# Cured meat projects?



## Zwiefel (Aug 13, 2015)

So, my big cooking goal for '15 is getting a toehold on cured meats. Finally in a position to get started. And have done some preparatory shopping:





2 whole pork bellies (2 from the Asian market, and 1 from a gourmet grocery store for comparison), and a whole USDA prime packer brisket. 

Looking for ideas and recipes. My thoughts:

Pastrami (one of my favorite things), bacon, and some kind of cured/SV pork belly entree thing similar to what I had at Knerds resto in '13....I still have dreams about that course...well, the whole meal.


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## panda (Aug 13, 2015)

guanciale, chorizo, soppressata, bologna, pepperoni


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## Zwiefel (Aug 13, 2015)

panda said:


> guanciale, chorizo, soppressata, bologna, pepperoni



I've never made cured meats before, and have no EQ, or knowledge specific to it. Isn't Bologna an emulsified sausage? Isn't that kinda technical?

Pepperoni? From pork belly? I do LOVE good pepperoni.


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## Dardeau (Aug 13, 2015)

Pepperoni is actually trickier than Bologna. 
True mortadella is a thoroughly emulsified sausage, but there are some chunkier rustico versions that are pretty easy. 

Pepperoni takes a dry cure and that's a little tricky because you have to control temperature and humidity. If you hunt up (I think) Dennis' post about making Slim Jims that is a good, easy into to dry sausages.

Once you master bacon, guanciale and pancetta are natural follow ups. They require a little more care, and a longer cure time, but are still pretty easy.

Mexican style chorizo is the gateway sausage. It's easy, awesome, and is actually better uncased. Spanish chorizo is a whole different ballgame. If someone asks if you want "mi chorizo" make sure you are into that kind of thing.

I did a lot of this at my last job, PM me it you want some info


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## 29palms (Aug 13, 2015)

I've been venturing there too - I made goose breast sausage with pork, beef and veal and with Prague #1, hog casing and smoke it was delicious. Next week's batch of goose is getting mixed with pork and chorizo.

Drying before smoking -
http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc489/mikel9nine/IMG_20150624_113241_zpskjqiicgk.jpg


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## Bill13 (Aug 13, 2015)

Damn, I'm feeling inadequate:sad0:. And where did you find prime brisket?

To me fall is the perfect time for outdoor smoking and football is on - even if it's the preseason.


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## EdipisReks (Aug 13, 2015)

Bill13 said:


> Damn, I'm feeling inadequate:sad0:. And where did you find prime brisket?



No kidding, I've never seen that in a store, even at Jungle Jim's.


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## brainsausage (Aug 14, 2015)

EdipisReks said:


> No kidding, I've never seen that in a store, even at Jungle Jim's.



I butchered about 300# worth of black angus prime just this afternoon


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## EdipisReks (Aug 14, 2015)

brainsausage said:


> I butchered about 300# worth of black angus prime just this afternoon



Uh, you have my address, right?


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## Zwiefel (Aug 14, 2015)

Bill13 said:


> Damn, I'm feeling inadequate:sad0:. And where did you find prime brisket?
> 
> To me fall is the perfect time for outdoor smoking and football is on - even if it's the preseason.





EdipisReks said:


> No kidding, I've never seen that in a store, even at Jungle Jim's.




Central Market in DFW. Wasn't totally outrageous either.


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## EdipisReks (Aug 14, 2015)

Zwiefel said:


> Central Market in DFW. Wasn't totally outrageous either.



Central market FTW.


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## mhlee (Aug 18, 2015)

Certain Costcos carry Prime briskets in the LA area. I saw 3 nice sized Prime briskets at the Costco closest to my work. $3.29/lb. I've got one in my fridge right now that I bought at Costco a couple of weeks ago.


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## aaj423 (Aug 23, 2015)

paul bertolli's book is a great intro to the subject. His 'tesa' technique is really easy, quick, and good - a great way to get into curing your own pork belly. 

curing pepperoni is the same as curing bresaola, pancetta, guanciale, or any other whole muscle (as far as controlling temp/humidity/air flow) - not any 'harder'.

Don't be afraid of emulsifying meat its just like anything else - follow the recipe exactly as it says and you should be fine.


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## Zwiefel (Aug 23, 2015)

aaj423 said:


> paul bertolli's book is a great intro to the subject. His 'tesa' technique is really easy, quick, and good - a great way to get into curing your own pork belly.
> 
> curing pepperoni is the same as curing bresaola, pancetta, guanciale, or any other whole muscle (as far as controlling temp/humidity/air flow) - not any 'harder'.
> 
> Don't be afraid of emulsifying meat its just like anything else - follow the recipe exactly as it says and you should be fine.



Interesting. I'm all about this, this year.


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## Dardeau (Aug 23, 2015)

It is harder, but mostly because you are adding variables, added cultures and the emulsification itself. Combine the extra steps with a long feedback time and the process of troubleshooting a recipe can get difficult. 

Those recipes are awesome. Cooking by Hand is what I pick up to read when I have a bad day to remind me why I cook. They are written to work in California. They required some tweaking to work in south Louisiana. 

The other difficulty in curing hard sausages is that you need a separate environment for them to hang, where you can get away with drying pancetta in your fridge every now and again. 

If your early experiments work out and you want to go for the environmental controls and the KA grinder your pepperoni will be really rewarding, especially once you've made it a few times and can tweak the seasonings to where you like them.


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## Mucho Bocho (Aug 23, 2015)

Dardeau is spot on about making emulsified sausages. There are ten things I can think of that must be perfect, less you'll be eating a fat meat log. Before you go whole hog, I'd suggest starting out making fresh sausage, then move on to fresh cured sausage, then semi cured sausage, then cured. 

Don't leave out whole muscle charcuterie too. 

My last three points of advise are:

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage recipes.htm

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982426739/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/17859-Some-thoughts-on-sausage-making?highlight=


good luck, I'm sure they'll come out great.


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## aaj423 (Aug 25, 2015)

Ya, I was just reading paul's section on flour the other night.....that book never gets old. I have tweaked his techniques as well for my use - like for example, in his tesa recipe i puree everything and cure the belly that way, then dry it out. It also makes a great pancetta if you wash it and roll it up, cure it for a couple months. Also, he uses lights in his cure room, but now we have reptile lamps that do the same thing without providing light which will oxidize your meat/fat...and we have ultrasonic humidifiers and humidity controllers. 

Personally, I think its even more important to cure whole muscles in the proper environment since they take longer, therefore need to be dried out slowly. They will also taste better if cured at a higher temp - like around 55-60. It can be done in the fridge though, but it won't be the same. My main point is that if you wanna get into this don't be afraid, none if it is too 'hard'. Obviously making a sausage, grinding the meat, mixing and stuffing, working with cultures, etc....is more labor intensive. but its not really 'hard' per se. Just follow the recipe word for word and don't shoe it out. People have been doing this for a long time without any of our technology or other conveniences.

As far as books - The CIA came out with a good book on charcuterie as well. In the past 3 years or so, there have been so many books coming out, most aren't very good though IMHO. Stanley marianski's books are great. And fergus hendersons.

Unless you have a good recipe for pepperoni maybe start with something else. I've made ton's of pepperoni, but never found a good recipe for it - I had to make my own which took a loooong time. If you start with something out of the CIA's book or Paul bertollis book you will have a better result cause you know the recipe is good.


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