aarontighe

Abra, I would be interested to know too. My jowl has been hanging for ten days now. Took it out for a quick photo yesterday. It has lost some 5-6% of its weight, but based on the consistency and moisture content I think it has at least another 14 days to go. Can't wait for endless plates of spaghetti alla carbonara and bucatini al amatriciana. I put some pancetta in at the same time, 'Charcuterie' cure. The belly was so thick that I could not roll it. The good news is that it should be ready to go tomorrow. I will be taking 1lb of it up to NY this weekend to cook brunch for a bunch of people. Pics and comments to follow.

It's hard to say as I normally buy several packages of goodies from them. I think they are roughly $9-10 a jowl, which I think is good for the quality of pork. Thanks for felino info. It's pretty clear to me that this is about the quality of the pork rather than the seasoning. I am wondering if Michaels's suggesting to dealcoholize the white wine might make make sense too.

Has anybody come across a recipe for Felino Salami? I haven't been able to find 'salame di Felino' in the U.S. and miss it enormously. That's partly what got me thinking about making my own charcuterie. It's made in the Commune di Felino which is near Parma, so no surprise that it is treasured. I don't expect to reproduce a perfect copy, but it's definitely something worth striving for. All help greatly appreciated.

Hey Jason I get them from these guys. I came acrosss them at the Morningside Farmer's Market, Saturdays 8-11am. They don't bring them as standard, so best to ring in advance. Their telephone number is on the website. I once tried the email address, but they clearly have a life and don't live on it as I do

I started with Mario Batale's recipe then read Josh Friedland's piece. As I cannot guarantee an absolutely even termperature and it's already getting hot here in Atlanta, I decided to use sodium nitrate. And after reading a couple of pieces on a gamier guanciale added allspice and juniper berries to the rub/cure. Here it is before a weeks's curing. Note - The hog's jowl released more liquid than the pancetta that I cured and because of its irregular shape is more of a challenge to keep well wrapped. I have a question for the butcher's among you. I could not tell whether the jowls had glands or not. Was not sure how/where to locate them.

Newbie Post Have been reading this forum for the last couple of weeks and it has been an inspiration. Since reading Paul Bertolli's 'Cooking by Hand' late last year and Michael and Brian's 'Charcuterie' this, I have been itching to venture down the prosciutto trail. Discovered a local supplier of organic Berskhire (Kurobata) pork and began making sausages last year. Was definitely a mistake to combine my first KA stuffing attempt with a home-made sausage party for 30 people. Allowed myself two hours to stuff hog cases with fresh lamb loukanika, two kinds of pork sausage and chicken, chesnut and apple. Of course it took over four hours and I was ready for bed before anybody had arrived I have shared all of your woes with the KA sausage stuffing process. I made some 240 on that first attempt and will invest in better equipment before I do that again. I have stuck to more modest quantities since. For my first charcuterie attempt I tried the Duck Prosciutto recipe. When I took the breast, I used one, out of the salt after 24 hours, I was certain that it hadn't had enough time, but this was a learning process. I followed the instructions, hung it and checked it once a day for 7 days. On day 8 I took it out and unwrapped it. It had a trace of mold, but I determined that this was due to the 'parsley bag' wrapper, so duly rinsed the breast thoroughly and dried it. I had given up hope of eating it at this stage, but at $12 a breast it wasn't going into the trash that quickly. I cut in half to better examine it. Wasn't happy with the texture, so decided that it was time to experiment. So, I packed it back in 'fresh' salt for another day, then hung it for four more. This time it smelt like prosciutto and there was no trace of mold, so I risked a taste. Wonderful. Have been eating it now for a couple of days. Here are a couple of photos. Served it with wafer thin slices of raw baby turnip, a fig and orange relish, salt and cracked pepper. This is a first attempt at food photography. Rather 80s in composition As of tonight I have two slabs of Pancetta, was too thick to roll, and Guanciale - a combination of recipes, but used Sodium Nitrate - hanging in the cold room, an old upright freezer. Will post some more info on those later.