Anyone into charcuterie?

bosco0633

i just finished curing 70 lbs of sausage in my cantina.  It took just over four weeks and the weather has been perfect for drying.  This is my second season and I plan on expanding into different meats next season as I have learned this skill set.  This is my buddies family recipe and they have taught me the skill over the past two winters.  

This is one of my favourite snacks throughout the year with cheese and crackers, olives etc.  

JRWhitee

bosco0633 said:

i just finished curing 70 lbs of sausage in my cantina.  It took just over four weeks and the weather has been perfect for drying.  This is my second season and I plan on expanding into different meats next season as I have learned this skill set.  This is my buddies family recipe and they have taught me the skill over the past two winters.  

This is one of my favourite snacks throughout the year with cheese and crackers, olives etc.  

That looks great my favorite as well. Sometimes have it for dinner...

GrillSgt

Nice. Now that’s a productive hobby. 

JohnInCarolina

That looks awesome!

GATraveller

@20stone @caliking

bosco0633

I just updated my sliced up photo. Take a look

Wolfpack

Wow- looks outstanding

baychilla

I have Ruhlmans book on it and some Umai bags for it, I just haven't summoned the desire to build anything yet.  I shudder to think what would happen if I asked a local "butcher" for a Copa muscle from a pork shoulder.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

baychilla said:

I have Ruhlmans book on it and some Umai bags for it, I just haven't summoned the desire to build anything yet.  I shudder to think what would happen if I asked a local "butcher" for a Copa muscle from a pork shoulder.

Just get a whole shoulder. We can show you how to get the money muscle off. Then you’ll. Have some sausage meat and fat left over. 

buzd504

That looks great.  What is a "cantina" ?

THEBuckeye

My wife

lkapigian

Looks Great!

dbennett561

my mouth is watering

caliking

baychilla said:

I have Ruhlmans book on it and some Umai bags for it, I just haven't summoned the desire to build anything yet.  I shudder to think what would happen if I asked a local "butcher" for a Copa muscle from a pork shoulder.

The consensus among our group was that Ruhlman’s recipes have too much salt in them. @20stone has the recipes worked out in  percentages, so hopefully he will chime in. 

Sea2Ski

I am dabbling in it. Like many here, I have done bacon, panchetta etc.  I have not done fermented sausages yet. However I have some mangalista whole muscles going right now:

Cured. 


Stuffed in casing:


Now all moldy.  


I will know in another 4-6 weeks (or longer) how it turned out. 

baychilla

caliking said:

baychilla said:

I have Ruhlmans book on it and some Umai bags for it, I just haven't summoned the desire to build anything yet.  I shudder to think what would happen if I asked a local "butcher" for a Copa muscle from a pork shoulder.

The consensus among our group was that Ruhlman’s recipes have too much salt in them. @20stone has the recipes worked out in  percentages, so hopefully he will chime in. 

I did his bacon recipe a few times and there were two issues.  1. At the end of the day it was cheaper to buy the local artisanal stuff 2. The sugar caused some ugly burning so I can't comment on the salt content.  That being said I'd love to be able to do my own prosciutto some day.

Sea2Ski

Couple thoughts @baychilla, making your own bacon you will not save much, if any money. If anything, you will break even at best by the time you factor everything in. But you lose the cool factor of being able to say you make bacon  

The salt box box method will yield very salty bacon. Scratch that.  Weigh the salt to get the percentage you like which is typically 2.25-3.5%. And the higher the sugar content, the more prone to burning. 1.25-1.75% is what I have had luck with. Anything higher I get burning as well. 
Take notes!!!  Once you find what you like you will not go back to store bought. 

20stone

bosco0633 said:

i just finished curing 70 lbs of sausage in my cantina.  It took just over four weeks and the weather has been perfect for drying.  This is my second season and I plan on expanding into different meats next season as I have learned this skill set.  This is my buddies family recipe and they have taught me the skill over the past two winters. 

Those sausages look great. I'd love to see the recipe. 

baychilla said:

....I shudder to think what would happen if I asked a local "butcher" for a Copa muscle from a pork shoulder.

Depending on where you live, you can track down a small farmer to get a high quality hog for this. Here is a site that might help (http://www.eatwild.com/products/), though looking at the suppliers to really good locally sourced restaurants is also a good move. 

You will also do better with fresh cuts if you can get them. Most small farms freeze everything unless you special order. 

Sea2Ski said:

I am dabbling in it. Like many here, I have done bacon, panchetta etc.  I have not done fermented sausages yet. However I have some mangalista whole muscles going right now ...

Those look great. The one on the left looks like a lonza, and I'm not sure about the one on the right. The casing and mold both look great.  I assume you sprayed or dipped to get the white mold.  Correct?  (For those unfamiliar, there are good molds and bad molds.  A commn technique to keep the bad molds awat is to spray the casing with a good mold to outcompete them).

We are going to put up a few pieces next month as we finish of our hog raising experiment.  Coppa, for me, is the greatest.  We have a couple prosciuttos hanging now.  We're only 10 months away from eating the first one. Culatello is next. 

We also have about 15 lbs of fermented Genoa salami hanging that is just about ready.  Our first attempt failed (operator error) but these look great. 

baychilla said:

I did his [Ruhlman's] recipe a few times and there were two issues.  1. At the end of the day it was cheaper to buy the local artisanal stuff 2. The sugar caused some ugly burning so I can't comment on the salt content.  That being said I'd love to be able to do my own prosciutto some day.

On the bacon front, there are a ton of recipes out there, so you can alter sugar, salt, spices to your taste (and I highly recommend it).  It won't likely be cheaper, but it can be way better.  I have been using the Batali recipe recently, and am happy with it.

As for prosciutto, it's not that hard to do, but takes some care, and a ton of patience. I ight have been warned off if I had read a recipe that said "Active time - 5 hours, Total time - 17,000 hours. 

Duck breast prosciutto is an easy one to start with, then whole cuts like what @Sea2Ski put up there.

@bosco0633, again, thanks for posting this, and please share the recipe. 

CarolinaQ

Could you post your recipe and method if you get a chance?  Looks like it turned out great. 

I love doing capacola. Cut off the money muscle of the shoulder, trim it a little to make it round, wet cure in a bag in your fridge for two weeks, then hang in the cantina in a beef bung until it's done. I would highly recommend it as a first run charcuterie project. Hard to mess up as there is no mixing and it's easy to get the air pockets out before hanging. 

I've done three runs of sopresatta but only one has turned out well. I have eschewed using starter culture which is definitely the main problem. I figured wrongly that the old school Italians only used salt and time, and since I was adding pink salt #2 that would be good enough. I have been proven wrong.  It just seems like an expensive purchase since the starter cultures come in bags big enough to make hundreds of pounds and I only make 5 pound batches. And then it only keeps in the freezer for 3-6 months before going ineffective. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Sea2Ski said:

I am dabbling in it. Like many here, I have done bacon, panchetta etc.  I have not done fermented sausages yet. However I have some mangalista whole muscles going right now:

Cured. 


Stuffed in casing:


Now all moldy.  


I will know in another 4-6 weeks (or longer) how it turned out. 

You are officially more than dabbling at this point. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Sea2Ski said:

Couple thoughts @baychilla, making your own bacon you will not save much, if any money. If anything, you will break even at best by the time you factor everything in. But you lose the cool factor of being able to say you make bacon  

The salt box box method will yield very salty bacon. Scratch that.  Weigh the salt to get the percentage you like which is typically 2.25-3.5%. And the higher the sugar content, the more prone to burning. 1.25-1.75% is what I have had luck with. Anything higher I get burning as well. 
Take notes!!!  Once you find what you like you will not go back to store bought. 

“But you lose the cool factor of being able to say you make bacon   “

Correct. I have never seen anyone post a pic of store bought artisanal bacon on here 

all well said  above. I will just add that you are likely cooking too hot if you are burning bacon. I use loads of sugar and add maple syrup and mine does not burn. People do
Pig candy where they literally coat it in sugar before cooking and should not burn

bacon is best baked in the oven at 400 or even a little less. If you do it in a pan it should be at 5-6 max. 

Plus if you cook too hot and fast, the fat won’t render before the meat gets crispy. Slow it down and see if you get better results. My bacon takes 20 minutes to cook fwiw. 

bosco0633

Funny you bring up salt.  I read a charcuterie book last year before I joined my friends family.  I kept bringing up curing salts and they all laughed at me when we discussed it.  They only use straight table salt when they cure.  Most places here put their meat on sale with all the ingredients for the Italian families doing sausage and they always only sell table salt.  

So I was nervous with it last year when we started, and then it all turned out ok.  This year was even better and I worked with the entire family.  

When we do the dry cured sausage, we use a ham and a pork loin.  This cured meat requires little fat compared to our sopresatta.  When we make the sopresatta, we use a shoulder and a ham as our meat for a higher fat.  

We double grind our meat and put in food grade tubs and then like an assembly line, we add a generous portion of salt, then pepper and chilli flakes.  We mix it all by hand, even though we have the big mixer, the family feels this gives the best results.  Then we add red pepper paste to the mix which gives is an excellent sweet flavour and adds a beautiful deep red to the meat.  

Once it is all mixed we have a hot plate and skillet and we fry up a patty.  Then we all eat it and check for two things.  We want to taste the salt first to ensure that it is correct.  From what I have learned we want it to be almost overly salty at this point and then the desired heat from the pepper and chilli flakes.  

We will repeat this process until everyone is in agreement with the flavour and then move on to stuffing.   Once they are stuffed, we lay them on tables and cover them in table cloth.  We poke them and let them sit for 24 hours.  This allows for some moisture to drain and they get tacky to touch.  After that we hang them.

I know that this goes against people who believe in curing salts, however, they have been doing this for so many years and it just works.

Once the meat cures, the salt is more subtle and you can see that the meat took to the salt.  I believe that the key is the cantina (cold cellar).  Mine seems to always be the perfect humidity between 50-60% and the room in January is on average 2-4 degrees.  I have two vents that provide air flow in the room.

When we built our rack system, we did three levels and basically, when it is really cold, we cure near the floor, and move them up higher to the vents as it warms up.  That ensures that they are not too cold when curing. 

Last year, I started at the end of January and was a bit worried about the weather. We got a tiny bit of white surface mould, and a quick rinse and it was gone.  

This year, we didn't even get a spec of mould.  One the sausage caves inward, I know that we are about two weeks away from finish.  Once they caved, I let them go for 2 weeks.  Last year I did three weeks and they were a bit too firm. This year is just right.  

If you see black or green mould, you toss the sausage.  I have yet to lose one!!

Anyways, I know many will argue with the no cure solution or brine, however, who am I to argue a family method that has never done anyone wrong.  I can't wait to get my hands on the sopresatta.  That takes a bit longer due to the size.  We pressed them for several days prior to hanging them.  

Sea2Ski

@20stone correct both are lonza, but cured with different seasonings.  As an experiment I trussed one prior to the cure to see of casing would be easier than one non trussed.  Both were still a challenge, but the one trussed was easier. And correct, I sprayed with the bacteriform-600. Not taking a chance with this until I learn more.

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I fry my bacon, but I can not prevent it from burning in the pan despite trying to go low and slow with it. I might need to go to the oven and give it a try if you say you are getting good results. So maybe that is the ticket.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Sea2Ski said:

@20stone correct both are lonza, but cured with different seasonings.  As an experiment I trussed one prior to the cure to see of casing would be easier than one non trussed.  Both were still a challenge, but the one trussed was easier. And correct, I sprayed with the bacteriform-600. Not taking a chance with this until I learn more.

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I fry my bacon, but I can not prevent it from burning in the pan despite trying to go low and slow with it. I might need to go to the oven and give it a try if you say you are getting good results. So maybe that is the ticket.

i think you’ll like it. Start at 375 and just let it roll until it’s the right amount of crispy for you. I did a full pan this morning. It’s so much better in the oven. Been doing itnthat way for years. Learned it from our chefs when we had the restaurant. It makes me happy that we actually got something from them. It makes all the stuff they stole from us much easier to swallow

we had a beer and wine store attached to the kitchen. Let’s just say that it’s a volatile
mix having a bunch of pirate food service employees within arms reach of your retail craft beer coolers. 

Sea2Ski

okay - I will give it a try tomorrow morning. Just pulled a pack out of the freezer. 

lkapigian

And I thought I was doing good making fresh sausage .....i am way behind

20stone

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Sea2Ski said:

@20stone correct both are lonza, but cured with different seasonings.  As an experiment I trussed one prior to the cure to see of casing would be easier than one non trussed.  Both were still a challenge, but the one trussed was easier. And correct, I sprayed with the bacteriform-600. Not taking a chance with this until I learn more.

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I fry my bacon, but I can not prevent it from burning in the pan despite trying to go low and slow with it. I might need to go to the oven and give it a try if you say you are getting good results. So maybe that is the ticket.

i think you’ll like it. Start at 375 and just let it roll until it’s the right amount of crispy for you. I did a full pan this morning. It’s so much better in the oven. 

We now use a half sheet with a cooling rack set inside it, roasting the bacon and collecting the drippings for other uses (including frying the eggs).  We hav zeroed in on 350F, set to convection. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

20stone said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Sea2Ski said:

@20stone correct both are lonza, but cured with different seasonings.  As an experiment I trussed one prior to the cure to see of casing would be easier than one non trussed.  Both were still a challenge, but the one trussed was easier. And correct, I sprayed with the bacteriform-600. Not taking a chance with this until I learn more.

@The Cen-Tex Smoker I fry my bacon, but I can not prevent it from burning in the pan despite trying to go low and slow with it. I might need to go to the oven and give it a try if you say you are getting good results. So maybe that is the ticket.

i think you’ll like it. Start at 375 and just let it roll until it’s the right amount of crispy for you. I did a full pan this morning. It’s so much better in the oven. 

We now use a half sheet with a cooling rack set inside it, roasting the bacon and collecting the drippings for other uses (including frying the eggs).  We hav zeroed in on 350F, set to convection. 

I like 350 as well but it takes forever. I did 375 today and it rendered nicely but a few of the tips were crispy. I’ll dial it down to 350 next time. 

20stone

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:
I like 350 as well but it takes forever. I did 375 today and it rendered nicely but a few of the tips were crispy. I’ll dial it down to 350 next time. 

Convection is the key element at 350

The Cen-Tex Smoker

20stone said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:
I like 350 as well but it takes forever. I did 375 today and it rendered nicely but a few of the tips were crispy. I’ll dial it down to 350 next time. 

Convection is the key element at 350

I have that. 

Sea2Ski

350 convection. Got it. 
Thanks guys.