jmolinari

You can use the skin to make cotechino, a traditional italian new years boiled sausage..it kicks ass.

With wild venison i'd be worried about parasites...

Niman is pronounce with a long i, not a long e. Bill Niman was on FoodTV a while back...i always thought it was with a long eeeee. yes...making sausages is always a 3-5 jhours endeavor with chilling and cleaning... jason

Thanks Abra..it was TASTY too!

Michael, i've made mortadella, not using your recipe, using Paul Bertolli's. Following his procedure i had no problems. I used a food processor. It was actually quite easy. It can be seen here:

Dave, how was the flavor of the tuscan salame? Also, how long did you incubate at 75 F? j

Oh, a quick tip for people making carbonara. I've found that tempering the beaten egg/cheese with some pasta cooking water (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup per egg/person) makes the recipe easier, as the eggs won't scramble as easily. i'll have to make carbonara this week and post it here! jason

Kevin, make it:) It is easy enough...follow directions in the charcuterie thread.. facile! jason

thanks for the info Dave. I'll have to try paddling the meat, ithought it would smear too much, so i havn't used that in making salame where the fat needs to stay distinct from the meat. jason

Dave, when making your tuscan salame, are you grinding meat and fat at the same time, or separately and then mixing them? Also how long are you paddling your meat/fat/spices/bactoferm? What are you using as your incubation chamber? jason

Dave, what size casing did you use for that Tuscan salame? thanks jason

That sucks, but 2lbs of instacure will last you pretty much for ever, given that you use 1 oz. of 25lbs of meat, so each lb of will make 400lbs of meat!

you need to remove the little black seeds from the husks, those are REALLY gritty even when fine gorund.

Dave, what grind did you use for the tuscan salame? It looks nice and coarse. Abra, i read about hte double cure on Len Poli's site...and i just kept using it. Don't know why really:)

Abra, one cure is in salt/spices...the other is hte drying.. jason

This is one of hte pieces of boneless lamb after 30 days curing. http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1144380086/gallery_15167_2548_46345.jpg Here it is sliced. Here is the boneless lamb recipe: 1450g piece of boneless leg of lamb (the roasts that come already netted) 150g salt 105g sugar 6g cure #2 15g cracked black pepper 12g fresh rosemary, chopped fine 2g (1/2 tsp) garlic powder Unwrap the leg, and remove the netting. I trimmed away what is some sort of membrane on the fat (it feels gelatinous and slimy) as much as i could. I really didn't worry about trimming the inside much. Make a mixture of the above stuff and rub 1/2 of the mixture all over hte meat, both sides, being sure to get into the nooks and crannies. Put in big zip bag and in fridge for 14 days. Rerub with the rest of the spice/salt mix. Put bag in fridge 1 week later, rince the meat well, and let it soak in 2 40 minute cold water baths, changing the water once. After that you're on your own to make it look as much like a bresaola/coppa/pancetta as you can. I tried rolling it at 1 piece until i figured out i could get 2 pieces which would be rolled tighter. Hang at 53F/75%RH until about 35-40% weight loss. The only change i would MAYBE make, is to soak the meat a touch longer in the water baths. It is ever so slightly salty, but definitely not an eating hinderance on this batch. jason

Foodman, i think i posted the recipe upthread, around page 13/14..Didn't use the book. Is there even a recipe for it in the book? I don't remember seeing it. jason My sequence is on page 15, but i dont have a formula posted. I'll post it tonight if i remember. jason

Dave, perhaps the duck. I used magret breast when i made it. I think everyone needs to make a boneless lamb prosciutto immediately. I can't get over how awesome it is.

Dave, not saying it is good or bad, but just noticing your duck looked totally differnet than when i made it. Mine was a dark dark red and looked a lot drier. What method/recipe did you follow? jason

Abra, regarding done-ness, i go by feel and by weight loss. Normally the cured meat is done after it has lost about 40% of it's weight...but that isn't always the case. Personally i feel it is better to over-dry the meat the 1st time and take notes and make adjustments subsequent times. This is part of the reason curing is as much an art as it is a science, and note taking is key. jason

bombdog, i have to hceck my notes, but my drying time was probably about 45-60 days at about 53F and 75% RH. It lost about 40% of its weight. My boneless one, in 30 days has lost 35%. That is the little piece you see uptopic, with no casing. It is fantastic. The larger piece is still in the curing chmaber. jason

I've put my cheapy crank stuffer in teh dishwasher, including the o-ring, which probably isn't the best idea. I'll remove it next time, but if it is silicone, which i think it is, it should be fine anyhow. jason

bombdog, did you use boneless or bone-in? The boneless one i actually prefer. i can slice it more easily very thinly for sammiches and platters, and it si less lamby. It is still gamey and lamby, but the bone-in one was almost overwhelmingly so. jason

bombdog, looks perfect. One of my lamb prosciuttos is ready, ate it last night. Fantastic. I'll post pics when i get a chance. jason

ojisan, it has both a pressure relief valve and a silicone rubber o-ring.