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So, I've been looking to expand my culinary horizons - seeing as I've excelled at baking and can make a pretty rad mustard, I decided the next course of action had to be curing meat. So now that I've had about 2.8 pounds of pork belly curing since Friday, I've got a couple of questions: - When it comes time to put it in the oven, should I use a cookie sheet, or should I use one of the slatted roasting pans? And - Do I cook it skin side up or skin side down? Does it matter?
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Sep 1, 2013 23:06
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squirrelzipper posted:Question on your corned beef - did you use pink salt or similar? I have a brisket for pastrami in the fridge curing now using Ruhlman's recipe and he has it curing for 3 days which seems short, I've read much longer times like yours are also normal, but as this is my first corned brisket I'm not sure. It's a 3 kilo brisket with a 22g/250g prague/kosher salt wet cure. For the corned beef I used the Ruhlman recipe for it which included pink salt. I made my own pickling spices from his recipe only with out mace as I did not have any. I have a theory which is that the curing times in the book are the minimum time to get a good piece of meat. That would make sense if you were running a restaurant where having a bunch of stock sitting on a shelf gets expensive. All in all the corned beef had a very good shelf life even after it was out of the cure and sliced up. Part of the goal I have with curing is that I can buy cheap large pieces of meat and preserve them for use over time. There are only two of us so a big piece can take a long time to get through. We freeze a lot of the meat we buy but it is nice to have other ways of preserving it.... That said all the cured meat we have done has been really tasty and was not 'preserved' for any length of time. Drum posted:So, I've been looking to expand my culinary horizons - seeing as I've excelled at baking and can make a pretty rad mustard, I decided the next course of action had to be curing meat. So now that I've had about 2.8 pounds of pork belly curing since Friday, I've got a couple of questions: Put it on a roasting pan on top of a roasting grill, there will be a bunch of fat dripping off it that you don't want it sitting in. I never paid too much attention to which side was up and it has turned out great each time. I don't think it should matter too much since you are not trying to get a crispy skin. I Lost My Password fucked around with this message at 04:32 on Sep 3, 2013 |
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Sep 3, 2013 04:24
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I finished my first batch of bacon this weekend. Overall the flavor was good except it turned out too salty. I'm pretty sure that's because I messed up with the ration and made the cure from the original post which is for a 5lb slab but only used about 3.5lbs of pork belly. Still edible but will probably use more as an added component to other food. The hardest part about the whole process was slicing it. I already wanted to get a deli-slicer but now I think it's a guarenteed purchase whenever I get some extra cash.
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Sep 3, 2013 16:50
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Okay, whomever suggested using the leftover bacon chunks cut down into rillette's... I loving love you. Have a local butcher who makes his own bacon, and I bought one of his bacon's before I decided to make my own. I'm finally down to the end, so cut it up into nice little tiny cubes. Had some baby potatoes we made Saturday night from the local farmers market, had leftovers. Cut them up, mixed in some spanish onion and fresh garlic we also bought, little S&P, and the rillette's. Jesus gently caress that was the tastiest thing I've made in ages. So, that decided it for me, picking up a belly in a couple of weeks and baconing myself one  So delicious, so much better than store-bought stuff.
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Sep 3, 2013 17:38
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I Lost My Password posted:Put it on a roasting pan on top of a roasting grill, there will be a bunch of fat dripping off it that you don't want it sitting in. I never paid too much attention to which side was up and it has turned out great each time. I don't think it should matter too much since you are not trying to get a crispy skin. Figured I wouldn't want it sitting in its own drippings, but I wanted to make sure - thanks! If this goes well, maybe I'll give jerky a shot next....
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Sep 3, 2013 18:34
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Drum posted:Figured I wouldn't want it sitting in its own drippings, but I wanted to make sure - thanks! Sounds great! Good luck!
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Sep 4, 2013 02:59
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lifts cats over head posted:I finished my first batch of bacon this weekend. Overall the flavor was good except it turned out too salty. I'm pretty sure that's because I messed up with the ration and made the cure from the original post which is for a 5lb slab but only used about 3.5lbs of pork belly. Still edible but will probably use more as an added component to other food. The hardest part about the whole process was slicing it. I already wanted to get a deli-slicer but now I think it's a guarenteed purchase whenever I get some extra cash. You have to be careful with measuring out your pink salt with the actual weight of the belly you are going to cure. Also, before you smoke/oven your next batch, cut off a couple slices and fry them up to check the salt content. If its too salty, soak the belly in water for 30 to 60 minutes then let it rest over night. Siochain posted:Okay, whomever suggested using the leftover bacon chunks cut down into rillette's... That may have been me. I always cut a good 3" to 4" chunk off the end of the belly and freeze for lardons later. I started doing this mainly because the bellies were always too long to fit in a frying pan after their slice. I now cut them off to keep the bacon a good 10" long and the rest for slice nice 1/4" thick slices for BLTs or lardons for salads.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:11
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Figured this fits more here than in the slow cooking/smoking thread. 1.5 kilo (half a 3 kilo piece) of brisket made into my first Pastrami using the Ruhlman recipe (http://ruhlman.com/2011/09/how-to-make-pastrami/). It was in the cure for 6 days, then 1 day uncovered in the fridge. I only have a stove top smoker, so it went in for two hours and then into a roasting rack with water for steaming at 200 F for 10 hours. I let it sit in the fridge over night, then sliced (the picture above) and steamed quickly before serving with dark german rye, sauerkraut, knish and dill pickles. It was fantastic. The only error was in my haste to get it in my mouth I think I sliced it with the grain instead of against. Still have 1.5 kilo brisket that's been cured left so making another one of these this week.
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Sep 8, 2013 23:10
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question charcuterie thread : I've made the charcuterie (ruhlman's) lox/cured salmon recipe maybe 5 times, and it turns out ridiculously gross and salty every time. if I cure it for a shorter time, the interior is perceptively raw-er and not really like 'cold smoked salmon' territory. what can I do to fix this? all I want in life is my own supple gravlox that don't seem like I'm poisoning everyone, and aren't complete saltlicks.
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Sep 9, 2013 10:09
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Cut back on the salt, up your sugar. Lots of potential problems it could be, but couldn't tell you exactly without seeing/tasting.
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Sep 9, 2013 12:28
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squirrelzipper posted:Figured this fits more here than in the slow cooking/smoking thread. 1.5 kilo (half a 3 kilo piece) of brisket made into my first Pastrami using the Ruhlman recipe (http://ruhlman.com/2011/09/how-to-make-pastrami/). That looks great, I definitely need to take the extra step and spice/smoke the corned beef next time. You have raised the bar for me.
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Sep 11, 2013 02:35
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I have a question regarding bacon, and while not home-made I thought that you guys would be the most knowledgeable on the subject. My local butcher is awesome, and they make Ayrshire bacon there in-house. Now, prior to discovering this I had spent my entire life eating supermarket bacon and this is the source of my confusion. The bacon tasted odd, sour, possibly off? Not unpleasant, just very "briney". It smelled strange as well, not rank, but best described as "mildly sulphurous mixed with raw meat". I ate a slice with breakfast yesterday morning and experienced no discomfort nor death, but then I purchased a pack for a co-worker today who got back to me fairly annoyed claiming it was rotten. Here I am, unsure if my butcher is sketchy or if my coworker and I are just not used to how this particular style of bacon tastes and smells? Ayrshire Bacon is done wet cure style, immersed for two days in the brine and then allowed to cure for one to two weeks in the cooler.
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Sep 19, 2013 03:19
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Bacon shouldn't taste sour or off. Maybe their brine sucks, or maybe it wasn't hung or cured properly.
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Sep 19, 2013 04:05
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Are all of the juices supposed to soak back into the bacon? I am following the directions in the OP and there is stills good amount of liquid in the bag after 7 days.
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Sep 21, 2013 15:52
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elnoseface posted:Are all of the juices supposed to soak back into the bacon? I am following the directions in the OP and there is stills good amount of liquid in the bag after 7 days. Nope, the salt will pull out a ton of moisture from the pork.
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Sep 21, 2013 22:15
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EDIT: found it, pink curing salts are called "sal de cura" in spanish. Only problem is the only way to get that is from butcher wholesalers that sell in bulk. I'll see if I can call up some small meat shops, if they'll sell to me. There's a salt with 10% nitrate, and one with 5% nitrate. I'm guessing the one with 5% is the one that goes?
Pochoclo fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Sep 22, 2013 |
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Sep 22, 2013 18:17
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Rime posted:I have a question regarding bacon, and while not home-made I thought that you guys would be the most knowledgeable on the subject. Err they don't sound very awesome from this post?! That's definitely not how it's supposed to taste.
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Sep 22, 2013 21:15
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I'm getting half a pasture-fed pig in October, and my half includes both jowls. Last year I did the same thing and while they were absolutely delicious braised, I was curious about making homemade guanciale from this year's cheeks. Only hitch is that I have to take delivery of all the pork frozen. Will this effect my ability to cure the cheek meat? Or can I just thaw it out and cure it?
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Sep 23, 2013 10:59
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RazorBunny posted:I'm getting half a pasture-fed pig in October, and my half includes both jowls. Last year I did the same thing and while they were absolutely delicious braised, I was curious about making homemade guanciale from this year's cheeks. Only hitch is that I have to take delivery of all the pork frozen. Will this effect my ability to cure the cheek meat? Or can I just thaw it out and cure it? Shouldn't be a problem at all.
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Sep 23, 2013 22:55
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Lord of the Llamas posted:Shouldn't be a problem at all. Awesome! That'll be my October project then. I've been trying to do more long-term food stuff lately, there's something very satisfying about the delayed gratification. I'm aiming to have something edible by Christmas, to go with the 12-month egg nog and the 3-month mead I've got going, which will be ready at about the same time.
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Sep 24, 2013 01:51
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O god, I just had 'Nduja for the first time today, all I've ever had before is spanish sobrasada. Someone give me a recipe, I'll do it even if I have to build a room for it and PID the temperature/humidity on it.
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Sep 25, 2013 06:25
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ok, I've googled a ton and can't find this anywhere. how fast are nitrites converted into them less dangerous nitrates? I bought some ground turkey that I'm adding the appropriate amount of ruhlman's basic dry cure to, but I'll be eating it tomorrow night. I'm sure I'll be fine no matter what, but it got me wondering if there was like a 'minimum curing time' for nitrites to be converted over. I figure it being ground meat and mixed in will help, considering I don't have to think about meat penetration really.
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Sep 28, 2013 23:52
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gently caress it, ruhlman answered my e-mail before, I'm just e-mailin' him again like a goddamn boss. who has ruhlman as a personal friend. disclaimer : michael ruhlman is not a personal friend of mine
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Sep 29, 2013 05:27
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mindphlux posted:gently caress it, ruhlman answered my e-mail before, I'm just e-mailin' him again like a goddamn boss. who has ruhlman as a personal friend. Won't he tell you to search better? http://ruhlman.com/2011/02/meat-curing-safety-issues/
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Sep 29, 2013 19:05
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deimos posted:Won't he tell you to search better? That was quite interesting. People only seemed concerned it was toxic but only in the carcinogen sense, which seems to have little evidence to back it up. That said, it is interesting how it is toxic: Ruhlman posted:According to this link on Oxford University’s site, the exact toxicity is 71 milligrams per kilogram. I weigh nearly 100 kilograms. That means if I ate 7.1 grams, it could kill me (by binding the oxygen carried by my blood to the hemoglobin, making that oxygen unavailable to my cells).
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Oct 28, 2013 15:10
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Oh hey look it's 20 lbs of pork belly. Whatever should I do with it...
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Nov 2, 2013 02:10
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Apparently the answer is 20 pounds of bacon.  With bonus duck breast prosciutto. 
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Nov 2, 2013 08:23
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sinburger posted:Oh hey look it's 20 lbs of pork belly. Whatever should I do with it... Oh wait I think I know this one!
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Nov 2, 2013 09:32
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Last night I started 8.5 pounds of salami using the Salami Diablo recipe from Ruhlman and Polcyn's Salumi. They are fermenting in tupperware containers in my oven right now. I haven't bothered to build a fermentation box yet, my oven stays around 77 degrees or so and the tupperware keeps the humidity up. We'll see how it goes though. I'll post photos when they start drying out in my basement and looking cool.
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Nov 4, 2013 14:07
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I've had two pieces of pork belly in the fridge for a week now per ruhlman's charcuterie recipe but one of them is still not firm--I really need to bake them tonight or tomorrow morning because I'm going out of town--should I just go ahead and wash them off and cook anyway, even if one is not firm?
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Nov 5, 2013 18:23
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It's really hard to take good photos in my basement, but here's the salami so far. Should be done in about three weeks. I made em small for stocking stuffing purposes.
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Nov 7, 2013 13:10
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BraveUlysses posted:I've had two pieces of pork belly in the fridge for a week now per ruhlman's charcuterie recipe but one of them is still not firm--I really need to bake them tonight or tomorrow morning because I'm going out of town--should I just go ahead and wash them off and cook anyway, even if one is not firm? Bump. Finally back home and the thinner belly is now firm after two weeks of sitting in the cure liquid. Safe to go ahead with baking it?
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Nov 12, 2013 04:05
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Well, I've got the bacon recipe from the OP in my fridge right now. Made it up yesterday. First time I've ever tried home curing. I'm quite hopeful. It looks really tasty. Can't wait to taste how it turns out. Gonna gift it to a friend for his birthday and then make another batch!
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Nov 13, 2013 08:24
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I was going to post a review of a really nice new charcuterie shop/purveyor in the Boston area here, but looking through the thread, this really does seem to be about making your own. I haven't consistently posted in GWS in quite some time, so I don't really remember how it's set up. Where would be a good place to post that?
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Nov 14, 2013 18:42
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Grue Bouncer posted:I was going to post a review of a really nice new charcuterie shop/purveyor in the Boston area here, but looking through the thread, this really does seem to be about making your own. I haven't consistently posted in GWS in quite some time, so I don't really remember how it's set up. Where would be a good place to post that? Post it here!
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Nov 14, 2013 18:50
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The Midniter posted:Post it here! Ok! So... if you're in the Boston area, try Moody's Delicatessen and Provisions in Waltham, selling their own brand of house-made charcuterie called New England Charcuterie. Just opened up 3 days ago. Their Pastrami is the best cold smoked pastrami I've ever had... The fat was very bacon like but it was very tender and extremely flavorful. Definitely a fruitwood smoke of some kind, so the smoke was very sweet (which is my preference for something like that.) I also tried their capicola, both spicy and regular, their chicken liver mousse, their ghost chili molé sausage (dried like capicola, the mole and ghost chilis were very subtle... like sub franks red-hot subtle... definitely could have had more kick but it was delicious) and a couple random sides. The chicken liver was very skillfully made... lots of liver flavor with very little of the irony flavor that puts people off. I'm really looking forward to trying their country paté. The guy behind the counter said that within a few days, they're finishing up their own mortadella, porchetta, and a few other meats. I'm not a huge fan of lamb, in general, so I didn't try them, myself, but someone on my Facebook feed said that their 'Lamb Snacks,' which looked essentially like lamb slim jims, were delicious. They had a nice looking selection of fresh italian sausages in their refrigerator, also. The chef/owner, who rang me up, said they are also going to start making their own pickled herring, which, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the biggest holes in the Boston food-availability scene. If they start making good pickled herring, and cutty's small-batch bagels turn out to be actually good (haven't tried them yet) then I would be a genuinely happy man. The only problem I had with moody's was the mac and cheese. The meats themselves were made with restraint and good taste, but the mac and cheese had too much spice- mace and maybe cinnamon? I'm totally down with a hit of nutmeg in a mornay sauce, but this was trying too hard to be creative, and it came across as needlessly dissonant. Also, some of the things they were selling were not things they made... like they had a commercial porchetta. I imagine that this is because they just wanted to have enough to be able to sell sandwiches to the lunch crowd, many of whom probably wouldn't care as much about what they made themselves and what was bought in. It's a shame, though, because they already have such a great variety of house-made things, that I think it kind of cheapens it... but I understand why they do... the overwhelming majority of the stuff there, however, is house made.  
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Nov 14, 2013 19:01
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Grue Bouncer posted:Ok! Holy crap yes. I live in Waltham and now I know where I am going for non-home made meats. Thank you!
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Nov 14, 2013 22:35
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Two duck breasts buried in salt in my fridge right now. Can't wait to wrap them up and hang them tomorrow -- in a week, prosciutto! Yeehaw!
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Nov 16, 2013 06:07
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I just finished curing my first batch of bacon, from pork belly. It looks OK, but it's way too tough to cut into slices and when I did cut a chunk off and fried it it was tasty, but far too salty to enjoy. Is there any way I can reduce the salty flavour, like soaking it in water overnight or something? E: Just spotted the post further up this page -- I'll be sure to try that next time. Do I have any options available now I've dried it in the oven, or am I just going to have to use my rack of salty pork sparingly as lardons? Whybird fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 12:05
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Whybird posted:I just finished curing my first batch of bacon, from pork belly. It looks OK, but it's way too tough to cut into slices and when I did cut a chunk off and fried it it was tasty, but far too salty to enjoy. Is there any way I can reduce the salty flavour, like soaking it in water overnight or something? Soaking it in water should help, I would think.
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Nov 25, 2013 15:19
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