,coking,holding at the right temperature,and serving the meals.
I’ll announce class #2 about 6 weeks prior to the date of the class.
Classes will be held in Sagamore Hills Ohio
 Class #1 the basics,will be held on Saturday March 12th at 9am-5pm
Anyone interested,please contact me via
gamegetterII@yahoo.com
Or-
starvinlarry@gmail.com

Police Abduct 10 Children From A Family In Kentucky Because Of Their ‘Off The Grid’ Lifestyle

If the government does not like the way that you are raising your kids, they will come in and grab them at any time without giving any warning whatsoever.  Of course this is completely and totally unlawful, but it has been happening all over America.  The most recent example of this that has made national headlines is particularly egregious.  Joe and Nicole Naugler of Breckinridge County, Kentucky just had their 10 children brutally ripped away from them just because the government does not approve of how they are living their lives and how they are educating their young ones.  Let’s be very clear about this – Joe and Nicole had done nothing to violate the law whatsoever.  All of their kids were happy, healthy and very intelligent.  But because the control freaks running things in Kentucky got wind of their “off the grid lifestyle”, they have now had all of their children unlawfully abducted from them.

Read the rest @ http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/police-abduct-10-children-from-a-family-in-kentucky-because-of-their-off-the-grid-lifestyle/

Human silhouette target ban bill shows absurd dangers of anti-gun ‘solutions

 


A Pennsylvania “lawmaker” has once more demonstrated why mentally-challenged “progressives” (but I repeat myself) should never be trusted with power and responsibility. Representative Thaddeus Kirkland, a Democrat, naturally, plans on introducing a bill that “prohibits the use of human silhouette targets at shooting ranges across the Commonwealth...”
Naturally, he plans to include an exception for the “Only Ones.” Whether he intends to also mandate targets they use be accompanied with the words “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!” is left unstated.
“Rather than perpetuate violence by continuing to allow individuals to practice their target shooting by shooting at human silhouette targets at shooting ranges, my legislation will prohibit the use of targets that depict human silhouettes at shooting ranges across the Commonwealth,” Kirkland declares, as if using the word "shooting" four times in one sentence justifies subjecting everybody else to his heavy-handed foolishness. “Instead, silhouette targets could include, but are not limited to the following: white-tailed deer, black bear, wild turkey, and elk.”
We’ll just see what PETA has to say about that. Setting collectivist stooges on each other can be great fun to watch. And as an aside, Kirkland's presuming to "allow" implies there's an "obey me or be destroyed" mandate he's willing to have armed enforcers kill citizens over.
We'll have to see about that, too.
It’s probably lost on Kirkland that the people in the section of Delco he represents who are doing the lion’s share of the “gun crime,” including missing their targets and hitting someone else, are no doubt overwhelmingly “prohibited persons” and unlikely to be spending time at ranges. The bottom line is, this will hamper the effective self-defense training of good people, and interfering with that actually makes things more dangerous for everyone. Not that “progressives” blathering about “gun safety” and achieving Opposite Day results should surprise anyone who is, you know, rational...
Still, why stop at silhouettes? What about targets that actually show figures of people? What about popular “zombie” targets? They’re not human any more, are they? Fortunately, for Kirkland’s esteemed "peace officers," they’ll still be able to blow away “No More Hesitation” models of “white-privileged” pregnant women and kids, at least while their already-purchased supplies last. And I guess as long as we’re exploring the absurd, another ridiculous question or two is in order: Could I have a silhouette target of someone who looks human, but isn't? For some reason Star Trek’s android Data comes to mind...
Still, the stupidity isn't limited to Kirkland. Come on – it’s not like compulsive gun-grabbers are known for originality (just like the “Authorized Journalists” who make sure everyone has the latest talking points to parrot).
“Pennsylvania is not the first state to consider a ban on human-shaped targets,” Outdoor Hub reports. “Massachusetts has already banned the use of any shooting targets in licensed gun ranges “that depict human figures, human effigies, human silhouettes or any human images thereof, except by public safety personnel performing in line with their official duties.’”
Massachusetts. It’s OK for cops to train to shoot back at bad guys, but you, not so much. Well that just figures, doesn't it Gomer?
Trying to trace back legislative origins is a daunting task for anyone unfamiliar with the Acts and Resolves library system the state uses (guilty!), but the prohibiting language, applying to licensed “clubs,” appears in “An Act Relative to Gun Control in the Commonwealth” from 1998, back when “Republican” Paul Cellucci ruled the roost. Whether the language was a holdover from earlier legislation is unknown, but that it survived his and Mitt Romney’s tenures as governor without apparent objection shows it’s unfair blaming it all on Democrats.
Can you imagine being one of the privileged, exempted “law enforcers,” and being willing to escalate things through the entire continuum of force against someone who could appropriately argue (in spite of what totalitarians would claim) that his supposedly guaranteed freedom of expression was being violated?
It would be interesting to see this challenged, and see how a “compelling state interest,” generally required under strict scrutiny for First Amendment cases, would be backed up. Which qualified trainers and certified programs teach that everyone is safer when targets used in self-defense training are limited to concentric circles and to pictures of game animals under force of law? And just what qualifications do ignorant, anti-gun bigots have to impose their ignorance on others, including on people whose advanced classrooms they couldn't even safely participate in, let alone understand core concepts being taught, without first mastering prerequisite basic and intermediate skills?
It’s also interesting seeing how far some, living in places from which the demand for liberty arose, have repudiated freedom won for them by worthier men, and demanded shackles in its place. Sadly, it's just not surprising to those who have noted them ceding their -- and our -- birthright to turkeys. Literally and figuratively.

http://www.examiner.com/article/human-silhouette-target-ban-bill-shows-absurd-dangers-of-anti-gun-solutions?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Knife Sharpening

Since I’ve spent a considerable amount of time butchering deer for guys lately-90% of them had knives so dull they couldn’t be used-which is why I always bring my own if going to someone else’s home to cut up their deer.
Guys have handed me these “really great game processing knives and tools” that they wasted their $50.00-$75.00 or more on,and the pieces of crap wouldn’t cut through a cake without tearing it up.
Sharpening a knife is not all that complicated,it ain’t rocket science,you don’t need an engineering degree to get your knives sharp and keep them sharp.
You need a few basic things-a set of sharpening stones-( whetstones)-a butcher’s steel-a real one,not the 8-10″ pieces of shit that come with the equally useless knives in the wooden block on most people’s kitchen counters-an 18″ butcher’s steel-go to any restaurant supply store,any store that sells top quality cutlery,or order one online.
Lastly,you should have ceramic sharpening “sticks’-either the sticks that go in a wood block,or the inexpensive plastic sharpeners that have carbide sticks on one side,and ceramic on the other.
I have a tri-hone set of 3 sharpening stones made by Smith’s,it’s a coarse,a medium,and a fine stone,attached to a triangle shaped piece of wood that rests in notches in the wood base-you just turn it to whatever stone you need,as you do not always need to start with the coarse stone,sometimes you just need to “touch up” a blade.
I have a real butcher’s steel,have had the same one for 35 years or so,got it way back when I was a line cook,before I finished the apprenticeship and became an executive chef.
I’m on my 3rd tri-hone,they seem to last about 10 years-less if you’re keeping a bunch of knives sharp as you’re running a kitchen in a country club.
I use a small sharpener that has carbide and ceramic “sticks” ,along with a diamond coated,tapered rod for sharpening serrated blades.
The key to sharpening your knives is to be able to hold the same angle every time as you move the knife across the stone.If you can not do that-cut yourself some wood wedges,and hold those under the blade.
You want to use a 20-25 degree angle-( 20-25 degrees for each bevel-or a 40-50 degree inclusive angle)- for knives used to butcher game animals,mine always seem to end up at around 22.5-23 degrees,which works fine for me,if I need something more like a razor blade edge,I use a flatter angle-closer to 18-20 degrees-which is what I use for my filet knives.
As long as your knife blades are not full of nicks,or have chunks missing,you should only need 10-15 strokes on each side,starting with the coarse stone and repeated for the med. and fine stones,follow that up with 8-10 strokes on each side on the steel.

Read the rest @

http://starvinlarry.com/2015/01/14/knife-sharpening/

More on proper knife sharpening.

Knife sharpening from “Big D”- a custom knife maker “Big D” is Donavon Phillips—Nissan factory mechanic, knife maker, and the current and three-time national BladeSports International cutting champion.

Reading for the Holiday Weekend

http://starvinlarry.com/2014/07/12/weekend-reading/


http://starvinlarry.com/2014/07/12/some-more-weekend-reading/