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I think this place used to be in Blackhawk, (before gambling) and was called the Black Forest Inn. Ate there many times, and always had the Elk tenderloin and spatzel.. Thought it was great. But that had to be 20+years ago... Bud

The scale is by far the most important....Mine broke, and the thought of doing my usual 12 loaves without it, was overwhelming...Just got my new one before I ran out of bread. A shallow old cast iron pan to put below the stone, so you can put a cup or so of hot water in it is good.Along with a spray bottle for a bit of water on the loaves. Bud

I "hot" smoke at 94ºC +- until internal, is abt 65ºC . makes a nice long lasting tasty product. Bud

Depends on your taste. 3.5% residual Is my taste. Yours will be about 2.3%. If that is your taste, just leave as is. The liquid stays in the bag untill the end of the cure. If you discard it before, you are discarding the cure. You can put another 35g of your .6%salt in. Then keep it in the plastic bag for at least a total of a week( I find a week and a half ,or even more, is better), rotating the bag every day. The bag of course, is in the refrig. Then at the end, rinse and dry .Then let it dry for a couple of days.in cool (at least10C place),Then roast or smoke at 93C to internal 66C /150F. But all this assumes the "Pink salt" you have, is in fact ,0.6%(not the usual 6.25%) nitrite. if it is not, nitrite level is to high.. Bud

Ok, I will take a shot at it... First, I do bacon in ziploc bags, adding the % of salt I want in the finished product, and let it sit till esentially all of the salt/nitrite has been absorbed. For bacon I use 3.5%residual salt. The max level of nitrite allowed is 200 ppm. That comes out to 0.2g per kilogram of meat. So, if you want 3.5%residual salt,in your meat,That is 35g. Using 0.6% (nitrite),that is,(.o6% of 35g)= .21g nitrite..Probably close enough for government work. BUT,,,, at any other residual salt level , the nitrite level is to high or to low.. I don't know how big your chunk of belly is but, you can scale the measurements so it will fit the weight... I think this is correct, but let Dougal weigh in on it before you do anything. He has more experience than I. Bud

I'd suggest you check your sources (and their arithmetic) very carefully -- 6.25% Nitrite Cure Number 1 is what is available in the UK... and I'd be very surprised (EU etc) if the Netherlands had more restrictive laws... ← Dougal,Iwas hoping you would weigh in...It sounds like a math conversion (%vs the number used to calculate)..And if you add based on the real number instead of the % you will have wayyyy wayyyy to much... Bud

Try this and it will tell you everything you really need to know about S/D LINK

I just looked and its not in the one I have (1985 vintage) Bud

I'm just talking general principle. Sanding produces very fine dust, which is universally bad to inhale. Teflon is inert so it would probably be the least of your concerns, but who knows what adhesives and bonding agents might be between the teflon and the pan. And the aluminum itself might not be the best thing to breathe. ← The sanding That I was refering to, was after all the non stick was scraped off.. The sanding with a scotch brite pad is by hand ,at a very low slow level to clean up the marks off of the anodizing. There is no "solid" stuff left, just some dark stuff that is probably grease that burned on to the anodizing thru the holes/gouges in the ptfe. A chunk of 1/4"acrylic with sharp/square edges is all that is needed.Its much harder than the ptfe. Bud

The thermostat controls how hot it gets , so blocking wont let it get any hotter Bud

Much more than 2% in the dough will kill the yeast...even 2% will inhibit the rise, compared to using none.. I figured that out, after forgetting the salt, and getting a really great rise, and then tasting a really flat tasting loaf... Although I think Tuscan bread omits the salt... Bud

I have a Calaphon non stick that was trashed as far as the non stick. I scraped the remaining teflon off with a chunk of plexiglass (Cast acrylic) and rubbed it out with a scotchbrite pad till it was nice and clean...Voila . a free Anodized alum. pan...With Whatever limitations they have... Calaphon sez that to clean the anodized portions to use scotch brite pads..A testament to the hardness of the anodizing... Bud

Not sure of UK but "High gluten here is probably 15% gluten. I use it for pizza dough, and bread, Its just a bit higher % than "bread "flour. Bud

So, Chris, you've had this for almost a year. The verdict? ← I have had a KM25G. for 3 years . Its the 5qt "commercial.". It replaced the prior model commercial.that I had for 9 years or so . I bake 5 batches of 1.8kg (4lb aprox),of bread dough every other week. With the spiral dough hook it has never kicked the overload breaker once, nor does it get hot.or seem to be "working to hard".It is a fine unit. The best part of the kitchenaid is their Customer service. It is better by far than any other company I have ever had occasion to use. Bud

hope I don't make anyone feel to bad....But...I found a perfect f/s pro II the other day for $9.00 at the thrift store...Hope that is not using up all my luck for the year... Bud

I have not used margarine for 40 years or so. I was looking at "The Professional Pastery chef" by Bo Friberg, the other day. And the recipe for Danish pastry, calls for margarine. It says that , "a good margarine gives a better layer structure than butter, which is why it is used in this dough, where the light and flaky texture is more important than the butter flavor" Bought some , but have not tried it yet... Bud

I buy 50 lb bags of flour for baking. I use 22qt, food grade pails. One pail will hold 45# of the bag. But... You have to pickthe pail up and drop it on the ground in a long series of multiple drops, and then add more from the bag, in several stages.until the pail is full and the bag is nearlyempty, (5#left). This is to make the flour settle/pack into the pail...takes 5 or 6minutes, and many drops but it makes the flour very densely packed in the pail ,which keeps the bugs out and also keeps the humidity level so it is, as packed...They will keep for months, (at least 4 or 5) with no problems...I hope that is an understandable discription. Bud Edit to say the "drops" are only from a few inches up.

I noticed that most people are using a bactoferm acidifier. I went the way of Sausage Maker. I haven't noticed any overly tanginess, but I have noticed strange measurements when trying to use Fermento. For instance, if I use the Fermento for Bertolli's Fennel Salami and used as instructed in the recipe, the flavor is good. Yet, if I would following the dosage recommended on the container, I think it would be incredibly sour. I didn't break down and buy bactoferm when I placed a Butcher Packer order as I still have a lot of Fermento. However, I did buy some of the exterior mold/penicillium. Does anyone have a smaller, practical ratio for spraying a small amount of sausages? ← I'm sure somone else will confirm this, but I think Fermento is a flavoring, not a bacterial acidifier, like Bactoferm et al.... Bud

cook em like spare/baby back ribs. smoke/cook at 250 for 3-4 hrs. then wrap in foil for a few hrs at 225 til done....Or cut the meat off and make sausage...fresh or dry cured... its shoulder /butt and fatty and tasty... Bud

You and me both ! I've had three of them, and all of them clogged up within the first month or two, to the point where they never actually *sprayed*, they just sorta, erm, (piddled) the oil out. When they did spray I loved them, but I sort of expected they'd work longer than a month or two. Maybe I didn't use them often enough, I dunno. I tried rinsing the nozzle with boiling water, poking out the hole with a pin, you name it. No spray, just.....well, a piddle. ← Ya gotta fill em with HOT soapy water and pump em up and spray til dead. then rinse ,and fill with a bit of clean water and pump and spray a bit again to clean soapy water out. then refill w/ whatever, and then they will work for a couple months... Think I found that on their website...Works.. Bud

And a grilled sausage of your choice,,,Only problem,, todays butter does not "brown "like it used to... Bud

The standard dose is 1tsp (6grams) per 5 pounds (2250g) of meat...And for the rest of the cure. I would not use more salt than 4 to 5% of the weight of the meat..The sugar would be at 50% of the salt. Bud ← Thanks for the reply. So if you do it that way, is your total cure weight based on the total weight of the meat to be cured? If so, and if you don't mind saying, what is the ratio that you use? ← Yes the %;s are the amount of residual salt in the meat (salt % is of the total weight of the meat) Scale the pink salt the same way. I try and cure in bags and add the % of cure that I want (as per upthread comment3.5% looks good) and let it sit in fridge till all of it is absorbed. If you are brining that is a different process to calculate. Good luck! Bud

Yea, you're right...I just ate some bacon that I just finished , and it was at 4%.and was a bit high. I was using 3% and it was not enough, so I changed to 4%, and it was to much...guess 3 1/2% is for next time... I guess the adage" the more we know , the less we know", applies to me...LOL! Think I will cut the lardo we talked about the other day with a bit of water.It was gonna be 9% Bud

right. the day i pull the blinkin' thing out is the day my apt is consumed by fire. i can just see it. which is why i don't pull it out. ← I have a bit of experience with fire protection devices having spent the better part of the last twelve years in a position where I dealt with security systems on a daily basis. I'll try to offer some good advice. If you're having problems with one detector and it's a battery powered consumer device, simply relocate it to another part of the home where it will be less likely to be affected by kitchen activities. If part of a hardwired system you have a couple of options. Unfortunately, many times, technicians or electricians installing systems don't think very carefully about where they place detectors and may not fully test and adjust them at the time of installation. The thought that the best location for a smoke detector might not be right outside the shower or in the kitchen may not occur to the installer. It's also possible that placement of a device may be limited by how something was prewired or where the technician can run a wire. The good news is that most hardwired devices can be adjusted for sensitivity. If they were never fully tested and adjusted when installed, it's quite possible that they're set to full sensitivity and can still be adjusted with a relative minimum of fuss to make them less of an annoyance to the tenant or homeowner. If it's part of a security system/burglar alarm, contact your dealer and ask that they adjust your detectors as needed and/or replace the problem device(s) with a heat detector instead of a smoke/heat detector. This is particularly important if your system is monitored (they call you and/or dispatch the police/fire department any time your system goes off), as you may be subject to fines for excessive false alarms. Any good security dealer will be very happy to work with you to "tighten up" your system, as the dealer wants you to be satisfied with the system they've installed and they may also be subject to fines for excessive false alarms. If part of a hardwired system with power supplied by the building power (i.e. you don't have a security system but when one goes off, they all go off and/or you never have to replace batteries), you may need to contact an electrician to adjust the detector, relocate the problem device, remove it from the system, or replace it with a different type of device less susceptible to false alarms. In the event the offending device is part of a hardwired system powered by the building power, it's quite possible the detectors are required by the local building or fire code, so any changes to the system should be performed by a licensed professional. If you're in a multi unit building, any changes should only be handled by the building management. Hope that proves to be helpful. ← isn't the recommended placement outside the door of the "main"bedroom, so that if there is a problem in the middle of the night the occupants will be alerted??? Bud