Jon234567890

Hi jmolinari The Coppa recipe seemed REALLY interesting, I had never tried nor heard of it, a little while back I tried it, BUT it was a disaster! Did you follow the recipe in the Book, I did. The first problem I came to, was that whenever I tried to squeeze the air out, I couldn't, it was a too irregular shape, what with using chunks instead of mince; tying it up was difficult and hanging it up was almost impossible. From the looks of the photo, it seems a LOT smaller than the one I used, what kind of casing have you used? Also it wasn't clear (to me) how much of the seasoning was to remain on the meat, yours seems quite free of herbs, peppers, etc. and finally, I thought from memory that it was supposed to be lean meat, yours seems to have a fair amount of fat? To cut short, it started to turn fuzzy, ... with green fuzz, I didn't have the courage to try it. Jon.

I've just made some Liver Pate, from my Tamworth, it has a STRONG taste, but that was last week, I tasted it last night, and it is actually very good for my very first attempt, I'm quite pleased Jon

yes, I'm starting to come to the conclusion that it may just have been 'the ham', but I still feel that if I had used a stronger salt concentration then it could have prevented / hindered it going bad. It's good to know that I'm not the only one Still..... I consoled myself last night in making Rillons , absolutely GREAT, and they are SOO Easy to make, and taste fantastic; my Tamworth pig is known for it's Long Sides, so they have a Lot of Bacon (pork belly / back), and the flavour is amazing. Jon.

Hi BRM, the All Purpose Brine was the one I followed, 50 grams of salt to one litre of water (or 225g to 1 gallon, which is what I followed, I also added 42 grams of 'pink' salt) the next page gives brine times, for every kilo of pork, 12 hours; but the figures you have quoted are very close, 77.7 grams of salt to one litre of water (or 350 grams per gallon). The Ham has turned a brown / grey / green colour at the edges, it does have a faint unpleasant smell, and around the discolouration there is a slight sticky slime, instead of normal water / moisture? I've decided to get rid of it. The Pork Belly however is fine, it was only on the Brine for a 2 to 2 1/2 days, I thoroughly inspected it last night and it appears fine, tonight I'll turn it into Rillons. The Hams came from the same animal, prepared in the same kitchen, each knife / pan / bucket was thoroughly washed .... the ONLY difference between the two hams was the Brines, one had a LOT more salt, the other had a LOT less salt, I can't help but feel I'm missing something Jon.

Hi guys, I think this is the thread to post this question... Ok, my first attempt at Brine Curing two Hams, I had read two alternative Brine Recipes so I decided to try one of each, Hugh FearnlyWhittingstall's said about 330g of Salt per litre of water, Ruhlman's (from memory) was about 55g of Salt per litre of water .... you can see the difference Hugh uses a LOT of salt compared to Ruhlam, mmmm, HOWEVER in the heat of killing / butchering the Pig, I misunderstood Ruhlman's recipe, he says for every 2 kilos, keep the pork (pig) in his brine solution for 12 hours, (not 12 day ). I've kept both Hams in the two brines for 7 days now, I went to turn them yesterday morning and found that in Ruhlman's brine recipe the liquid has turned cloudy and a small spot of green mould had appered on the surface of the water (Hugh's is as clear or the same as 7 days ago), I removed the Ham, it has a very faint ... hint of a smell, I'm still not used to the smell of raw meat ... but I thought I could smell something extra as well as that raw smell, and if I'm not mistaken I thought that the liquid (as I poured it down the sink) was thicker. This 'suspect' ham is now wrapped in cling film sitting in a very cold fridge (oh by the way I put a piece of Pork Belly in this brine 3 days ago... it seems fine). QUESTION, bearing in mind that the ham will be boiled / simmered for some time, is it safe to eat the Ham, can it be saved, and WHAT HAPPENED - should I be concerned ... this is my first time ..... HELP Jon.

What about Pig's Fries, don't know if they're illegal across the pond, but they're difficult to get hold of ... ahh, mmm, you know what I mean. In France they haven't abandoned their love of Offal, etc. If your in London, you might be able to get a good haggis. Jon

Hi, this is my first post, has anyone tried Salted Cod, sounds interesting (if all goes well, should be dining on it shortly), but can you 'Salt' any other (white) Fish to the same degree, that is dehydrated or rock hard; I mean, why do we only Salt Cod, what about other fish that's easier to obtain or more common (here in Ireland)? Jon.