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I'm not sure if I have the space to make these recipes work, but the thread did it; just ordered Charcuterie online. I'm definitely gonna try the duck breast prosciutto. I'm curious, though: how exactly is it safely edible? I assume you can't just tuck into a raw duck breast. Is it the heavy salting in the curing process?
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Nov 10, 2011 13:15
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Errant Gin Monks posted:You have to understand raw meat isn't inherently dangerous. It's the microbes and little parasites the are in the raw meat. The salting process draws out the water and increases the salinity of the meat, making it inhospitable to microbes. The drying process further changes the meat. The nitrates in the cure will keep anaerobic bacteria out at this stage, most importantly the bacteria that creates botulinum toxin. After that it's perfectly safe to eat "raw" keeping in mind it's been changed by salt and air jest as much as it would have been by heat. Huh, interesting! Well, reservations dashed: I can't wait for this book to get here. Thanks!
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Nov 11, 2011 00:29
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I finally grabbed a duck breast for a shot at duck prosciutto, but I've run into a bit of a problem. Ruhlman's recipe says to hang the breast, wrapped in cheesecloth, in a cool, humid place for 7 days. My apartment is a sauna: in the dead of a Canadian winter, most people have to strip down just to stand being in here for more than 20 minutes. Will this work if I hang it in the fridge, or is it too cool/dry in there for this to work?
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Mar 3, 2012 20:10
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bombhand posted:I used my fridge when I made it. I put a tray of water in the fridge underneath it and it seemed to do the trick. Ahh, ok, good to know! Did you have to alter the hanging time, or did 7 days do fine?
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Mar 4, 2012 01:14
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Whelp, it's coming up on 7 days of fridge-hanging time for the duck breast. I was a retard and forgot to weigh it before I hung it up. I really don't want to slice into this thing and find out I should've let it hang longer. What kind of texture should I be looking for in a probably dried duck breast? It feels somewhat hard, but it still gives a bit when I squeeze it, particularly in the thicker sections.
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Mar 12, 2012 01:56
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I'm not sure how good of an idea this was, but I made a wee little pancetta out of a duck breast.  It was cured in tons of salt, garlic, and rosemary with a bit of sugar, then dried for a while. I just fried up a sliver and I'm surprised at how strongly the garlic and rosemary came through. It's pretty tasty, and a quick, easy charcuterie project for a newcomer like me.
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Mar 27, 2012 13:18
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Do some types of meat take brining better than others? I'm starting to worry my palate is blown out or something: I recently tried Ruhlman's corned beef recipe, but used a hunk of pork shoulder instead because I happened to have it on hand. It spent almost 5 days in the brine, then got boiled until tender. Despite soaking in the brine for that long, the meat ended up being pretty bland and I actually need to salt each serving for it to taste good, and the typical corned beef flavour is barely there; almost none of the aroma or flavour from the brining spices came through 
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Apr 10, 2012 00:21
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Scott Bakula posted:I followed his guide mostly as well, although cut the salt since I had less water and ended up using far more pickling spice than listed. The beef wasn't salty in the slightest after boiling and mostly tasted of cloves and nothing else Ahh, well that's good to know. I've always wondered how the meat would stay seasoned if it's boiled for 3 straight hours. I think next time, I'll just roast it at a low temp after the brine and see if the flavours come through more.
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Apr 10, 2012 22:35
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Ok, that gravlax picture got to me and I grabbed a hunk of salmon to try it. Since you don't actually cook the salmon, do I have to get salmon that's been pre-frozen, or will the curing process remove that necessity?
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Apr 28, 2012 16:48
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I retried Ruhlman's corned beef recipe, but this time, substituted a slow, covered roast for the boiling step. The difference is night and day: the flavours come out like crazy and it's not bland at all. The only problem is that it's actually way too salty. I'll try a few less days in the brine next time, but I think I've got a good thing going, here.
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May 12, 2012 15:41
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A bit over 2 hours at 300, but it was a small hunk of meat. I'm dividing up my raw beef so I can make little test batches until I find a method I like. The next test is going into the brine for 2 days, then maybe a lower, slower roast.
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May 12, 2012 19:06
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Armed Neutrality posted:Isn't that british-style bacon? I find traditional american/streaky bacon to be so much more flavorful. The fat is what makes it so good, and the lack of which makes canadian and british bacon pretty underwhelming in comparison. If I recall correctly, British bacon is the loin with a section of fatty belly attached. American bacon is just the belly, while Canadian bacon is just the loin. They're all called bacon, but really, they're not interchangeable. I love Canadian bacon, but it's definitely not something you can use in place of American bacon is most recipes. It's just a different cured meat product that happens to have the same name.
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Jan 31, 2013 15:41
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 19:21 |
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Toast posted:"canadian" bacon is american bacon too. Seriously, why do you guys have to call it Canadian bacon. Woops, I think I was talking about peameal bacon: isn't there actually a separate pork product in the US called "Canadian bacon" that's more like a ham deli meat or something?
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Feb 4, 2013 01:36
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