Charcuterie - Show us your work

lkapigian

Sujuk Armenian ( Turkish and most eastern areas) ...can be dried, semi dried fresh...i made fresh, but letting some ferment and dry, no cultures , 38-42 MM casings 1.75% salt .25 % cure 1 ,22% pepper ,13% coriandoer .13% garlic powder .22% onion powder .3% dextrose .2% cumin .2% fenugreek...these will hang at room temp for a day ...yes you can take fresh sausage , let it ferment and cure..thanks for looking 

lkapigian

2 weeks and done,

CTMike

Bought half a Berkie from a Coworker/Hobby Farmer. Told him I wanted the hind and belly fresh. Unfortunately the butcher froze the belly so bacon will have to wait. 

Started the 18 - 24 month process today to make my own prosciutto:

I asked the butcher to remove the H bone so I didn’t have to. Had to cut the trotter off so that it would fit in my Cambro. Massaged the leg to get any blood out of the femoral artery. 

65 lbs of kosher salt and in to the walk-in for a 30 day salt nap. 

lkapigian

CTMike said:

Bought half a Berkie from a Coworker/Hobby Farmer. Told him I wanted the hind and belly fresh. Unfortunately he froze the belly so bacon will have to wait. 

Started the 18 - 24 month process today to make my own prosciutto:

I asked the butcher to remove the H bone so I didn’t have to. Had to cut the trotter off so that it would fit in my Cambro. Massaged the leg to get any blood out of the femoral artery. 

65 lbs of kosher salt and in to the walk-in for a 30 day salt nap. 

This is great @CTMike , following this 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

CTMike said:

Bought half a Berkie from a Coworker/Hobby Farmer. Told him I wanted the hind and belly fresh. Unfortunately the butcher froze the belly so bacon will have to wait. 

Started the 18 - 24 month process today to make my own prosciutto:

I asked the butcher to remove the H bone so I didn’t have to. Had to cut the trotter off so that it would fit in my Cambro. Massaged the leg to get any blood out of the femoral artery. 

65 lbs of kosher salt and in to the walk-in for a 30 day salt nap. 

This is going to be epic. Im sure @20stone would have some valuable insights if you ever have questions. He got in deep. I will say, it was the best prosciutto i have ever had. By a mile. I only wish we hung another leg every few months so we had more. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

CTMike said:

Bought half a Berkie from a Coworker/Hobby Farmer. Told him I wanted the hind and belly fresh. Unfortunately the butcher froze the belly so bacon will have to wait. 

Started the 18 - 24 month process today to make my own prosciutto:

I asked the butcher to remove the H bone so I didn’t have to. Had to cut the trotter off so that it would fit in my Cambro. Massaged the leg to get any blood out of the femoral artery. 

65 lbs of kosher salt and in to the walk-in for a 30 day salt nap. 

This is going to be epic. Im sure @20stone would have some valuable insights if you ever have questions. He got in deep. I will say, it was the best prosciutto i have ever had. By a mile. I only wish we hung another leg every few months so we had more. 

I will also say how shockingly low the yield was for actual prosciutto. I think we got 4 lbs off the last 30lb leg we hung. There is a lot of water, bone, and skin weight on there. We thought we were going to be rolling in salty meats for a long time. Once we got everyone their share, it was not nearly enough.

So my advice: start another one ASAP. You are already in this deep, the only cost at this point is another leg.

Foghorn

"I will also say how shockingly low the yield was for actual prosciutto. I think we got 4 lbs off the last 30lb leg we hung. There is a lot of water, bone, and skin weight on there. We thought we were going to be rolling in salty meats for a long time. Once we got everyone their share, it was not nearly enough."

Pay no attention to this.  I'm pretty sure that this is just @The Cen-Tex Smoker and @20stone covering their tracks to justify why the share they gave me was so small.    

On a more serious note, it was the best prosciutto I've ever tasted by a fairly wide margin.

Mark_B_Good

Foghorn said:

"I will also say how shockingly low the yield was for actual prosciutto. I think we got 4 lbs off the last 30lb leg we hung. There is a lot of water, bone, and skin weight on there. We thought we were going to be rolling in salty meats for a long time. Once we got everyone their share, it was not nearly enough."

Pay no attention to this.  I'm pretty sure that this is just @The Cen-Tex Smoker and @20stone covering their tracks to justify why the share they gave me was so small.    

On a more serious note, it was the best prosciutto I've ever tasted by a fairly wide margin.

Now you know why the dang stuff is so expensive in the grocery stores! LOL.

lkapigian

Bump-just pulled these -Linguica, dry cured from the same batch I smoked fresh …delicious 

CTMike

@lkapigian,

Looking great. The Berkie leg comes out of the salt tomorrow. Need to go buy a couple cans of Crisco.

Mark_B_Good

lkapigian said:

Bump-just pulled these -Linguica, dry cured from the same batch I smoked fresh …delicious 

That looks amazing! Hot or mild? I see some red in them. 

lkapigian

Mark_B_Good said:

lkapigian said:

Bump-just pulled these -Linguica, dry cured from the same batch I smoked fresh …delicious 

That looks amazing! Hot or mild? I see some red in them. 

@Mark_B_Good, those a Calabrian Peppers , pretty medium for me

lkapigian

CTMike said:

@lkapigian,

Looking great. The Berkie leg comes out of the salt tomorrow. Need to go buy a couple cans of Crisco.

Can’t wait to see that @CTMike

CTMike

Pulled the Berkie leg out of the salt today, rinsed, and dried it. Followed this by wiping it down with a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and distilled water. 

Today’s weight was 9.195 kg vs a starting weight of 11.335 kg so that equates to a 19% loss so far. 

Decided to use lard instead of Crisco:

Covered all exposed flesh with a thick coating of lard and black pepper, and hung it in the chamber. The rope was boiled in the 50/50 vinegar/water mixture to eliminate that as a source of contaminants. 

I am a little concerned about it coming loose from the rope as it dries so I’ll have to check it frequently.

Chamber is set to 60 F and 60% RH. 

It’s going to be a long (impatient wait).  

lkapigian

Looks killer @CTMike , I thought you really didn’t need the Sugna till the end and only on the exposed meat ?

CTMike

lkapigian said:

Looks killer @CTMike , I thought you really didn’t need the Sugna till the end and only on the exposed meat ?

I found several different sites telling me different things. I went with what I felt was the most conservative. 

EDIT: OOF - it seems I forgot to add the rice flour to the sugna - hopefully that isn’t a critical mistake. I guess tomorrow I will scrape as much off as possible and reapply the proper mixture. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

CTMike said:

lkapigian said:

Looks killer @CTMike , I thought you really didn’t need the Sugna till the end and only on the exposed meat ?

I found several different sites telling me different things. I went with what I felt was the most conservative. 

EDIT: OOF - it seems I forgot to add the rice flour to the sugna - hopefully that isn’t a critical mistake. I guess tomorrow I will scrape as much off as possible and reapply the proper mixture. 

We only did sugna on the exposed meat and I believe it was much later in the process. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

And you are fine adding the rice flour tomorrow. Having some fat on there for a few days isn't going to hurt anything. 

lkapigian

Capicola and Spanish Lomo 

Kurobuto Pork Collar “ money muscle” to be converted to Calabrian Capicola…equilibrium cure for a few weeks 

Spanish Lomo from Pork Loin 

lkapigian

Some more dry cured sausage basically just an adobo sauce , 2% salt , no cultures 

shtgunal3

lkapigian said:

Some more dry cured sausage basically just an adobo sauce , 2% salt , no cultures 

I would love to be your neighbor. Especially this time of year. I would be constantly hitting you up up for “tree stand snacks”. 

lkapigian

After a month of Equilibrium Cure, tied them off today, will stuff tomorrow Lonzino Left, Capicola Right …no rinse after the cure, will coat with more Calabrian Pepper before stuffing 

JohnInCarolina

Man some of you guys are patient.  I know the payoff is worth it because you’ve let me try some of this stuff, but… I’m impressed.

lkapigian

JohnInCarolina said:

Man some of you guys are patient.  I know the payoff is worth it because you’ve let me try some of this stuff, but… I’m impressed.

Whole muscle is ridiculously easy and low active time, I’m forgetful with a sort attention span , so patience doesn’t come into play for me LoL

alaskanassasin

Thanks for the bump.

alaskanassasin

I bailed back on page 6 because I knew where this is heading.. maybe I should stop fighting it.. I have a ink bird, old freezer, basement…
 bought a book…

lkapigian

alaskanassasin said:

I bailed back on page 6 because I knew where this is heading.. maybe I should stop fighting it.. I have a ink bird, old freezer, basement…
 bought a book…

Just do it !

Foghorn

alaskanassasin said:

I bailed back on page 6 because I knew where this is heading.. maybe I should stop fighting it.. I have a ink bird, old freezer, basement…
 bought a book…

Nobody here is going to tell you not to do it. 

Botch

Um, what's an "ink bird"?  

alaskanassasin

Foghorn said:

alaskanassasin said:

I bailed back on page 6 because I knew where this is heading.. maybe I should stop fighting it.. I have a ink bird, old freezer, basement…
 bought a book…

Nobody here is going to tell you not to do it. 

I was working in the direction of "Flour Water Salt Yeast" but Charcuterie would be much more rewarding, a better use of the offals in our freezer and I love preservation I am like a squirrel in that way, bread has a short shelf life.