jmolinari

great find bigwino. That is the exact same model.

I'll repost my recommendation here for a stuffer. Don't bother with the plunge cast iron ones, they suck, meat paste squishes around the plunger and there is lots of leftover. If you're going to make sausage somewhat regularly, get a crank one. Northern tool has a crank stuffer for about $80, whcih is identical pretty much to the Sausage maker's for $300. I have the NT one, i love it. jason

Hwilson, beef rounds are always smaller than beef middles. Rounds are about 40-45mm and curl up like a horseshoe when you stuff them, middles are straighter and about 60mm. jason

Or take pieces of non-painted metal coathooks, cut into 2" lengths and bend into an S shape to hang meat

Mallet...i thought of that exact same idea that night i posted it. Thanks !! I'll try that jason

I'm torn between the light issue. In Charcuterie Michael specifically states that the light can harm the fat (maybe not in just 24 hrs for incubation, but for drying), and yet in Bertolli's book "Cooking by Hand" he, like me, controls his humidity partially though the use of lights to heat the environment. I've been debating getting a terrarium heater bulb which emits heat with no light, but it is an expensive experiment at $30 for a bulb.... jason

Please do James! Love to see how they turn out. how are you "incubating" them at 85deg.F?

James, regarding the bactoferm. I would overestimate, and use more, as it won't cause it to be more sour. The pH drop is caused by the amount of dextrose. But i think for 5lbs a teaspoon or so would be more than enough. Regarding the fat in the shoulder, you can use it, but it may not be as hard as nice back fat, so it might smear a little more when grinding. I wouldn't worry too much about it, and i'd use it. jason

James, couple of items. 1) you really should use the bactoferm. You don't wnat to rely on random bacteria colonizing the salame, it may be good, it may be bad. 2) Don't use that fat, you'll ruin your salame/sausage. Salted backfat tastes entirely different from unsalted, is does not work with sausages (IMHO). 3) The kitchenaide small plate is small for the fat, it smears it too much. I use the coarse plate for pretty much all my salami. 4) Grinding the meat and fat separately and mixing them leads to additional fat smearing, and unnecessary hardships. I mix the cubed meat, cubed fat and salt/spices, then grind it all at the same time. This is just my preferance, it really simplifies the process, and maybe because of our grinder (the kitchenaid), works better than grinding separately. When i tried to grind fat alone, it seemed like i always got "fat snakes" instead of little fat pellets. Add the bactoferm dissolved in distilled water and dextrose to the ground meat/fat, and mix. jason

I like fruit woods, and nut woods. Pecan is very nice with salmon, apple, peach, pear, maple is nice too. The differences are really really subtle between woods, unless you use something like hickory or mesquite, which i don't care for . jason

Michael, i thought #2 was to be used in long cures. How come botulism isn't an issue with the duck? It is still a low acid anaerobic environment . If it is because it is a solid piece of meat, why do we use #2 on bresaola and coppa? Just wondering, i still have much to learn! Thanks for the tip on the wine! I'll definitely use it next time. jason

I think rehanging will be fine. I used cure #2 because it was being cured for a while (2 weeks).

Michael, thanks for the tip about cooking off the alcohol before using it. I guess i'll just simme a cup of wine for a few minutes before i add it to the meat next time, great idea! Would you recommend doing this when adding wine to a salame as well? I found the same problem when i added it to my salame, the winey flavor was too strong for me. Abra, that duck breast is definitely too soft, maybe you didn't dry it long enough? Here is my method/recipe when i made it july '04: 1lb duck breast (magret) 4.5 tsp salt 1.5tsp thyme - dry 2.5 tsp black pepper 4 juniper berries 1.5 tsp sugar 1 bay leaf 1/8 tsp cure #2 I cured it in the mixture for 4 days Hung it for 2 weeks, it lost about 45% of its weight. It was very tasty, ducky, and delicious. soft, and a bit chewy, but sliced thin it was quite delicate. jason

James, to measure the pH of the meat, i would keep some of the paste out of the casigns, and wrap that in plastic wrap, so it is about the same diamter as the cased meat. Hang it in the incubation chamber with the others, and then after 24 hrs, take some of the paste in the plastic wrap, and mince it super fine, and mix it with the same amount of distilled water. Take the pH of that slurry. CDC, i've tried using wine on pancetta, and it gave the meat a very winey flavor i didn't care for, so i havn't used it on other meats. The hams have a lot more fat, which probably explains why they don't dry out as much. jason

Abra, i don't know if i have the most experience, but i have been doing this for about a year and a half or so now, but that is nothing compared to how long it takes to learn and become good (a lifetime!). I'm also very safety concious..but like you, don' tlike chemicals..i use what i think is hte least possible amount. Last time i made bresaola this is what i did/had: 1 2lb 1oz eye of round 1 2lb 13 oz rump roast (i wanted to try a different piece of meat, usually i use eye of round) 66g salt 53g white sugar 8g cure #2 6g blk pepper 4g garlic powder 5g fresh rosemary 2g dry thyme 1g juniper berries 1/4 tsp (0.2g) cinnamon 1/4 tsp (about 5) cloves grind spices and combine with sugar/salt and mix the cure well. Rub and massage the meat with 1/2 the mixture..really kneading the meat Put in bag/tupperware 14 days later rerub with the rest of the mixture 10 days later, rinse the meats and put in casings (or don't, and you can rub them with a spice mixture if you want) and in the chamber at 55F/72% RH After about 1 month they had lost 39.5% weight, and i ate them The rump was good, a bit different flavor than the eye, but it was too fatty for bresaola, with large fat streaks in it. I'll stick to eye of round, as it is the perfect shape anyhow. jason

James, i do use sugar, i have my formulas at home, it is almost as much white sugar as salt. I'll post my exact formula tonight at home (assuming i remember:) ). As far as the soppressata, i don't have any tried and true..most of my curing is solid pieces of meat like coppa/bresaola...still perfecting my salame. jason

Edsel, yes, i think the amounts to use on teh bacto ferm packages are for the manufacturer to cover their ass. I only use that much, and i monitor the acidification with a pH meter, making sure i'm at about 5.1 in 24 hours or so. James: I use collagen casings i got from Butcher-packer. I have 100mm and 120mm. Find the casing that would fit best around your bresaola, and jam the hunk of beef in there...tie it up, and hang. It will help your dry outer edge. I've made bresaola both ways, with and without casings...the one without casings dried out much more. jason

I've used as little as 0.5g of bactoferm, and the salame acidified fine in 24hrs.

ronni, i might make coppa this weekend, i'll take pictures of the butchering to get the coppa out. jason

I've made duck prosciutto, but not with Charcuterie's recipe. It is very good. Strong ducky flavor. I'd call itmore duck bresaola than duck prosciutto, as it isn't a leg. jason

Adam, the recipe would interest me, if it isn't too much trouble. jason

well, whenever i make coppa or bresaola i always put them in casings. It may slow down drying a little. I guess i'll see if it is worth the effort once i compare the cased vs. uncased. I'm pretty sure that the uncased one will have a dry outer shell. jason

Here is the sequence of my boneless leg of lamb prosciutto. I've made it before, bone-in, and it is fantastic. It is very similar in flavor to what they have in italy, made with a goat leg, called a "violino". Very gamey, and lamby. You have to really enjoy the flavor of lamb to enjoy it, as it is very intensified. If you're one of those people who doesn't like lamb, because it tastes like lamb...well...don't bother:) Here is the boneless leg, rubbed with sugar, salt, black pepper, rosemary and i think thats it, i don't remember, i have it in my notes if anyone wants specifics. This is the leg after 3 weeks in the cure. At 2 weeks, i rerubbed the leg with the 2nd half of the cure, and flipped it. After that, the lamb was rinsed well, and left to soak for 40 minutes in cold water. Teh water was changed and the lamb left to soak for another 40 mins. Then it was dried very well, and i tried to find a way to make it a neat round bundle, but was unable to. So i cut one piece off, and made a little roll out of that, and a bigger roll out of the other. The 2nd bigger piece was cased in 100mm collagen casings and tied as well. These will be hung in my curing chamber until they've lost about 35% of their weight, my guess is the little one will take about 4 weeks and the larger one about 6-7. I'll report results when i cut them. jason

In the US, bacon is normally cold smoked too. Cold smoking at home is very difficult, so the book falls back onto hot smoking, which is better than no smoking

A PID is most probably overkill for a smoker, a regular on/off temp controller, which can be bought for $50, would work perfectly fine. You don't need perfect control in a smoker, maintaining temp withing +-15 deg. will work, and a temp controller would do that. Not only that, a PID may not be able to control any better than a standard controller could because of the setup and how long it takes for the probe to pick up a temperature change. My point is, if that is the only change in the new smokers, i'd buy an old model on clearance, and add a $50 controller, and a $10 temp probe. Let me know if you wnat information on where to buy one. jason