uncured fatback source?

[rootlesscosmo]

Another Chowhounder has posted about the Bouchon rabbit paté recipe and I'd like to try making it, but I'm stuck for one ingredient: uncured pork fatback. Any local sources? (That poster is in the Midwest.) Does Lucky Pork have it? Any other places, in the Mission or Chinatown?

[sharff]

Just came back from Wah Liam Market, on Irving between 20th and 21st in the Sunset District. The butcher said they have fatback - fresh not frozen.

The store is a fruit and vegie market in front, also has a fish counter that we didn't look at.

[rootlesscosmo]

Just back from La Gallinita (Belmar Market) at 24th & Harrison Sts. in the Mission District, with 6 pounds of fresh lard and a nice big hunk of fatback. Rabbit paté, here I come...

[lulusugarpop]

Yeah, Akron carries uncured.

[Curmudgeon]

Uncured? If you mean raw go to a 99 Ranch and get the pork belly. I've made my own pancetta from it,

[lulusugarpop]

Akron carries it...they are on 20th between Folsom and Shotwell

[Sixy]

when I made rillettes I used belly of pork. You can order by the entire belly only from Golden Gatre Meat company in the Ferry Building with one day's notice.

Although they don't have it on display, I later found out that Prather ranch sells smaller cuts of pork belly too.

This is what it looked like when I had separated the meat from the fat:
http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/164/...
that took me hours!

It might be worth phoning golden gate, I am pretty sure they can do almost any thing you need with enough notice.

[Melanie Wong]

Lucky Pork has been a good source for fatback in the past. Someone mentioned recently that it has changed hands, so don't know now.

[sharff]

I just got back from Lucky Pork and they said they have it frozen. Is that of any use for pates?

[rootlesscosmo]

It changed hands a couple of years ago. The old staff who could speak Cantonese, Tagalog, Spanish, and English are gone; the new folks are Spanish-speaking with some English. And I don't know if they still have the superb meat-cutting skills--there was a tall Asian guy, I remember, whom I once watched butterfly a beef tenderloin into a sheet about 12 inches by 12 and a uniform 1 inch thickness. Took him about a minute, if that... a real virtuoso. I'll see about fatback this week and post my findings--I think frozen could work once it was thawed, if frozen is what they've got.

[Candy]

I used pork belly. It was the only thing close that my butcher shop had that was unsalted. I carefully removed the skin and turned that into pork cracklings and ground the rest. It worked out just fine.

How did your salt cod do?

[rootlesscosmo]

Haven't tried making my own yet. But I made Brandade according to Pepin's method--simmer chunks of (de-salted) baccalà along with chunks of russet potato and several cloves of garlic in whole milk until the fish and the spuds are both soft; put the whole thing into the processor, add a little olive oil, pulse, then spoon into gratin dishes, top with grated parmigiano (or similar) and run under the broiler for 10-15 minutes. Outstanding and very, very easy. Pepin claims the French Navy calls this, with a poached egg on top, Eggs Benedictine, and says he flunked the Navy Cook test because he didn't know that. Navy or no Navy, I served it with a poached egg and some crostini and it was delicious.

I'll look for pork belly in the ethnic markets--if that doesn't work I'll order from Niman. Thanks, everybody.

[Candy]

I turn the bradade into codfish balls sans potatoes, roll in cornstarch and deep fry. OMG are they good. Crispy and creamy at the same time, they don't need much more than a squeese of lemon but taratr sauce is okay. Give it a try.

[Robert Lauriston]

Any butcher that breaks down whole pigs will have back fat, though those that make their own charcuterie may not want to sell it.

You can get Niman back fat by special order or mail:

http://www.nimanranch.com/p/349900-91...