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

[Chris Amirault]

Right: let it hang, embrace your anxiety, rub 'em down if they're fuzzy, and see what happens.

[dougal]

... Do I really NEED a wine cooler or mini fridge with a controller, etc. to do this? I've always thought I would just set them up on the rafters or something and let nature go to work...assuming the temp/humidity is relatively stable and within range. ...

A full 'controller' solution certainly ain't cheap. Or necessary.

But a thermometer and humidity meter can be VERY cheap.

And it would allow you to take sensible control actions based on data, not assumptions.

Have you heard the saying "To assume risks making an ass out of u and me" ?

Especially when starting out, it helps not to have to depend on experience.

In the context of a charcuterie-making habit, $6 is hardly a large investment.

It'll pay back very quickly.

And please don't make the mistake of thinking that palatable, safe, meat-curing is "natural" and somehow bound to always work if left to look after itself.

[vice]

For those who've tackled an emulsified sausage (weisswurst, boudin, or the like), how do you store them: frozen raw, frozen after poaching, must consume fresh?

[abadoozy]

I finally took the plunge and bought a sausage stuffer, so I'm actually going to make something out of my Charcuterie book instead of just drooling over the pictures. I'm going to start with Mortadella, since I've made a lot of simple sausages in the past and am looking for a challenge.

First question - the intro to the chapter has instructions for both food processor and standing mixer methods, but pretty much says the standing mixer method is best. But the recipe for Mortadella explicitly talks about using a food processor. I have both - which should I use?

Second question - I'm also the proud owner of a Sous Vide Supreme, and I figure I might as well use that to poach the Mortadella, it'll be easier to let the Sous Vide machine keep track of the temperature than doing it myself. The recipe states to poach at 170 until the sausage reaches 150 degrees. Sure, I can do that easily enough. But would it make sense to actually sous vide the sausages? I could just do 'em at 150 for a few hours and thus assure that I don't overcook. (and FYI, I wasn't planning on using the vacuum bags, the sausages will be in casings. I just figured that the sous vide machine probably works really well as a poacher.)

Edited January 14, 2010 by abadoozy (log)

[jmolinari]

Mortadella is an emulsified sausage, you'll need to use the food processor.

[abadoozy]

Mortadella is an emulsified sausage, you'll need to use the food processor.

According to the book, either the stand mixer or the food processor can be used. There's sections on "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Food Processor Method" and "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Standing Mixer Method."

They make a point to say they prefer the standing mixer because the sausage comes out with a firmer texture.

But like I said in my first post, the Mortadella recipe itself says to use the food processor, which seems to be not at all what the intro says. Thus my confusion.

[dougal]

According to the book, either the stand mixer or the food processor can be used. There's sections on "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Food Processor Method" and "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Standing Mixer Method."

They make a point to say they prefer the standing mixer because the sausage comes out with a firmer texture.

But like I said in my first post, the Mortadella recipe itself says to use the food processor, which seems to be not at all what the intro says. Thus my confusion.

No need for confusion.

If you look at the other recipes in that section, you'll see that each recipe describes just one of the methods.

Rather than give two parallel methods for each recipe, the authors are teaching (or expecting) interpretative skills.

That's why they outline "master recipes" for both methods - quite distinct from the specific sausage recipes.

Since you have both mixer and processor, you could start by simply following the Mortadella recipe as printed. Then, as an "exercise for the reader", you could try interpreting it in the light of those two master recipes, using the mixer. (It isn't hard, just compare the Mortadella recipe with the master processor recipe!) Thinking it through for yourself is a great way to learn.

And then, once you've done it both ways, you can see which one you prefer making -- and eating!

There isn't necessarily One True Way. Especially with Charcuterie!

One great thing about the book is the rational way in which skills and techniques are built up, and then built upon.

Its more of an educational course than a plain recipe book for dipping into.

[Chris Hennes]

Regarding your question about poaching: yes, simply poaching at the desired finishing temperature works well, that's my usual method. Make sure your machine is well-cleaned, though: it's not something you usually have to worry about when just doing normal sous vide in plastic bags. When you start eating the bags, you need to be a bit more careful .

[abadoozy]

According to the book, either the stand mixer or the food processor can be used. There's sections on "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Food Processor Method" and "Basic Emulsified Sausage: Standing Mixer Method."

They make a point to say they prefer the standing mixer because the sausage comes out with a firmer texture.

But like I said in my first post, the Mortadella recipe itself says to use the food processor, which seems to be not at all what the intro says. Thus my confusion.

No need for confusion.

If you look at the other recipes in that section, you'll see that each recipe describes just one of the methods.

Rather than give two parallel methods for each recipe, the authors are teaching (or expecting) interpretative skills.

That's why they outline "master recipes" for both methods - quite distinct from the specific sausage recipes.

Since you have both mixer and processor, you could start by simply following the Mortadella recipe as printed. Then, as an "exercise for the reader", you could try interpreting it in the light of those two master recipes, using the mixer. (It isn't hard, just compare the Mortadella recipe with the master processor recipe!) Thinking it through for yourself is a great way to learn.

And then, once you've done it both ways, you can see which one you prefer making -- and eating!

There isn't necessarily One True Way. Especially with Charcuterie!

One great thing about the book is the rational way in which skills and techniques are built up, and then built upon.

Its more of an educational course than a plain recipe book for dipping into.

All this would make more sense if, at the beginning, they had said like "There's two methods to make emulsified sausage, they both result in slightly different sausages, experiment and see what you like."

But I'm not interpreting it that way. The way I read it, the standing mixer method is the preferred method, but the food processor way is included because it results in a decent quality product and more people have food processors than standing mixers.

I've got a ton of Mr. Ruhlman's books, and he's never let me down, so I'm sure both methods will work. I was just looking for some feedback on one versus the other before I plunge in. I'm leaning towards the mixer method for the first time - we'll see how it goes.

Edited January 14, 2010 by abadoozy (log)

[abadoozy]

Regarding your question about poaching: yes, simply poaching at the desired finishing temperature works well, that's my usual method. Make sure your machine is well-cleaned, though: it's not something you usually have to worry about when just doing normal sous vide in plastic bags. When you start eating the bags, you need to be a bit more careful .

Cool, thanks for the feedback. I've already gone over the machine and washed it thoroughly. I just got over a bout of a nasty gastrointestinal virus - it's amazing at how much I fixate on food safety after that!

[jmolinari]

I haven't referred to the book in a long while, but i don't see how one can make an emulsified sausage in a mixer. No matter!.

[abadoozy]

I haven't referred to the book in a long while, but i don't see how one can make an emulsified sausage in a mixer. No matter!.

I'm curious to why you think that. I'm totally a beginner on this and trying to figure it all out, so would be interested in a more thorough explanation.

[ray goud]

I haven't seen any mention of this book's remoulade recipe, on its page 279. I have made it several times, using different fresh herbs, and it has turned out wonderful every time. Plus, it's very easy to do. Hats off to them.

Ray

[jmolinari]

B/c an emulsified sausage ends up being ground up ultrafine, to a complete paste (think hotdog), and i don't see how to do that without a food processor or a bowl chopper (the professional equivalent), which is able to integrate the meat and the fat in suspension.

How can a mixer do that with even finely ground meat? I guess you'd end up with a fine ground, compact sausage, but i don't see how it would be fine enough to be called emulsified.

[David A. Goldfarb]

"Stand mixer method" doesn't quite tell the whole story, since it assumes a stand mixer with a grinder attachment. The idea is to grind the meat twice, freezing in between to get an ultrafine grind, and then the emulsion is mixed in the bowl of the mixer with the flat beater.

[jmolinari]

That's what i figured, but even grinding twice, i still don't see how that can create a fine enough texture. Either way, i assume if they put it in the book, they've tried it and it is successful, so you probably should ignore me:)

[faronem]

After literally years of lurking on egullet, here's a first post and my first go at charcuterie.

So please, be gentle

I made the Ruhlman duck prosciutto using Pekin breasts and would love thoughts on it.

The only real substitution I made was milled black instead of white pepper.

After a 24hr salt cure, I air cured at about 68F and 20% humidity for about 7 days:

I cut them down when they felt firm but also hit about 30% reduction from the original wet pre-salt-cure weight.

Overall, I loved it and won high praise from family and friends, but I'm more curious about anyone's thoughts on the shortcomings.

With the Prosciutto di Parma I've bought at the market and eaten over the years as a flavor and texture reference point, I found this duck prosciutto was just slightly too briny and peppery. Other than doing a better job rubbing off the salt cure and pepper, I'm not sure what I could have done differently? Less salt cure and more air cure?

Also, the very top layer of the meat side of the breast is tasty but is drier than I would like and is slighly "jerkied". It's only about 2mm think but causes a slightly stringy texture. I think this may be due to the low humidity (20%) environment in which it air cured? It occurs to me that placing the two sides of the breast meat-sides together when air curing might reduce this, but I'm unsure how that might change the rest of the cure.

Also, the skin had a slightly stringy texture, too. Is scoring the skin generally advised?

Finally, it's hard to see in the picture, but some parts of the fat layer are fully opaque and others translucent. I'm curious what thoughts are out there for what is a 'best' level of the cure. Also, any thoughts about how scoring would alter the curing of the skin/fat.

Thanks!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I tried the twice grinding/freezing method with my KitchenAid for a batch of beef hot dogs, and it worked pretty well. The key is keeping everything cold through the whole process.

Regarding the substitution of black pepper for white pepper in the duck prosciutto, Ruhlman recently made some remark on Facebook (or maybe it was a Twitter post mirrored to Facebook) about not understanding why anyone would use white pepper for anything, so he'd probably go along with it.

[Chris Hennes]

I must respectfully disagree about the appropriateness of substituting black pepper for white: to my taste the two have basically no flavor elements in common, and the only thing they share is the name "pepper."

[faronem]

I agree that black and white pepper have somewhat different flavors and markedly different aromas.

Basically, I think the oils in the black pepper's sheath bled more pungent flavors than I would have liked into the prosciutto.

I think white pepper gets a bad rap due to the fact it's usually pre-milled; I often find it quickly gets an off-putting armpit/musty aroma after being exposed to air for a while. I find it a different creature when you crack it yourself.

And I substituted it because I had no white peppercorns available.

Live and learn.

However, I've read that the pepper is in this recipe just to keep the bugs away; I may leave it out completely next time.

[Qwerty]

Finally made my first batch of homemade sausage. The Boudin Blanc turned out well, though the recipe is not as tasty as I thought it would be. I thought there is a bit too much nutmeg/cinn/clove and it also tasted a bit underseasoned. I did a quenelle test but thought I would do the recipe exact the first time.

The kitchenaid sausage stuffer was a bit of a PITA to use with such a loose sausage, but it worked OK. Next time I'll use an boudin blanc recipe from an old job I had which was ethereal. I'll just have to convert the recipe to a smaller batch. It was fun just getting over the hurdle of doing this at home and getting some experience under my belt.

I ordered some fatback from my local grocery store, and I specifically told the guy not to order the salted stuff (which they sell already) that they have out in the case, but he went ahead and ordered the salted stuff. I got the fatback like 4 days ago, but only opened the box today. Too bad, I was going to also make a batch of saucisson sec and get it hanging. I'm going to try and return the salted fatback tomorrow and see if they can order FRESH.

Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for the help so far guys and gals.

[vice]

Article in the times about 'nduja today, an item not covered in Charcuterie. Has anyone taken a stab at it themselves?

I came across a recipe at Len Poli's site yesterday (pdf).

[Chris Amirault]

Just want to say that substituting Laird's bottled in bond (100 proof) straight apple brandy for cognac in Grigson's saucisson sec recipe kills. More soon with photos.

[Chris Amirault]

Here's that saucisson sec -- or, given the apple brandy, that sweet, sweet sausage -- based mainly on Grigson with assists from Ruhlman:

22 days at around 50-55F and wildly varying humidity, locking in at 60% in the last few days. Very happy with the flavor and definition.

[Chris Hennes]

Indeed, the definition is stunning: very nice work. Any mold formation?