Charcuterie - Show us your work

CTMike

SciAggie said:

That’s jumping right in - good for you!

Thanks - is there a trick for cleaning out the inside of the stuffing tubes, especially the smaller ones?

SciAggie

@CTMike I wad up a bit of paper towel and push it out with a dowel rod. I have a long bristle brush to actually clean it. 

Foghorn

SciAggie said:

@CTMike I wad up a bit of paper towel and push it out with a dowel rod. I have a long bristle brush to actually clean it. 

Yeah.  Something like this.

lkapigian

lkapigian

Nice work @Foghorn @CTMike

lkapigian

CTMike said:

Put the new stuffer to work today. A friend graciously gave me 10 lbs of Berkshire back fat and wouldn’t take anything in return. 

Started the day by cubing up 2 Boston butts and a picnic shoulder. Put them in the freezer to get cool while everything else was prepped. 

Attached the #12 grinder attachment to the Hobart and went to town. 

The snack sticks were a box kit from Cabela’s with some cayenne added for a little kick. 

The Italian sausage followed Ruhlman’s recipe, did a test fry first and found it needed a little more heat and salt:

Had an issue with blowouts initially until we got the hang of things. Had the stuffer at its slowest speed and still had trouble keeping up. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon. 

Clean up is a PITA but all in all was a good day. 

@CTMike , what I make sure I do ...use larger casings or stuff on smaller tubes , if it's hard to get the casings on you will be more prone to blowouts, I use 38-42 mm....keep the excess casing towards the front, not the back of the tube , eliminates tension, thumb and forefinger at the end of the tube.....use water, not a spray to lubricate the tube , sprays tend to not allow the casing to stick bind to the sausage....stuff it loose, you can tighten when you link or coil  .....i have the same stuffer, you will be very happy with it

In the snack sticks , give sheep casings a go

Great way to jump right in 

NDG

amazing work - this thread gets my blood pumping . .

CTMike

lkapigian said:

CTMike said:

Put the new stuffer to work today. A friend graciously gave me 10 lbs of Berkshire back fat and wouldn’t take anything in return. 

Started the day by cubing up 2 Boston butts and a picnic shoulder. Put them in the freezer to get cool while everything else was prepped. 

Attached the #12 grinder attachment to the Hobart and went to town. 

The snack sticks were a box kit from Cabela’s with some cayenne added for a little kick. 

The Italian sausage followed Ruhlman’s recipe, did a test fry first and found it needed a little more heat and salt:

Had an issue with blowouts initially until we got the hang of things. Had the stuffer at its slowest speed and still had trouble keeping up. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it soon. 

Clean up is a PITA but all in all was a good day. 

@CTMike , what I make sure I do ...use larger casings or stuff on smaller tubes , if it's hard to get the casings on you will be more prone to blowouts, I use 38-42 mm....keep the excess casing towards the front, not the back of the tube , eliminates tension, thumb and forefinger at the end of the tube.....use water, not a spray to lubricate the tube , sprays tend to not allow the casing to stick bind to the sausage....stuff it loose, you can tighten when you link or coil  .....i have the same stuffer, you will be very happy with it

In the snack sticks , give sheep casings a go

Great way to jump right in 

Thanks for the tips, I’ll give it a go. I did use water to lube the stuffing tube, but had the excess towards the rear. 

The snack sticks were a kit and pretty sure they were collagen casings - kind of dry. They cured overnight in the fridge and I baked them off in the oven yesterday until IT was 165 F - the wife was very happy with them so that’s what counts.

CTMike

Bought a 7 1/2 lb eye round roast for making bresaola.  Trimmed as much fat and membrane as I could without destroying the roast. Wrapped in a dry aging sheet and placed in to the walk-in for a 45 day nap before curing.

Final weight was 2.520 kg.

CTMike

Two slabs of belly in to the cure following Ruhlman’s maple brown sugar recipe.

Initial weight is 5.925 lbs.

lkapigian

CTMike said:

Two slabs of belly in to the cure following Ruhlman’s maple brown sugar recipe.

Initial weight is 5.925 lbs.

Nice ....you doing a pancetta or smoked 

CTMike

lkapigian said:

CTMike said:

Two slabs of belly in to the cure following Ruhlman’s maple brown sugar recipe.

Initial weight is 5.925 lbs.

Nice ....you doing a pancetta or smoked 

Smoked. I have some hickory chunks that I will use in the MMBGE and feed that smoke to the XL with some flexible hose

SciAggie

Starting spring break the right way. 

lkapigian

SciAggie said:

Starting spring break the right way. 

Boom!

Foghorn

"Starting spring break the right way. "

Yes @SciAggie.  Yes you are.

CTMike

SciAggie said:

Starting spring break the right way. 

Bresaola and Coppa?

SciAggie

@CTMike Coppa and Basturma - The stuff is addicting. 

BUFFALOMOOSE

@SciAggie for us beginners in training if I saw any brown color, I would think that it is because the cure did not go deep enough and would be afraid to eat. Please educate us. Any and all comments are appreciated  as well. 

SciAggie

@BUFFALOMOOSE The bit of brown is from the end. I keep it in the refrigerator. The cut end browns a bit and I have to trim it. It’s not from a lack of cure. 

BUFFALOMOOSE

Thanks @SciAggie

CTMike

Smoked up the bacon I made following Ruhlman’s Maple Brown Sugar recipe. Used the MMBGE to cold smoke in the XL - used a couple pecan chunks. 

Was running out of daylight and IT was only 130 F so I put in the oven to finish. Tried a piece this morning - a little salty - should’ve rinsed it more before smoking. 

SciAggie

#1 That's some really meaty bacon. I wish I could find that around here.
#2 Cool cold smoke setup.

CTMike

SciAggie said:

#1 That's some really meaty bacon. I wish I could find that around here.
#2 Cool cold smoke setup.

I mistakenly removed the skin before smoking so I think that led to more of the fat getting removed than I intended. Next time I’ll read the recipe completely before just charging ahead. 

CTMike

So 45 days ago I posted about putting an eye of round roast in to a dry-age bag. Time was up yesterday, so I followed the recipe from Two Guys and a Cooler for bresaola. Three weeks in the cure and then in to the dry-aging chamber. Will post updates as we go along. 

lkapigian

CTMike said:

So 45 days ago I posted about putting an eye of round roast in to a dry-age bag. Time was up yesterday, so I followed the recipe from Two Guys and a Cooler for bresaola. Three weeks in the cure and then in to the dry-aging chamber. Will post updates as we go along. 

Nice (don't shave that goodness off ) Eric @ guys is great and always willing to help

CTMike

lkapigian said:

CTMike said:

So 45 days ago I posted about putting an eye of round roast in to a dry-age bag. Time was up yesterday, so I followed the recipe from Two Guys and a Cooler for bresaola. Three weeks in the cure and then in to the dry-aging chamber. Will post updates as we go along. 

Nice (don't shave that goodness off ) Eric @ guys is great and always willing to help

Ahh - I was thinking that it would lead to additional case-hardening. Next time I’ll leave it in place. 

nolaegghead

if you don't want mold to grow on cured meat, you can do what I do - spray the outside with a 10% solution of potassium sorbate.  Colorless, tasteless, natural mold inhibitor.  I've had some cured beef sticks in the fridge for the better part of a year and they look like they did when I finished the drying step.

CTMike

nolaegghead said:

if you don't want mold to grow on cured meat, you can do what I do - spray the outside with a 10% solution of potassium sorbate.  Colorless, tasteless, natural mold inhibitor.  I've had some cured beef sticks in the fridge for the better part of a year and they look like they did when I finished the drying step.

Thanks. I wasn’t too worried about the white mold in this case because of dry-age bag. The bag wouldn’t peel off so that’s the other reason I shaved the outside.

nolaegghead

I had white mold on some bresaola I did some years back.  I scrubbed it off with a potato brush and some distilled vinegar.  This was before I thought of using the sorbate.  You wouldn't want to use this on  fermented sausage because it would kill the beneficial mold.

BigGreenKev

Have to say this is an amazing thread.  About to start on my first pancetta.