Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 7)

[ChrisTaylor]

[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 6)]

 

 

 

 

Duck prosciutto.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Mjx
Moderator note added. (log)

[Mjx]

Damn. That duck prosciutto is impressively beautiful and delicious-looking.

[ChrisTaylor]

It's salty good. Saving the second piece for an upcoming dinner, I think. In the freezer so I kind of forget about it.

[thirtyoneknots]

So twice now I've attempted to make the venison terrine with cherries from this book, and both times led to heartbreaking failure when the emulsion broke or partly broke during cooking. Venison was free both times, but since it's been several years since I myself have gotten to take a deer, I must rely on the generosity of friends and family, and every scrap is precious.

So after a recent success with a similar emulsified forcemeat terrine I thought back to the venison one from this book, and realized that there was no panade of any kind--just cream, egg whites, and reduced marinade. Every single successful pate or terrine I have ever made (about 6-8) has had a bread or flour panade. The only two complete failures I've ever experienced was this recipe, which lacks it.

So what do y'all think? Coincidence? Anybody had success making the venison terrine as written? I know I won't be trying it again without some serious modification.

[BadRabbit]

So twice now I've attempted to make the venison terrine with cherries from this book, and both times led to heartbreaking failure when the emulsion broke or partly broke during cooking. Venison was free both times, but since it's been several years since I myself have gotten to take a deer, I must rely on the generosity of friends and family, and every scrap is precious.

So after a recent success with a similar emulsified forcemeat terrine I thought back to the venison one from this book, and realized that there was no panade of any kind--just cream, egg whites, and reduced marinade. Every single successful pate or terrine I have ever made (about 6-8) has had a bread or flour panade. The only two complete failures I've ever experienced was this recipe, which lacks it.

So what do y'all think? Coincidence? Anybody had success making the venison terrine as written? I know I won't be trying it again without some serious modification.

I actually looked at that recipe and in my head said "That will never hold together."

[thirtyoneknots]

So twice now I've attempted to make the venison terrine with cherries from this book, and both times led to heartbreaking failure when the emulsion broke or partly broke during cooking. Venison was free both times, but since it's been several years since I myself have gotten to take a deer, I must rely on the generosity of friends and family, and every scrap is precious.

So after a recent success with a similar emulsified forcemeat terrine I thought back to the venison one from this book, and realized that there was no panade of any kind--just cream, egg whites, and reduced marinade. Every single successful pate or terrine I have ever made (about 6-8) has had a bread or flour panade. The only two complete failures I've ever experienced was this recipe, which lacks it.

So what do y'all think? Coincidence? Anybody had success making the venison terrine as written? I know I won't be trying it again without some serious modification.

I actually looked at that recipe and in my head said "That will never hold together."

Yeah I feel kind of dumb for making it once, much less twice. But I have no shame, especially on eGullet.

[jrvicepresident]

Hi

I've been looking at ordering this book online but can't seem to find out if it has a recipie for Salametti. The index listed on here doesn't show it, unless it in in the Salami section? Can anyone who has the book look and let me know?

Thanks.

[ElsieD]

In the index under Salami they have Hungarian and Tuscan. Salametti is not listed at all in the index.

[FrogPrincesse]

I am going through photos of the various items from Charcuterie that I made so far, including a bunch of them from last year's Charcutepalooza challenges.

Starting with the salt-cured items...

Fresh bacon

My advice would be to buy a lot of pork belly - at least 6 pounds, but 10 is better (just double whatever you think you will need). Your butcher will love you and you will end up giving most of it away to friends and family, plus it freezes very well (I slice it and freeze 6 slices in a ziploc bag).

Duck Prosciutto

This must be one of my favorite recipes from the book so far. It is fantastic with a (large) moulard breast, but any duck breast can do. Mine loses typically 30% weight at the end of the curing process, but I don't weight it anymore, I just judge by feel to determine if it needs further drying. I like to slice it super thin.

I've been making this on a regular basis for almost two years now. It's very good on its own as a little pre-dinner snack (with a cocktail of course), or as a garnish for soup (shown here with a root vegetable soup, from the Soup thread).

Brined Pork Chops

I can't seem find a photo of the finished product, but in any case I found them too salty for my taste.

Corned Beef

This is something terribly exotic for me, having grown up in France where I had never heard of it. But it took the plunge and loved the result. The meat was extremely moist and flavorful at the end of the process. Once I had cured the corned beef, I used the recipe from Lucques to serve it (more details on the recipe in the Lucques thread).

Home-cured sauerkraut

No photos as it smelled off at the end of the (long) process with pink slime as a bonus, and I ended up throwing it away.

[FrogPrincesse]

Moving on to smoked foods.

I believe the only item I've attempted in that category is the maple-cured smoked bacon. For detailed pictures of the process see on my foodblog here. It's good stuff, a little sweet for me. I still have my stovetop smoker that I've been using on my grill for non-charcuterie items (potatoes are a favorite). I need to explore this category a little more but if I remember correctly most items in the book are cold-smoked, which is not easy to do without additional equipment.

Sausages

Breakfast sausage

Inexplicably I don't have any pictures but I really liked these. The ginger-sage combination is excellent. I am not a big breakfast person but this gets me salivating. I need to make another batch soon!

As for stuffed sausages, since the sweet Italian sausage I made last year, I haven't had the energy to make them again. It is quite an involved process especially with the Kitchenaid stuffer attachment, and I don't feel that it would make sense for me to buy a dedicated stuffer. I can find excellent sausages locally and I was not crazy about the texture of the ones I made (see the grinding process here and the stuffing here). I did find that they kept very well frozen, so again my advice would be to make a double or triple batch and freeze the leftovers with each sausage individually wrapped in plastic.

[FrogPrincesse]

One the topic of sausages it is extremely bizarre to see a merguez recipe in the book which includes PORK fat. Merguez is always lamb or beef.

In the "dry-cured foods" category there is a gem. You see, since moving to the US a while ago, I have not been able to find the equivalent of Saucisson Sec here and have to rely on visits from family or friends to smuggle some for me. So I was quite excited to find a recipe for saucisson sec in the book and have been making it regularly. Again I make large batches. They make excellent gifts and last for a few months in the fridge (I like mine extra-sec).

The prep is easy. Pork shoulder and fat are fed into the meat grinder.

The texture should be on the coarse side with little pieces of fat still clearly visible (I used the biggest die that came with the Kitchenaid grinder, but something bigger would be even better).

The seasonings are just salt and pepper, sugar, garlic and curing salt #2.

After the dreaded stuffing process (make sure you have a helper if you are using the Kitchenaid stuffing attachment), they are ready to go in the curing chamber (aka spare fridge) for a month or so.

Amazing how fresh pork can transform into this after a few weeks.

[radtek]

Unbeknownst to me I've been doing charcuterie for most of my life- but on the BBQ side. As a result of watching the "American Heartland" episode of NR I bought Ruhlman and Polcyn's book "Charcuterie" and the Marianski Bros' "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages". As soon as it came out I had "Salumi" shipped to me. I am very late to this side of the game!

Bought a separate mixer, grinder and 5# stuffer which is the only way to go in my book.

Have made countless batches of sausage and smoked, poached and #1 cured to my hearts content. I must say that Ruhlman's "Master Garlic Sausage" recipe is exemplary. Make it a lot and this as it is a good base for fresh sausage. Bacon, pancetta, guanciale and filleto are staples now in my kitchen. Pate and rilletes as well though this is not made nearly enough!

What I want to do ultimately is fermented sausage which to me is the pinnacle of the craft. I'm just waiting on figuring out the starter culture and getting my fermentation chamber dialed in.

A pic of one of my fermentation chambers:

The problem with a chest freezer is that the humidity levels can remain very high due to when opening the lid as air does not flow out. I have quite a bit of damp-rid and salt in there to absorb moisture- think I can maintain 65% humidity now. Also- one should be careful when "squeezing" the meat early on as a gauge for doneness as mold can develop- contaminated even by clean fingers! I bought a spray bottle that is filled with vinegar to combat any of the nasties. Might investigate light smoking prior to placing in the chamber...

I'm very passionate about this pursuit. My family accepts my gifts of charcuterie only to humor me I'm afraid.

[mkayahara]

Home-cured sauerkraut

No photos as it smelled off at the end of the (long) process with pink slime as a bonus, and I ended up throwing it away.

That's a shame: I've made the home-cured Sauerkraut and really enjoyed it. The texture was much better than canned or jarred products, and you have a lot more control over the level of sourness. Did you keep it properly submerged in the brine? What temperature were you fermenting at?

One the topic of sausages it is extremely bizarre to see a merguez recipe in the book which includes PORK fat. Merguez is always lamb or beef.

Not to mention the inclusion of red wine... clearly a merguez-inspired sausage, not the real deal.

[FrogPrincesse]

Home-cured sauerkraut

No photos as it smelled off at the end of the (long) process with pink slime as a bonus, and I ended up throwing it away.

That's a shame: I've made the home-cured Sauerkraut and really enjoyed it. The texture was much better than canned or jarred products, and you have a lot more control over the level of sourness. Did you keep it properly submerged in the brine? What temperature were you fermenting at?

Submerged in brine, room temperature, protected from light (in a cupboard).

[Luke]

Has anyone hot smoked their home made bacon twice?

I like my smoke but I dont have a cold smoker, and my hot smoker is one of those stainless-steel fish smokers about the size of a medium apple packaging box. I smoke plenty of trout in it, about 30 mins for them, but I am a little worried it might get the bacon too hot too quickly.

So I was wondering, could you smoke until the internal temp reaches 65 deg cel, remove, cool, chill in fridge overnight and do the process again.

I guess I could freeze or semi-freeze the bacon before smoking, which in theory would mean it would take longer to get to 65 deg cel internal, therefore more time in the smoke.

On second thoughts, I have never tried turning the alcohol burning flame down...which might work, but might also just produce less smoke too.

Looking forward to my first bacon which is currently curing!

Luke

[ninagluck]

Luke, do you have an outdoor grill, like a weber? you could try to coldsmoke in there!

[Steve Irby]

Guanciale from a Tamworth hog. Cured with salt, pepper, rosemary and garlic. Left in the utility fridge (no defrost cycle) for about three weeks.

Mulberry smoked bacon from same hog.

[Martin Fisher]

Looks great Steve.

~Martin

[nickrey]

I notice that there is a revised and updated version of the book coming out soon.

Does anyone have any ideas of how much it is revised and updated?

[vittorio]

[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 1)]

Duck prosciutto.

Nice colors

[FrogPrincesse]

A recent 7-pound batch of fresh (unsmoked) bacon. Great stuff. I use some of it right away, give some to friends, and freeze the rest.

[rotuts]

that looks so tasty.

but if its un smoked and not brined its really pork belly? Id love some of that!

not being a Utzz

what did you do with the slices?

Edited November 22, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

that looks so tasty.

but if its un smoked and not brined its really pork belly? Id love some of that!

not being a Utzz

what did you do with the slices?

Well it's cured, so it's bacon.

Some slices were diced and used as a garnish for soup. Most were fried for breakfast. Some went into quiche lorraine. My friends snatched the rest.

Edited November 22, 2013 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[rotuts]

Sorry. I missed the cured part. delicious I bet.

[ChrisTaylor]

I made two different sausages over the weekend. The breakfast sausages from Charcuterie and, from another book, the Daylesford Bull-Boar. The latter is a sausage unique to a small region in the old goldfields in my state. It's based on a traditional style of sausage brought over by Swiss-Italian migrants during the gold rush. As the name suggests it combines beef and pork. It's heavily spiced and jacked with red wine.