Norman Walsh

After various attempts I need help on how to cook the perfect ham. Mine always tend to end up a bit dryish. This was my last procedure: Started of with an 8lb boned leg of pork, cured it in brine for a week then soaked in fresh water for an hour. Into pan covered with water then cooked for 6 hours at 180F. The next day I scored it then brushed with a mustard glaze and baked 2 hours. It was quite nice but not as moist as I would like. I am comparing it with the deli counter at my local supermarket where the cooked boiled ham is very tender and moist. Many, many years ago I was a cook in the British merchant marine and I will always remember coming to the US and loading provisions among which was tins of Swifts Virginia Ham, boy was that delicious, the best ham I have ever tasted. Does anyone know if that stuff is still available? So I look forward to any hints and tips on cooking a moist tender ham. Norm

Bringing Marmite into the thread this article from the Guardian was just brought to my attention: My Webpage Especially this paragraph: Your mate, Marmite, with 1750mg per 100g, has more glutamate in it than any other manufactured product on the planet - except a jar of Gourmet Powder straight from the Ajinomoto MSG factory. On the label, Marmite calls it 'yeast extract'. Nowhere in all their literature does the word 'glutamate' appear. I asked Unilever why they were so shy about their spread's key ingredient, and their PR told me that it was because it was 'naturally occurring ... the glutamate occurs naturally in the yeast'. wallie

I have lately been trying my hand at sausage making and noticed quite a few sausage recipes have msg listed in the ingredients. Is this stuff o/k to use? as if my memory serves me correctly I recall there was a bit of a scare about it a while ago. wallie

Keep the ingredients cold and wisk the oil very, very slowly at first. Thats the secret. Regarding emulsions take the simple hot dog type sausage the secret of which is keeping all the ingredients very cold in fact just above freezing. prior to mixing. I also think its easier whisking by hand, medical reasons exempt Marlene. Norman Walsh

Obviously that should be Heat It must be that Newcastle Brown Ale I had at lunch time. Norm

I am going to have a go at pizza making and have a couple of questions to ask. Why is a pizza stone recommended? Is it because it retains the head, I do not have one and was thinking of using a large cast iron frying pan, pre-heating on top of the stove first then on with the pizza and into a hot oven. Next questionis regarding the flour to use. I use strong flour when baking bread so is this o/k for a pizza base? Lastly is there any benifit from leaving the dough in the fridg for 24hours? I would appreciate any answers. Thanks Norm.

Yes I remember reading that quite a while ago about adding icing sugar. When you say 5 to 10grams to what quantity of flour? Another tip I got from the replies was using a percentage of cornflour. Thanks to everyone who replied. Norman Walsh

I am after the perfect pork pie recipe (melton mowbray type) My filling is just right: small diced pork, sage, salt and pepper and a touch of anchovy purree. I am looking for a crispier hot water pastry, my last lot was: 9oz flour, 3oz lard dissolved in the boiling water. Then the pie was baked about an hour and a half cooled then the aspic. It was o/k but I would like the pastry a bit crispier, so any suggestions for a crispier hot water crust would be welcome. Thanks Norman Walsh

I think the charcuterie's of Toulouse would have a good laugh at the thought of pork tenderloin or loin going into there Toulouse sausage! Norman Walsh

I would like to know that when I substitute table salt for kosher salt in a recipe, is it about the same strength weightwise ? Thanks Norman Walsh

Does this just apply to cured meats, as I cannot imagine cutting a fresh rolled brisket joint against the grain or a roast rib joint. wallie

I have read a couple of recipes lately regarding curing meat such as corned beef and Pastrami. What is puzzling me they both recommended that when it came to carving the meat to slice across the grain. I always thought you sliced with not against. I would like to know if anyone has views on this. wallie

I have just finished reading number 37, what a fantastic thread! You guys and girls have produced some awesome stuff. Those pictures have me salivating at the mouth and my future charcuterie plans have my head ringing. Pepperoni, Summer sausage, Andouille, Mortadela, bacon, god where will I start. I will have to dust down my sausage stuffer which I last used a few year ago and get cracking its going to be stuff, stuff, stuff. Thankfully I am retired so I will be able to put a few 24 hour shifts in. Pictures will be popping up shortly. My sausage stuffer is a hand cranked vertical job which I purchased from Northern Industrial in the UK its great, a lot better than the food mixer stuffer attachments. Northern is an American company which does great engineering jobs, I have started eyeing up there grinders which are heavily fancied on the UK website www.sausagemaking.org. Anyhow I have really enjoyed this thread and would like to know if this is the longest thread on EG, if not what is? wallie

There is 1 recipe in the book that uses rendered beef suet, for the hot dogs. Its rendered, strained, chilled and diced. Maybe you could do the same with lard, after all its pork fat. wallie

I would like to try making lamb sausage and looking through quite a few recipes they all seem to go for lean lamb and about 20% pork back fat. I would like to know the reason of pork fat, why not lamb fat. I know you need the fat to help with the primary bind and texture but why not use all lamb. wallie

This is a fasinating thread, I have been sitting here 2 hours reading it. Regarding the question above here is part of a technical bulletin from one of the biggest suppliers of butchers curing and season supply's in the UK. Cure In The Bag Method Advantages: Reduces curing time, prevents meat oxidation and contamination. 1) Carry out instructions up to point 2 as above. 2) Place the rubbed meat in a vacuum bag and pull vacuum seal. Cheers Norman

Why do the majority of american recipes quote butter in tablespoons. A recipe I have just read in EGullet states 6 Tablespoons of cold butter. Surely its hard to manipulate cold butter onto a tablespoon. What can be easier than ounces! By the way what is 6 tablespoons of butter in ounces? Norman

I am mixing a meat cure which calls for 2 ounces of Kosher salt which I cannot find in my area. So I am going to use ordinary table salt, which I believe is stronger than kosher. Does anyone on the forum know the conversion from table salt to kosher? Thanks for any advice on this. Norman

Sorry about that; the internal temperature of the sausage was 140f at the end of the smoking period. I smoker temperature was around 120f for 3hours. wallie

I have just finished smoking some Bratwurst that I had made, my first go at smoking. I used natural sheep casings. Everything went fine they look good and taste good. The only fault was that the skins were quite chewy after the smoking. Is this natural after the smoking process? The skins were o/k when I tried them prior to this. I smoked them about 3 hours to an internal temperature of 140c The mix was 100% meat plus seasoning and curing salt. Any suggestions welcome. wallie

Regarding the primary bind in sausage making I would like to know if its possible to tell visually that you have reached the emulsified stage. Or is it a matter of eat and tell? Also how long did the paddle mixing take and was the wine added last? Hope you do not mind the questions. Thanks Norman

The loin makes great bacon. I use a bacon cure named Instapic, mixed with demerara sugar and rubbed into the loin. Then into the fridg for 3 days. Now you have bacon like bacon used to be. Norman

I bought my oven/food thermometer in Toronto a couple of year ago. I think I have seen one very similar on the HeadCook website for Candy/Roast/Oven. www.headcook.co.uk wallie

Using the hock and yellow split peas makes great pea soup and even greater peas pudding. In the hard times when I was a kid in northern england it was a staple diet. wallie

My oven is a standard electric fan oven, I done a check last week leaving it on for 12hours during the day at its lowest setting using an oven thermometer with an outside display and it never went above 55C. Heston said in TV series 'If you cannot get your oven down to this temperature just leave the oven door open a crack' I thought the oven method would be a lot easier than the sous vide for which I would need vacuum equipment etc. But I must admit I was very interested in the forum discussion you pointed me to. Regarding advantage none, I just like trying different methods. But after reading your reply when you mention contamination I might give this one a miss, I am ony 79 too young to die of food poisining! Many thanks wallie