Charcuterie - Show us your work

The Cen-Tex Smoker

alaskanassasin said:

I am not following this thread. I am not following this thread. I am not following this thread...

Welcome to the rabbit hole. And not to be an enabler but looks like you have room to raise a few pigs. Just sayin....

alaskanassasin

My buddy has a fridge he’s not using too. Dang it!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

alaskanassasin said:

My buddy has a fridge he’s not using too. Dang it!

Now we’re talking! 

nolaegghead

alaskanassasin said:

My buddy has a fridge he’s not using too. Dang it!

nolaegghead

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1145853/bresaola-not-for-the-squeamish-picture-heavy#latest

lkapigian

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Pancetta and holiday ham:

Nice, what was your target weight loss in the pancetta 

20stone

SciAggie said:

Coppa is really what I’d like to do first. 

It's a great place to start.  Big enough to be special, small enough it finishes in weeks (or months) instead of years.  You might do something to contrast it with in parallel (a lonza or something), just to see the differences as you go.

@lkapigian said:
... 
The large one behind the salami is Pancetta Arotolata ( rolled pork belly ) , that has been going since July...its being stubborn on weight loss but maturing nicely .....in th back are a couple Calabrese Salami ( ground pork)Soprasetta (pressed),below, those will be ready in 4 weeks ..your whole muscles are the simplest and take the longest , salami is pretty quick...tje far left in the picture below is Lonzino ( cured pork loin) started back in September 

I am curious about the pancetta.  All the recipes I've done have a drying step (for days... maybe a week or so) but don't target weight loss and are meant to be cooked.  Fat, as it turns out, doesn't reduce in weight the same way as the muscle so I suspect a pancetta would go slowly.  I have done lardo before (cured fat served raw), so it's doable safely, I suspect, but just haven't seen pancetta get that treatment.

+1 on doing salami.  One note - it is a lot easier to mess up salami if you aren't working 100% clean.  However, it is fun to play with all the recipes, and the results tend to be fantastic.

On the coppa/cappicola/gabagool issue - There is one collar per side on a hog and I would put each one in its own bung.  I expect that you could maybe stuff two depending on the size of the bung and the collars, but you then introduce an area where they meet that might be a nasty air pocket.  It is also nice to do more than one recipe to see what you like.  Ours were all monsters, with the collars starting out 4.5 - 6.0 lbs

lkapigian

@20stone from my research 2 ways to go, and most recipes I see are as you say, a couple weeks , make lardons and cook...this is made to eat uncooked ...subbing cure 2 for 1 and targeting a weight loss of 25 % ish ( less than salami ) my Tesa came in at 33% loss...both were started the same time, same belly , Tesa below


I made bacon and pancetta the same day using the cure below , after cure I coated meat side of the Arrotolata with Calabrian Pepper and stuffed in bung


2.25%salt
.25% Cure...1 for Bacon 2 for Pancetta
1.75% sugar Brown for Bacon White for Pancetta ( doesn't really matter )
.5% Calabrian Peppers
.5% Juniper Berries 
.25% Garlic Powder
.13% Onion Powder
.25% Dry Thyme
.15% Bay Leaves

lkapigian

This is my salami and beef stick experiment, pulled the salami today beef sticks were done Way earlier so I vacuumed sealed them for a few weeks before today....its a mild chorizo recipe and added Sumac with some Herbs Fe Province ....i did do 3 tests with fermented snack sticks ...

SciAggie

I've decided to add a humidifier and a heating pad to the chamber. I have the capability, so why not take advantage of it? The cost is low and I'd rather tear the freezer apart again now rather than later...

lkapigian

SciAggie said:

I've decided to add a humidifier and a heating pad to the chamber. I have the capability, so why not take advantage of it? The cost is low and I'd rather tear the freezer apart again now rather than later...

I have a 16 watt reptile heater that works well, I bought it when I was going to Ferment in the chamber ....you won't need much, remember 3.41 btus per watt...also putting a container of water on te heating pad gently increases RH 

The nice thing is you have plenty of room, mini fridge not so much 

SciAggie

@lkapigian That was my reasoning. I have the room and the controllers are set up for it. 

Foghorn

Had some of the Masalawurst I made with @The Cen-Tex Smoker and @20stone.  We overspiced because we didn’t have @caliking to eyeball the measurements - and the last thing we wanted was to come up short.  

My son noted that he’d never had a bite of sausage with a dill pickle and thought “that pickle helps soften/neutralize the spices of the sausage...

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

Had some of the Masalawurst I made with @The Cen-Tex Smoker and @20stone.  We overspiced because we didn’t have @caliking to eyeball the measurements - and the last thing we wanted was to come up short.  

My son noted that he’d never had a bite of sausage with a dill pickle and thought “that pickle helps soften/neutralize the spices of the sausage...

You are really sounding like a wuss here. Suck it up, Buttercup! 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

It is an ass kicker though. I’ll give you that. 

Foghorn

I wasn't complaining.  I like it.  That's why I had it for dinner last night.  But I liked our first batch better.  It had just the right amount of spice to let the meat share in the spotlight.  With this batch the spices overwhelm the meat flavor.  

SciAggie

I'm thinking that we could have an interesting discussion centered around flavor profiles and seasonings. How do we define better? There are clearly flavor combinations that are broadly accepted as delicious. Hot & Sweet, Sweet & Sour, etc.
But what about specific combinations and amounts of seasonings and spices? The answer can be, "Do what makes you happy' but maybe not. Often I'll get (ahem) "feedback" from my wife. I cut things too large, too small, made it too spicy, not spicy enough... I'm not making her out to be mean - just pointing out I didn't make it the way she would have. "Best" for me and "best" for her are slightly different. 
So when we dive into charcuterie, sausages, and whatnot there is clearly a lot of room for interpretation. I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than to say as I make my first attempts at various recipes, I may have a hard time discerning if it was a good execution of the recipe and I did/didn't like the product OR I executed the recipe poorly or had a bad recipe.

Kids are testing at the moment and I'm just thinking out loud...

lkapigian

SciAggie said:

I'm thinking that we could have an interesting discussion centered around flavor profiles and seasonings. How do we define better? There are clearly flavor combinations that are broadly accepted as delicious. Hot & Sweet, Sweet & Sour, etc.
But what about specific combinations and amounts of seasonings and spices? The answer can be, "Do what makes you happy' but maybe not. Often I'll get (ahem) "feedback" from my wife. I cut things too large, too small, made it too spicy, not spicy enough... I'm not making her out to be mean - just pointing out I didn't make it the way she would have. "Best" for me and "best" for her are slightly different. 
So when we dive into charcuterie, sausages, and whatnot there is clearly a lot of room for interpretation. I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than to say as I make my first attempts at various recipes, I may have a hard time discerning if it was a good execution of the recipe and I did/didn't like the product OR I executed the recipe poorly or had a bad recipe.

Kids are testing at the moment and I'm just thinking out loud...

From my short time of doing this, "for me" less is definitely more. The Protein Flavor is far more pronounced after the Maturation and in the end,that is what you want to chase ...I know know why @20stone @The Cen-Tex Smoker @Sea2Ski have/had the High Quality pork...Mangalitsa, iberico  etc . The seasonings will meld during the maturation and many you really won't notice ( I am speaking in terms of whole muscle and I am very novice ) I tend to use Calabrian Pepper, Black Pepper  Fennel Powder or just smoke paprika ....This is of course after the cure, in the cure more juniper berries , grains of paradise Salt etc

That being said , I have made some really good products with .99 cents a pound pork 

my 2 cents 

nolaegghead

I have some store-bought sausage from Costco that is horrible (at least to me) because it has waaayyyy too much fennel.  And I really like fennel, and I really like heavy levels of spice.  Underspicing beef and I've noticed a pronounced "beef" taste.  Not sure about other proteins. It's a trail and error process and highly dependent on your and your family/friends taste.  But you'll know it when you get it perfect.

Foghorn

@SciAggie, I hear you.  I guess I've tried to think of it as a combination of feedback from a taste committee (those involved in making the sausage) vs crowdsourcing (after it's made, feedback from everybody who gets a chance to have some - so the next batch can be better) vs expert opinion (with our group that can mean a singular input from @The Cen-Tex Smoker, @20stone, @caliking, or occasionally @pigfisher, so obviously, the "experts" and the "taste committee" have a lot of overlap but I think of it as singular input rather than committee consensus).

All inputs are potentially valuable.  With that said, a singular rogue family member who got a taste and has an opinion that is not aligned with what the rest of us think is not likely to get us to change our recipe.  

The concern with crowd sourcing is that I've seen what that does in IBCA competition BBQ.  It leads to pork ribs that taste more like candy because of all the brown sugar and butter or whatever that the teams add to them.  That's a mixed blessing.

Ultimately, we need a large get-together where a bunch of us get together and do a bunch of taste-testing and recipe sharing, etc so we can all have a great time and raise our charcuterie games.  I have a place that is willing to host it once we can safely congregate and share a kitchen again.

nolaegghead

Good idea to crowdsource feedback.  As with any survey, throw out the outliers and I would add extra weight to anyone with exceptional taste - chefs, foodies, etc.  Also throw out any outliers in that group too. 

20stone

lkapigian said:

@20stone from my research 2 ways to go, and most recipes I see are as you say, a couple weeks , make lardons and cook...this is made to eat uncooked ...subbing cure 2 for 1 and targeting a weight loss of 25 % ish

Interesting stuff. I’m curious how you like it, as I find belly too fatty for me uncooked (but others are into it) and love it cooked. No reason it won’t work well. 

SciAggie said:

I've decided to add a humidifier and a heating pad to the chamber. I have the capability, so why not take advantage of it? The cost is low and I'd rather tear the freezer apart again now rather than later...

+1 on the reptile mat.  I had one but it never ran, as the garage the chamber was in never got very cold.  I ended up w 2 dehumidifiers and no humidifiers, though the humidifiers are good for the initial fermentation of some salamis. 

SciAggie said:

I'm thinking that we could have an interesting discussion centered around flavor profiles and seasonings. How do we define better? There are clearly flavor combinations that are broadly accepted as delicious. Hot & Sweet, Sweet & Sour, etc.
But what about specific combinations and amounts of seasonings and spices? The answer can be, "Do what makes you happy' but maybe not. Often I'll get (ahem) "feedback" from my wife. I cut things too large, too small, made it too spicy, not spicy enough... I'm not making her out to be mean - just pointing out I didn't make it the way she would have. "Best" for me and "best" for her are slightly different. 
So when we dive into charcuterie, sausages, and whatnot there is clearly a lot of room for interpretation. I'm not sure where I'm going with this other than to say as I make my first attempts at various recipes, I may have a hard time discerning if it was a good execution of the recipe and I did/didn't like the product OR I executed the recipe poorly or had a bad recipe.

Kids are testing at the moment and I'm just thinking out loud...

On whole muscles, getting the salt right is critical. Other seasonings will (hopefully) complement the protein flavor and not overwhelm. 

On sausages and salamis, you can easily make alternate recipes and figure out what YOU like (and what you SO likes) with modest tweaks from one to another. They both also are ready pretty fast, so you can zero in on favorites after a couple iterations. 

Foghorn

Homemade prosciutto (2.5 years in the making) wrapped around grilled peach (with cranberry pepper jelly) on a crostini with a little homemade pesto (basil from our garden) topped with mozzarella and balsamic. Those of you who know me know that food that looks this good means my daughter is home. 

lkapigian

Foghorn said:

Homemade prosciutto (2.5 years in the making) wrapped around grilled peach (with cranberry pepper jelly) on a crostini with a little homemade pesto (basil from our garden) topped with mozzarella and balsamic. Those of you who know me know that food that looks this good means my daughter is home. 

Beauty, tough to top that !!

caliking

Foghorn said:

Homemade prosciutto (2.5 years in the making) wrapped around grilled peach (with cranberry pepper jelly) on a crostini with a little homemade pesto (basil from our garden) topped with mozzarella and balsamic. Those of you who know me know that food that looks this good means my daughter is home. 

That looks farkin' amazing.

Foghorn

I’ll add that she made homemade pasta carbonara using pancetta from @The Cen-Tex Smoker and I grilled pesto salmon and chicken.  She’s going back to Houston tomorrow and starts work as a lawyer on Monday. 

SciAggie

@Foghorn The pasta for the carbonara appears homemade.
As for the prosciutto wrapped grilled peach - oh my... That is a whole new level of goodness.  I see that is no ordinary balsamic either. Balsamic that thick is something special. If you will tell me the pesto was made in a mortar I'll be speechless.

This is what excites me about the whole charcuterie/curing adventure. It is an opportunity to make some truly memorable dishes that can be shared with friends and family. If cooking for people is a way to show them how much you care for them, what can it say to share something that was months (or years) in the making?

Foghorn

@SciAggie, the pasta was indeed homemade by my daughter.  The pesto was made in a blender by my wife.  I have to admit that the balsamic came from a squeeze bottle from the refrigerator - but it was really good.  I don't remember what brand...  But it was a great family effort with all 4 of us pitching in - especially given that:
- I co-funded the purchasing and raising of the pig that gave us the prosciutto
- my son and I were part of the team that butchered the pig that gave us the prosciutto
- I think I co-funded the purchase of the partially butchered pig that gave us the pancetta and my son and I helped with the remaining butchering (I'm not 100% sure where this particular belly came from @The Cen-Tex Smoker )
- My son and I manned the grill.
- We all acted as sous chefs for my daughter at multiple points throughout the evening.

With regard to your sentiment about great food bringing people together, I couldn't agree more.  It was a great family night in the kitchen that was part of a journey that began at the last Salado Eggfest (2016) when I arranged to cook next to @caliking (who I knew from 2013 Salado Eggfest) - and he had teamed up with @20stone for the day.  A couple of months later I get a PM asking if my son and I want to meet up with them at a pig farm for a weekend and butcher a hog and buy 1/6 of 4 baby heritage pigs to raise...  As I've said on this forum before, I've really enjoyed being a passenger on this crazy train.  I bought a ticket and occasionally shovel some coal, but I'm not the conductor and the ticket I bought didn't really have a destination on it.  That's what makes it so great.  I clearly didn't anticipate last night's dinner when I agreed to write some checks for pigs in 2016...

lkapigian

Coppa Weigh Day 31 and 29% loss since 9/7/20. ( went into cure 3 weeks earlier )..letting it ride a while

20stone

lkapigian said:

Coppa Weigh Day 31 and 29% loss since 9/7/20. ( went into cure 3 weeks earlier )..letting it ride a while

Soooooo close to ready to eat. That looks awesome. 

Foghorn said:

...and I want to meet up with them at a pig farm for a weekend and butcher a hog and buy 1/6 of 4 baby heritage pigs to raise...  As I've said on this forum before, I've really enjoyed being a passenger on this crazy train.  I bought a ticket and occasionally shovel some coal, but I'm not the conductor and the ticket I bought didn't really have a destination on it.  That's what makes it so great.  I clearly didn't anticipate last night's dinner when I agreed to write some checks for pigs in 2016...

I totally agree.  The pigventure was an ever escalating exercise in exponential commitment, and the best of if was time together with friends. 

Hard to believe, but that prosciutto was close to five years door to door (including rainy the pig). Now that we know where (and which) pigs to buy and have our process dialed in, sadly with fewer donkeys and buckets o’ porn, but it continues to be fun, nonetheless. 

I look forward to having the bug behind us and doing it again