Charcuterie: What if I leave this meat in my fridge for 6 months?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Charcuterie: What if I leave this meat in my fridge for 6 months?

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Rotten Cookies: Nov 11, 2008; gosh! i like both the islanders and the rangers!!! :^)

Suspect Bucket posted:

She likes the end result, but she has some serious olfactory damage from a chemical spill in her youth that's made her sense of smell very weird and sensitive.

That's like the lamest ripoff of DareDevil ever.

# ? May 29, 2015 19:50

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# ? May 28, 2024 08:59

holttho: May 21, 2007

Jack Donaghy beat you to it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfIUGtV61g

# ? May 29, 2015 20:03

Errant Gin Monks: Oct 2, 2009; "Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Hey man try not to be so judgey. Everyone's got to eat.

And have you seen the price of pork belly lately?

I don't know man I just grabbed a 52lbs case for 1.45/lbs. that's not bad.

Beef is still stupid expensive though.

# ? May 29, 2015 23:29

Suspect Bucket: Jan 15, 2012; SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR

Rotten Cookies posted:

That's like the lamest ripoff of DareDevil ever.

She did actually just get eye surgery, so now she'll be seeing better then ever. Maybe her hosed sense of smell will mellow out and stop trying to compensate.

# ? May 30, 2015 20:35

I eat baby skin: Nov 30, 2003; Fresh from the nursery

Suspect Bucket posted:

She did actually just get eye surgery, so now she'll be seeing better then ever. Maybe her hosed sense of smell will mellow out and stop trying to compensate.

Olfactory problems can be a sign of mental illness. Maybe you should throw her in the crazy house and turn your home into a charcutopia. Just saying.

# ? May 31, 2015 18:46

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

SpannerX posted:

Reduce, reuse, recycle?

More like

Reproduce, reuse, recycle.

# ? Jun 1, 2015 11:20

Suspect Bucket: Jan 15, 2012; SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR

I eat baby skin posted:

Olfactory problems can be a sign of mental illness. Maybe you should throw her in the crazy house and turn your home into a charcutopia. Just saying.

"Hey mom, some people on the internet told me to kick you out of the house and turn it into a sausage fest."

"Tell them I'll kick you out and turn the whole house into a quilting room."

Well played, mother. Well played.

Edit: fried up a bit of bacon to reseason my cast iron, it is delicious.

Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Jun 1, 2015

# ? Jun 1, 2015 16:28

Martello: Apr 29, 2012; by XyloJW

Your mom is now cool in my book

# ? Jun 1, 2015 21:00

EngineerJoe: Aug 8, 2004; -=whore=-

I ordered the 50mm sausage kit from http://www.drybagsteak.com/ and I'm thinking of making some soppressata. I have a fridge with a middle section that can be set anywhere from -1->5C, would this be adequate for drying?

# ? Jun 2, 2015 17:26

holttho: May 21, 2007

That would be a bit on the cold side for drying/curing, you ideally want something that would be around 12C. In addition, you want roughly 60% humidity, which a standard fridge full of other stuff regularly exceeds.

With Soppressata, you are using salt and bacteria to eliminate spoilage. The coldness of the fridge won't be adding anything.

If you're looking for easy and effective curing set-ups, quoting myself from earlier:

holttho posted:

It's probably been gone over, but it's simple enough.

Ideally what you want is something that is cellar temperature with moderate humidity. (a traditional cellar would be a fairly humid place, so it worked out nicely for them.) Different recipes can call for different conditions, but 60F at 60% humidity is a decent place to be.

The easiest/cheapest way to do this is to just put your meat in a large cardboard box with a large pan of ice in it. You'll have to replace the ice daily, but the setup costs basically nothing. :1bux:

Moving up the scale would be to get a wine fridge. They can get warmer than standard mini-fridges, have a larger, more usable space, and have a nice clear window. Set it to temp and put a pan of water in the bottom with a sponge in it.

If you wanted to get really fancy, they make little humidifiers that you can place in there. They usually sell them for humidors, though they'll work here as well.

There are also wine fridges with humidifiers in them, but

And finally, there is a ~~kickstarter~~ product for sale now for a meat-aging fridge, which has everything you would ever want (except the ability to hold onto disposable income) .

But, the cheapest and easiest method of all (and the method I use) is to just drape a damp paper towel/cheesecloth over your curing product for the first week or so. Just re-damp it every day and it works great. Just don't let it dry on there or you'll be cutting off spots of welded-on-cloth. :zerobux:

# ? Jun 2, 2015 17:49

Dr. Pangloss: Apr 5, 2014; Ask me about metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. I'm here to help!

Ruhlman book and pink salt arrived today. Saturday is bacon day.

# ? Jun 4, 2015 15:25

Jarmak: Jan 24, 2005

Is there anything particular to duck that lets the "bury in salt then hang for a week" method produce delicious prosciutto? I was wondering if I couldn't take some pork loin or shoulder and do the same thing, or beef for that matter.

edit: also in regards to refrigeration, my little charcuterie room in the basement has been getting up to 65-70 some days during the day as it gets further into summer. So far it doesn't appear to be having any ill effect, but I'm curious at what point I should abort and close up shop till the fall.

Though I haven't been running the AC consistently yet so its possible the apartment being air conditioned will keep the basement cool enough.

Jarmak fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Jun 6, 2015

# ? Jun 6, 2015 19:03

holttho: May 21, 2007

Jarmak posted:

Is there anything particular to duck that lets the "bury in salt then hang for a week" method produce delicious prosciutto? I was wondering if I couldn't take some pork loin or shoulder and do the same thing, or beef for that matter.

The short answer is flavor and texture. If you did it with a pork loin, you would get lonzino. (Very delicious)

Jarmak posted:

edit: also in regards to refrigeration, my little charcuterie room in the basement has been getting up to 65-70 some days during the day as it gets further into summer. So far it doesn't appear to be having any ill effect, but I'm curious at what point I should abort and close up shop till the fall.

65 isn't too bad. Though once you start going over 70, it starts to get dicey.

# ? Jun 6, 2015 20:22

Jarmak: Jan 24, 2005

holttho posted:

The short answer is flavor and texture. If you did it with a pork loin, you would get lonzino. (Very delicious)

I guess my real question is what determines the need for nitrites in the cure? I thought it was length of time it needs to hang but looking into whole ham prosciutto that's just salt as well. If you can hang something for 6 months to a year with just salt that what is the point of the Nitrites/nitrates?

# ? Jun 7, 2015 21:54

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Hanging also serves to dry it out so it lasts a lot longer afaik

# ? Jun 7, 2015 22:06

holttho: May 21, 2007

Nitrite (NO₂) serves a few purposes. The first and most foremost is the suppression and destruction of the bacterium that causes the deadly neurotoxic disease botulism; Colstridium Botulinum. Unlike E. Coli in beef or Salmonella in chicken, which usually spread because one infected animal was mis-handled at the butcher plant thus contaminating otherwise clean meat, Botulinum is omnipresent in our daily lives. It most notably is found in organic soils (which is why you don't want little babies eating dirt), so unless you exist in a clean-room, chances are you are surrounded at all times by the bacterium. However, this isn't a problem because anyone over the age of about 18months has stomach acid plenty strong enough to destroy the bugs, and it can't infect you via a wound or otherwise entering the body. However, if you give it a anaerobic (no air) environment in which to grow, such as tinned meats/vegetables or the inside of a cured meat product, it will grow to such strength that not even an adults hostile stomach can destroy it. In which case, you better hope your insurance is up to date. Botulinum is notoriously resilient to salt, temperature, and pH levels, so a different method of removing is needed. Nitrites work to inhibit the enzymatic activity and thus energy production within the cell.

Nitrate (NO₃) was originally used to cure meats because it can be found in nature in the form of saltpeter. Over time, benign bacteria in cured meats (usually ones that we encourage to take up residence for both the aforementioned nitrate-nitrite reduction, but also flavor) will slowly convert nitrate into nitrite. Nitrates are then essentially a time-released form of nitrite. By and large, nitrates are not required for any home/hobbyist type of curing, as they really only start to do their jobs well after 6 months. Hams are largely the only application for them, and us regular folks don't deal much with hams.

The second purpose is to slow the rancidification of the fats beyond what normal salt can provide. Well, it does go rancid, but it's a trick. When fats go rancid, they are still OK to eat, just that they are horribly disgusting. Though, typically rancidification goes hand in hand with infection, they are not the same thing; which will come up shortly. Fats go rancid largely by the iron in myoglobin binding with molecular oxygen(O₂) or free water, however, with nitrites involved this can be slowed chemically. Some of the nitrites will turn into nitric oxide (NO), which can then bind to the iron in the myoglobin to form a stable, normal tasting fat. Essentially we are allowing the fat to go rancid into a tasteless version, rather than the terrible version that it normally goes to.

The third purpose it serves is to preserve the color the meat. The color is based on what was just previously discussed; the nitric oxide binding to myoglobin. When myoglobin (or even hemoglobin, for that matter, though it is not present in meat in any substantial way) binds with pure oxygen, we get the deep red color that is the namesake for red meats; beef and duck are loaded with it. However, the oxygen red is unstable and will deteriorate to brown and rancid flavors. Water binding will also provide a brown pallor. Nitric oxide will give that bright reddish pink color that is so identifiable as a cured meat. Incidentally, carbon monoxide (CO) will also give that rosy pink, which is how industrial "no-nitrites" products can achieve the color.

And finally, and this one is probably the highest in the mind of the cook: it gives it flavor. Nitrite gives cured meats their distinct, piquant flavor. It is nearly impossible to recreate, and no matter how many other spices you put in a cured product, it will always be missing something without it.

Now, the next part to talk about with nitrites is the perceived harmful side. There are two main complaints lodged against them, neither of which are fully understood by the scientific community, and even less so by the general population.

First, under certain conditions, namely very high temperature cooking (frying out of control), nitrites can bond with degrading amino acids to form nitrosamines; a known carcinogen. However, in North America and parts of the EU, nitrites are limited to 200ppm in cured meat products. Though this is a very low number, it doesn't need to be high to achieve what we want. The only reason manufacturers go as high as they can with nitrite dosage is so that they can spend as little time as possible with the meat in the cure. Higher concentration = faster cure time. Time = money. The home recipe will call for a much smaller amount. Also remember that nitrites were not invented in a Union Carbide/Monsanto laboratory to make peasant life shittier for a few extra profits; they are a natural compound found in many foods. The average person consumes 80%+ of their nitrite consumption from green leafy vegetables, even more so from healthy eaters. To consume anywhere near the hazardous level, you would need to eat a plate of blast-fried bacon every day. I think at that point, your doctor would not be worried about your nitrite consumption. If nitrosamines are a concern, add a pinch of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), it will help inhibit nitrosamine production. Conversely, you could also cook it correctly.

The second, less understood side effect is that under certain conditions, namely very high temperature cooking (frying out of control), nitrites can form compounds that can then be aerosolized and cause symptoms similar to asthma. But, it appears that this is only a concern for the guy standing above a bacon blast-frier for 50 hours a week. The average home cook will not see these conditions.

Ultimately, if you don't want them in there for any reason, by all means omit them. It won't look as good, taste as good, or be as safe, but at least you'll be able to eat all 50lbs of it in a week (overcooked) without worrying about cancer or asthma symptoms.

Also, it's cheap and easy to get on the internet.

holttho fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jun 7, 2015

# ? Jun 7, 2015 23:14

Jarmak: Jan 24, 2005

holttho posted:

Nitrite (NO₂) serves a few purposes. The first and most foremost is the suppression and destruction of the bacterium that causes the deadly neurotoxic disease botulism; Colstridium Botulinum. Unlike E. Coli in beef or Salmonella in chicken, which usually spread because one infected animal was mis-handled at the butcher plant thus contaminating otherwise clean meat, Botulinum is omnipresent in our daily lives. It most notably is found in organic soils (which is why you don't want little babies eating dirt), so unless you exist in a clean-room, chances are you are surrounded at all times by the bacterium. However, this isn't a problem because anyone over the age of about 18months has stomach acid plenty strong enough to destroy the bugs, and it can't infect you via a wound or otherwise entering the body. However, if you give it a anaerobic (no air) environment in which to grow, such as tinned meats/vegetables or the inside of a cured meat product, it will grow to such strength that not even an adults hostile stomach can destroy it. In which case, you better hope your insurance is up to date. Botulinum is notoriously resilient to salt, temperature, and pH levels, so a different method of removing is needed. Nitrites work to inhibit the enzymatic activity and thus energy production within the cell.

Nitrate (NO₃) was originally used to cure meats because it can be found in nature in the form of saltpeter. Over time, benign bacteria in cured meats (usually ones that we encourage to take up residence for both the aforementioned nitrate-nitrite reduction, but also flavor) will slowly convert nitrate into nitrite. Nitrates are then essentially a time-released form of nitrite. By and large, nitrates are not required for any home/hobbyist type of curing, as they really only start to do their jobs well after 6 months. Hams are largely the only application for them, and us regular folks don't deal much with hams.

The second purpose is to slow the rancidification of the fats beyond what normal salt can provide. Well, it does go rancid, but it's a trick. When fats go rancid, they are still OK to eat, just that they are horribly disgusting. Though, typically rancidification goes hand in hand with infection, they are not the same thing; which will come up shortly. Fats go rancid largely by the iron in myoglobin binding with molecular oxygen(O₂) or free water, however, with nitrites involved this can be slowed chemically. Some of the nitrites will turn into nitric oxide (NO), which can then bind to the iron in the myoglobin to form a stable, normal tasting fat. Essentially we are allowing the fat to go rancid into a tasteless version, rather than the terrible version that it normally goes to.

The third purpose it serves is to preserve the color the meat. The color is based on what was just previously discussed; the nitric oxide binding to myoglobin. When myoglobin (or even hemoglobin, for that matter, though it is not present in meat in any substantial way) binds with pure oxygen, we get the deep red color that is the namesake for red meats; beef and duck are loaded with it. However, the oxygen red is unstable and will deteriorate to brown and rancid flavors. Water binding will also provide a brown pallor. Nitric oxide will give that bright reddish pink color that is so identifiable as a cured meat. Incidentally, carbon monoxide (CO) will also give that rosy pink, which is how industrial "no-nitrites" products can achieve the color.

And finally, and this one is probably the highest in the mind of the cook: it gives it flavor. Nitrite gives cured meats their distinct, piquant flavor. It is nearly impossible to recreate, and no matter how many other spices you put in a cured product, it will always be missing something without it.

Now, the next part to talk about with nitrites is the perceived harmful side. There are two main complaints lodged against them, neither of which are fully understood by the scientific community, and even less so by the general population.

First, under certain conditions, namely very high temperature cooking (frying out of control), nitrites can bond with degrading amino acids to form nitrosamines; a known carcinogen. However, in North America and parts of the EU, nitrites are limited to 200ppm in cured meat products. Though this is a very low number, it doesn't need to be high to achieve what we want. The only reason manufacturers go as high as they can with nitrite dosage is so that they can spend as little time as possible with the meat in the cure. Higher concentration = faster cure time. Time = money. The home recipe will call for a much smaller amount. Also remember that nitrites were not invented in a Union Carbide/Monsanto laboratory to make peasant life shittier for a few extra profits; they are a natural compound found in many foods. The average person consumes 80%+ of their nitrite consumption from green leafy vegetables, even more so from healthy eaters. To consume anywhere near the hazardous level, you would need to eat a plate of blast-fried bacon every day. I think at that point, your doctor would not be worried about your nitrite consumption. If nitrosamines are a concern, add a pinch of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), it will help inhibit nitrosamine production. Conversely, you could also cook it correctly.

The second, less understood side effect is that under certain conditions, namely very high temperature cooking (frying out of control), nitrites can form compounds that can then be aerosolized and cause symptoms similar to asthma. But, it appears that this is only a concern for the guy standing above a bacon blast-frier for 50 hours a week. The average home cook will not see these conditions.

Ultimately, if you don't want them in there for any reason, by all means omit them. It won't look as good, taste as good, or be as safe, but at least you'll be able to eat all 50lbs of it in a week (overcooked) without worrying about cancer or asthma symptoms.

Also, it's cheap and easy to get on the internet.

Actually its not a matter of the botulism growing too strong, botulism itself isn't dangerous, its the heat stable nerve agent it produces as a waste product. Which is why they're so pesky (besides the spores also being heat resistant to a degree). If they've been living in your food for awhile they've made it poisonous, even if you kill all the little bastards with heat the toxin stays behind.

That's not really my question though, I've got tons of nitrate and nitrite in the house and use it all the time. I'm just trying to figure out if I do some recipe development when/if nitrite is a food safety requirement rather just a flavor/color thing. Looking through Ruhlman's stuff again its looking to be a whole muscle vs sausage thing, which makes sense since taking exterior meat and mixing it up and locking it in an oxygen-free environment would be exactly how to maximize botulism risk. I ordered a new book though since I want to do some more whole muscle stuff and Ruhlman only has a few in his book, I'll wait and see what new recipes it has.

That said, first batch came out well:

Salami's texture could be better (the slight blur of the picture makes it look way worse then it is though), but those were made/stuffed and have been hanging since before I had the vertical stuffer and before I really got my thermal management down pat.

# ? Jun 8, 2015 00:05

Dr. Pangloss: Apr 5, 2014; Ask me about metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology. I'm here to help!

I did it, I have successfully baconed. Just did a simple brown sugar cure, it finished curing last night and I brought it to 150 tonight. I cleaned it up a bit and cooked the bits I cut off and wow. It's sweeter than I'd expected, but it's also the outside, so that's the part with the most exposure to the sugar. I can't wait until tomorrow night when we will have breakfast for dinner so I have an excuse to cook up a mess of it, to go with my buttermilk biscuits.

# ? Jun 23, 2015 05:59

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Does someone have a baker's math recipe for bacon cure? I asked for a pork belly at the Asian market today and after some confusion ended up with a 9 pound belly.

Also what's a good price for pork belly these days? Tis was $4.59/lb which seems reasonable but really I have no idea.

# ? Jun 23, 2015 23:47

holttho: May 21, 2007

Basic bacon dry cure. I prefer this as it's really easy. % as per the cure/belly inclusive

kosher salt (100%)
sugar (50%)
pink salt (10%)
Use 50g of cure per 2.25kg of skin-on belly.

w/ belly
belly (100%)
kosher salt (1.37%)
sugar (0.7%)
pink salt (0.137%)

Ruhlman also advocates using dextrose instead of table sugar, as it is less sweet and easier to dissolve:

kosher salt (100%)
dextrose (95%)
pink salt (17%)

w/ belly
belly (100%)
kosher salt (1.37%)
dextrose (1.3%)
pink salt (0.23%)

Depends on what you got. Here in Chicago, I can get factory hog belly anywhere from 1.79$/lb up to 2.99$/lb, depending on the market and whether they chose to take the ribs off or not. Artisanal butcher stuff still is like 10-15$/lb. But our prices are fairly skewed on both ends, as our town is where you go to sell bellies by the container-ship as well as where you go to fleece hipsters who don't know what they're buying by the ounce. If it is factory, it's probably a touch high, but nothing to get upset about. If you got a hand raised pig, it's time to do some cartwheels.

# ? Jun 24, 2015 05:20

Jose: Jul 24, 2007; Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Does someone have a baker's math recipe for bacon cure? I asked for a pork belly at the Asian market today and after some confusion ended up with a 9 pound belly.

Also what's a good price for pork belly these days? Tis was $4.59/lb which seems reasonable but really I have no idea.

The place I buy curing salt from calls for 10g of salt per 1kg of meat

# ? Jun 24, 2015 08:22

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Does someone have a baker's math recipe for bacon cure? I asked for a pork belly at the Asian market today and after some confusion ended up with a 9 pound belly.

Also what's a good price for pork belly these days? Tis was $4.59/lb which seems reasonable but really I have no idea.

I pay $7/lb for berkshire belly, and $10/lb for kurobuta. Factory hog belly is like $2.79.

# ? Jun 24, 2015 13:31

hoshkwon: Jun 27, 2011

dms666 posted:

Yeah I was happy when I bought a few cases last month that they ended up being like $1.89/lb, had to drive 30 min in to Ohio to pick them up though. Anything around Pittsburgh was over $3/lb easily.

You live in Pittsburgh? Nice, me too. I usually get my pork belly at the Chinese grocery store in the strip, the Wing Fat Hong (WFH). I think it's like..$2.29 or something. And like good meat to fat ratios too. But they're partially frozen, I don't really mind that though. You can also get a whole duck for like $15 too.

# ? Jun 25, 2015 02:23

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

With the step in bacon making where you heat to 150...is that just for food safety or does it transform the product somehow? That is, if I'm going to be eating the piece in the next week or so, is that step necessary/beneficial, or do I only need to do that for long term preservation?

# ? Jul 3, 2015 15:27

Errant Gin Monks: Oct 2, 2009; "Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch

Peasants. Factory hog is 1.39 a pound. If anyone is near a restaurant depot and wants to use a day pass to buy a whole case pm me.

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

With the step in bacon making where you heat to 150...is that just for food safety or does it transform the product somehow? That is, if I'm going to be eating the piece in the next week or so, is that step necessary/beneficial, or do I only need to do that for long term preservation?

It definitely changes it. It firms it up, drives out some moisture and makes it sliceable after its chilled again. It also renders off some of the loose fat. It also makes the peppercorns stick better!

Anyway I have never tried not bringing it up to temp. I have researched that in order to not smoke it you can hang it to dry for 2 weeks after washing off the cure and get the same result.

Errant Gin Monks fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jul 4, 2015

# ? Jul 4, 2015 04:37

Doom Rooster: Sep 3, 2008; Pillbug

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

With the step in bacon making where you heat to 150...is that just for food safety or does it transform the product somehow? That is, if I'm going to be eating the piece in the next week or so, is that step necessary/beneficial, or do I only need to do that for long term preservation?

Softens it up and makes it way more sliceable. Also, smoke flavor.

# ? Jul 4, 2015 04:45

Chef De Cuisinart: Oct 31, 2010; Brandy does in fact, in my experience, contribute to Getting Down.

Errant Gin Monks posted:

Anyway I have never tried not bringing it up to temp. I have researched that in order to not smoke it you can hang it to dry for 2 weeks after washing off the cure and get the same result.

That's called pancetta, and while delicious, and also on my charcuterie board, isn't quite like bacon.

Also, Berkshire for life, infinitely better if you do want to do a raw pancetta.

# ? Jul 4, 2015 12:14

Errant Gin Monks: Oct 2, 2009; "Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch

Chef De Cuisinart posted:

That's called pancetta, and while delicious, and also on my charcuterie board, isn't quite like bacon.

Also, Berkshire for life, infinitely better if you do want to do a raw pancetta.

Not in my 'Merrica you godless commie!

# ? Jul 4, 2015 18:17

Suspect Bucket: Jan 15, 2012; SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR

Booohohoho I just found some slices of my uncooked homemade bacon second batch jammed in the back of the fridge. It molded.

It was only a few slices but I am sad to have lost it.

# ? Jul 5, 2015 16:16

OBAMNA PHONE: Aug 7, 2002

Errant Gin Monks posted:

Peasants. Factory hog is 1.39 a pound. If anyone is near a restaurant depot and wants to use a day pass to buy a whole case pm me.

It definitely changes it. It firms it up, drives out some moisture and makes it sliceable after its chilled again. It also renders off some of the loose fat. It also makes the peppercorns stick better!

Anyway I have never tried not bringing it up to temp. I have researched that in order to not smoke it you can hang it to dry for 2 weeks after washing off the cure and get the same result.

I might have to take you up on this, how big is a case of belly or ribs? :getin:

# ? Jul 10, 2015 19:04

Errant Gin Monks: Oct 2, 2009; "Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch

BraveUlysses posted:

I might have to take you up on this, how big is a case of belly or ribs?

30-60 lbs depending on brand.

# ? Jul 11, 2015 03:55

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

In regard to bacon, what's the downside (if any) of leaving it in the cure for too long? (im talking days not weeks)

# ? Jul 11, 2015 14:53

Errant Gin Monks: Oct 2, 2009; "Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

In regard to bacon, what's the downside (if any) of leaving it in the cure for too long? (im talking days not weeks)

It gets slightly saltier.

# ? Jul 11, 2015 15:18

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I just put a maple cure belly in the fridge. It was a spur of the moment purchase from whole foods (so of course I paid too much for it) but it is really beautiful, way better looking than what I got from the Asian market. I am stoked. About bacon.

# ? Jul 15, 2015 02:06

Bone_Enterprise: Aug 9, 2005; Inception Cigars
www.inceptioncigars.com

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

I am stoked. About bacon.

I approve. This message.

# ? Jul 15, 2015 19:35

Invisible Ted: Aug 24, 2011; hhhehehe

Does anyone have experience curing elk? A friend and I had some quick-cured beef tenderloin at a restaurant and he wants to replicate that with elk. He doesn't have room to hang and age anything where he works, so something that can be ready to eat within roughly a week would be preferred.

# ? Jul 16, 2015 17:03

davmillar: May 22, 2012; GO BIG OR GO HOME; Gravy Boat 2k

I found this thread Wednesday and was really into the idea of making bacon. Unfortunately, neither of the two English speaking stores I tried had pork belly. Then I went to the carniceria.

Me: "Do you have pork belly?"
Lady: "Por balli?"
Me: "uh... *Uses Google Translate* Vientre de cierdo?"
Lady: "(something in Spanish)?"
Me: *retarded stare* "2... Pounds...?"

Some digging the back refrigerated area and wrapping and labeling later, and she hands me a two pound portion of "vientre de cierdo".

Arriving home and eager to start, I unwrap my purchase and... Apparently I am the proud owner of two pounds of pork *stomach*. So with bacon out the window, can anyone in this thread recommend a preparation for pork stomach, charcuterie or otherwise? And can someone tell me what to ask for next time I go there if I can ever shake the humiliation?

(Edit because apparently I can't speak English either, FML.)

davmillar fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Aug 10, 2015

# ? Aug 10, 2015 00:52

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I can't help you but that's hilarious.

# ? Aug 10, 2015 01:24

Suspect Bucket: Jan 15, 2012; SHRIMPDOR WAS A MAN
I mean, HE WAS A SHRIMP MAN
er, maybe also A DRAGON
or possibly
A MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
BUT HE WAS STILL
SHRIMPDOR

davmillar posted:

I found this thread Wednesday and was really into the idea of making bacon. Unfortunately, the two English speaking stores I tried had pork belly. Then I went to the carniceria.

Me: "Do you have pork belly?"
Lady: "Por balli?"
Me: "uh... *Uses Google Translate* Vientre de cierdo?"
Lady: "(something in Spanish)?"
Me: *retarded stare* "2... Pounds...?"

Some digging the back refrigerated area and wrapping and labeling later, and she hands me a two pound portion of "vientre de cierdo".

Arriving home and eager to start, I unwrap my purchase and... Apparently I am the proud owner of two pounds of pork *stomach*. So with bacon out the window, can anyone in this thread recommend a preparation for pork stomach, charcuterie or otherwise? And can someone tell me what to ask for next time I go there if I can ever shake the humiliation?

Oooohhh. Shoulda asked for Falda (directly translates to "skirt", but more like side). At the very least, you hopefully did not pay a whole lot. Also, don't be too embarrassed, I've made plenty of dumb gringo mistakes, now I'm bros with everyone at my local carniceria. Or at least, well enough acquainted that we all smile and wave. Encouraged me to improve my spanish as well. Because High School did me no favors.

Buy hey, good news, you now can make HELLA TACOS
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/06/the-nasty-bits-tacos-de-buche-pork-stomach-recipe.html

Clean 'em good. You can clean and par-cook the stomach ahead of time and just make quarter or half pound batches at a time for tacos, put the rest in the freezer.

Also pick up epazote and mexican oregano (actually closer related to majoram I think?) next time you go to get your Falda. Also check out this helpful link I found, http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/3019-a-guide-to-mexican-butcher-shops-part-ii-pork-and-lamb

Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Aug 10, 2015

# ? Aug 10, 2015 01:31

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# ? May 28, 2024 08:59

Flash Gordon Ramsay: Sep 28, 2004; Grimey Drawer

I figured I'd start here: I bought some beef jerky and noticed the last ingredient is sodium nitrite. I wasn't familiar with using it in jerky. Anyone here do this? Pointers?

# ? Aug 17, 2015 01:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Charcuterie: What if I leave this meat in my fridge for 6 months?

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