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Munchlover posted:Well, my first ever attempt at bacon is curing now. 1.4kg of belly, Ruhlman's basic cure with black pepper and chilli flakes. I'd like to turn half of it into bacon and the rest into pancetta. Does pancetta give off a smell whilst it's hanging? That might be a problem, since it'll hang above my desk. definitly not a problem  A good point, you can be at your desk and eat at the same time
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May 2, 2013 00:25
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Munchlover posted:Well, my first ever attempt at bacon is curing now. 1.4kg of belly, Ruhlman's basic cure with black pepper and chilli flakes. I'd like to turn half of it into bacon and the rest into pancetta. Does pancetta give off a smell whilst it's hanging? That might be a problem, since it'll hang above my desk. Not a strong one (or even unpleasant at all!) but then again my sense of smell sucks. I'd make sure you hang it in some cheesecloth to protect it from direct sunlight or insects. Lastly your main concern should actually be the temperature you keep your room at, keep it below 20c/70f!
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May 2, 2013 01:39
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I just picked up the rest of the pork belly my butcher had in stock (I'm pretty sure he froze the remainder of the order I didn't buy for my first batch). I now have 3.8 kg (8.3 lbs) of pork belly thawing out in my fridge. I'm torn as to whether I should make a boatload of bacon to freeze, or if I should attempt a pancetta.
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May 3, 2013 17:39
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sinburger posted:I just picked up the rest of the pork belly my butcher had in stock (I'm pretty sure he froze the remainder of the order I didn't buy for my first batch). I now have 3.8 kg (8.3 lbs) of pork belly thawing out in my fridge. I'm torn as to whether I should make a boatload of bacon to freeze, or if I should attempt a pancetta. "And Solomon said 'we shall split the belly in half...'"
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May 3, 2013 18:16
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sinburger posted:I just picked up the rest of the pork belly my butcher had in stock (I'm pretty sure he froze the remainder of the order I didn't buy for my first batch). I now have 3.8 kg (8.3 lbs) of pork belly thawing out in my fridge. I'm torn as to whether I should make a boatload of bacon to freeze, or if I should attempt a pancetta. Or make some Nduja.!
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May 5, 2013 00:06
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I was daydreaming at work, and wondered if theres some sort of "molecular gastronomy" charcuterie variations. Could I freeze-dry my aspic with liquid nitrogen or maybe dessicate it by dipping it in acetone?
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May 5, 2013 04:43
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Crazyeyes posted:"And Solomon said 'we shall split the belly in half...'" Thus it was spoken, thus it was done. I have a 3.2 lbs savory bacon curing (basic cure with red chilies, paprika, pepper, coriander and cumin), a 2.3 lbs sweet bacon (basic cure with brown sugar, nutmeg and cardamon) and 2.2 lbs piece to go as pancetta. I had some scraps leftover from trimming the edges, so I threw them in a bag with some pepper, bit of salt and sugar, and a chopped up onion and let it sit in my fridge overnight. I figure I'll toss it in the oven for tonight and see it something palatable comes out. I'm using Rulhman's recipe for the pancetta, but I screwed up and put the whole 40 g of pepper in the cure before reading the directions where it said to reserve half. I pulled some of the pepper out before I mixed it in, but it's still very heavy on the pepper. Will this affect the cure at all since I've effectively "diluted" the mix? Or will it not matter because I still have the required amount of salt mixed in?
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May 7, 2013 00:57
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Instinct says it will be peppery, keep that in mind when you get to the 2nd bit of his recipe, which I assume will be dusting your pancetta with the pepper.
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May 7, 2013 01:12
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Instinct says it will be peppery, keep that in mind when you get to the 2nd bit of his recipe, which I assume will be dusting your pancetta with the pepper. That's fine as long as I'm not diluting the cure too much for the prague powder to do its thing. I'll reduce the amount of cracked pepper I use, or sub out for another spice.
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May 9, 2013 16:04
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lovely phone pictures of my new dry cure babies hanging. On about 20% weightloss for the larger ones at the bottom and 25% for the smaller ones.
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May 9, 2013 16:42
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Larger ones on bottom:
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May 9, 2013 16:43
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So I have three projects on the go right now it feels like: Wine Fridge Curing Chammber I've been having a hell of a time trying to keep the humidity up in my wine fridge. It seems like the moisture is condensing on the cooling plate in the back of the fridge and keeping the humidity around 50-60%. So far I've put a bowl of salt water and a dish of wet salt in the bottom of the fridge, as well as hung a wet towel. The only thing that really seems to bring the humidity up is when I open the door to get air flow and check my meats, the outside air brings up the humidity. The temperature control is a "White Wine / Red Wine" setting, and I've discovered that the white wine setting keeps an even 55°F (12°C) temperature despite the built-in thermostat claim of 46°F. I know I could probably raise the humidity by switching to the red wine setting so I cooling plate doesn't fire up as often, but I'm afraid that will allow the temperature to rise too high in my fridge. Pancetta I pulled out the pancetta from the fridge and rinsed it off. It had a dark, almost purple colour to it, I'm assuming from the overdose of pepper that is on it. It was firm in the center, although the meat along the edges was a bit squishy despite the cure being rubbed directly into the meat at those points. I opted not to roll it, and just strung it up in my curing chamber with some string. I'll keep a close eye on it for the next few days and hopefully it will not spoil on me. Because of my mistake with the cure rub. The morning after I placed the pancetta in the fridge it brought the humidity up to 67%, which is fine by me. Duck Breast Prosciutto I've also been drying out some duck breast prosciutto in my curing fridge that I strung up last saturday. They are feeling pretty firm to the touch so far, and despite issues with humidity, don't seem to be case hardening at all. I expect they will be a bit salty as I couldn't take them out of the salt after 24 hours and left them in for 48 instead. I'm hoping this won't ruin the flavour too much and just help with the drying process a bit more.
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May 15, 2013 19:40
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Found a place in Greene, NY called The Butcher Block. It's a random little deli place in a village out in the middle of bumfuck upstate NY redneckery, pretty much completely incongruous. It's about ten minutes from my parents' so convenient for when I drive down from Fort Drum. The owner makes his own sausage and roast beef, and is starting on salumi soon. I told him about my salumi attempts and he got super-excited and showed me his basement where he'd be curing. I talked to him for almost an hour and by the end of the conversation he was asking me what I was doing when I get out of the Army and hinted he wanted me to work with him. He said if I brought down finished salumi he'd sell it for me in his shop. Not sure if that's legal since I'm not USDA certified, but whatever. I told him the only thing keeping me from starting the cures on any new pieces was I was looking for another source of good pork. He brought out an 8.5 pound shoulder of pasture-raised local pig. I think he was trying to just give it to me, but I made him charge me. He charged me 15 bucks for the whole thing and threw in a free roast beef sandwich. I got his contact info and I'll definitely be in touch. I'm making this shoulder into a spalla (just salt and black pepper) and a bunch of sweet Italian sausage. The shoulder  Nice fat cap  Shoulder blade removed and cut in half for the two projects  Spalla in the cure in the bag. It'll be there under a 15 pound weight for four days, then go in the basement to hang for 4-6 months.  Sausage, pre-grinding. I'm leaving it in the fridge overnight and I'll grind and stuff it tomorrow. I added kosher salt, turbinado sugar, paprika, fresh oregano leaves from my AeroGarden, toasted fennel, coriander, and black pepper, and fresh garlic. 
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May 28, 2013 04:05
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Can someone explain to this lowly fool what the purpose of hanging meats in the basement is? And how to go about doing it in the first place. I have always wanted to try making this kind of stuff.
Crazyeyes fucked around with this message at 15:26 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 14:18
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To add to that, what sort of conditions are necessary for hanging? I wonder if my garage would be suitable
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May 28, 2013 14:26
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Crazyeyes posted:Can someone explain to this lowly fool what the purpose of hanging meats in the basement is? And how to go about doing it in the first place. I have always wanted to try making this kind of stuff. Air-drying (or air-curing). It's how you make things like prosciutto, speck (which is also smoked), and coppa/cappicollo. If you've tasted any of those you know what the purpose of air-curing them is. All you really need is a fridge to start the cures - just like the bacon everyone's been doing around here - and a cool, dark, humid place to hang them. Scott Bakula posted:To add to that, what sort of conditions are necessary for hanging? I wonder if my garage would be suitable How hot does it get there and what's the humidity like? Get a combination hygrometer/thermometer and leave it there for a day so you can monitor the humidity and temperature. You want around 55 degrees Fahrenheit and 70-80 percent humidity. Keep in mind those are ideal curing conditions, you can get away with lower humidity. Not sure about temperature though. I cured a pancetta tesa and a lonza in my basement at between 50-60% humidity and they both came out beautifully. I need to buy an ultrasonic humidifier so I can actually control the humidity, but the temperature stays right at 55 with almost no variance. I don't know how the warm weather will affect it, I've only owned this house since last summer and I didn't start doing salumi until this past winter. My advice to both of you is to buy Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn. It's the bible of the art right now. Salumi is good to if you're looking to get deep into the Italian meats, which is what I'm doing obviously. And I'm still a beginner myself at this, so don't take my word for it. Get Charcuterie and check out blogs like The Sausage Debauchery and Cured Meats. Both those guys have been at it for quite a while and make some beautiful-looking stuff. Martello fucked around with this message at 17:28 on May 28, 2013 |
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May 28, 2013 17:26
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I had a 3 and a 4 pound belly in cure for like 7 days. The 3 pound one looked and felt right but after thinking about it the 4 pound one seemed not fully cured. Sadly this thinking came after I had already washed, dried, and refroze them as I will not be able to smoke them until like the 7th. Can I just hot smoke it until it hits a safe temp or am I boned? If it matters I did the cure with maple syrup, brown sugar, and a splash of bourbon and was planning on coating it in more of this same mix before I smoke it. The small belly looks fine and will get a pepper crust before smoking.
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May 30, 2013 02:08
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Not an expert but I'm 99% sure you'll be fine if you cook the bacon before eating, no matter how long or hot you smoke it. You can cook raw pork belly and eat it, right? Same thing with this semi-cured bacon.
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May 30, 2013 11:21
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you're fine. just cook it and eat it. to contrast - I cooked a bone in ham for christmas last year, I cured it myself. first time. I left it in the cure about 2 weeks - long enough for normal pork to go horribly wrong - and thought it was done. I took it out, rinsed it, and then smoked it - got it to the right internal temp, then cooled and served a day or two later to like 20 people. turns out the cure penetrated like 85% of the way to the bone, but not all the way. there was a distinct inch wide ring right next to the bone where it hadn't cured all the way - but people ate bits of it anyways (well, I was probably the only one who noticed). anyways, noone died, it tasted like delicious ham with a bit of like a normal roast pork section, and it was a rousing success. wouldn't worry about slightly semicured bacon - so long as it was fresh to begin with and you put it in the cure for a reasonable amount of time, I think you're fine.
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May 31, 2013 07:56
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That happened to me with the brisket I cured. Apparently needed a few more days in the cure. Tasted fine though.
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May 31, 2013 14:23
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Pulled the spalla out of the fridge yesterday and hung it up. It had already lost about 4 ounces. It will hang in my basement for 4-6 months.   The only thing worrying me about my basement right now is that the humidity is much higher than it was in the winter. It used to be lower than ideal, but now it's 75-80 which is 10-20 percent higher than it should be. I think it will still be fine but it might take longer to dry, not sure. I've never done such a large cut that needs so much time hanging.
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Jun 2, 2013 23:13
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Who here makes salami? I want to start a soppressata but I don't have a good setup for fermentation. It's supposed to be 80 or so degrees F at 80 percent humidity for 12 hours, and then it can go in my basement with everything else. Anyone have any suggestions? Jason Molinari at Cured Meats has a fermentation box setup that I could definitely do but I'm wondering if anyone else uses a simpler setup.
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Jun 10, 2013 13:27
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Before: After:   I don't remember where I read to leave the skin on but that was a super bad idea and I am cranky about it. They are cooling now, I am excited to try them.
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Jun 11, 2013 17:50
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bunnielab posted:Before: Did you not rinse the cure off before you smoked(?) it? If you didn't, that's not what people mean by "skin" if that's what you were thinking.
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Jun 11, 2013 19:10
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bunnielab posted:Before: They look good, but you were supposed to rinse everything off before heating, as mentioned. Leaving the pink salt on can be quite dangerous. You can cut the skin off after smoking it/putting it in the oven. The top layer of fat will be very soft and your knife will slide through it easily, being able to take the skin off without any issues.
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Jun 11, 2013 21:41
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Oh, yeah, I rinsed the cure off but then re-peppered one and re-sugared the other before smoking. The skin came off but now one side isn't all smokey and beautiful. EDIT:  The savory one came out great in both form and flavor. The sweet one is disappointing in both aspects. I think this confirms that I dont really like sweet bacon. I am also excited that freezing after curing worked out so well. It is kind of a waste of coals and wood to just smoke a belly or two so next time I will wait until I am doing a butt as well. bongwizzard fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Jun 11, 2013 |
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Jun 11, 2013 23:19
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Doing Ruhlman's pepper dry cured pork lonza/filetto. Just put it in the chamber today and noticed my hygrometer broke. Humidity shouldn't be that big a deal for one day though.
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Jun 12, 2013 20:06
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I did one of those and the humidity was all over the place the whole time, mostly down in the 50s. This is in my stone basement, not a specially-constructed curing chamber. It came out just fine. Don't worry about it, the Italians and other Europeans have been doing this poo poo for a few thousand years without fancy equipment.
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Jun 12, 2013 20:10
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I know it's not exactly charcuterie, but can someone here try making some casu marzu and report back?
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Jun 12, 2013 20:12
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bunnielab posted:
I've never seen the point in sweet bacon, but in England its not particularly common. I mean you can buy sweet cure bacon in shops but there is very little difference, just like smoked and unsmoked. The difference between curing my own and smoking it is so huge its unbelievable considering its at worst as expensive as the best quality bacon in shops
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Jun 12, 2013 21:14
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Dear internet/Michael, Thankyou for teaching me to make bacon. It is loving delicious. 
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Jun 25, 2013 11:25
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I have a mold question. I am attempting a bresaola from Michael's book. I got a little negligent and forgot to check for mold for about a week or so. This morning I remembered to check and found a bunch of fuzzy white mold and harder green mold. I took some pictures of the white mold but didn't get any of the green mold. I wiped down the bresaola with a brine solution and some white vinegar as Michael's book suggested. Here are the pictures:   Should I toss the bresaola or is it still good? It only has about a week left, it would be a shame to toss it out now but I don't want to poison anyone. I also need to get better at photography.
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Jul 4, 2013 20:13
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Bad news: I lost 50lbs of pork belly to a freezer dying. Good news: Talked to the guy in charge of charcuterie at a local restaurant. He gave me some things to read and look over and that he was interested in an apprentice. I want to make something that will show him I'm serious. Any ideas?
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Jul 24, 2013 19:13
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Made some bacon using the Ruhlman cure. I tried both the "sweet" cure and the "savory" cure. The sweet cure is actually a bit too salty, while the savory cure is pretty loving good. Will backing off the salt a bit hurt anything? Did I let it cure too long (about 10 days)? The book says to blanch it before I cook it up, so I'll give that a shot, so I don't waste any.
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Jul 26, 2013 22:19
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10 days is really long. I did a pancetta with the ruhlman cure and only had it on a day, and it's perfect.
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Jul 27, 2013 00:05
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This thread has greatly inspired me to get into this whole smoking thing. I keep looking at some you guys pictures of the bacon and frankly, it's awe-inspiring. I picked up a 30" electric cookmaster from craigslist today that's almost brand new. Would someone mind helping me out with what I should get next? Should I use the tray that it came with for smoking? I've seen some people using a silver perforated tray that you load up with pellets, but I can't remember the name of it. Is that worth getting? Is there any good sources of wood online that you guys use regularly? For pink salt, would this be fine? http://www.amazon.com/D-Q-Curing-Salts-Pink-Salt/dp/B0050IM4MY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374945128&sr=8-1&keywords=pink+salt I would also love a knife recommendation for slicing, I'm willing to spend up to $50.(hopefully thats enough for a decent knife?) I have no idea what brands are good unfortunately. I have amazon prime so the more I can get from there, the better. Any other little tidbits / gadgets I should get? I see that some of you are posting graphs where you are remotely monitoring and logging the meat temperature, I'd love to get into that. What is the setup to do that? Some kind of router / temperature probe combination, no? Thanks! I will reward the help with some delicious pictures of meats in the next few weeks if all goes well.
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Jul 27, 2013 18:24
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sativa dreams posted:This thread has greatly inspired me to get into this whole smoking thing. I keep looking at some you guys pictures of the bacon and frankly, it's awe-inspiring. I picked up a 30" electric cookmaster from craigslist today that's almost brand new. Would someone mind helping me out with what I should get next? That is the correct salt you need, although a huge quantity. Check craigslist for a meat slicer, I got one off of there for like $20 and it just makes it so much easier. For bacon you really don't need any fancy monitoring, just a regular probe thermometer. It only takes around an hour to hot smoke and if you cold smoke it you don't really need to monitor it.
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Jul 27, 2013 19:34
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dms666 posted:That is the correct salt you need, although a huge quantity. I also plan on doing lots of other stuff that would be in there for much longer, like brisket. I love to grill and its about time I made the step up to smoking as well, and being a tech-oriented guy with money to burn (yay new job) I kinda want to be all fancy with my meat monitoring. As far as slicers go, I've looked on craigslist and they are all going for $500+. How do you get one for $20?? Are you talking about a motorized deli slicer? Just seems really cheap; I guess you just gotta keep looking and hope you get lucky? I'd still like to have a good knife anyways for slicing other meat and also for the simple fact that I just don't have a good one.
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Jul 27, 2013 19:45
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sativa dreams posted:I also plan on doing lots of other stuff that would be in there for much longer, like brisket. I love to grill and its about time I made the step up to smoking as well, and being a tech-oriented guy with money to burn (yay new job) I kinda want to be all fancy with my meat monitoring. As far as slicers go, I've looked on craigslist and they are all going for $500+. How do you get one for $20?? Are you talking about a motorized deli slicer? Just seems really cheap; I guess you just gotta keep looking and hope you get lucky? I'd still like to have a good knife anyways for slicing other meat and also for the simple fact that I just don't have a good one. Yep I just got lucky I guess. It isn't a full sized one, but just some small model which is good enough to slice up bacon and brisket uniformly.
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Jul 27, 2013 20:07
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Action-Man posted:I have a mold question. yes, it's still good.
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Jul 28, 2013 13:37
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