# Who here makes their own charcuterie?



## jbl (Apr 16, 2014)

I've done it at work for a while, but am about to start at home.
Anyone have any experience of this?
Essential equipment?
I'm going to start with bacon with various cures, and then move onto whole muscles, lomo etc..
Holding off on grinding for now.
Initial investment is curing salt, and a dehumidifier.
Got the Ruhlman/Polcyn charcuterie book.
I'd love to hear of your methods, success/failure stories and advice!


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## kodo (Apr 16, 2014)

i got this booked marked when i start mine at home if i ever get to build a chamber.
http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/


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## jbl (Apr 16, 2014)

Thanks man!


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## Dardeau (Apr 16, 2014)

I did a lot when I was at Cochon, not so much for the last year or so. I have a ton of recipes and made most of the rookie mistakes so if you have any questions


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## lanel (Apr 16, 2014)

Dardeau- would you be interested in sharing any recipes scaled for pro use you found to be good?


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## Dardeau (Apr 16, 2014)

I did not develop all those formulas, and do not feel comfortable sharing other peoples work in commercially viable form. Also the formulas are just not that important. The ratio of fat to protein in sausage, and salt per pound/pink salt % are (mostly) stable as you multiply up. The fun part is flavoring it. I can tell you how to not **** it up, answer questions about how to achieve what you want, but I'm not going to tell you how to make the stuff that a well known restaurant makes.


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## rami_m (Apr 16, 2014)

Dardeau said:


> I did not develop all those formulas, and do not feel comfortable sharing other peoples work in commercially viable form. Also the formulas are just not that important. The ratio of fat to protein in sausage, and salt per pound/pink salt % are (mostly) stable as you multiply up. The fun part is flavoring it. I can tell you how to not **** it up, answer questions about how to achieve what you want, but I'm not going to tell you how to make the stuff that a well known restaurant makes.


Sounds reasonable. So what's the common pitfalls we should avoid?


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## Dardeau (Apr 17, 2014)

Longer list later. Short thing, take notes how much, how long, what you did, because not being able to recreate something, or not having something to go over to figure out what went wrong will ruin your day


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## brainsausage (Apr 17, 2014)

A gram scale is your best friend. Like Dardeau said: record everything. If you have something drying for a month(or a year as I currently do), you're gonna wanna have some idea as to how to recreate it if it went right, and not if it went wrong. Less is more when it comes to the aromatics. I've been doing charcuterie for years and have developed all of my own recipes from trial and error. The Ruhlman book is a decent place to start, but falls short in that the recipes aren't ratio based. I meant to start a charcuterie thread on here awhile back to show some of my work, recipes, and just general discussion, but life got in the way. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up.


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## kodo (Apr 17, 2014)

what kind of setup you use for the curing chamber? i am hoping to build one early next year.


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## lanel (Apr 18, 2014)

does anyone here have any experience making tasso ham?


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## Dardeau (Apr 18, 2014)

A bacon cure is a good place to start, then work in some aromatics, maybe some beer, pizza flake, cayenne, garlic, thyme. Cyrovac if available, wrap well if not. Check at maybe a week if cryoed, five days or so longer if not. Smoke to about 130 and rest in the smoker till done. This is traditionally done with scrap ham, but coppa makes a nice presentation, and pork tongue Tasso cured is badass.


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