New to forums and the like.

[Evan Rahilly]

Hi All...I'm new to this , so please bear with me.  I'm into cooking but especially sausage, dried meat, salami, coppa's, etc.  Mostly I can't sit still, so I have to do something "all the time".  Charcuterie does that.  I live in the San Joaquin Valley of California.  Any way...thanks for having me.

[ElsieD]

Welcome to the forum, Evan .

[Alex]

Welcome, Evan. Do you have either or both of Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's books? Here's a post from 2011 with links to two extensive discussions related to their first book. Also, a search for "Polcyn" brings up all sorts of forums that mention the cookbooks.

[Kim Shook]

Welcome, Evan!  I was just about to send you to the same discussions that @Alex has.  Great information.  Looking forward to getting to know you.  

[Evan Rahilly]

Thank You all for the nice welcome.  No, I'm haven't been working from books. I have been using Len Poli's recipes mostly.  Thank you for the link though, I will check it out. I will have to buy Michael Ruhlman's book.  I've made a couple or his recipes and I like them.  Thanks again.

[Smithy]

Welcome, @Evan Rahilly! Where in the San Joaquin Valley are you? I grew up near Visalia (Ivanhoe, if you're close enough to know that place) and still have relatives in Fresno. I wonder how you keep the temperatures cool enough for charcuterie at this time of year. We'd love to see your setup.

 

Aside from the geographic connection, allow me to welcome you to the forums. C'mon in, look around, join in the conversations! If you need help figuring out how or where to post, feel free to ask a host. (I'm one of them.)

[TdeV]

Hello @Evan Rahilly. This is a great place! Welcome.

[Evan Rahilly]

Hi Smithy,  I'm from Merced.  Thanks for the welcome.  Yeh... it's a little hot here in the summer for charcuterie.  I converted a refrigerator into a curing chamber with a temp and humidity controller.  I could make charcuterie in the summer, but the cost of electricity would make in too expensive, and I would spend most of my day filling the reservoir on my humidifier.  So I'm forced to only create in the late fall, winter, and early spring.  It is already supposed to be 90 degrees this week. 

 

Hi TdeV, thank you too for the welcome.

[kayb]

I’ll follow with interest. I’m considering the same set up (a dorm-room sized fridge), but I’m also contemplating a wine fridge as it would give me better temp control. Not certain how confident I am of my ability to retrofit a thermostat.

[Evan Rahilly]

Hi kayb, If you have the room, I would suggest a small regular size frig.  If you want a controlled environment with little fluctuation you will need a temp controller, humidifier, and a dehumidifier unless you have those covered naturally already. Example: location, humidity, time of year, etc.  By the time you put all that "stuff" in you frig. you have no room for product.  I  tried before I made my present setup to do it without having controllers and the fluctuation are too extreme (my frig would cycle on and off with too much variation in temp) to get consistent results (I wasted a lot of good meat).  It only takes drilling a couple 1" holes in the walls of the frig.  Just make sure (via the internet) that your model of frig has no Freon lines in that wall.  As you can see by the pics, I also piped-in the humidifier to save room on the inside for meat (the second hole).  It's really all just trial and error and a lot of internet searches.  Before I built my curing chamber I made Salami in my garage in the winter with only the addition of hanging wet towels around them for humidity, and it worked fine, just a hassle.  Any way...just something to think about, I hope this helped a little.

[Evan Rahilly]

[Evan Rahilly]

thanks for the welcome EliseD

[Anthill6]

Hi!  I am new too!  Yay!

[Evan Rahilly]

Welcome Anthill6

[kayb]

Welcome! What are your particular food interests?

 

[Evan Rahilly]

3 minutes ago, kayb said:

Welcome! What are your particular food interests?

 

I'm probably into meats more than anything.  I make Salami, capicola, all types of sausage, especially Linguica.  I smoke fish, turkeys, ducks, brisket, jerky, and pork ribs.  I usually buy whole roasts of beef, like New York strips, etc. and cut my own steaks.  I also grind my own hamburger.  I like a large grind and that is the only way I can get it.  I do most of this because I like to keep busy and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment at the end.  And I like to cook, I've only made a couple things in my life that were GREAT, mostly things are just good.  Anyway, probably more than you wanted.  How bout you?