Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 4)

[Bombdog]

Glad to hear it. I've not yet done the coppa. You've inspired me to give it a go. Did you follow the recipe from the book verbatim, or did you make any alterations?

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I used the method of removing the whole coppa from the shoulder that Jason posted WAY upthread, and then followed the recipes pretty much as written.

[Abra]

Beautiful! And the fat is still so snowy white - great contrast.

[Bombdog]

Beautiful!  And the fat is still so snowy white - great contrast.

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Thank you Abra!

[lennyk]

first attempt at bacon

dried it with a fan

in the weber smokey mountain cooker

sliced

MMMmmmmmmmm

[Bombdog]

first attempt at bacon

dried it with a fan

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Lenny, that is some great looking LEAN bacon....

[lennyk]

yeah, finding quality thick belly is hit and miss here

Lenny, that is some great looking LEAN bacon....

[Rubashov]

Hi everyone,

I just successfully completed my first emulsified sausage, and boy, do I feel cool! It's a recipe not in the book - a Swedish sausage named "jalkorv" - but I followed the book's procedure and even modified the recipe a little bit to conform to book's guidelines. In short, it turned out great. We're spending Thanksgiving with a family of Swedish descent, and this was a special request when they heard I make sausage. It's fun to be in demand!

My only question is regarding consistency. I used the mixer method (as opposed to the food processor method), and yet the sausages still seem more fluffy and airy than I'd like. Has anyone else run into this issue? If so, how does one get around it?

On a different note, I'm curious how others will be incorporating charcuterie into their Thanksgiving meals. Last year I did an appetizer for a holiday party that I called "Thanksgiving in one bite." It was a round of Italian toast (to simulate the stuffing), topped by a turkey-cranberry sausage, with some mashed potatoes piped on top. Delicious!

Take care, and happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

-Rob

[Joisey]

--On a different note, I'm curious how others will be incorporating charcuterie into their Thanksgiving meals.--

Boning & Tying Cornish Game Hens, stuffing with a Pheasant-Apricot sausage.

[ronnie_suburban]

On a different note, I'm curious how others will be incorporating charcuterie into their Thanksgiving meals.

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For the first time, the sausage in my Thanksgiving stuffing will be homemade. I have to say that for an improv job, the sausage turned out pretty well. Here's the recipe, in case anyone's interested:

5# fatty pork butt

3 T Kosher salt

4 T high-quality dried sage

2 T Maple sugar

1 T freshly-minced garlic

1.5 T red pepper flakes

4 t freshly-ground black pepper

1 C ice water

Happy Thanksgiving!!

=R=

[qrn]

Hi All,,

I just finished up a batch of dried Spanish chorizo, tuscan, and sopressa venta da friuili, in hog casings. Served them as appitizers for thanksgiving dinner...They were really good...

They have lost about 35% of moisture.

Now the question...If I wrap them in paper and refrigerate, will they dry much more in the frige??? I am leery that they will turn into really,dry hard sticks..

Since commericial sausages are vac packed in bags, would that be a viable way to extend their life??? Any direction would be appreciated....

Bud

[jmolinari]

if you put them in a zip lock bag they'll keep their moisture quite well.

[Bombdog]

I've kept them in zip locks in the crisper with no ill effects. Since purchasing a foodsaver I vacuum seal them, also with no ill effects. In all honesty, nothing lasts so long that it would go bad, especially this time of year.

[qrn]

Ok , that is what I was wondering...I was having visions of all sorts of things growing in them if I packed them in vac pac or ziplocks...Thanks for the great advice...

I found some jowls last week, and the place has all kinds of hog parts....When I was picking up the jowls I asked about back fat. "sure, look in that case" and I got about 6 pounds for a couple bucks...Gonna get a picnic and do a prosciutto.

While at a middle east market the other day, there was a whole lamb cut up in chunks on the counter, so I am gonna try Jasons lamb prosciutto..along with some merquez...

So much to do and so little time!

Bud

[FoodMan]

I am planning on making Cassoulet de Toulouse sometime soon from Paula Wolfert's book and of course I wanted some good homemade sausage in it. So, last night I used the Garlic Sausage recipe and altered it by adding some fresh thyme, grated nutmeg and white wine instead of red. Using white wine was based on Paula Wolfert's recipe for Toulouse sausages.

I ended up with about 5.5 lbs of lovely fresh sausage

I had about four patties worth that I did not stuff and I fried them up for breakfast this morning with eggs. Deliciouse! This is going to be one memorable Cassoulet. I will report back when I do make it. Now the stuffed sausages are in the freezer tightly packed.

[Abra]

Elie, howzabout you bring that sausage over here to go with the duck confit and pork belly confit I have curing for cassoulet, and we will so be in business!

[FoodMan]

Elie, howzabout you bring that sausage over here to go with the duck confit and pork belly confit I have curing for cassoulet, and we will so be in business!

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Speaking of...I am down to only one leg of duck confit. I need to cure some more ASAP for the cassoulet. We still have one problem combining our efforts though, that little problem of you being a few thousand miles away .

[dansch]

So, I just pulled down and tried my paprika-cured lomo. Everything seems Ok, except the flavor is a bit on the sour side. After my experience with mold on my peperone (yes, yes I know I'm a mold wuss) I had been using a vinegar/water solution once every week or two on the lomo (which was in a collagen casing) to control any fuzzies. I fear that the vinegar may have really soaked in and caused this off sour flavor - fine and dandy in a salame, but not the flavor profile I wanted out of a lomo.

In the future, I think I'll switch over to just a salt brine rub-down if I start to fear undesirable molds.

Any thoughts on the use of vinegar? I know a number of people on this thread have used it - noticed any pronounced sour flavor introduced by it?

-Dan

[piperdown]

Does anyone know how long fatback keeps in the refrigerator? I just found some that's a few weeks old that I forgot to freeze. It smells OK, but I'm a little concerned to use it.

[Joisey]

--Does anyone know how long fatback keeps in the refrigerator? I just found some that's a few weeks old that I forgot to freeze. It smells OK, but I'm a little concerned to use it. --

I've had fatback that went bad after only 4 days in the fridge; Of course I'm not sure how old it was before I bought it. I break that stuff down and freeze it as soon as I get it now.

[Michael Ruhlman]

Does anyone know how long fatback keeps in the refrigerator? I just found some that's a few weeks old that I forgot to freeze. It smells OK, but I'm a little concerned to use it.

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it's likely a flavor issue rather than any safety issue. use your senses to evaluate. including common sense...

[BRM]

So, I have been lurking eGullet for quite some time now. Just a few weeks ago I bought the book and did the duck procuitto in time for thanksgiving. This morning I had my first taste of my own homemade bacon and, like Susan said above (like 50 or so pages ago), it was an epiphany. I was so much more meaty and flavorful than storebought. I smoked it to an internal temp of about 140 which took 2.5 hours and then changed my smoker over to cold smoke and did that for another 3 hours (until I ran out of chips). I have a bit of work to get the saltiness just right, mine was just a bit too salty, but still fabulous. I think I am going to give bacon to my family as christmas presents.

I'm setting my sights on sausages next. The andouille looks really good.

One question though...I don't have a meat grinder. I could have my butcher to do it but I'd like to do it myself and I think I would get continuing use out of a grinder. It seems to me that most of the efforts here used the KA grinder attachment. It is generally the consensus that is the way to go or is it worth investing in a manual grinder? I know there are other meat grinder topics recently but they seem to be more about 'which type of manual' or 'which type of electric'. My question is more 'which type of grinder'? Show of hands anyone?

...and that is my first eGullet post.

[jmolinari]

So, I have been lurking eGullet for quite some time now.  Just a few weeks ago I bought the book and did the duck procuitto in time for thanksgiving.  This morning I had my first taste of my own homemade bacon and, like Susan said above (like 50 or so pages ago), it was an epiphany.  I was so much more meaty and flavorful than storebought.  I smoked it to an internal temp of about 140 which took 2.5 hours and then changed my smoker over to cold smoke and did that for another 3 hours (until I ran out of chips).  I have a bit of work to get the saltiness just right, mine was just a bit too salty, but still fabulous.  I think I am going to give bacon to my family as christmas presents.

I'm setting my sights on sausages next.  The andouille looks really good.

One question though...I don't have a meat grinder.  I could have my butcher to do it but I'd like to do it myself and I think I would get continuing use out of a grinder.  It seems to me that most of the efforts here used the KA grinder attachment.  It is generally the consensus that is the way to go or is it worth investing in a manual grinder?  I know there are other meat grinder topics recently but they seem to be more about 'which type of manual' or 'which type of electric'.  My question is more 'which type of grinder'?  Show of hands anyone?

...and that is my first eGullet post.

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The kitchen aid grinder is quite good. The disadvantage is that there are only 2 plate sizes, "too small" and small. There is no larger plate, which i personally would like.

having said that, don't waste your time on the KA stuffer. That thing SUCKS

[dansch]

I have a bit of work to get the saltiness just right, mine was just a bit too salty, but still fabulous. 

I still can't seem to get my salt level right. My most recent batch was in need of more salt - I find myself salting the slices before I fry them. Crazy.

That said, I've made the pancetta recipe a number of times and the salt level is always perfect (since it's measured precisely for each belly I guess). I've been thinking of making the pancetta cure - minus bay leaves and juniper - and then smoking it instead of rolling and hanging. I'm not really sure why there's dextrose in the bacon cure recipe anyway. Thoughts from others?

I'm setting my sights on sausages next.  The andouille looks really good.

The andouille is one of the tastiest things I've made as a result of this experimentation with charcuterie. There's a recipe upthread that I used and thought was fantastic.

One question though...I don't have a meat grinder.  I could have my butcher to do it but I'd like to do it myself and I think I would get continuing use out of a grinder.  It seems to me that most of the efforts here used the KA grinder attachment.  It is generally the consensus that is the way to go or is it worth investing in a manual grinder?  I know there are other meat grinder topics recently but they seem to be more about 'which type of manual' or 'which type of electric'.  My question is more 'which type of grinder'?  Show of hands anyone?

I've been using the attachment for my Kitchenaid and it's Ok, but certainly not ideal. One thing I would consider a big plus in the manual category is that you could get one that would fit standard (say, #12) size dies - allowing a much wider range of grind sizes than the 2 that come with the KA.

I've been thinking about moving up to a real (standalone) electric one for that reason + the nicer ones don't seem to get caught up and smear as a result of tiny bits of sinew/silverskin like the KA does. I'm assuming that it's a result of the blade style of the KA (very wide edge angle) - though perhaps horsepower and fit/precision (how close the blade gets to the die) of the standalone ones are significant factors as well.

I know someone with a small Hobart food chopper (the toroid-shaped thing) that has a KA-style grinder attachment, but it's much more hard-core and he can grind just about anything without worry about trimming every last bit of connective tissue out.

...and that is my first eGullet post.

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This thread is what got me participating in eGullet as well - previously I was just a lurker. Call it the power of pork...

Cheers,

-Dan

[Malaclypse]

just started a batch of duck prosciutto last night. I'm excited to see how it turns out. I also should be able to get some wild buck breasts soon and hat should make for some amazing flavor.

[ronnie_suburban]

. . . One question though...I don't have a meat grinder.  I could have my butcher to do it but I'd like to do it myself and I think I would get continuing use out of a grinder.  It seems to me that most of the efforts here used the KA grinder attachment.  It is generally the consensus that is the way to go or is it worth investing in a manual grinder?  I know there are other meat grinder topics recently but they seem to be more about 'which type of manual' or 'which type of electric'.  My question is more 'which type of grinder'?  Show of hands anyone?

...and that is my first eGullet post.

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Welcome, BRM!

I agree with what jmolinari and dansch posted above about the kitchen-aid...very useful and reliable as a grinder . . . to a point. If you already have a KA machine, the grinder attachment is a no-brainer. Last time I checked, they were under $50. It's a great starting point and if you don't like it, you're not out a whole bunch of money. But, if you don't already have a KA, the decision is probably more complicated. I really like mine but I'll admit that now, after about a year of making sausage, I'm beginning to understand its limitations. OTOH, I really don't have room for much more kitchen equipment. Otherwise, I'd have one of those nifty Hobart slicers like a few of the other fine folks who've posted on this thread.

=R=