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I've got the day off work and was going to do yardwork but it rained this morning so I decided to play with meat instead! I've got beef jerky drying in the convection oven, salmon curing, and 5lb each of bacon and pancetta in the fridge! Oh and the trimming from the slab of pork belly i threw in the oven with the jerky for a couple hours at 200 then I'll see how it likes some time under the broiler to crisp the skin! So much meat everywhere
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Jun 11, 2012 17:34
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| # ? May 19, 2024 02:56 |
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Is sea salt ok to use in a cure? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking of using this http://bourbonbarrelfoods.com/shop/spices/bourbon-smoked-sea-salt-bag to add to bacon
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Jun 14, 2012 16:05
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I've used sea salt instead of kosher salt in bacon before and it turned out just fine. I'd try to get the crystals on the smaller side, if possible, since that'll help them get absorbed into the bacon. If you have a grinder, that might help, but it'll probably work out just fine even if you don't.
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Jun 14, 2012 18:06
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I was looking at doing some of this for a bit of fun. I've been looking at curing salt, it's easy to get Salt Petre (Potassium Nitrate) but seems harder to get Pink Salt (Sodium Nitrite). Is it possible to use Salt Petre in making bacon or does anyone know a good place to get Pink Salt in the UK?
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Jun 15, 2012 11:45
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http://www.designasausage.com/pages/prods.asp?catid=2&subcatid=31 This is where I get mine for making bacon. Also has weight guide lines for curing
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Jun 15, 2012 12:11
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Time for some more bacon! I found a butcher (around Pine Grove, PA) who butchers his own pigs and got a 10-lb belly (around $2.30 per lb.)   Seasoned it up with the recipe in the OP and tossed it in the fridge for a week.  Pulled it out, washed the seasoning off and let it rest in the fridge overnight then popped the belly into the smoker. Smoked it at 200 with mesquite wood until I hit an internal temp of 145 (about 4-5 hours)    I froze the smoked belly overnight for easier slicing, then cut it up.    Once I go through / give away most of this batch, I think the next belly will be triple-cold smoked, just have to build a cold smoke box to adapt the electric smoker. edit: Sorry, thought I had posted the thumbnail version to start with Kid fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jun 17, 2012 |
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Jun 16, 2012 21:12
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I have to say, that bacon looks beautiful in the smoker there, Kid. I am jealous! I really need to get a smoker of my own.
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Jun 16, 2012 22:07
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If you feel compelled to post a 4000x2250 image (which is insane), please at least use the [timg] tags instead of [img].
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Jun 16, 2012 22:48
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Made the pepper, garlic, bay leaves bacon and it was even better than the standard version. It came out less salty than my normal bacon as well. Never buying in stores again.
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Jun 18, 2012 12:40
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Kid posted:....just have to build a cold smoke box to adapt the electric smoker. A few of us apparently use this guys products, and love them.
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Jun 18, 2012 23:28
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I picked up the Charcuterie book and a 7.5lb pork belly, split it into manageable chunks, and made 1 plain and 1 garlic/pepper. They went in the smoker last night for a couple hours and oh my lord they are tasty. Even the plain with just the basic cure tastes so much better than any storebought I've had.
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Jun 20, 2012 17:58
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superdylan posted:I picked up the Charcuterie book and a 7.5lb pork belly, split it into manageable chunks, and made 1 plain and 1 garlic/pepper. They went in the smoker last night for a couple hours and oh my lord they are tasty. Even the plain with just the basic cure tastes so much better than any storebought I've had. I just did a batch of bacon using just the basic dry cure, let it sit for a week, and its delicious, but excessively salty. Is it safe to go less then a week in the cure? Definitely need to get another belly so I can try the variation in the op.
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Jun 21, 2012 19:34
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This kind of thing has always piqued my interest so I now have 5lbs of Pork Belly sitting in my puny UK sized fridge waiting to be smoked or roast depending on my feelings next week. Now My wife is a Shetlander and loves her Salmon as we have a pretty good supply of fresh Salmon. Does anyone have any good Salmon curing recipes? She was considering making gravalax with Ardbeg to see how that worked out.
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Jun 22, 2012 16:37
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I've made bacon in the past but my recipe for it wasn't great and I never really committed the energy into making it any good. I decided after reading this thread that I'd pick up Charcuterie (both the book and the hobby) seriously and made my first set of bacon using the cure in the OP. It's been a pretty big success but without a commercial meat slicer some of my slices are way too big, and I've been brainstorming how to deal with super thick bacon when I had the idea to throw the thickest slices on the grill with some burgers for dinner. Has anybody else tried this with your huger hand-sliced bacon slices? I am pleased to report it worked great for me, nice thick-cut hammy slices of bacon with a charred crust on the outside from the grill. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, it's a perfect compliment to a burger.
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Jun 24, 2012 01:38
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Just read through the thread, and this seems like an awesome hobby to get into. I'm a bit limited in terms of space and I can't smoke anything, so I want to try my hand at pancetta to start. I saw someone link a Ruhlman recipe earlier (http://ruhlman.com/2009/06/home-cured-pancetta/), but that looks like it makes a slab of pancetta, instead of the more roll-looking stuff I've gotten at the store. Are they different things? Is there any difference in preparation beyond forcing one into shape? I imagine lowering the amount of exposed surface area could make a difference if you're drying it, so I didn't want to assume I could just tie it with twine and call it done.
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Aug 27, 2012 18:53
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So I'm interested in making Duck Rillettes, but the recipe Ruhlman gives for rillettes seems to be essentially blended into a spread (which I understand is what Rillettes actually is.) However, I had duck rillettes at a restaurant recently and it was distinctly chunkier, I mean it had actual pieces of duck, and rather than being spread on bread or something, it was a sliced round that had been pan-fried so it had a bit of a crispy exterior. It was awesome. What kind of change should I be making to do something a bit more like this? I imagine its just less 'blending' of the mixture and more just hand mixing and incorporating the fat with the duck chunks, rolling and refrigerating, and then slicing a round to fry like you might with a grit cake or something?
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Sep 10, 2012 16:08
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I just put two duck breasts in salt for prosciutto and was wondering if I should have removed the skin? Also, any suggestions for what to do with the wings/legs/thighs? I've never cooked duck.
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Sep 13, 2012 01:45
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Daedalus Esquire posted:Also, any suggestions for what to do with the wings/legs/thighs? I've never cooked duck. You should totally make duck confit, it's ridiculously good.
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Sep 13, 2012 08:48
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Demon_Corsair posted:Is it safe to go less then a week in the cure? yes. you can tell when it's done based off of color and squishyness. I've had plenty of pork belly get finished 4-5 days in - it'll be firm and evenly colored. Mirthless posted:I've been brainstorming how to deal with super thick bacon when I had the idea to throw the thickest slices on the grill with some burgers for dinner. Has anybody else tried this with your huger hand-sliced bacon slices? grilling bacon is awesome, but even if you don't have a meat slicer, it's pretty easy to get thin slices with a sharp blade. pop your pork belly in the freezer for about 20 minutes, then carve off some thin shaved bacon goodness. Nolanar posted:but that looks like it makes a slab of pancetta, instead of the more roll-looking stuff I've gotten at the store. Are they different things? I haven't made the ruhlman recipe, but *essentially* they aren't any different. one isn't in a roll, but honestly most good pancetta unfolds in to less-than-a-roll anyways. The curing/drying times might be a bit different between the two versions, but in the end I think all the flavor comes from the curing ingredients, so either method would work great. dinosaurtrauma posted:So I'm interested in making Duck Rillettes, but I had duck rillettes at a restaurant recently and it was distinctly chunkier Rillette is a pretty rustic preparation, and I think it can vary to a wide degree and still be considered 'a rillette'. Much like there are different forms of pate (some chunkier, some more emulsified), it is mostly just regional style and taste that determine how a rillette turns out. So long as you have a meat long cooked in stock (and probably fat), seasoned, potted, and sealed with a layer of fat, you have rillette in my book. doesn't matter if it's chunky, like pate, or pulled pork. Daedalus Esquire posted:I just put two duck breasts in salt for prosciutto and was wondering if I should have removed the skin? no. the fat in the duck prosciutto is the most amazing part. so delicious - make sure to slice it ultra razor thin. wings/legs/thighs should be made into confit. salt and pepper them very very liberally, rub with garlic and herbs de provence, and let sit overnight. rinse and dry thoroughly, and cook in duck fat (or lard, or whatever) for 3-6 hours, until falling off the bone. chill in the fat, pick a piece out of the fat, crisp it up under a broiler, and serve. ultimately delicious, and can be used in salads or pasta or whatever really.
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Sep 13, 2012 08:53
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I'm going to bump this thread all the way back to page one with this. Hope everyone still likes curing meats. I work at a small but well-supported restaurant (we're 80 seats in the dining room plus a 40-seat banquet area that's not used every day and a 40-seat patio that's closing for the season any day now) in a wealthy suburb of Detroit. We're one location of a restaurant group that operates (currently) four very, very successful restaurants. I've been there for about 8 months now, and I've been stuck working pantry a lot despite being trained on the Grill and Sauté stations, because nobody else on staff is as good at the station as I am. The other night, I was talking to my sous chef, and said, "If I'm going to be in pantryland as much as I have been, I might as well do some cool stuff out of that station. How do you, the Corporate Chef, and the restaurant group feel about letting me do some charcuterie work?" I got a generally positive response, so I'm going to go ahead and do a couple simple things, see how they sell, and work from there. My plan is to start with stupid simple stuff. We don't have a smoker, though we can oven-smoke certain items if need be, so I was looking at doing some duck prosciutto–since we already run duck from time to time it wouldn't be hard to get a couple breasts, or whole ducks to play with for confit too—and maybe some kind of cured salmon. I post all of this because I'd like to solicit your experiences with doing charcuterie work in restaurants. Are there things I should avoid because the Health Department will flip their poo poo? That sort of thing. (Also, one thing is that I'm aiming to stay a bit away from pork products—or at least vary enough to have some non-pork—since we have a largely Jewish clientele.)
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Oct 17, 2012 17:17
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battlemonk posted:I post all of this because I'd like to solicit your experiences with doing charcuterie work in restaurants. Are there things I should avoid because the Health Department will flip their poo poo? That sort of thing. I don't work in the restaurant industry, but I remember watching Food Network's "The Big Waste" when chefs had to make meals from food that was about to be thrown out. A food safety person came by and allowed all the food to be used except for prosciutto because it hadn't been properly refrigerated. Anne Burrell got pissed because the meat was cured, but he made them throw it out.
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Oct 17, 2012 23:00
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This might be a Chicago thing rather than a federal thing, but I've heard people complain about the extreme hoops they had to jump through to get their restaurant certified for meat curing.
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Oct 17, 2012 23:15
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Sailor_Spoon posted:This might be a Chicago thing rather than a federal thing, but I've heard people complain about the extreme hoops they had to jump through to get their restaurant certified for meat curing. Generally speaking, you have to get a Variance, because you're not following Health Code—you keep the (essentially) raw product in the temperature danger zone for a long time, and don't cook it at any point after that for the most part. Thus, you have to submit a HACCP plan that details exactly how you'll keep it safe, which is hard to do unless you have a whole area of your kitchen dedicated to the charcuterie (i.e. sanitized cabinets for fermenting, hygrometers, thermometers, negative pressure labs, space suits, etc.) Since I'm looking at doing this in a relatively small restaurant kitchen where that sort of control might be hard to achieve, this might just be a pipe dream.
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Oct 18, 2012 17:44
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I just bought 24 pounds of hand-raised hog from my two little brothers. I have a number of different cuts, including a belly slab that I'll be making into bacon, and a shoulder that will be either coppa or fresh sausage depending on my mood. Two pieces I got pretty much for free are a heart and a liver. What can you do with pig hearts and livers? I know what I'd do with beef hearts and livers, but not pig.
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Oct 23, 2012 01:16
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Martello posted:What can you do with pig hearts and livers? I'd make some leverpostej with the livers and some of the lard. With the hearts, I presume they're whole? If so, I'd clean them, salt and pepper on the inside, fill them with prunes and bits of apple. Sew closed. Brown them in butter, then add boiling water and let them simmer for 2-2½ hours. Take out the hearts, keep them warm and make gravy in the pan. Cut into thin slices and serve with mashed potatoes. Parsley is a decent alternative to the prunes+apples.
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Oct 23, 2012 08:05
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I have to order curing salt from butcher-packer since I cant find any around here. I'm assuming 8oz is plenty and buying 16oz of it is just overkill? Probably just going to be making bacon to start, with eventually trying some other things.
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Oct 26, 2012 00:01
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You can get it on Amazon too, if that's convenient for you. Just look up Prague powder or pink salt or Instacure #1 or #2 or whatever.
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Oct 26, 2012 00:58
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dms666 posted:I have to order curing salt from butcher-packer since I cant find any around here. I'm assuming 8oz is plenty and buying 16oz of it is just overkill? Probably just going to be making bacon to start, with eventually trying some other things. You are going to be fine with 8oz unless you are doing 10lbs of bacon a week or something. It is a very small percentage of the cure/rub.
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Oct 26, 2012 01:40
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Unless storage is an issue do whichever will be cheapest long term. I mean its salt, its not going to go bad.
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Oct 26, 2012 11:14
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dms666 posted:I have to order curing salt from butcher-packer since I cant find any around here. I'm assuming 8oz is plenty and buying 16oz of it is just overkill? Probably just going to be making bacon to start, with eventually trying some other things. I ordered 2kg when I ordered mine because they did free shipping on heavy things bizarrely so it worked out cheaper. I think once you do some charcuterie you'll want to do more so more is better I think.
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Oct 26, 2012 12:05
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Just started the cure on some duck proscuitto. I had two questions: (1) should pink salt have been added to the salt? I have seen conflicting recipes online, and Ruhlman's seems to only call for kosher salt; (2) how long should the breast remain in the salt for? Since some recipes call for 24 hours and some call for a week, I wanted to check-in with people who would know. Thanks!
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Nov 6, 2012 03:53
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So my friend and I bought a free range Berkshire hog from a friend of mine that raises them. There is currently 228 lbs of pornographically good pork in my deep freezer right now. Of the 36 lbs of belly we got, we are going to be making a lot of bacon. This is a 5 lb slab of Berkshire pork belly being cured with crushed black pepper, thyme, bay leaves, garlic, juniper berries, and nutmeg. Not pictured is another belly being cured with brown sugar, black peppercorns, and bourbon. We are going to be making a fuckload of Irish bangers, Polish wiejska kielbasa, and chorizo in a few weeks.
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Nov 6, 2012 05:24
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beefnchedda posted:Just started the cure on some duck proscuitto. I had two questions: (1) should pink salt have been added to the salt? I have seen conflicting recipes online, and Ruhlman's seems to only call for kosher salt; (2) how long should the breast remain in the salt for? Since some recipes call for 24 hours and some call for a week, I wanted to check-in with people who would know. Thanks! I used only salt, left it overnight. Washed it off the next day, hung for 7 days. Came out excellent.
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Nov 6, 2012 14:05
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Huge_Midget posted:So my friend and I bought a free range Berkshire hog from a friend of mine that raises them. There is currently 228 lbs of pornographically good pork in my deep freezer right now. Of the 36 lbs of belly we got, we are going to be making a lot of bacon. Can I get you for my Santa? If so please send all the bacon. TIA.
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Nov 15, 2012 17:32
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Finally got some pork belly and got a batch in Ruhlman's cure. I plan on smoking it next weekend. Which kind of wood do you guys like the best when smoking bacon, pple, oak, hickory? e: Also, do you take of the skin after its done curing, or after its cooked? dms666 fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Nov 18, 2012 |
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Nov 18, 2012 01:00
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Can I get you for my Santa? If so please send all the bacon. TIA.    The bacon from the above post, 3 hours later after smoking over hickory and applewood. My gently caress is it good. The Maker's Mark in the bourbon cured one really came through, it's there and subtle and wonderfully oakey and delicious. This poo poo is off the chain.
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Nov 18, 2012 05:03
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dms666 posted:Finally got some pork belly and got a batch in Ruhlman's cure. I plan on smoking it next weekend. Which kind of wood do you guys like the best when smoking bacon, pple, oak, hickory? Take the skin off after smoking. Save it for some soup or something. As for wood, I tend to use hickory with a little bit of apple.
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Nov 18, 2012 14:03
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So I am attempting to make duck proscuitto for Thanksgiving. I had the breast hanging in refrigerator, wrapped in cheesecloth for 14 days, but it has only lost 1.5 ounces (9% weight loss). The meat smells incredibly meat-like, in a good way, and is neither overly dry nor overly moist. Should I be concerned about the lack of loss in weight? beefnchedda fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Nov 21, 2012 |
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Nov 21, 2012 09:21
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beefnchedda posted:So I am attempting to make duck proscuitto for Thanksgiving. Still alive.
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Nov 23, 2012 21:10
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| # ? May 19, 2024 02:56 |
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So I got another batch of pork belly to make some bacon. But rather than 1 big belly the butcher gave me 10 pounds of pork belly chunks, some big some small. Think it will still work for bacon?
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Dec 1, 2012 19:44
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