Search the Community

I am trying to figure out how to build a cellar for curing assorted charcuterie. I have a wine cellar that is below ground, its temperature is fairly stable but not 100% stable. It goes to a low of about 8 degrees C in the winter (46 degrees F) to about a maximum of 17 degrees in the summer (63 degrees F). The humidity is fairly high to where the wine labels are getting a bit wet. i am trying to rig some circulation fans to reduce this and bring it down to a somewhat drier clime since i would like to use the cellar to cure meats. Does anyone know what the optimal temperature range/humidity is for this? what are the outside limits? if i start something in the winter will it spoil due to high temp. in the summer? I am concerned that by circulating the air and putting in an extraction fan to lower the humidity i will raise the cellar temperature. Any help from those of you with expertise is much appreciated. also if anyone knows of good books on building the right type of curing room/ sourcing the equipment that would be great. Finally, i am wondering if the cellar would be a good place to age cheese? so the same questions that apply to curing meats apply to aging cheese. Any guidance is really welcome.

I picked up Chorizo from Esposito on 9th, Fennel from Faccios in the West Village, and Kielbasa from Steve's in Greenpoint. Any other leads?

I thought this was hilarious: http://www.homecouture.com.au/index.cfm?ev...=29&idBrand=358 http://www.homecouture.com.au/index.cfm?ev...=30&idBrand=358

Chicken and Apple Sausages A little experimenting resulted in some tasty chicken sausages. 200 g chicken skin and fat 1 kg chicken meat (2 breasts and 6 or 7 thighs) 18 g kosher salt 2-1/2 g black pepper 2 g allspice (I added some more after a taste test - but didn't measure) 2 g onion powder 8 sage leaves (and added another 4 after taste test) 230 g Granny Smith Apple, peeled and diced (2 apples) ( RG1971 )

Hi all -- Just wondering if anyone a) thinks it is possible to make a really good chicken (or turkey, I suppose) sausage and b) if so, if you have a recipe you'd share. I typically have shied away from poultry sausage, figuring it just couldn't be as good as luscious fatty pork... But then I figured, I'd actually wind up eating sausage more often if there was a tasty version that wasn't made with luscious fatty pork... Thanks in advance! Emily

Hello all, just wanted to know a few things here before I try making this blood sausage recipe I found on ochef. The ingredients call for a number of things, and I have all of them save for a few. Obviously you need blood, pork blood preferably. I have only been able to find beef blood and pork blood at the local Asian markets, which come in frozen containers. They contain "pig's blood, water, salt product" Now I'm assuming this is still usable, but the water and salt product threw me off a bit. Is this probably a low percentage of the total liquid, mainly for preserving? I really have never worked with blood before, and I know that fresh is prefered, however that's nearly impossible for me to find so I have to do with this. Do you think I can still use this blood? The recipe also calls for leaf lard, the only way to get leaf lard is to mail order and it's going to be more than I'm willing to spend for only needing a 1/2lb of it. The question I have is this: for the purpose of sausage making, do you think they leaf lard they're calling for in this recipe is just ground pork fat, or rendered fat (lard) that you find in the tubs? I know lard is good for baking, but I have always thought that the ground up fat would be what you would need for making sausages, right? Last but not least, the recipe calls for breadcrumbs. Correct me if im wrong (and I usually am) but if a recipe states breadcrumbs, usually its the small granular DRY breadcrumbs, and not fresh ones (the recipe for this calls for 1/4 breadcrumbs) I don't think 1/4 of fresh breadcrumbs would do the trick to thicken the blood, so I'm assuming the regular dry breadcrumbs are what is needed. Thanks for anyone who looks or helps out, it's appreciated.

I just scored a slab of Berkshire pork belly from Matt Jennings (our own stinkycheeseman) at Farmstead here in Providence RI. He asked what I was going to do with it, and I babbled about red cooked pork belly (Grace Young's from a recent Saveur), rillons (Stephane Reynaud's from the new Pork & Sons cookbook), and, of course, bacon. "Berkshire, so you gotta brine it first, man," says Matt. "Couple days, then the dry cure." "Uh huh," says I, nodding like I know what that would actually mean. Well, now I'm home and I'm realizing that I don't really have much of a sense of what precisely I should do to get this beautiful flesh curing. My bacon chops, such as they are, came from working through Ruhlman's Charcuterie (click), which doesn't mention any wet-then-dry curing. However, the dry curing has yielded some slightly spotty results now and then, so I'm game to try brining as an evolutionary advance in my bacon makin'. So, the questions. Any ideas about the brine solution? Should I adjust the dry cure in any way? I'm happy to go by feel at this point, but would the total amount of time curing be reduced because of a more efficacious brine?

I have made some homemade pancetta following the directions in Ruhlman & Poleyn's "Charcuterie". The preparation, curing and rolling went fine and now its time to hang it for a couple of weeks. The authors recommends hanging it at 50-60 degrees. The problem is there is nowhere in my home that maintains 50-60 degrees; it stays at around 70 degrees. My question: Am I better off at hanging at the higher temperature, or should I finish it off in the refrigerator? Thanks, Don

My charcuterier, Central Market, sells ends of their products. These are the tips of a ham hock, shoulder, sausage, etc. and I find them to be a great value. Prosciutto and bresaola ends are priced at $9.99/lb (considering that they sell San Daniele at $19.99 and bresaola at $29.99). Prosciutto ends are great to cook with: slice into small pieces and fry with scrambled eggs or use it to flavor a stock. I usually buy them with that intention but always end up eating too much of it straight. All other meat ends are $3.99/lb. This is usually turkey, ham, pastrami, and occasionally sausage. $3.99 is just a great deal for any kind of fully cooked meat. They sell boneless skinless chicken breast for more than that. And I actually prefer the taste of ends. On hams and turkeys, for example, you get much more delicious skin; on pastrami, more black pepper rub. I suspect that the employees snag the choicest ends as I never see anything like secola blue label prosciutto. Bresaola was the most expensive end I've ever seen.

I recently was inspired by a thread on eG to make some bacon-wrapped enoki, which, surprise suprise, were pretty tasty. However, the bacon didn't quite crisp up as much as I liked. The enoki were done in the oven, at around 400F. Anyone have any good general pointers on wrapping stuff with bacon? Broiler vs. oven vs. skillet? What kind of skillet, and what sort of technique? Two things that I've found important: 1) Obviously, if the food you're wrapping cooks quickly, you should pre-cook the bacon. I've been pre-cooking it sous vide, so that it stays soft, but the fat renders a bit. 2) I know it's tempting, but if you want the bacon to crisp up, you really shouldn't wrap in more than one layer.

I would like make my own Lardo, like I had in Liguria and Tuscany last year. Also, I hear that Salumi Cured Meats in Seattle makes it but does't ship it. Who makes it? I would like to give it a try. Are there any experience lardo makers that can help me? I hear that Restorante Venanzio in Carrara actually marinates their meats in the Lardo brine before roasting, for amazing results. Thank You Lardo lovers for your help!

[Moderator note: The original Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 4)] Ah yes, but i'm counting on non-deadly sickness ! again to cover my ass, i do NOT recommend any method for making salame. You're on your own!

I've searched high and low on eGullet as well as through Google. I came up empty-handed on D'Artagnan, Dean & Deluca, Neiman Ranch, and Snake River Farms. Amazon.com's searches through the food section were relatively fruitless. Even Aidell's offering seemed questionable (turkey?). All I really want are some absolutely gorgeous, hand-made breakfast links with lovely maple flavor. I can find unbelievable, small-batch bacons with ease, but finding a proper breakfast sausage made from pork is something elusive apparently. Are there any fine-foods markets in the LA/OC area with access to killer, restaurant-quality breakfast links? Bristol Farms makes a horrible fresh breakfast sausage so I'll rule that one out right away. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only help.

My brother the Rabbi is a very strict Kosher food person. (I, however, started eating pork and lobster at a very young age and haven't looked back!) While on the subject of Cassoulet (a sort of Cholent), he said that in Europe, he once found a place that made Kosher duck sausage. He hasn't been able to find it anywhere here, and has an absolute dream taste for it. My first question: Does anyone know a place that makes such a thing? My second question: Why does there seem to be a lack of creative producers of Kosher food meats? He tells me that some foie gras is Kosher. And, in New York and Israel, there are many Kosher restaurants that serve it. What a great thing if D'artagnan was able to open a Kosher food section!

I'm currently on my externship in the deep south, and am quickly becoming familiar with the omnipresent hunger for Fried Chicken. I was reading an eG post detailing duck confit, and I just wondered if anyone has ever tried or at least thought to take a leg of poultry confit (frig cold), dunk in buttermilk, flour, and deep fry at a high high temp to cook the flour and just heat through the meat? Would this even work or would the meat fall right off the bone?

Back when I was younger, I used to wonder why some bacon had a strong Ammonia odor while some did not. A food rep told me that the ammonia smell came from pigs who had not been castrated. I don't know what made me think of this, but I'm curious again. Anyone have insight?

Longganisa (Filipino breakfast sausage) 1 kg ground pork (make sure it is fatty ground pork) 1 medium onion finely chopped/minced 4 T vinegar (white vinegar or any strong vinegar) 2 T soy sauce 2 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 4 T brown sugar 1 T paprika for coloring (most Filipinos add red food dye) 6 cloves garlic, finely minced In a large clean bowl, mix everything up really well. Stuff into casings or make patties or finger-sized rolls for skinless longganisa. Let the meat cure for 6 hours or overnight before frying (I usually don't since I am too excited to eat them). Best served with garlic fried rice on the side with sunny-side eggs. Keywords: Main Dish, Filipino, Easy, Pork, Breakfast ( RG1944 )

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

i'd hit it...

My friend's father, a lovely Southern Italian gentleman has agreed to share his family tradition with me, as sausage making is not really part of my culture. I have fallen in love with all things charcuterie since having dry cured sausage in Auvergne, hanging illegally from the village-butcher's garage, served by his toothless wife, a cigarette butt dangling from her lips. Pork, salt, and whatever natural flora lingered in the air at this country home were the sole ingredients. And the result was near-miraculous. Well, that was a few years ago. We'll see if we can recapture some of that magic with good old Canadian pork, peppered with some Italian sensibility. But I have some concerns. The product , no doubt, of having access to too much information and not enough experience (My current bedtime book: Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn, and Thomas Keller). Chico (our king sausagemaker) recommended we get three shoulders and one hip - too much meat for us. Upon the butcher's recommendation, we got two shoulders and 6 lbs of back eye. Then another relative wanted to pitch in, so we added a additional shoulder and a hip. Total, 3 shoulders, one ham and 6 lbs of back eye. Chico does not concern himself with Insta-Cure or the use of time-released nitrites to ward off botulism. He doesn't add milk powder or dextrose to feed the Bactoferm, bacteria which will ferment the meat and lower the PH through lactic acid which will make the sausage an inhospitable environment for the bad stuff. He doesn't freeze the meat for 6-20 days to kill off any trichinosis. Chico grinds the meat, adds the salt, makes the sausage. Period. And nobody ever died. (that he knows of) Any thoughts on any stage of this? If you have experience in this very basic kind of sausage making, please share. I should also add that we have a cantina, just above the freezing point. It was about 1'C this morning. I'm also curious to know if I should keep the fat under the skin of the leg/ham to incorporate into the mix. It's not as good as back fat or jowl or kidney fat I suppose... Many thanks!

I've been asked to do a French-themed cooking demo for my local community ed, and one item I'd like to make is an Alsatian onion and bacon tart. As I'm doing research I'm finding that there seems to be two types: one is quiche-like with eggs and cream in the filling, the other is more like a pizza with just a little cheese and the onion and bacon as toppings. The pizza-like recipes also seem to alternate between using puff pastry and pizza crust. Is one more traditional than the other? I'm leaning toward the quiche-like one as that seems to be the one that the most reliable sources use.

In a conversation with my hair stylist, pickled sausages came up and I became intrigued. Where does one get good pickled sausages? I thought I saw some at columbus market on renfrew but it turns out those are packed in oil. suggestions?

I'm on the hot seat. I'm in the "delerium" of cleaning a large house, getting ready for Xmas Eve, and a dinner for 30. And, now, I've been faced with a bacon appetizer that needs to be prepared the night before (unless I get up at 4:00 am or some other unseemly hour). Limited reheating availablable (read microwave, unless I send The Spouce with the toaster oven and very explicit instructions). Please help a mother with too many presents to wrap, too many tableclothes to iron, to many cookies to make, too many dishes that have been stored to rewash! How do I cook bacon the night before and keep it crispy? Bacon needs to be front and foremost.

Creamy Cheddar and Potato Soup with Smoked Bacon Serves 20 as Soup. Hello everyone. This is my first post here as a member of egullet. I submitted this recipe to The National Culinary Review magazine back in the April, 2006 edition. I came up with this recipe at work and have been getting rave reviews from it. Sure, it's far from low-fat, but it's a great thing to enjoy by a fireplace on a cold winter night. Enjoy. • 4 Strips of Smoked Bacon, Diced • ½ Medium Onion, Diced • 2 Whole Bay Leaves • 1/3 C Flour • 2 Medium Russet Potatoes, Peeled and Diced • 3-5 Medium Red Bliss Potatoes, Skin On and Diced • 1 Quart Chicken Stock • 2 C Whole Milk • 2 C Heavy Cream • ½ Cup Extra Sharp Cheddar, Shredded • ½ Cup Mild Cheddar, Shredded • 1 T Italian Parsley, Chopped • 3 Dashes of Hot Sauce • Salt and Pepper To Taste Render bacon with onions and bay leaves on medium heat until almost crisp. Remove from pan and set aside, discarding bay leaves, leaving fat behind. Add flour to create a roux and mix completely, cooking about 5 minutes. Add all liquids and peeled russet potatoes to cooked roux, cook until potatoes are thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally. Blend with stick blender until potatoes are completely pureed. Add diced red bliss potatoes and reserved bacon and onion mixture. Simmer until red potatoes are just fork tender. Carefully stir in shredded cheddar cheeses until completely melted, check seasoning, and then add hot sauce, salt and pepper accordingly. Serve with crispy rustic accompaniments such as fried potato sticks, gaufrette potatoes, or crunchy parmesan croutons. Keywords: Soup, Potatoes, Easy ( RG1897 )

I made duck confit this past weekend and chilled the fat in an upside down mason jar in order to remove the "jelly" before storing the legs in the fat. Is there any good use for this wonderful looking jelly. I made a brown duck stock from the carcasses. Can I add the jelly to this? Should it be frozen and added to sauces or do I pitch it.