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This adventure: lamb prosciutto. Want to follow along?
Sea2Ski
Posts: 3,469
A few of you may have seen a previous post of mine where I had a lamb slaughtered and I raved about the quality and superior flavor of the meat. That animal was one of two purchased. The second was held at my buddy’s property where the sheep had 3+ acres to graze on grass and shared it only with another cow. Well, last week we decided it was time to have him butchered. I had him broken down into primal cuts so I could break those down further exactly how I wanted them. With such fantastic quality meat, I decided to use his rear legs for prosciutto. Wanting to make it as cool as possible, we left the leg as intact as we could.
When I got him back from the butcher, they left the skin on at our request. Not the best picture, but this is how it looked right before we started working on it.
First, I took shears to it to try and get the majority of the wool off. Then I took hair clippers to get it as low as possible.
The thought was to burn the remainder off. Not a good idea. The wool was still to thick. This is what it looked like after multiple attempts using all types of things to scrape it off after burning it. We also had to clean the hoofs - hense the wire brushes.
We had to abort the idea of a skin-on leg, so we skinned them.
Leg 1 after skinning and before trimming:
After trimming l pressed out the remainder of the blood left in the veins, and gave it a vigorous beating at the advice of @20stone:
Leg 2. Pre and post:
Then it was time to get to get them in a cure.
I weighed out my spices and set them aside. This was for one leg. Each leg was seasoned differently.
I needed to make sure the hoof and lowest part of the leg would be treated differently and separately from the shank and above since there is so little muscle there. Since that was left on only for the “cool” factor and killer presentation, I salted it like crazy then wrapped it up. (Note the pedicure that hoof got!)
Then I applied the cure rub on the meat and placed it in a vac seal bag
Then I sealed up the bag the best I could:
I really hope this works out. I only had Lamb prosciutto once in Australia, and it was incredible. Never saw it before or since. Using the advice of my father: “If you can’t find what you want, you can always try to make it.” So here I go.
Now they sit in the fridge curing. They each have their own shelf and will be flipped daily for the next 3-4 weeks.
Thread to be continued then....
When I got him back from the butcher, they left the skin on at our request. Not the best picture, but this is how it looked right before we started working on it.
First, I took shears to it to try and get the majority of the wool off. Then I took hair clippers to get it as low as possible.
The thought was to burn the remainder off. Not a good idea. The wool was still to thick. This is what it looked like after multiple attempts using all types of things to scrape it off after burning it. We also had to clean the hoofs - hense the wire brushes.
We had to abort the idea of a skin-on leg, so we skinned them.
Leg 1 after skinning and before trimming:
After trimming l pressed out the remainder of the blood left in the veins, and gave it a vigorous beating at the advice of @20stone:
Leg 2. Pre and post:
Then it was time to get to get them in a cure.
I weighed out my spices and set them aside. This was for one leg. Each leg was seasoned differently.
I needed to make sure the hoof and lowest part of the leg would be treated differently and separately from the shank and above since there is so little muscle there. Since that was left on only for the “cool” factor and killer presentation, I salted it like crazy then wrapped it up. (Note the pedicure that hoof got!)
Then I applied the cure rub on the meat and placed it in a vac seal bag
Then I sealed up the bag the best I could:
I really hope this works out. I only had Lamb prosciutto once in Australia, and it was incredible. Never saw it before or since. Using the advice of my father: “If you can’t find what you want, you can always try to make it.” So here I go.
Now they sit in the fridge curing. They each have their own shelf and will be flipped daily for the next 3-4 weeks.
Thread to be continued then....
--------------------------------------------------
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
Comments
"Brought to you by bourbon, bacon, and a series of questionable life decisions."
South of Nashville, TN
"I've made a note never to piss you two off." - Stike
i think the skin needs to be scalded with hot/boiling water first, if you are trying to get the hair off. It probably loosens up the follicles, making it easier to singe or scrape off. Don’t recall the steps in the process, but you should be able to Googlify it.
I tried (and failed) to be the voice of reason in this process, likely failing due to my lack of familiarity in the role.
Keep the pictures coming!
Joule SV
GE induction stove
Gasser by the community pool
Scale (which one of my friends refuses to use)
Friends with BGEs and myriad other fired devices
Charcuterie and sourdough enthusiast
Prosciuttos in an undisclosed location
XL BGE & FB300
XL BGE, WSM, Weber Genesis 2, Weber Kettle
We also tried shaving it using olive oil (please do not bring in what kind of killer aggressive razor to use!), burning and brushing with nylon brushes etc. We tried a bunch of techniques.
we decided we need a professional to do it.
I am coughing it to us is not knowing what we are doing with respect to that part of the process. Well, any part of it if I want to be honest with myself.
Maybe if it turns out “okay” or better we will try again and figure out how to get a “skin on” leg.
Next challenge up for these: what to case them in when it comes to drying them. Bladder? Stomach? Bung? Sugna? Something else? I have about two weeks to decide so I can order/prepare what I need to before it is time to pull them out of the cure.
I thought finding solid and consistent techniques for curing solid muscles was difficult. Curing a whole leg? There isn’t anything out there that I have found. So I am making this up as I go and taking good notes. That is part of the fun!
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
The skin is supposed to be scalded from what I can remember, so going hotter (boiling water) would likely help.
As far as casing, @20stone is your guy. If he doesn't know where to get animal a-holes and such on the internet...
Nope - no link. No guidance, no mentoring....
I have cured whole muscles and am pleased with them.
I am going by the approach of “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
I am making it up as I go. I figure if I break up the leg in sections and treat them as individual parts, it - in theory - will work.
I think.
We will see.
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
We we are having a good time with this!
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
- He is right. It is very tough to find a process for a skinless, bone in lamb prosciutto. We were just spitballin'
- In a very rare event, I was the one saying, "Maybe you should do ONE like x (you know, something you are sure will turn out) and ONE like y (you know, the flyer that could crash ruinously)", and he was all, "Nah. F(*& it. I'm goin' for it!" - To reiterate, when I am the voice of reason in your ear, you might take a step back and reconsider
- I am so stoked to see how this goes that I had to pester him yesterday before the post went up with "So, what'd you do? How did it go? Do you have pics? What do you think?...."
- I hope it turns out awesome (and I think it will), though curing time will be tough to gauge in advance
I hate being outcrazied, but I fully support this effort.Joule SV
GE induction stove
Gasser by the community pool
Scale (which one of my friends refuses to use)
Friends with BGEs and myriad other fired devices
Charcuterie and sourdough enthusiast
Prosciuttos in an undisclosed location
Joule SV
GE induction stove
Gasser by the community pool
Scale (which one of my friends refuses to use)
Friends with BGEs and myriad other fired devices
Charcuterie and sourdough enthusiast
Prosciuttos in an undisclosed location
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
1 XL BGE 12/17, 1 LG BGE 3/18, 1 MM BGE 3/18
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the update.
Joule SV
GE induction stove
Gasser by the community pool
Scale (which one of my friends refuses to use)
Friends with BGEs and myriad other fired devices
Charcuterie and sourdough enthusiast
Prosciuttos in an undisclosed location
This usually costs me about $1200 per thought and idea
"Your title is still safe"-your partners in pig
Location- Just "this side" of Biloxi, Ms.
Status- Standing by.
The greatest barrier against all wisdom, the stronghold against knowledge itself, is the single thought, in ones mind, that they already have it all figured out.
Just a man with a Muhle.
Every single day, (okay, not true- I missed one day) for the last 3 1/2 weeks I flipped the legs and massaged them to make sure the cure rub was in contact with the entire upper portion of the leg. (The meat). The meat has firmed up and I can tell it has reabsorbed some of the liquid it originally gave off, so the meat is now cured. I took it out of the bag, and it smells good.
Here it is right out of the bag before the rinse.
Here here is a closeup of the meat after a good water rinse to get as much of the the seasonings off as I could. Then, I took a good cup of red wine and gave it a good rubdown I used a Pinot Noir of course, because it is lamb after all.
I am really pleased (right now) with the low part of the leg where I used only salt. Everything was taught and firm. Kinda concerned about what it may look like once it dries out, but it will be what it will be.
Next it it was time to case the meat since I had to take the skin off for reasons described earlier in this thread. You do not want the meat to dry too fast and get something called case hardening. That occurs when the outside meat gets so dry and hard that it creates a “shell” and the meat in closest to the center can not lose its moisture so it rots. There are lots of ways to try and prevent case hardening, but I chose to go with a pig bladder as a casing for this project.
After soaking and stretching that bladder, I trussed up the leg and then used a sausage pricker and pricked it full of holes to allow moisture and any trapped air in the form of “bubbles” between the meat and casing to escape.
The finished work by my amateur hands:
And now the leg hangs in the curing chamber at 50F and 80% humidity. After 24 hours I will weigh it and that will be my “wet” hanging weight. I then have to wait to it loses 30-35% of its wet hanging weight to it is ready to slice and eat. Not sure how to calculate this one since it is “on the hoof” and the weight of the bone and lowest part of the leg will not lose weight, but I do not know what those things weigh. I will have to go with my gut and by feel at the very end.
@fishlessman and @20stone, do not worry, that butcher string is plenty strong enough for this leg. It is not that heavy.
Now we wait some more.
For those following along, thanks for doing so. It I fun to share this project knowing that at least two or three people are also interested is how this is progressing. I am having a blast with this!
Burning lump in Downingtown, PA or diesel in Cape May, NJ.
....just look for the smoke!
Large and MiniMax
--------------------------------------------------
Egging in the Atlanta GA region
Large BGE, CGS setup, Kick Ash Basket, Smokeware SS Cap,
Arteflame grill grate
http://barbecueaddict.com