Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 6)

[scotty2]

The first time I cured guanciale, I thought that layer of small, studded fat was glands, so I cut them off. When I started playing with bigger jowls, like those from a Mangalitsa, I continued removing that layer. What I've found more often than not is that there are actually glands within that layer of spongy fat.

[Big Mike]

Ack, I hope I got all the glands. I'm going to pull down one of my guanciale's this weekend and do some exploratory surgery. Damn, I hope by leaving that layer of fat didn't ruin the jowl.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Big Mike (log)

[Big Mike]

Here's the first jowl I just pulled down to inspect:

Fried up a little bit that I trimmed off of the end and boy is it salty. Definitely gonna have to parboil this stuff to ease up the salt when I cook with it.

[Chris Hennes]

It's interesting to me that yours wound up salty as well: I had the same problem upthread. All told, however, I just reduce the salt in the final dishes I am making and it doesn't seem to really matter.

[Big Mike]

I was thinking I would fry up some greens this weekend like I would with store-bought bacon and just omit the salt altogether from the final dish. Of course my wife the salt-lick devoured the test batch and thought it was fantastic, go figure.

[Big Mike]

Just checked out the discussion thread at the link you posted. Like you, I dumped the entire salt cure into the bag with the jowls where I think it might be better to liberally rub the cure onto the jowl but not add any extra to the bag.

Have you tried to make it since with a reduced salt mixture?

[Chris Amirault]

t might be better to liberally rub the cure onto the jowl but not add any extra to the bag.

I had the same problem and that's what I've taken to doing with most of the dry rub cures in this book: coat the protein with the rub, press it in, and then transfer it and whatever sticks to it to the bag, leaving the excess.

[qrn]

I have solved thecure amounts by using a %of salt in the finished product

and let it cure until all is absorbed . for bacon and guyancille(sp),, I use 3.5 to 3.7%of the weight of the meat.and let it cure a long time...that makes it come out the same no matter what....

Bud

[jmolinari]

I'm with bud. Calculate your salt you want to finish with and add only that amount and let it equilibrate.

[therippa]

I picked up this book recently and started with the simple cured bacon recipe. I ended up letting it cure for about 9 days instead of 7 until it felt firm, and when I went to do the roasting today it felt really slimy before I rinsed it off. No off smells, it actually doesn't really smell like anything. Did I mess up?

[FoodMan]

I picked up this book recently and started with the simple cured bacon recipe. I ended up letting it cure for about 9 days instead of 7 until it felt firm, and when I went to do the roasting today it felt really slimy before I rinsed it off. No off smells, it actually doesn't really smell like anything. Did I mess up?

I think you should be fine if the bacon was refrigerated the whole time. I've gone for more than the exact 7 days many times.

[Harry]

I have a question on corned beef and pastrami: does it hurt to leave the meat in the brine a day or two longer than called for in the recipe, just to be sure the meat is cured all the way through? I've brined the corned beef for five days as called for in the book with great results. Other times I've left it in the brine a little longer and still found a streak of gray running through the center of the meat. I haven't tackled pastrami yet but I'll be nervous about removing the meat from the brine after three days, especially since running down a beef plate is going to take some legwork. Ruhlman, are you out there? If so, thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me.

[mkayahara]

Has anyone made the beef jerky from the book? I see Ruhlman calls for it to be dried at 32C/90F, which seems rather low to me from a food safety standpoint, and is lower than my dehydrator will go. Other sources I've consulted say anything from 120F to 150F... any guidance?

[Chris Hennes]

There is plenty of salt in there, and the drying action itself is helping you out: the water activity should be quite low: so from a food safety standpoint I think it's not an issue. I am not sure what the advantage of going so low is, though, I'd just go with the instructions on your dehydrator.

[mkayahara]

Thanks, Chris. I think I'll probably split the difference, because the dehydrator instructions say 150F, which strikes me as a CYA temperature.

[mkayahara]

For the record, I ended up going with 115F, and the beef seemed to be done after about six hours. It's highly addictive as-is, but I think I'll experiment with some variations on spicing next time, just for kicks.

[Chris Amirault]

I'm a few weeks into drying the book's blackstrap ham in attempt number two at this recipe, and I realize I'm not quite clear on what texture I'm looking for when it's done. It's still squishy in the middle, no doubt about it, but am I going for firm all the way through like a peperone or something with more give?

[BadRabbit]

Excuse me if this has already been covered but I used the index and the search and couldn't find it.

Anyway, I want to use the smoked bacon recipe but I am planning on cold smoking it. Has anybody else tried this? How long should I smoke it and what temp should I shoot for?

[Chris Amirault]

Well, since you're not trying to get it to a final temp (60C iirc), then you're making decisions about flavor only. Why not smoke 'em for a few hours, record it, and then see what you think later on?

How will you finish cooking the bellies, btw? If you have a SV rig, that works wonders.

[BadRabbit]

Well, since you're not trying to get it to a final temp (60C iirc), then you're making decisions about flavor only. Why not smoke 'em for a few hours, record it, and then see what you think later on?

How will you finish cooking the bellies, btw? If you have a SV rig, that works wonders.

I do have a sous vide rig but I was mostly planning on just smoking and slicing and using like I would store bought bacon. I will probably take some and cut it into lardons for coq au vin as well. There's not a reason I need to precook is there?

On my next batch, I might try some different cooking techniques after the initial smoke.

[jmolinari]

Bacon is traditionally cold smoked. Charcuterie calls out hot smoking for the simple fact that it's much easier to do at home.

It'll work well. Just make sure to use nitrites as it'll be in a room temp. zone for quite a few hours.

[BadRabbit]

Bacon is traditionally cold smoked. Charcuterie calls out hot smoking for the simple fact that it's much easier to do at home.

It'll work well. Just make sure to use nitrites as it'll be in a room temp. zone for quite a few hours.

The recipe contains pink salt. That's all that is needed, correct?

Edited because I misread the post.

Edited May 10, 2011 by BadRabbit (log)

[jmolinari]

yes, cure #1 since you won't be aging it for long term i would not use #2.

[dougal]

Bacon curing - in the USA, NitrAte (thus No 2) is prohibited from (IIRC) some (rather than all) commercial bacon cures. (IIRC its not prohibited from dry cures, only brines/pickles.)

There is no such ban in Europe (where for example Brominated flour is banned everywhere).

In the UK, Nitrate is commonly seen on ingredient listings on commercial packs of bacon.

Cold smoking time - this greatly depends on your taste preference and on the intensity of your smoke! My Pro-Q (which is excellent; my thanks to Jason for the original heads-up on that) produces nice thin smoke.

Especially if you are hitting it with heavy smoke (or are curing with nitrate), giving the bacon at least a few days (well wrapped - for everything else's sake) in the fridge, to 'mature' and equilibrate after smoking will improve your product.

The nice thing about cold smoking is that, if you want something to be "more smoked", you can just put it back in the smoker for some more time. In fact both Jane Grigson and Erlandson specifically point out that cold smoking need not be continuous, and that intermittent smoking can on occasion be advantageous

[BadRabbit]

Bacon curing - in the USA, NitrAte (thus No 2) is prohibited from (IIRC) some (rather than all) commercial bacon cures. (IIRC its not prohibited from dry cures, only brines/pickles.)

There is no such ban in Europe (where for example Brominated flour is banned everywhere).

In the UK, Nitrate is commonly seen on ingredient listings on commercial packs of bacon.

Cold smoking time - this greatly depends on your taste preference and on the intensity of your smoke! My Pro-Q (which is excellent; my thanks to Jason for the original heads-up on that) produces nice thin smoke.

Especially if you are hitting it with heavy smoke (or are curing with nitrate), giving the bacon at least a few days (well wrapped - for everything else's sake) in the fridge, to 'mature' and equilibrate after smoking will improve your product.

The nice thing about cold smoking is that, if you want something to be "more smoked", you can just put it back in the smoker for some more time. In fact both Jane Grigson and Erlandson specifically point out that cold smoking need not be continuous, and that intermittent smoking can on occasion be advantageous

Thanks for all that info. I've been hot smoking since practically birth but I've just started cold smoking and all I've done so far is salmon (I just have a DIY rig).