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

[Mallet]

There is a casing, it's stuffed in large chunks in beef middles (in the picture, you can see the outline of a cube of pork, covered in seasonings).

[jmolinari]

I would wait a little longer before deciding the mold is good or bad then.

[menuinprogress]

We finally broke down and picked up a spare fridge to use for curing meats. This is our first batch hanging:

We figured we would start simple with the Charcuterie recipe for Saucisson Sec:

It came out beautifully. Great texture and intense flavor.

We also did a cured version of an improvised Spanish-style sausage that we have enjoyed as a smoked sausage:

It came out a little soft, but still very nice.

Since we had some jowl on hand, we also decided to do some Guanciale:

Along with some smoked cheddar, it made for some great sliders the other day...

We're officially hooked. We've got Tuscan Salami and some Coppa hanging now.

[Chris Amirault]

Nice photos! For how long did you cure the saucisson sec?

[JaneMC]

Beautiful.

Jane

[JaneMC]

I'm going to post here. I know it's been here before on the orginal Charcuterie form. I can't find it, or at least any time soon.

Question is I want to have one turn out. I do have a fridge for curing (wine, thanks to Chris's idea), grinder, and a stuffer. I do not have a smoker. It's coming but probably not until next month (no I haven't ordered it yet). I would like to do a cured one. Which one would you think would be best for me to try? I have the book....if you would like a page number. I've done sausages already, bacon, I've done but not that great without the smoker.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thank You,

Jane

[menuinprogress]

Chris - we took some of the saucisson sec out after 3 weeks, and kept the rest in about 3 days longer since they were still soft in places.

Jane - I think saucisson sec is a pretty good bet as a first cured sausage. We chose it because it doesn't require fermentation and is small and cures quickly.

[JaneMC]

I'm going to give it a try the saucisson sec. I looked at the book and it seems pretty cool. Thank you for the suggestion and I will post here while/when I'm doing it and let you know how it sent.

Jane

Chris - we took some of the saucisson sec out after 3 weeks, and kept the rest in about 3 days longer since they were still soft in places.

Jane - I think saucisson sec is a pretty good bet as a first cured sausage. We chose it because it doesn't require fermentation and is small and cures quickly.

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[kingudaroad]

Hi, kinda new around here . If there are any bratwurst lovers out there, the recipe in Charcuterie is a good one. I have made it a couple of times. In this batch I substituted venison for the veal. The eggs and cream really make a great looking and tasting sausage.

[ilikefood]

Those brats look great!

I just made the same recipe a couple weeks ago but used all pork and replaced the cream with Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer They were very good and juicy but the flavor was very mild. I think next time I will increase the nutmeg and maybe add some marjoram.

[MarkinHouston]

We finally broke down and picked up a spare fridge to use for curing meats. This is our first batch hanging:

We figured we would start simple with the Charcuterie recipe for Saucisson Sec:

It came out beautifully. Great texture and intense flavor.

We also did a cured version of an improvised Spanish-style sausage that we have enjoyed as a smoked sausage:

It came out a little soft, but still very nice.

Since we had some jowl on hand, we also decided to do some Guanciale:

Along with some smoked cheddar, it made for some great sliders the other day...

We're officially hooked. We've got Tuscan Salami and some Coppa hanging now.

←

I received a call last night that a friend had shot a "feral piggy" and wanted me to have it. I figured that it would provide two or three batches of sausage and maybe some meat for braising, Italian-style. When I went to pick it up this afternoon, it turns out that he shot another one just before twilight. THe first one dressed out at 45 pounds, which was what I expected. The second one, however, was a female that dressed out at 150 pounds. With that much meat to work with, I need some guidance. I have an exdtra refrigerator that could be transformed into a curing chamber---Houston is too hot to do that without such a contraption. Can anyone pease guide me to the previous posts in this thread which discuss rigging up for salame? I have plenty of Instacures #1 and #2--would butcherpacker.com be a good place to secure casings for salami and coppe? If anyone has experience dealing with wild boar, I would be happy to use your knowledge to make fresh and dry cured meats. Thanks in advance.

[qrn]

I received a call last night that a friend had shot a "feral piggy" and wanted me to have it.  I figured that it would provide two or three batches of sausage and maybe some meat for braising, Italian-style. When I went to pick it up this afternoon, it turns out that he shot another one just before twilight. THe first one dressed out at 45 pounds, which was what I expected. The second one, however, was a female that dressed out at 150 pounds. With that much meat to work with, I need some guidance. I have an exdtra refrigerator that could be transformed into a curing chamber---Houston is too hot to do that without such a contraption. Can anyone pease guide me to the previous  posts in this thread which discuss rigging up for salame? I have plenty of Instacures #1 and #2--would butcherpacker.com be a good place to secure casings for salami and coppe? If anyone has experience dealing with wild boar, I would be happy to use your knowledge to make fresh and dry cured meats. Thanks in advance.

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I will suggest that you research USDA regs on trichnosis, and follow them to the letter...Wild pig is much different than domestic when it comes to that...

Someone who is more knowlegeable than I will add to this I am sure...

Bud

[dougal]

...

I will suggest that you research USDA regs on trichnosis, and follow them to the letter...Wild pig is much different than domestic when it comes to that...

...

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Butchering it and then freezing the joints for about a month wouldn't be a bad idea!

And that would give you plenty time to source a temperature controller for your curing chamber.

Enough wet salt and a small fan from a scrap computer (for occasional air circulation and uniformity) ought to take care of basic humidity control.

[MarkinHouston]

...

I will suggest that you research USDA regs on trichnosis, and follow them to the letter...Wild pig is much different than domestic when it comes to that...

...

←

Butchering it and then freezing the joints for about a month wouldn't be a bad idea!

And that would give you plenty time to source a temperature controller for your curing chamber.

Enough wet salt and a small fan from a scrap computer (for occasional air circulation and uniformity) ought to take care of basic humidity control.

←

Thanks...I read that freezing for awhile is a good cautionary action against trichinosis. I'll run down the computer fan and do my homework in the interim.

[TheSwede]

My tuscan style salami (from a few pages back) is finished and almost all of it has already been eaten.

After approximately three weeks they were done, measuring by weight loss. However the taste wasn't that great. There was a little too strong yeasty taste from the fermentation and the actual sausage tasted quite bland.

Now, after a couple of more weeks they are great. I have wiped the sausages to remove some of the yeasty taste (which was mostly on the surface) and the taste has matured a lot.

There is also some panchetta in the picture.

Edited April 28, 2009 by TheSwede (log)

[menuinprogress]

My tuscan style salami (from a few pages back) is finished and almost all of it has already been eaten.

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That looks great! We've got some tuscan salami curing right now - I hope they turn out as nicely as yours did.

[Tom Gengo]

...

I will suggest that you research USDA regs on trichnosis, and follow them to the letter...Wild pig is much different than domestic when it comes to that...

...

←

Butchering it and then freezing the joints for about a month wouldn't be a bad idea!

And that would give you plenty time to source a temperature controller for your curing chamber.

Enough wet salt and a small fan from a scrap computer (for occasional air circulation and uniformity) ought to take care of basic humidity control.

←

Thanks...I read that freezing for awhile is a good cautionary action against trichinosis. I'll run down the computer fan and do my homework in the interim.

←

The FDA guidlines for the different times/freezer tems is in Charcuterie.

[VDPloeg]

I'm in Canada and Fermento is not to be found. I know I can order it but shipping is crazy. Is there a substitute for Fermento (maybe dry milk powder), or can I leave it out?

[dougal]

'Fermento' is just an (artificial - I gather) flavouring ingredient.

Its not 'active', hence not strictly necessary.

[Chris Amirault]

Hrm. I thought it was a starter culture -- and sausagemaker.com thinks so too.

[qrn]

Hrm. I thought it was a starter culture -- and sausagemaker.com thinks so too.

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Its Not...Its flavoring

Bud

Edit to add there are no lactobacillus bacteria to change the sugars to lactic acid..

Edited May 7, 2009 by qrn (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Well well. I thought wrong.

[jmolinari]

Hrm. I thought it was a starter culture -- and sausagemaker.com thinks so too.

←

Its Not...Its flavoring

Bud

Edit to add there are no lactobacillus bacteria to change the sugars to lactic acid..

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Technically there are some kind of bacteria as it is cultured buttermilk powder. Having said that, it is just a flavoring, not a true culture.

[dougal]

...

Technically there are some kind of bacteria as it is cultured buttermilk powder. Having said that, it is just a flavoring, not a true culture.

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I've not had access to the product, so I was initially concerned as to what it might be that I was missing out on!

I came to the conclusion that it was just flavouring, without any live bacteria, although it was produced by some form of culturing ... (hence my comment above about it being "not 'active'").

IIRC early in the (original) thread there was a discussion of Fermento, an observation that the usage was rather heavier than even its own instructions, and a Ruhlman comment to the effect that 'Polcyn did the recipes and he likes the taste' ...

[kingudaroad]

I'm in Canada and Fermento is not to be found.  I know I can order it but shipping is crazy.  Is there a substitute for Fermento (maybe dry milk powder), or can I leave it out?

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Fermento is used to add the tang of a fermented sausage without the starter culture. If you could get a starter culture you could just ferment per starter culture directions.

I have used both, however there is a substitute I have not used.

Encapsulated citric acid has the same purpose as fermento. Lots of info on the net.