Meat Club Charcuterie

random posts about our meatings

Dried Spanish Chorizo Complete

It's been just over a month since the spanish chorizo went into the curing chamber (see last post).  Based on weight loss, firmness, and taste, I've concluded that they're done (except for the largest one, which I'm going to give another week or two). 

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The pair of sausages in the hog casings (on the left in the first photo) lost 40% of the their weight, as did the smaller sausage in the beef-middle casing (in the center).  The largest one (on the right) lost 36% of its weight and still has a little "squish" to it when I squeeze, so I'm going to let it ride a little longer.  I'm also doing this because having cut open and tasted the small diameter sausages with 40% loss, I've found that they're still plenty moist to cut and in the mouth, so I'm not worried about letting the largest one lose more moisture weight.  Regarding curing chamber conditions, temperature hovered in the mid 50s and humidity started up around 80%+ and ramped down to 65%-70%.

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As for flavor: fantastic!  Very rich, no off-flavors, good bind, and several layers of the various paprikas, garlic, etc.  These will be great on their own with a good beer (or perhaps some Asturian cider....) and also as an ingredient in cooking.  Of course, if Tim gets near, they may disappear quickly.

Spanish Chorizo: Fresh & Cured (and Tasty!!!)

I cranked out two batches of spanish chorizo this weekend -- one cured and one fresh.  Here they both are after stuffing (the batch of small links are the fresh, and the group of two large and one pair are for curing):

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Eager to jump at my wife's suggestion to make a batch of fabada, I took a few of the fresh links, some cured pork belly, and a big smoked hock, and made a very tasty pot of fabada (albeit lacking in the morcilla (blood sausage)).  In honor of Duncan & Elsa and Joaquin & Coro and Aitana:

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And now, just out of the fermentation chamber and into the curing chamber, are the cured chorizo. I decided to inoculate them with the m-600 white mold before going into the fermentation chamber, to foster the growth of the good stuff and avoid the growth of the bad stuff.  Seems like it worked like a charm:

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So far so good!  More later.....

Finocchiona Finale

Below are a couple of pictures of the completed Spicy Finocchiona (to see prior posts, click on tag on sidebar of "finocchiona").  The salami were done curing over a month ago, but I just never got around to posting. 

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In all, these are the best salami I've yet made.  Good taste, good spice, and good texture.  One interesting thing was that I originally pulled them from the curing chamber when the weight loss was around 33-35%.  But, I felt that the one I cut into was still too mushy and unconsolidated, so I let them dry for another few weeks until the total weight lost was around 40%, which I think improved them.  Also, my fat content was a bit too high on these, so next time I'll fix the ratio.  But, in all, a solid success. 

Finocchiona Update

Finocchiona are doing very well in the chamber, having been in for about three weeks. Temp has been 55-60 and humidity at 70-75%.

Below are paired pictures taken about a week ago and yesterday (each pair shows one side of the salumi). You can see the change in the plumpness. Here's one side, before and after (i.e., a week ago and yesterday):

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And here's the other side:

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 I'm also happy with the mold development.  There's a nice bloom of the mold I sprayed on and no visible bad molds. 

Finocchiona Fermented and Drying

Quick upate: the fermentation chamber worked great, with temperatures oscillating around 68-74 degrees (as heater timer cycled on and off -- see comment on last post).  I let the salami ferment for three days at around 85-90% humidity.  

When I pulled them from the chamber, some surficial mold had begun to grow (see first few pictures below).  I wiped that off with a salt water solution, then misted them with the M-600 mold culture from Butcher & Packer (formerly called the M-EK-4 culture), and put them in the curing chamber (see ghostly picture below with my bad camera).  Conditions in the chamber around around 57 degrees and 80% humidity. 

To make space for the salami, I pulled out some pancetta which was in there and let it dry in the ambient conditions in my cellar, which are around 60-64 degrees and around 50-65% RH.  I didn't want to keep them in with the salami, since I want the pancetta at a lower humidity.

A question to all: what are your practices for applying the M-600 mold culture?  Do you apply it before or after the salami goes into the fermentation chamber?  How much powder do you put into solution?  Do you spray it on or dip?  Do you precondition the mold if frozen (e.g., let sit in solution for 12 hours before applying)?  Seem to be mixed practices out there and not much good info on the mold package or Butcher & Packer.

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Spicy Finocchiona Salami

I had a picnic roast on hand from a recent pig order, so decided to make a batch of salami.  I combined a few recipes from the Ruhlman/Polcyn book (their tuscan salami), len poli's site (http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Salami%20finocchiona.pdf) and the Marianski book (their finocchiona), and also added in some hot pepper flakes for extra zing.  

I used the T-SPX slow-fermenting culture (suggested in Marianski, and obtained from Butcher & Packer) rather than the fast-fermenting Bactoferm F-RM-52 (called for in Ruhlman), since the Marianski book places heavy emphasis on the better flavors with the slow fermenting SPX culture.  Having been bit a bit underwhelmed by prior results with the Ruhlman tuscan salami, I'm curious to see how this one goes.  For casings I used beef middles (several sections of which were a bit thin/ragged, and two blew out while stuffing; hopefully more won't fail while hanging).

Another fun endeavor today was inventing and building a fermentation chamber for the salami.  You'll see it in the final photos in the series.  It is basically a clear, upright storage bin, with a dowel mounted across the top, a heating pad hanging inside along one wall, a remote humidity and temperature sensor, and some water poured in the bottom and misted throughout.  So far, it's working great.  The SPX culture is supposed to ferment at 68-75 F for 2-3 days at 85-95% RH.  Right now, I'm getting a reading of 73 F and 90% RH.  I'm just hoping I don't wake up to find it's at 50 or 100 degrees....

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Guanciale, Tessa, and Lardo

Some results are in from our Big Pig Day.  My guanciale, tessa (flat pancetta), and lardo are all done, and all turned out excellently.  I let a few things sit in the cure for longer than called for (I forgot about things), but nothing appears to be overly salted or otherwise problematic.  I'll post some more tasting notes as I and my willing friends and family move through the product. 
 
I only had a very small lardo piece, so I let that cure in the fridge for 6 days, and then rinsed off the cure and let it hang in my chamber (in the cheesecloth bag in the photo) for 18 days.  I let the tessa and guanciale cure in the fridge for 17 days, and then rinsed and hung for another 10 days.  On March 26, I pulled them all from the chamber and cleaned off the mold for final consumption and storage.  As you'll see, the tessa got some nice, white mold from ambient conditions (they were not innoculated).  The photos showing the mold are after 8 days of hanging.  The guanciale got almost no mold and the lardo had none.
 
Conditions in the chamber were maintained at the high 50s for temp and high 60s and low 70s for humidity.  Made for a nice firm product, without being hard or dry.
 
All in all, a great success for every product.  I was, and remain, a bit ambivalent about leaving the skin on the guanciale and tessa.  I think it probably makes for a more uneven cure and uneven drying.  But, it looks and feels so damn awesome at the end that it's hard to pass up.  And, it probably adds a nice protective layer (though probably not essential since I will keep extra product in the fridge or freezer, tightly wrapped in plastic).
 
Keep your eyes peeled for the next posting on my lonzino, which has hosted more gnarly growths of mold than you can imagine ....

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Giant Genoa: Big Disappointment

5 months and 32% weight-loss later, I finally cut into the giant genoa (see prior posts for the epic history of this beastly 10 lb salame).
 
Unfortunately, the results are less-than-spectacular.  The flavor is off (soapy/bitter/rancid aftertaste), the meat/fat ratio is off, and the bind is off.  The curing conditions for the last 5 months have been excellent, with a steady decline in RH from around 85% to 55%, with temperature generally running 50-60 degrees F.  While there was no big bloom of white mold, there was also no big bloom of any bad mold.  So, I'm not exactly sure what went wrong (I suspect a few things from our production phase).  Regardless, we'll chalk this one up to experience.
 
That being said, I have 10 lbs of the genoa salame that I am the mere custodian for, and I'm happy to distribute large chunks to anyone that wishes!  And, even though it wasn't great on its own, it did make for a fine hoagie (one of my favorite foods as a kid).

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Big Pig Day -- More Photos!

Here are some more photos from our excellent Big Pig Day.  For those who could not attend, we spent the morning breaking down the hog for later fabrication in the afternoon into: prosciutto, lardo, tessa (flat pancetta), guanciale, brine cured loin, dry cured lonzino, coppa, fresh garlic sausage, tuscan and genoa salami (and other things I've probably forgotten).  Then, we had a bunch of misc. parts leftover for individual home creativity (ribs, offal, trotters, ears, skin, etc.).  A great day in all.

For all that did attend, please post updates (with photos, insights, and confusion) on the progress of your curing and consumption!

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A Fine Meal

 

I had a few meat-loving friends over for dinner the other night, which provided a great opportunity for lots of charcuterie and related tasty morsels.  The menu:

Charcuterie Platter and Cheeses (inlcuding housemade: duck breast prosciutto, trifecta poultry liver pate with currants and dried cherries (i.e., duck, turkey, chicken livers), country pork terrine with pistachios, tuscan salame, and spanish pork rillettes)

Duck Confit, Creamed Parsley, and Duck-Fat-Fried Potatoes with Black Truffles

Linzer Torte with Sara Sloan Peach Preserves