Finally Time to Taste

 

Lonzino Affumicato

So after about two Months the Lonzino finally weighed out, and let me tell you it is wonderful.  The fennel stays laid back and almost turns to a sweetener that is balanced out by the smoke.  Its like a porky Lox…Simply delicious.

Bresaola

 

There are no words…The fresh rosemary, the salt…Olive oil and parmesan, I'm in heaven!!!

Bresaola

 

Now that this has become quite the habit, it seems as though I start to have withdrawals when I don’t have some sort of meaty concoction curing, drying, or smoking.  So, onto my next challenge Bresaola.

Hailing from the Alpine region of northern Italy, Bresaola is a dry-cured log of beefy goodness with a beautiful deep red (almost purple) color and an aromatic headiness that makes my mouth water just thinking about it.  In my preparation I used an eye of the round roast picked up from one of our local farms.  Next I trimmed it of all visible fat and silver skin.

I did leave a few bits of silver skin on I didn’t want to mangle the meat that bad.

Next the cure:

Eye of the Round Roast	1,233 grams
Salt	25 grams	2%
Sugar	29 grams	2.3%
Cure #2	4 grams	.3%
Fresh Ground Black Pepper	5 grams	.4%
Fresh Rosemary	6 grams	.46%
Fresh Thyme	6 grams	.46%
Cloves	6 whole

Remove the woody stems from the rosemary, then combine all of the cure ingredients into a grinder and, well, grind them up.  The resins in the rosemary will make the cure kind of sticky, but the smell is awesome.  Next coat the roast thoroughly with the cure.  Then into a zip top bag, removing as much air as possible, and onto to the fridge to cure for seven days.  Be sure to turn the meat every other day giving it a rub  down to make sure everything stays coated with the cure.

 

After the seventh day remove the cured roast from the fridge and rinse it completely.  The meat should be quite firm now and much darker in color.  After you rinse the roast off, allow it to dry thoroughly for about three hours.

Now, this could be where it all goes wrong, and if it does I will have no one but myself to blame.  To case, or not to case?  That is the question.  I answered not to case, just because I only had 100 mm collagen casings on hand and to get the proper size casing from Butcher & Packer would have taken days (#planbetter).  So I went sans case. I also tried for the first time to make a mold starter using Brie mold and dextrose, and after about three days it seems to be taking hold.  So without casing I tied the roast and of to the curing chamber.  I will keep you posted as to the progress.

Playing Catch-up Two months of #charcutepalooza in a Day

 

Ok,  so I’m not an official Charcutepalooza blogger but in keeping with the spirit of THE YEAR OF MEAT I am catching up on my challenges.  First, the duck prosciutto. This one makes me very happy indeed.  Keep in mind that I post the process and that they are not done yet, but next weekend I am sure I will be a happy camper.   The one challenge I am missing is The Salt Cure. The first reason  is that most of our local farmers keep the bellies to make their own bacon (I cannot blame them- it’s delicious stuff). The second--my local butcher will not sell me substandard quality belly, so I have to wait…So, on to what I can do.

Duck Prosciutto

Following the recipe in Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn,   I prepared my  cure (in this case kosher salt only), approximately two and a half cups, poured enough salt in the bottom of a Tupperware container to ensure I would have an adequate layer of salt to absorb moisture (don’t skimp).  Finally I nestled my little duck breast in the bed of salt and covered for twenty four hours.  Once cured, I removed them from the salt, rinsed the breasts and patted them dry using paper towels.  Now here is where I diverge onto my own path.  Instead of dusting the duck breasts with white pepper I used finely ground black pepper, but not too much.  Also, after wrapping them in cheese cloth and tying I sent them to the smokehouse where my Skilandis was already bathing in the smoke of apple and juniper.  So there they rest, and in the morning I will transfer them to the curing chamber to hang for probably six to seven days.

 

 

Corned Beef

Next on the catch up list was  brining.  It is March and I love corned beef, so here we go.  Once again following the recipe laid out in Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn (instructions here) I prepared my brine. By the way, the smell of the pickling spice is amazing.  I let the brine cool and then inserted a beautiful brisket hand-picked especially for this event.  The brisket will brine for five days, and then it’s on to the cooking process.   As mentioned before, it’s not done yet, but you will know when it is. 

Stay Tuned……

Skilandis Continued…This may take a while.

Ahhh! Skilandis!  After curing our chunks of pork and beef for three days, it is now time to season and case.  Traditionally Skilandis is cased in a pig’s bladder, since pig bladders are not readily available at to me I went with a 100 mm collagen casing (sorry Skilandis purists but I think we will survive).  So, first off if you read my last post I was going to go with the cure and grind method, after discussing the grinding with Janina (my mother-in-law), I decided it was best to stick to tradition.  One of the things that I have found with any culture, or nationality  is that they know what they are doing.  If a method doesn’t work it does not become a tradition.  So as instructed I cubed the meat into cubes as big two of my fingers.  Next, I had to only add fresh garlic and fresh ground black pepper (no herbs). 

Weight of meat	1592 grams
Garlic (finely minced)	11 grams	.07%
Black Pepper (coarse ground)	3 grams	.01%

Mix the pepper and garlic with the cubed meat, and stuff into the casing. Next I tied the Skilandis using butchers twine.  After tying the Skilandis I inspected the casing for any air pockets, pricking the ones I found. 



Lastly I applied some pressure.  Following the advice of Juozas (my father-in-law) I employed to poplar planks and zip ties to put the squeeze on. I let it sit under pressure for a couple of days and then into the curing chamber where it will hang for a week.  After a week the Skilandis will cold smoke for forty eight hours then back in for a week the smoking and resting will be repeated 3 times, don’t ask me why I just do as I am told.  During the final smoking Juniper will be used along with Oak as the smoking agent.  After that into the chamber four three to four months, not sure how the weight loss percentage will work out but I will figure it when the Skilandis is  done.  I will update this post with picks after it is smoked as well.

Skilandis

 As I have said before I  spent about a year in Lithuania with my wife while she was finishing college, and one of the things I enjoyed the most was a traditional dry cured smoked sausage called Skilandis.  So since I have gotten into charcuterie you can bet this was top on my list to try.
Making Skilandis is about a four month process so I will start one or two now and then two more in a month or so.  So where do we start?  Well meat. In my research I found that Skilandis is traditionally made by using actual chunks of meat (no grinding), and grain alcohol along with garlic, herbs, and spices.  Some recipes do call for grinding, and omit the alcohol.  I think for my first try I will go with the latter. From what I can tell the meat used in Skilandis is a fairly lean product without the discernable fat of say a traditional salami, so I started with boneless pork loin with some fat on it as well as some lean beef, both of which are free-range grass fed all natural animals.


Second, the cure.  The cure for Skilandis is just your basic cure; salt, cure #2, and sugar (see table for ratios).  after I prepared the cure I cut the meat into 1.5” to 2 “ cubes, then added the cure, mixed well and into a zip top bag for three days.  In three days the meat will be ground and stuffed.  Skilandis is traditionally stuffed into a pig bladder but my efforts to procure one have been fruitless thus far.  We’ll see what I can pull of by Tuesday.  Stay tuned…

Skilandis Cure

Pork Loin (unprocessed)	1592 grams	75%
Lean beef (unprocessed)	530   grams	25%
Salt	75     grams	3.3%
Sugar	10     grams	.05%
Cure #2	6       grams	.25%

There are a few other ingredients that go in after the initial cure.  I will post them along with the ratios when I get to stuffing!

Happy Pigs

I have always cooked.  Ever since I can remember I enjoyed cooking, although I may not have done it well, I relished in the joys of preparing food.  I guess for the most part its an inherent trait--my father did most of the cooking when I was growing up.  So once I got married and had children I really started to take a look at where our food comes from.  I live in Wakefield Virginia, a small town that lies almost halfway between Norfolk and Richmond and twenty miles away from the famous ham country of Smithfield.  One would think that living in such a rural and famously porky area would yield fresh local meats at every grocer,  alas this is not the case.  Go to any local big box grocery chain and, sure, you will find famously branded products, lovingly pumped with sodium solutions or broth to “guarantee juiciness”.  What a shame that todays hogs that are grown in masses are so lean and tasteless that to even keep consumers eating it, it must be pumped full of additives and flavoring.  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Recently a friend told me about Windhaven Farms a local farm that raises free range Berkshire Hogs and grass fed Angus Beef, no steroids, no hormones, no antibiotics.   They also cure and smoke some of the most gorgeous dry cured hams in the area, hands down!   And the real kicker is it takes me exactly sixteen minutes to get there from my house.  At first I was skeptical, I mean really how much difference can there really be?  Well…a lot!  First off, the normal pork loins that you will find in most supermarkets (if by chance you can find one that hasn’t been processed to death with added salt or preservatives)  tend to look pretty ugly, almost no exterior fat and if there is it’s a weird yellowish color and no marbling in the muscle itself.  Pretty much it is a piece of flesh void of all signs of flavor, a mere shadow of what pork should be.  No wonder they usually pump so much junk into it, if not, no one could cook the stuff and have it turn out edible.  The loins produced at Windhaven Farms are in short a thing of beauty.  The first thing you notice is the beautiful snow white cap of fat that lines the loin, and THIS my friends is flavor. Also, the striation of fat within the muscle itself….More flavor and Juiciness! 


Plus the fact that all of the animals are raised naturally, because in my opinion a happy pig is a tasty pig.  As for their beef products, one word BEEFALICIOUS! I know I made that word up, but that’s the word that comes to mind.  The steaks are amazing.  All it needs is a scant dash of salt and fresh black pepper, rushed with clarified butter and you're in steak lover’s heaven.  Absolutely the best Angus beef I have ever eaten.  Everything from chuck roasts, to oxtails (you can see that here), beef ribs, and ground beef, tastes absolutely amazing.  I guess in short we all have to go to the grocery store sometimes, but I would much rather support my local community, and have superior, natural product to feed my family, than succumb the the global food machine.  Remember a happy pig is a tasty pig!

The Curing Chamber

After months of research I decided to really get serious about charcuterie.  So where to start?  The thing that worried me most about crafting and curing meats was proper drying .  Everything I read stressed the importance of temperature and humidity while curing.  So indeed a proper curing chamber was needed.  The idea was simple enough you need to control temperature (ideally around 55 degrees) and humidity (this can vary from 60% to 75% relative humidity depending on what your curing).  Inspiration was everywhere but I decided on using the concepts presented in both the cured meats, and Wrightfood blogs, although I did one or two things differently. 

First I scored a refrigerator from craigslist thirty bucks and its in great shape.  Then I hung the sign my daughters drew on a scrap piece of wood while I was getting it situated in my shed (hopefully it will bring good luck)

Secondly The temperature controller.  the warmest I could get this fridge to run was about 45 degrees, much to warm for our purposes.  So we had to introduce a way to turn the fridge on and off as needed to achieve a slightly higher temperature.  I used this Controller from Johnson Controls, I got it on eBay for twenty three dollars.  Although its different from most of the units you see it is actually a wired switch, not the piggy back style plug in most people use.  It was a breeze to wire up.  Just search the web for keg temperature controller and bingo your in business.

This thing is dead on Within 3 degrees.

The bulb sensor mounted inside the fridge.

 

Next humidity, instead of using a cool mist humidifier with a separate humidistat I decided to go with an all in one unit to eliminate one more link in the chain where possible failure could occur.I picked up this unit for about a hundred dollars at Lowes.  at first I was skeptical about its humidistats accuracy but it has done exceptionally well. It also has a two and a half gallon tank which in my case lets me go a little over two weeks without a refill.

I used a slim old work box which I had to modify to fit the cavity I created for the outlet wiring looks nice and clean.

Thinking of putting a small fan inside for air circulation

Signage and cheap little remote thermometer to give me a general idea of what's going on in there.

All in all I have about one hundred and sixty dollars invested in my curing chamber, and I’m thinking its money well spent.