Your Xmas Menu/Meat curing thread

Re: Your'e Xmas Menu...

I work in a hotel and christmas day was a busy one for me so eating was done at strange times i.e. when all the customers had gone and the staff (who live away from home - like me) all had time to sit together as a "family" :lol:

Breakfast (7am): Coffee and a fag.

Mid morning: some awful biscuits and more coffee/fags

Lunch (finally at about 5:00): Duck terrine forestiere, roast sirloin of beef with stuffing and cranberry filo parcels, pigs in blankets and goodness knows how many different ways of preparing a potato!

evening: sandwich/coffee/fag

I managed to avoid eating sprouts this year as I absolutely hate them and my mother was not there to tell me to eat them because "its traditional" :roll:

Hope everyone had a great day and I wish you all the best for 2011!

Matt
 
Re: Your'e Xmas Menu...

Just for completeness, the hams were a bit of a disaster. The one with the bone in it went off (I thought it probably would), the other was rock hard and tasted awful. Like Tony said, you wouldn't normally try and make hams from such a young animal. Shame really, but it was a useful exercise. I'll try with a full size leg next winter.
 
Re: Your'e Xmas Menu...

Sorry to hear that, I've been there with that sort of spoilage I'm afraid. Unless you have a dry cool cellar best thing for future attempts is a dedicated fridge.
 
Re: Your Xmas Menu...

One of the things HFW stresses for this is ventilation - you wouldn't get the required ventilation in a fridge would you? I do note your earlier comments about HFWs techniques being somewhat idealised.
 
Re: Your Xmas Menu...

So what happened? I'd only take a lot of HFW's advice on curing with a large measured pinch of saltpetre, literally.

The primary environmental requirement for (dry) curing at least is temperature control and relative humidity and there's more than one way to do that.

Using an old fridge and a little ingenuity you can provide the correct conditions for some if not most parts of the curing process and therefore seriously reduce the chances of spoilage. If you are using a wet cure, I'd inject anything larger than a 2" or 3" and especially if it has a bone in it, you simply don't get the necessary penetration of the cure by soaking.

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Re: Your Xmas Menu...

I was dry-curing both legs. I think the problem with the "bone in" leg was just that, well, it had the bone in, and didn't cure properly. The "bone out" leg, I think there were two problems. First it was just too young so flavour wasn't there, and second I'd hung it for the same amount of time as that recommended for a full size leg, which was perhaps too long resulting in a rock hard piece of meat.

I had some romantic notion of an air-dried ham similar to ones I've seen in old barns in Italy. I was air-drying these in my garage with the small window open :)

Now I have an excuse to buy a dedicated ham fridge and a proper tunnel boning knife, can't be bad.
 
Re: Your Xmas Menu...

cheese_dave said:
I had some romantic notion of an air-dried ham similar to ones I've seen in old barns in Italy. I was air-drying these in my garage with the small window open :)
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, that'll soon stop after you've discovered the bluebottles have visited.

Lots of really good advice and recipes on the above forum, here's one of their recipes that I've used successfully. (boneless)

1. Chill the meat overnight
2. Rub the meat with half of the cure mixture, if using a boned joint ensure that the inner surface of the meat is properly coated, massage the cure into any crevices.
3. Wrap the meat tightly in cling film or seal in a Ziploc bag or vacuum pack.
4. Lay the meat skin side down in a non reactive container i.e. glass or plastic.
5. Leave the meat to cure in the fridge for 15 days.
6. Unwrap the meat and repeat step 2 with the remaining cure mixture.
7. Leave the meat to cure for another 15 days.
8. Unwrap the meat and leave to soak in tepid water for half an hour.
9. Hang the ham for 3 hours in a draughty cool room.
10. Smear the meat side of the ham with a mixture of lard and black pepper.
11. Hang the ham in a warm room for 3 days, (an airing cupboard is ideal).
12. Hang the ham for a minimum of 30 days at 15 degrees Celsius with a 70% relative humidity.

Ingredients: Sea salt, Demerara sugar, Ground black pepper, Dried Juniper berries, Garlic powder, Preservatives (Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite)
 
Re: Your Xmas Menu...

Tony, what do you actually end up with at the end of that curing process? Will it be similar to Parma Ham or Prosciutto? I'm not really big on cured meat, though I have enjoyed the ones I've eaten, so forgive my naivety. Also, would you serve this ham very thinly sliced like you get in packets at the supermarket?
 
Re: Your Xmas Menu...

Exactly, if you use the same cut of meat you'll end up with a type of proscuitto, meaning ham.

That cure time in the above recipe is the absolute minimum for a dry cure, I think Parma ham is cured for a minimum of 12 months + needless to say it's a better to go to the deli counter and get it sliced fresh and very thin. If you think about what a little dry aging does to beef this really is like one of the ultimate dry aged products and the price reflects that, salami is cured by a different process altogether.

parma%20ham%20med.jpg
 
I'm just weeping with joy that someone's changed the "You're" to "Your" in the title of this thread.

I've certainly had great success dry-curing pork belly to make bacon/lardons, and also making my own chorizo. I need to up my game for the full ham though. Thanks for the multi-step process Tony.
 
cheese_dave said:
I'm just weeping with joy that someone's changed the "You're" to "Your" in the title of this thread.

I've certainly had great success dry-curing pork belly to make bacon/lardons, and also making my own chorizo. I need to up my game for the full ham though. Thanks for the multi-step process Tony.
Click to expand...

I've had a bit of success doing the same sort of thing, making my own corned beef was a particular high point. How did you make your chorizo? I need a shed or garage before attempting anything that requires more than a week or so curing.

I did try HFW's turkey pastrami recipe, thereby combining the smoking and curing threads, it turned out pretty much inedible, made the house smell like a bonfire for a good few days and the pot I smoked it in imparted a rather unwanted smokey-tinge to anything I cooked in it for several months after.
 
Botulism derives it name from Latin Botulus = sausage.

All you need Jim is an old fridge, a timer, hygrometer and thermometer to get started together with a pan with salt and a towel to control humidity. Avoid old world recipes that don't use preservatives (besides salt) because for one thing salt around the Med contained a small % of Nitrites/ates.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/catalog/842/salamichorizoblack_pudding_seasonings_kits">http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/catalog/ ... nings_kits</a><!-- m -->

Or have a go at wet curing.

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Kits certainly aren't best value but they are tried and tested and considering the cost of spoilage it's a good way to start and get a feel for the processes involved before committing to larger quantities. Just noticed the 9 metres of black pudding kit... :roll:
 
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