Bombdog

I used standard hog casings and they were fine. Traditional is thinner (sheep I think?). I used a chuck roast and kept in the tiny bits of fat on it. ← Ditto

I don't think I'd be too worried about it, unless you are right on the brink of pulling something out. I can't imagine you are going to have something in there for less than a couple weeks normally. Hell, my proscuitto went in in March and won't be anywhere near ready before September at the earliest. Okay, I do admit that is a bit of an extreme example. Even if you were to leave something in 3/4 days past the 30 percent time I still don't think you are going to suffer. It's all pretty subjective anyway.

Ron What can I say? That stuff looks FABULOUS! Congratulations! I was wondering about the color difference between yours and mine, but I suppose the pork vs beef is the difference. Whatever...it tastes as good as it looks, and I WANT some!

I think I agree Ron. I'm sure you could could smoke without the skin, but not sure I'd want to mess with it. Then again, maybe we're wrong and Richard could try it and let us know.

I've been feeling like a slacker lately, with nothing new to post about current projects. Checked my notes this morning and found out it was time to do weights on the guanciale and the sopressata. Both have lost 35-40%, so I did a test slice of each. Both have excellent flavor, but I'm thinking the sopressata looks a bit fatty.

I can't remember smoking a butt with the skin on. The big ones I've bought with the skin on have been for sausage and salame. However, I can imagine that the collagen in the skin would indeed add flavor, but I wonder about the meat underneath not benefiting from the direct smoke contact?

I have when I get the shoulder whole and directly from the place that slaughters them in the building next door. If I buy them at the grocery they never have skin on. I'm thinking that when I go to the slaughter place and ask for a shoulder they usually just give me the entire primal. Last time was something like 10#'s.

Thanks for the pictorial Jason. I've wanted to do this, but was a bit reticent without the pictures. What size casing do you need for this?

I have to agree with Jason. I've just used a liberal amount of salt in the water, as Michael suggested in the book, and it's seemed to work just fine.

Perhaps this guy means side by keeping the ribs on? Beats me actually. I would just be very specific with him that you want a belly.

Peter That's pretty much my set up and the same conditions. So far <knock on wood> I've had pretty good success with it.

Neutering has absolutely nothing to do with the offactory senses. I have no experience training a dog to find truffles, but can tell you that in other forms of detection work it is not the breed of the dog, but rather the drive in the dog, that is a determining factor. That's not to say that in law enforcement we don't prefer some breeds over others. But, when a breed is singled out it is usually for reasons pertaining to the mission, vs the ability to scent.

Yes, you can train a dog to find morels. I've trained dogs to find some pretty far out stuff beyond narcotics and explosives, such as land mines and even cancer cells for some professor at UC Davis. Jensen, you are thinking of tracking for scenting in training.

I highly recommend Circa 1886Circa 1886, although my next dinner in Charleston will be at McCrady's. We had lunch at the Hominy Grill last week and although the food was good, I don't think it's worth the hype it seems to get. Edited to add hyperlink

Jason that's amazing stuff...congrats!

Mark, from what I can tell you didn't do any damage. I have YET to have any mold of either sort and I've come out okay so far. I don't think I've read anything that says the white mold enhances the product, just that it's okay. Still, I have a wee bit of good mold envy.

I can fit 5 lbs. It's pushing up on the edges at first so I just kinda wrap my big mitts around the top for 30 seconds. I suppose I could use that pain in the butt plastic shield that came with it, if I could find it.

Abra, I'm with Ron, those look great! But I have to think that adding some back fat would help. Even if I have a good fatty butt I still add some fat. Jason, I just paddled the mixture, very cold, but didn't try to get the really emulsified texture. I don't have any pictures of the mixture, but here is one of the finished product. I remember thinking when was stuffing it that perhaps the pieces of fat were too big.

Chris, I did the feel test on mine. When you are thinking it feels like it's getting there, just slice a bit off (I did it mid link on one to make sure I was doing good in the middle) and check it out. I did this several times until I got the texture (firmness) I was looking for. I tend to think this is a bit subjective. Of course doing it this way, plus the fact you tossed some, means the weight thing won't work anyway. You are going to see a noticeable change in the exterior as the filling cures and shrinks too

Thanks Jason. I used salt, cure #2, sugar, pepper, garlic powder, and fennel seed. Remembering that the first bresaola was a bit sweet for my taste I cut the sugar amts a bit and since you said yours was a bit salty I cut the salt a bit too, and increased the pepper and fennel proportions. I'm totally winging it here, but don't figure I can go too wrong.

Agreed. However, I was thinking along the lines of bresaola, which calls for an extremely lean piece, trimmed of fat. The picture at salumi's web site is difficult to identify the cut used, as there is no reference to use for size. However, it does appear to be fairly lean. Oh well, I don't think it's gonna be bad either way. I still like the idea of a smaller cut right now for curing faster. Perhaps I'll have the pork butchers cut me a loin that is not too large next time I'm down there. After all, I don't want this tenderloing to be lonely in the curing chamber. Thanks for all the help

Yes Jason, Please send it

I don't have a recipe, but it seems that the basic salt-cure followed by air curing should work. Sort of like the cured lamb leg, with more spices on the outside. Not sure how long the cure would take, since the pork loin may be a bit thicker than the lamb. I've had lomo cured by Armandino, and also house-cured lomo at Lolita in Cleveland (Michael Symon's Mediterranean place). It's always sliced paper-thin (like prosciutto), and has a peppery crust. The flavor of the meat is less intense than prosciutto, but very tasty nonetheless. If anyone has any ideas on the cure timing, I'd like to try making some myself. ← Thanks Edsel. I could only find references on line to a Spanish lomo curado, described as similiar to serrano ham. I was thinking that Salumi would be doing something a bit different. The pictures on the web site appear to maybe have some fennel in the rub also? I also found references to pork loin AND tenderloin. The size of a tenderloin appears to be more manageable to me, so that's what I picked up this morning. I'll be curing in a zip lock like bacon and then go from there. I'll keep everyone posted on times.

Well, we can always give some to my ex wife.... Seriously, green stuff aside (I can't really see anything wrong in those pictures) that is some good looking jowl bacon Ron.