Robert Z Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 The G/F and I purchased a 220lb hog from a friend. I had it butchered into lots of good piggy parts and stuck a bunch of it in the deep freeze. I had the butcher cure and smoke one side of bacon, a ham, and a jowl. I am going to try my hand at doing the other side myself. So here are all of the pieces I will be working with in all their glory. Here is the ham which I Am going to attempt to turn into a country ham, and the jowl I am going to turn into Guancial (Italian cured and dried hog jowl pronounced like "gwan-see-all") A better shot of the jowl Here is the shoulder (or butt), with the picnic ham still attached (notice skin still on). I am going to smoke these SLOW AND LOW until they fall apart, then serve with home made rolls and mustard BBQ sauce! So they would not fit into my smoker whole. Out came the sawzall and now we have a pork shoulder and picnic ham. Here is the Pork Belly Here is the ham with its initial application of cure Here is the ham after I put some newsprint under it and applied the rest of the first application of the cure Here it is all wrapped up in news print then cheese cloth All curing piggy parts are stored under refrigeration and allowed their respective curing time. The Guancial was cured first after just 5 days. I should have taken pics but I did not. There was about a solid 1 cup of liquid that had been drawn out that got dumped. I gave it a quick rinse strung it up on a piece of butchers twine in the garage to dry for 3 weeks, at which point it is ready to use. (I will try to remember to take pics of it tonight). The Ham was "overhauled" at day 7. Because there is so much moisture to be drawn out the cure is applied in 2 phases. I dumped about 3 cups of liquid out of my steam table tray, unwrapped the ham, discarded the saturated paper and cheese cloth, placed new news print inside the steam table tray, applied a layer of cure, put the ham into cure, then applied the remainder of the cure. I then wrapped it up in news print then cheese cloth. In several weeks I will unwrap it, scrub it down with vinegar to remove any mold and leftover cure. Then its time for its cold smoke. It will get 12-18 hours of light hickory smoke at 90 degrees until the skin turns a nice mahogany color. Then is on to the final phase, aging. I ordered some proper ham socks so I will have them at this point. I will wrap it in news print again to provide a breathable barrier that will slow down the drying and hopefully keep out the few bugs that might actually want it after it has been mummified. Since the belly was too big to fit in my container or my smokehouse I was forced to cut it in half. Every other day I am rotating which half is on top. The belly will be cured by day 10 (2-1-2011 tomorrow). I have ordered a pair of bacon hangers which will hopefully come in soon, until then I will leave it in the cure. I hope the additional time in the cure will not ruin it. My experience with curing meat is you can go over the cure time by a good deal, you just have to freshen (soak) it a little extra to leech out some of the extra cure. When the hangers get here I will freshen them for about an hour then let sit in the fridge for a few hours to form a pellicle. I will then smoke with hickory and maple at 185 degrees until an internal temp of 150 is reached. Then I slice and fry, vacuum pack and freeze in 1lb packages. Yesterday I made up about 6lb of andouille. Tonight after work I will smoke them up, package and freeze them. I will try to get some updated pics tonight of the progress. I will also look back through my notes and type up my ingredients, sources, and procedures. I don't claim they are right, safe, or the way you should do it, but I will tell you what I am doing. I will try to be better about taking more pictures, it is hard when the only time you think about it you are up to your elbows in gore. I am no expert at Charcuterie or Salumi. I have been dabbling in it for a few years now. My point is get in there and do it! If you are interested in curing, fermenting, poking, prodding, drying, eating meat I cannot recommend 2 books more highly. Charcuterie (pronounced “shar-coo-tree”) by Michael Ruhleman http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296505723&sr=8-1 Garde Manger (pronounced “Guard-monshjer”) a text book for the culinary institute of America http://www.amazon.com/Garde-Manger-Kitchen-Culinary-Institute/dp/0470055901/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296505773&sr=8-1-spell Now, if I can only figure out what to do with these trotters, tail, and ears... Link to comment
Ambergris Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Scrub the feet, scorch off any hairs, and split lengthwise. Simmer the feet until tender, an hour and a half or so, skimming the froth as it rises. Fish out the feet, lay in a colander in the sink, and rinse under hot water until they look clean. Reduce the heat until you can put your hand in there too, and poke out as many of the bones as you conveniently can. Pour the porkwater into a pail--this is real good to stir into dog food or chicken mash, especially when the weather's cold. Rinse out pot. Put the feet back in, pour in enough vinegar to cover them good, and fish them out again. Simmer the vinegar with the spices you'd use for bread and butter pickles, in about the same proportions. Or simmer with a little sugar, a couple of cayenne peppers, an onion sliced thin, salt, mustard seeds, gingerroot, coriander seeds, and clove if you like it. Simmer for twenty or thirty minutes, until it smells "right." Add the feet back to the pot. If the feet don't stick up more than an inch from the surface of the liquid, call it good. Bring to a full rolling boil. Cut the heat and let it sit until the water flattens out. Fish out the feet, cram them into canning jars as tight as they'll go, pour pickling vinegar over them, and seal the jar(s). When you can set them in the fridge, do. You always have at least one foot that won't fit in the jar(s). What you do is pry out the rest of the bones, grind or chop the meat and gristle very finely, and either add it into any souse you have going or set it in the fridge and stir it with mayonnaise tomorrow for a sandwich spread. The rest of the feet will be ready in three days. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Thanks Ambergris, I will have to give that a shot! OK, here is the Guancial after 2 days of hanging Here are the bacon's after 9 days of cure Here is the andouille I made yesterday just put in the smoker tonight. I will try to remember to get some pics when I remove them too Link to comment
Ambergris Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Now you've made me hungry! We haven't done a pig in years, though. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Time for an update. The andouille turned out OK, but I Am going to look for a better recipe. It was better in the chicken, shrimp, and anduille etouffe I made than it was by its self. The Guanciale has been hanging for 5 days now I strung the bacon's up last night to give them a 24 hour dry before I smoke them tonight. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Another update. ITS BACON!!!!!! BACON BACON BACON BACON!!!!! BACON!!! Link to comment
TurtleMama Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I WANT BACON!!!!! This is so interesting, to follow along with you as you cure this hog. My dad grew up in rural Mississippi and has often told me about when they'd butcher the hogs, but to actually see the pictures is really neat. Thanks for taking the time to post these! Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 6, 2011 Author Share Posted February 6, 2011 I WANT BACON!!!!! This is so interesting, to follow along with you as you cure this hog. My dad grew up in rural Mississippi and has often told me about when they'd butcher the hogs, but to actually see the pictures is really neat. Thanks for taking the time to post these! I am glad you are interested! I was questioning whether I should keep taking pictures or not. This is a journey for myself to know that I have the skills to preserve meat, I am glad to hear someone else appreciates it! Link to comment
WormGuy Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 That looks good Robert! Send me some, I will be more than glad to sample it for ya. John Link to comment
Ambergris Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I am getting ideas. I do love dealing with meat. Link to comment
Ambergris Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Hey, Robert, have you ever done dry-cured beef? Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 Hey, Robert, have you ever done dry-cured beef? I have done several different kinds of dry cured beef. I have done dry cured corned beef, dry cured beef tongue, dry cured pastrami, dry cured beef jerky, dry cured lanjager, dry cured beef bacon, etc.. what do you want to know about? Link to comment
Ambergris Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 I never heard this term until last night when a friend whose husband bought an extra fridge for his pork experiments said the next experiment would be dry-cured beef. They've already done some pastrami. So what is this stuff? What would I look for in the market to sample it? Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 I never heard this term until last night when a friend whose husband bought an extra fridge for his pork experiments said the next experiment would be dry-cured beef. They've already done some pastrami. So what is this stuff? What would I look for in the market to sample it? Dry cured just means it was cured by applying a cure (some combination of salt, sugar, and nitrates or nitrites) to cure, verses dissolving your cure into water, making a brine then pumping it into the meat with a brine pump or meat marinade injector. The brine method is MUCH faster and a more "sure" thing. Dry cure must seep into the meat whereas a brine cure is pumped right in. Dry curing introduces some other flavors along the way though as it takes longer and there are some enzyme actions going on during the cure that give dry cured meats their characteristic flavors. Unfortunately, being as dry curing is laborious, you don't see it much any more. You will most likely not find anything at walmart or krogers dry cured. You can go to some delicatessens an specialty meat shops and find real dry cured stuff. In the case of dry cured beef I would recommend Bresaola, it is a whole muscle type of dry cured beef. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bresaola It is addictingly good! Part of the curing / aging process is the bacteria (the good bacteria that is) that can survive in the salty environment eats some if the sugars in the meat and converts them into lactic acid which gives it a tangy flavor (like the tangy flavor in salami) You should talk to them about making some fermented sausages too. Do they understand that humidity must be controlled as well as temperature to cure properly? I have been working on making a sausage curing chamber out of an old fridge for quite some time. you need to put an ultrasonic humidifier on a humidistat to add moisture to the air to keep the meat from drying too fast. Link to comment
Robert Z Posted February 8, 2011 Author Share Posted February 8, 2011 BACON BACON BACON BACON BACON! BACON! BACON! Link to comment
TurtleMama Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Oh my gosh, that looks amazing.....I would SO make lima beans & bacon if I could get my hands on that...with a side of cornbread...YUM!!! LOL If you hadn't sliced it, would you have been able to keep it hanging there indefinitely because of the hard stuff on the outside of the slab of bacon meat? Or will it eventually require refrigeration? Bravo on your Pork Adventure! There can never be too much BACON!!! Link to comment
Robert Z Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 Oh my gosh, that looks amazing.....I would SO make lima beans & bacon if I could get my hands on that...with a side of cornbread...YUM!!! LOL If you hadn't sliced it, would you have been able to keep it hanging there indefinitely because of the hard stuff on the outside of the slab of bacon meat? Or will it eventually require refrigeration? Bravo on your Pork Adventure! There can never be too much BACON!!! Thank You! And for the final chapter of last years pork curing adventure I bring you the un-shrowding of the country ham. It was more like a prosciutto than American country ham. The flavor of this stuff is SO intense. just a few little slices on a piece of baguette with a little butter is insane. The G/F made some fresh baguette to go with it. It is NOTHING like any country ham I have ever had before. It really is more like prosciutto. Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thank You! And for the final chapter of last years pork curing adventure I bring you the un-shrowding of the country ham. It was more like a prosciutto than American country ham. The flavor of this stuff is SO intense. just a few little slices on a piece of baguette with a little butter is insane. The G/F made some fresh baguette to go with it. It is NOTHING like any country ham I have ever had before. It really is more like prosciutto. THANKS for making my mouth water! I LOVE prosciutto <-- it is the New York City Boy in me and every now and then I will bite the bullet and buy some (like 1/4 pound $$$$). and now that Jan. is over I might make Lori go shopping with me to Wegmans on Wed. and get me some? Should do it today as it is so warm and sunny outside right now I could go on a picnic! Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 By the way.................................... In reading over all the posts- I don't remember seeing anybody saying how well done all the text and pictures were posted? Nice job it was well done and even if you (newbies here) never had the chance to do this link of thing You did a great job of letting people how you did it with updates and more photos of what it looks like when done. All you need now is a photo of you and GF with pork sauce smeared all over you face from eating all the great pork! Link to comment
Robert Z Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 By the way.................................... In reading over all the posts- I don't remember seeing anybody saying how well done all the text and pictures were posted? Nice job it was well done and even if you (newbies here) never had the chance to do this link of thing You did a great job of letting people how you did it with updates and more photos of what it looks like when done. All you need now is a photo of you and GF with pork sauce smeared all over you face from eating all the great pork! Thank you for your compliment! I was approaching the whole project sort of like a pork pickling documentary. Not having access to people that had done this sort of stuff before, and having to dig for the information to teach myself how to do it is a very true testament to how few people do it now. Even the BEST books on the subject I could find did not really have complete information or the INVALUABLE PICTURES! A lot of the books I have read where obviously written by people that had been show how to perform a lot of these things, and they failed to understand that the reader is trying to learn how do do it without the aid of seeing it done. I have been seriously considering looking into publishing a book "meat preservation and charcuterie for people that have not been there", and write it from a complete newbys perspective. Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 THAT is one (of many) reasons we are so glad to have the Amish as our Friends! Oh, a book would be nice to have and it can be a smallish (not many pages but LOTS of pictures) one maybe with that white plastic binding? and glossy pages so it will not end up all red! Link to comment
Amishway Homesteaders Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 PS if you do write that book PLEASE put in a page about Knifes! How to sharpen them the right way! And always remember a SHARP knife is a safe knife! You will cut yourself more times with a dull knife then with a sharp one! Link to comment
dogmom4 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 Oh my! That looks so good! What a great tutorial. Link to comment
sassenach Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I think this is a wonderful tutorial and your pictures are excellent. I don't have any thing to smoke stuff with but its nice to get an idea of how to do it in modern times and yet one can think how one would do it once its cold out/ slaughter time traditionally. And yes, I want some of that bacon! I had learned that drycured beef was a real big gourmet for steak enthusiasts. It goes for a pretty penny in a fine restaurant that does specialize in such entrees. Very much worth the effort do your own beef and pork if one can. Maybe one day. I bet my son would really love to do this for his own household. do let us know if you write your own book, Robert. You write very well and it was all so easy to understand as you explain things very well. Absolutely superb work here with wonderful pork. Thankyou so much for sharing this with us. Link to comment
Jeepers Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Thank you for taking the time to share! Your explanations and pictures are so nice. That bacon looks delicious. Bacon is one of my favorite foods. I could live on bacon, onion and mayo sandwiches. Link to comment
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