Other hobbies

jeffpn said:
No cheese.
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Hey Jeffpn I think I'm ready to delve into the fine mouth drooling art of all thing meat curing (that's what youse call it eh) see already a million questions?

Now as I know your one of our resident "meat men" I thought who best to point a greenhorn like myself in the right direction then you! Any helpful links you could steer me towards to help Kick start this new hobby.

I just watched a Utube vid on meat curing wack the meat in salt for 24 then weigh it add spice wrap her up hang in muslin cloth hang in fridge and wait till 35% less weight.
 
Got a couple 4 pound chunks of bottom sirloin curing for corned beef and 2 slabs of pork belly curing for some peppery bacon. Now, if the fish would start cooperating I'd be smoking some trout too.
 
I haven’t done any dry curing yet, except for the pancetta I made once. And that wasn’t really dry cured, either.

Bacon is a very easy way to start. Get a piece of fresh side/pork belly, about 1.5 - 2.25 kg
Make up a basic dry cure

THE BASIC DRY CURE WITH GRANULATED SUGAR
1 pound/450 grams kosher salt
8 ounces/225 grams sugar
8 teaspoons/56 grams pink salt

THE BASIC DRY CURE WITH DEXTROSE (yeah! Homebrewer stuff)
1 pound/450 grams kosher salt
13 ounces/425 grams dextrose
8 teaspoons/56 grams pink salt

Excerpt From
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (Revised and Updated)
Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ch...king-curing-revised-updated/id638329080?mt=11
This material may be protected by copyright.

Use 1/4 cup of dry cure in a zip lock bag with the meat. Coat evenly. Flip every other day. Takes a week or so to cure. It’ll be firm. Then rinse with cold water and smoke or roast it at 200°F until it reaches 150°F, about 2 hours. Try it at that point, you’ve never had anything like it! Then refrained slice the next day.

And get the above mentioned book. Michael Ruhlman writes about charcuterie the same way Charlie Papazian writes about homebrew. He outlines some great methods to use, and lots of good recipes.
 
jeffpn said:
I haven’t done any dry curing yet, except for the pancetta I made once. And that wasn’t really dry cured, either.

Bacon is a very easy way to start. Get a piece of fresh side/pork belly, about 1.5 - 2.25 kg
Make up a basic dry cure

THE BASIC DRY CURE WITH GRANULATED SUGAR
1 pound/450 grams kosher salt
8 ounces/225 grams sugar
8 teaspoons/56 grams pink salt

THE BASIC DRY CURE WITH DEXTROSE (yeah! Homebrewer stuff)
1 pound/450 grams kosher salt
13 ounces/425 grams dextrose
8 teaspoons/56 grams pink salt

Excerpt From
Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (Revised and Updated)
Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ch...king-curing-revised-updated/id638329080?mt=11
This material may be protected by copyright.

Use 1/4 cup of dry cure in a zip lock bag with the meat. Coat evenly. Flip every other day. Takes a week or so to cure. It’ll be firm. Then rinse with cold water and smoke or roast it at 200°F until it reaches 150°F, about 2 hours. Try it at that point, you’ve never had anything like it! Then refrained slice the next day.

And get the above mentioned book. Michael Ruhlman writes about charcuterie the same way Charlie Papazian writes about homebrew. He outlines some great methods to use, and lots of good recipes.
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Awesome. We do summer sausage, wieners, pepperoni, and sometimes jerky from our venison. Have to add pork so it is not too dry. Just use "High Country" seasoning kits. We started with them, liked them, so stayed there. Hats off to good cured meat.
www.hicountry.com
 
Pepperoni, eh? I want to make that someday. I’m intimidated by dry curing still.

I don’t hunt, but I bet I could process a deer!
 
jeffpn said:
Pepperoni, eh? I want to make that someday. I’m intimidated by dry curing still.

I don’t hunt, but I bet I could process a deer!
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If you own a sharp boning knife, you could process deer and elk. Keep me posted how you like your sausage mixer. On my want list but spendy for how much it gets used. 40#s of meat mixed by hand is a chore.
 
I hemhawed for a long time about the meat mixer. I’ve used it so far for 2 ten pound batches of sausage, and 2 fifteen pound batches of jerky, 4 times total. It’s easier to clean than I thought it would be. Spent right at $100 for it, 20 lb capacity. No regrets.
 
'Tis the season. Most every weekend I make the run with a few thousand of my closest friends (and their cars), strap boards to my feet and careen down the hill at speeds that would scare the crap out of me if I knew what they were. I'm a passionate alpine skier and am busy bringing my grandson up in my image, at least on the hill....
 
jeffpn said:
I hemhawed for a long time about the meat mixer. I’ve used it so far for 2 ten pound batches of sausage, and 2 fifteen pound batches of jerky, 4 times total. It’s easier to clean than I thought it would be. Spent right at $100 for it, 20 lb capacity. No regrets.
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Thanks for the heads up jeffpn! I said to the missus yesterday "I think I'm ready for another hobby"! No NO No NO she said angrily. "But think of all the great meat we could eat and we don't need to by ham:oops: anymore:p!"
NO NO No she said. Why .... Because I'll eat it:D:D:D. Yes she don't like beero_O:confused: why could you:cool:.

Anywho I'll persue it on the sly just like I did hombrewing! Oh honey it's just some ginger beer on its just a ferm freezer oh it's just a kegerator oh it's just like a case a week of beer I don't have to buy because I'm brewing it!!
OK so I've ranted I WANT SOME MEAT with my beer:rolleyes:.

So far I've found I can convert my wine fridge ( old ferm fridge) into a curing fridge. Thermostat check. Hanging rack check check it's got so many. Humidifier:confused::rolleyes: ok I need one apparently gotta keep it at around 80% to help the curing process. And of course a humidity guage thing that I plug my humidifier in oh and my fan in to tell me when my humidity is tooooo low in my curing chamber...:)

Maybe I've gone "All Grain" straight off the bat...

Ok I'll have another couple of homebrews and think about it. Gee this would go great with MEAT!!!:(​
 
Yeah, my wife knows a curing fridge is on the horizon. My bacon fits nicely in my little bar fridge. When I cure a ham, chicken, or turkey, I have to put the bucket in a keg’s spot. That’s usually not a problem, as I have a 8 keg capacity keezer that has only 6 taps.
 
Guess I'm lucky in that respect. My wife was raised on a farm in Co Dublin, Ireland.Her dad was an avid hunter and moonshiner. Anything that I produce at home is a treat for her. If it weren't illegal,I might consider a still. (TIC)
 
BOB357 said:
Guess I'm lucky in that respect. My wife was raised on a farm in Co Dublin, Ireland.Her dad was an avid hunter and moonshiner. Anything that I produce at home is a treat for her. If it weren't illegal,I might consider a still. (TIC)
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It's not illegal, at least not here in the States.
 
Just get an "essential Oils" distiller and branch out. It's what some friends of mine did. Or find a keg and someone that knows how to braze copper.
 
Make your own “distilled” water ;)
 
Nosybear said:
It's not illegal, at least not here in the States.
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It is illegal to distill alcohol without having either a "distilled spirits permit" or a "federal fuel alcohol permit." It does not matter if the alcohol is for personal use only, not for sale, etc. A common misconception is that only stills 1 gallon and smaller are legal.
 
its legal here in Aus but ive bumped into a few sly grogers in my travels.
 
Yeah, it's against Federal law. No one here in Colorado cares. We have better things to do than chase some dude for burning off a gallon or so of shine, like ignore Federal marijuana laws....
 
Nosybear said:
Yeah, it's against Federal law. No one here in Colorado cares. We have better things to do than chase some dude for burning off a gallon or so of shine, like ignore Federal marijuana laws....
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Haha! Yup.
 
Long time, I hope everyone is doing well. Good day fishing on the Chesapeake .....
Good Day.jpg
 
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