What greater pleasure than a country ham and red-eye gravy breakfast? Well, personally...
But
that's okay. There are many regional specialties and traditional
methods or preserving meats. Gimme a good corned-beef or pastrami on rye
and a kosher or Polski Wyrobi dill pickle on the side, and I'll be a happy
camper. ...even tell you about the time I went on a job interview in Connecticut and had the best Reuben in my life. ...had "duck breath" after that, so I didn't get the job, but man! ...was it worth it!
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I went in yesterday to buy some pork belly to make CW's famous "Sons-of-Bees" bacon. The butcher quoted me a price of $4.95 a pound! He says that, because of all the cooking shows using pork belly, the price has shot up. ...seems like the last time, it was $1.75 a pound. YIKES!
ReplyDeleteDuk
Hey Duk, I went shopping at Restaurant Depot today. I brought home about 45 pounds of pork belly for $1.99/pound. To get the best price, one needs to meet a purchasing minimum of two bellies. I bought four pieces around 11 pounds each, and my total cost was $90.98! Not sure how they can sell it so cheap, but I'll take it.
DeleteThey are also selling two-packs of shoulder butt for $1.84/lb. if you make a 51 lb. minimum purchase. If not, it's just over $2/lb.
Jim
I hear ya Sir Duk. Pork belly prices are out of control. I am a bbq freak so it reminds me of the prices for the preferred cuts that I use at home and for competitions. Brisket and rib prices are through the roof.
ReplyDelete...used to be, here in Texas, brisket was $1.95 a pound, with sale prices much lower. Nowadays, you're lucky to find it at $2.95/#.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of years ago, in North Carolina, when I tried to by a brisket. All theirs were stripped bare of fat. I asked for an un-trimmed brisket, and the woman (apprentice butcher?) looked at me with puzzled expression.
"You can't UN-trim a brisket," she stated, and turned to walk away!
Fortunately, the manager came by about then, took me into the back, and I picked out one still in the cryovac package, straight from Monfort, Colorado (where all good cattle go to die).
Isn't it amazing that we can buy lamb from New Zealand for less than the price of beef, these days?
Duk
I wanted to grab a brisket to brine for a corned beef, the best price I could find was $3.99lb, and that was on sale. I get Shensons corned beef flats around St Patty's Day, and they aren't bad, for $2.79lb. What' has happened to the price of beef in the USA in the last 18 months is a darned crime, I can hardly wait to see what the price of a whole prime rib will be come this Xmas. RAY
DeleteStill can get boneless pork butt here in Tampa for $1.79 a lb. don't know how much longer, what gets me is WE see that prices of food has shot up BUT is is being reported that inflation is in check??? REALLY??? I guess "FOOD" does not fit into the equation for cor cost of living. #%***#!@###
ReplyDeleteFred (Krakowska)
Good luck with the site Duck and Chuckwagon. Got to get accustomed to signing into Google and navigating in your site. My sign in NYFred3 is from many many years ago and has not been in use since I posted videos of my son's Brittany.
Just forgot to mention that when I was up in Buffalo, pork bellies per case (60 lb) was $2.25 a lb. Just way too much for me to use. Heck, if I made all that into bacon I would die of heart disease by the time I went through half of it. Got a hank of sheep casings price was $27.00. 22mm
DeleteThanks to you and others who commented on the Google login mess, we've relaxed permissions on the main site so that anyone can read it at their leisure. You'll still have to log into the Forum to post, but no login is required for just reading through it.
DeleteI hope! Let me know if I'm wrong. (That happened, once, but....)
Fred, you salty of scalawag! How come a guy in Florida signs in as NY Fred? I'm waiting for you to move out here in the mountains with me. It's good to have you with us ol' pal. How is that gorgeous dog? Are you feedin' him right?
DeleteBest Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Here's how good friend Jack Howison procures his ingredients.
ReplyDeleteDuk
[URL=http://s1164.photobucket.com/user/erlwebmail/media/javelina_zps0214db7d.jpeg.html][IMG]http://i1164.photobucket.com/albums/q563/erlwebmail/javelina_zps0214db7d.jpeg[/IMG][/URL]
Wow, is that how you Texans hunt? With tractors? Geeeeeze, what do you use to stuff them?
ReplyDeleteWhy, a FORK LIFT, obviously.
DeleteDuk
Well then... what do you use for casings on such a product? ... enquiring minds ..... you know!
DeleteSons Of Bees Bacon
ReplyDeleteHoney Rubbed, Maple Flavored, Dry-Cured Bacon
No one on the planet makes bacon better than the English. In fact, a couple of hundred years ago, some wild English cowboy wrangler named Alan Davidson wrote the “Oxford Companion To Food” containing a recipe for maple flavored bacon. I’ve always suspected that the infamous bacon-wrapped ham (later called “Schinkenspeck” by the Germans), was developed during the seventeenth century in the British Isles. I’ve learned over the years, that sugar (or dextrose), does not offset or counter salt - it supports and balances it. The British, it seems, have always been aware of this secret and indeed, English maple-flavored hams are sweeter than many others that tend to border on sort of a savory essence. In eastern Utah, we hand-rub fresh honey into ham as it cures for even more sweet flavor. All along the upper Green River we see beehives and of course the best honey comes from the little “sons of bees” found near the shorelines of clover meadows near Vernal. Cowboys hand-rub fresh honey into ham as it cures for even more sweet flavor. Here’s the recipe that works for us - I stole it from Rytek Kutas way back when.
25 lbs. pork belly @38°F.
1-cup kosher (non-iodized) salt
¼ cup Prague Powder #1
½ cup honey
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 tspn. freshly cracked black pepper
Cut and square belly slabs into a convenient size for hanging in your smoker. Good bacon should have equal proportions of fat and meat. Stir the ingredients together until they are well combined and the mixture is smooth. Be sure to use only real maple syrup. Don’t even think about the imitation stuff! Place the bellies into a shallow, lipped, non-reactive pan and hand rub the cure well into the meat. Keep the meat cold as possible while you distribute the cure evenly. Continue rubbing the cure-mixture into the meat and fat of the belly for a few minutes. Next, allow the bellies to cure in the pan, refrigerated, or in convenient, large, 2-gallon, Ziploc plastic bags. Place the slabs belly-side up for two days while the salt draws moisture from the meat and a brine develops. By the third day, if the brine has not quite covered the meat, add a little water - up to two quarts if necessary. It is important to allow this brine to remain in contact with the bacon as it cures. Inspect the progress daily and re-distribute the cure by turning the bellies over. The cure rate is one day per pound - up to 12 days. In other words, a ten pound bacon is removed on the tenth day, while a 14 lb. bacon should be removed on the twelfth day. Next, wash the bacon well and scrub away all the surface salt and sticky maple or honey residue. It is important NOT to soak the bacon at this point. Pat it dry and hang it up to dry completely while you pre-heat your smokehouse to 140° F. Smoke the bacon over a drip pan in hickory smudge until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 130 °F. Finally, lower the smokehouse temperature to 115° F. and continue to smoke the bacon until it blooms.
Now is the time to remove the skin if so desired. Simply slide a long knife blade beneath the skin and draw it slowly, leaving as much fat on the bacon as possible. Use the cured, salted, smoked skin to flavor stews, soups, beans, etc. Wrapped in plastic, refrigerate the bacon 24 hours then cut slices extra thick! Cooked outdoors on a griddle, it is pretty hard to beat. If you MUST eat inside, remember that professional chefs often use a hot oven to cook bacon evenly, preventing it from curling.
Best Wishes pioneers! I sure wish you were sharin' my campfire tonight! (on the north shore of the Green River)
Chuckwagon
Just to make sure on this, if I had a 10 pound belly I would just use 40% of everything correct? I just picked up a belly yesterday and I am getting ready to make my first one.
DeleteThe important thing is that you use enough solution to completely immerse the meat. Using 40% (in your case) MAY or MAY NOT be enough- - if you are using a big pan to hold the meat, it may not come anywhere near enough.
DeleteWhat I do is put the meat into the container, them fill with water until the meat is covered, plus a little. I then pull the meat out and measure the amount of water. This is how much you need. Obviously, using a brining bag instead of a meat lug will reduce the amount of liquid required.
But what about changing composition, you may ask. (Please ask! You'll understand the process better.) As it turns out, only about 10% of the weight of the meat is usually absorbed. (Look familiar? For larger cuts, we often inject liquid equaling 10% of the meat's weight, to make sure the liquid penetrates thoroughly.) What this means is that often the majority of the liquid is thrown away after brining or curing. Assuming not too much liquid "goes the other way" and migrates OUT of the meat, the liquid composition doesn't change appreciably.
But what if the packer has injected "up to 15% of a liquid containing..." whatnot. If you want to get technical, you can build a spreadsheet and figure up what results. You make assumptions about the packer liquid, "pull it out" on the spreadsheet, mix it with the liquid you plan to add, then put in 10% to 15%. Result: you can usually ignore the packer liquid if you have plenty of your own liquid.
So- - short answer- - make up plenty of liquid, make sure the meat is immersed, inject if you can or want to, wait as required, then enjoy!
Duk
Thank you, I will get this going real soon.
DeleteBrining And Brine Curing (P.1)
ReplyDeleteImmersed And Pumped Products
A BRINING solution, (not to be confused with a CURING solution), is simply water with a specific amount of salt added to it to change the protein structure of meat. There is no “standard” strength, but some recommendations are made. Poultry brines seem to work best at about 20 degrees SAL. Red meats are usually brined in solutions of about 35 to 40 degrees SAL, but at times, may be placed in brine much higher in saline concentration, even reaching as high as 70 degrees SAL. Fish are even sometimes brined for only an hour in a concentration of 80 degrees SAL.
The brining process, allowing salt to enter the cells, alters the protein structure. It is unique and supplies incredibly moist meat providing a sufficient amount of time is allowed. How much time? Let’s take a look at some brining turkey for instance. Turkey brined less than six hours, may be dry when cooked. In turkey brined more than 24 hours, the texture will become mushy as the salt begins to break down interior muscle fibers. So, as far as turkey is concerned, the brining period must be greater than six hours, but no longer than 24 hours. Chickens and turkeys naturally contain some salt and lots of water that coexist in a happy balance until we throw it off. Nature restores order (called “equilibrium”) by moving water to the surface where it dissolves salt. Does this cause the meat to dry out? You bet it does! This is where correct “timing” comes in on our part. If we cook the bird that has been brined for merely three hours, the cooked product is drier than if we hadn’t salted it to begin with. However, if we cook the bird after six or more hours of brining, the results change entirely. By that point, the exterior salt had pulled so much water to the surface that the balance of the salt concentration had changed. To “restore equilibrium, the water simply changes directions, flowing back into the meat, but this time the salt “goes along for the ride” although it is dissolved. You may ask if other compounds or spices can be introduced into the meat by this method. The answer is yes, IF… the flavoring agent is water-soluble. These include sugars and salts, black and cayenne pepper, chili powder and paprika. If the compound is ‘fat-soluble’, such as capsaicin in peppers, it won’t work.
If a bird weighs more than three pounds, it should be PUMPED and BRINED to insure complete penetration and distribution before spoilage bacteria begin taking their toll. Ten to fifteen percent of the bird’s green weight is the amount of brine (in weight) to pump into the bird.
For poultry, the FSIS recommends a brining solution of 5.55% or 21degrees on the salinometer scale. This solution is made using ¾ cup of salt added to a gallon of water. If you’re only making a quart of the stuff, just add 3 tablespoons of salt to a quart of water. This concentration is considered to be a “medium” concentration and it is very popular for poultry.
Rytek Kutas used a brine just a little stronger at 25 degrees SAL for poultry. This is a brine concentration of 6.5% and is made in larger volumes by adding 2 lbs. of salt to 5 gallons of water. He also added a pound of Cure #1 and 1.5 lbs. of powdered dextrose, making the brining solution a “curing solution”. The saline concentration in this brine is considered to be “medium high”.
(Continued in next post)
Brining And Brine Curing (P.2)
ReplyDeleteTo shorten the time of brining, some people have used a 40 degree SAL brine solution of a salt concentration of 10.71%. This is a “high” concentration for poultry and the time in the brine should be limited to a matter of hours rather than days.
How much brine should you make? There’s a simple ol’ timer’s adage that reads, “The amount of brine should equal about forty or fifty percent of the weight of the meat being cured”. In other words, you don’t need a barrel-full of brining cure to baptize one duck! So simply use enough brine to equal one and a half times the duck’s weight. If you need a larger volume of brine for curing a larger piece of meat such as a turkey, ham, etc., multiply the formula by a common factor.
How much salinity is recommended? There are several you may consider, but I like an old favorite of 40° SAL brine in many recipes, made by adding a pound of salt to one gallon of water (see brining chart). Thus the formula for ten pounds of beef rounds in ½ gallon of liquid requires ½ pound of salt.
In products that are pumped and immersed, such as hams, poultry breasts, corned beef etc., the maximum in-going nitrite limit allowed by the F.S.I.S. is 200 ppm. This is accomplished by adding 4.2 ounces of Cure #1 to 1 gallon of water. One gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs.
1 Gallon Water:----Cure #1 in ounces:----Cure #1 in grams:----Cure #1 in teaspoons
------8.33 lbs.---------------4.2---------------------120---------------------20 tspns.
Injecting Whole Muscle Meats
For years, brine-soaking whole muscle meats to preserve them, was just about the only method used by home hobbyists. Often their centers would begin to spoil before the salt-cure penetrated the meat sufficiently, especially if the cut contained a bone. Worse, the unquestionable barriers of skin and fat allow only slow penetration of the curing agent. For smaller cuts of meat, simple brine soaking arguably may be sufficient and remains a widely used practice today by home ham makers. However, in curing larger hams or cuts of meat, the curing brine must be forced or injected into the cells of the meat to provide complete penetration within the short time given before spoilage occurs. Traditionally this has been done by curing solution being introduced through the main artery of a leg or ham and this “nature's pipeline” literally distributes curing pickle to every cell including bone marrow. Perhaps you’ve purchased a brine injector with two different needles. The one with a slanted, sharpened end is the one to use for injecting an artery. The needle is usually 5-3/8 inches in length, 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and is made of chrome-plated brass.
Brining And Brine Curing (P.3)
ReplyDeleteDon’t confuse arteries (carrying blood to the animal's cells) with veins, which return blood to the heart. Pumping a vein will simply not work as it collapses the vein and will not carry the brine solution. How do you know the difference? Veins are larger than and not as flexible as arteries.
Because an artery is sometimes hard to locate after an animal has been butchered, and since time equals money in a commercial operation, these days most often a curing solution is injected quickly into the flesh using a gang of needles. A variety of "stitch pumping" gang needles are available to commercial processors, but generally, we home hobbyists are “stuck” (no pun intended) with the second type “perforated” single needle that comes with your brine injector. It is usually 5-1/2 inches long, 3/16 of an inch in diameter and contains a dozen holes. This needle is withdrawn slowly as the cure is distributed throughout the meat.
Care must be taken not to "overstitch" the meat as it may become mushy as salt removes some protein. Only six to twelve percent of a muscle’s weight is injected into the meat while it soaks in the leftover brine. Recipe instructions usually carefully indicate the exact amount of brine to be used. Anyone can "give a piggy a shot" and injection pumping the ham is by far, preferred over simple brine soaking. Weighing brine cure is simple. Simply move the decimal point left one place as you weigh the meat. This gives you the 10% brine weight. If the item contains a shank or bone, be sure to inject them first with sufficient cure.
Getting Your Feet Wet
Why not begin by brine-curing a beef round. You may be asking yourself, “Now, what on earth would you have by curing a round”. Do you remember what curing does to pork? Prague Powder #1 and salt turn ordinary pork into gorgeous, tasty, HAM. Without sodium nitrite and sodium chloride, we wouldn’t have our favorite cuts of ham and all the wonderful casseroles and various dishes made from the stuff. Well, think about salt cured beef instead. Dried beef! I grew up on the stuff. There was always a dried beef, sourdough bread, and a sharp knife on the ranch kitchen table for any wrangler who happened to be passing by.
Brining And Brine Curing (P.4)
ReplyDelete"Buffalo Bend Beef"
(Dried Beef Rounds)
Don't confuse dried beef with dried beef jerky. Dried beef is a large, fat-free, injection pumped, brine-cured, smoked, fully cooked, beef round, containing only fifty percent of its original moisture. It’s sliced paper-thin and is used for all sorts of recipes and great sandwiches.
Use beef "rounds" and trim away any excess fat. The beef and brine should be kept near 38 degrees Fahrenheit as possible and the curing solution should not exceed eight percent of the round's weight. If the brine is much below 38°F., the meat will not pick up the cure readily. If it is much above 38° F., the meat may begin to spoil. Following injection pumping, allow the rounds to soak in leftover brine for ten days at this temperature for proper curing. Finallly, remove the meat and soak it in fresh icewater eight hours, changing the water every few hours.
Remove the rounds and allow them to drain and dry, packing them tightly into a cloth stockinette bag. Hang the stockinette in a pre-heated smokehouse for twelve hours at 100 degrees F. with the draft wide open. Raise the temperature to 125 degrees for another twelve hours with thin hickory smoke being introduced. Reduce the heat to 115 degrees and terminate the smoke. Allow the meat to shrink up to forty percent of its weight (not size) at this point, ideally in an atmosphere of 75% humidity at about 55°F. When the moisture drops below 85 Aw it will be safe to consume. Use a very sharp knife and slice it paper-thin as you use it.
1. Making A Brining Solution
How much salinity is recommended? A favorite 40° SAL brine in many recipes is made by adding a pound of salt to one gallon of water (see brining chart). Thus the formula for ten pounds of beef rounds in ½ gallon of liquid requires ½ pound of salt.
How much brine should you make? Again, “The amount of brine should equal about forty or fifty percent of the weight of the meat being cured”. You don’t need a barrel-full of brine to cure one chicken. Simply use enough brine to equal one and a half times the chicken’s weight.
How strong does it have to be? The FSIS limits the in-going nitrite limit in immersion, pumped, or massaged products to 200 parts per million. This is achieved when 120 grams (4.2 ounces) of Cure #1 is added to one gallon of water. One gallon of brine (according to the ol’ timers adage) will accommodate 20 pounds of meat. This means that ½ gallon of brine will be sufficient for 10 pounds of beef round. Here’s the arithmetic:
One gallon of brine cure (with 120 grams of Cure #1) is enough liquid to treat 20 pounds of meat. So, if you are brining 10 lbs. of meat, you need to only use about half a gallon of brine.
0.40 x 10 = 4 lbs of water (1/2 gallon)
[1 gallon weighs 8.33 lbs.]
Therefore, one half gallon of brine will sufficiently brine 10 lbs. of meat in the proper container.
(Continued in next post)
Recipe added to main website at
Deletehttps://sites.google.com/site/sausageswest/departments/sausage-recipes
Brining And Brine Curing (P.5)
ReplyDelete2. Making A Curing Solution
Recipe #1 "Buffalo Bend Beef Curing Solution"
(Curing-Brine For 10 lbs. Beef Rounds)
4.17 lbs of water (1/2 gallon)
60 grams (2.1 ounces) Cure #1
227 grams (8 oz. or ½ lb.) salt
90 grams (3.2 oz.) sugar
Making Larger Amounts Of Dried Beef:
On our ranch, we made a lot of dried beef and we did so in huge batches because tucked far back in the mountains, we couldn't run to a grocery store for a couple of pounds of meat. We butchered an entire steer and much of it was preserved as dried beef, sausages, etc. for use later on. Consequently we made 5 gallons of brining cure at a time.
Recipe #2 "Buffalo Bend Beef Curing Solution"
(Pickling Brine For Making 100 lbs. Of Dried Beef)
5 gallons water @ 38 degrees F.
595 grams (1.3 pounds or 21 ounces) Cure #1
2.27 kilograms (5 lbs. or 80 ounces) un-iodized salt
1 pound sugar
Notes: While injecting the brine, remove the perforated needle slowly. Don't use too much heat in the smokehouse or a hardened pellicle will form, not allowing moisture to escape. You must not hurry the process using more heat. Dried beef shrinks up to 40% yet retains 50% of its moisture. Keep it refrigerated.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
ReplyDeleteChuckwagon’s “Pistolero’s Proscuitto” (P. 1)
Italian Prosciutto Ham - (Injected - Dry-Cured) 25 lb. Recipe
Dry-curing prosciutti requires selection, cutting, trimming, salting, curing, overhauling, equalizing, resting, smoking, and drying. (Whew!) A prosciutto ham is made from a hog’s rear leg and it should be cured and treated according to the FSIS - USDA rules, or “certified” free from Trichinella Spiralis.
The Procedure:
A salt and nitrate/nitrite mixture is applied to the surface, the meat is laid in a bed of salt, and then more salt is added on top. It is this salt, added initially, that serves as the only protection against various spoilage and pathogenic bacteria until the Aw (water activity) drops to a safe level below 0.85. Salt, during the primary days of curing, speedily removes moisture from a ham. The extracted liquid will dissolve most of the salt and settle in the bottom of the container unless we drill holes for draining, or place hams on slanted draining tables. The meat absorbs some of the remaining salt, but more is added about halfway through the curing process. The law requires that hams be turned over (overhauled) during the process to ensure equal distribution of the salt-cure. Depending upon the relative humidity and the size of a ham, equalizing requires from 30 to 60 days. Having been rinsed and brushed, a ham is either hung inside a bag or placed on a shelf for the final equalization process as the relative humidity slowly continues to be reduced. As the residual salt contained in the cells of the meat supports further evaporation, the meat finally becomes bacteriologically stable. This resting and equalization period is necessary for the development of proper flavor and color - both naturally occurring reactions inside the meat and fat.
Whenever making a ham at home, it is strongly recommended that drying or smoking the product remains below 60˚ F (16˚ C.) as staphylococcus aureus (a pathogenic bacterium) begins to grow quickly. Cold smoke may be applied three or four hours each day for two weeks. Besides giving the ham a terrific flavor, smoking also discourages bacterial and mold growth on the surface of the ham. Airflow, relative humidity, and temperature have an effect upon drying and each must be controlled, monitored, and even recorded.
The thickness of the meat, the skin and subcutaneous fat, the amount of intramuscular fat, and the remaining water content deep inside the ham, all affect the duration of the drying process. The acquisition of desired (white) mold suppresses the growth of undesirable organisms such as pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, yeasts, and indigenous, undesired, molds of various colors. It also has a positive effect on the drying process by preventing the emergence of “dry rim”. Yet, some people believe is hinders evaporation by obstructing surface pores and choose to use one of the oldest methods of slowing the drying process - simply rubbing the ham with lard. As dry curing draws moisture from a ham, it is usually reduced by 20 – 25%, thus intensifying its flavor.
(Continued in next post)
Pistolero’s Prosciutto (P. 2)
ReplyDelete2- hams (12-13 lbs. each)
1 lb. non-iodized salt (1-1/2 cups)
5 tblspns. Prague Powder Cure #2
1 cup powdered dextrose
Optional:
1 cup white pepper
5 tblspns. black pepper
1 cup allspice
5 tblspns. nutmeg
3 tblspns. powdered mustard
3 tblspns. coriander
Remove the bones but do not remove the skins from the hams. If you are only curing a half-ham, choose the shank end as the bone is much easier to remove (with less damage to the meat). Locate two clean wooden boards for pressing the ham, giving it its traditional “flattened” shape. You’ll need to place twice as much weight of the hams on the boards to press it correctly. Shucks pards, I just use a bag of old rusty horseshoes!
Please note that a beginner’s most common mistake is adding too many spices and too much salt. Many say that the best hams are simply cured with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. However, if you are using spices, blend them together using a mechanical mixer. Measure out three ounces (3 oz.) of this mixture and place it in a bowl. Add a pound of salt (1-1/2 cups) and 5 tablespoons of Cure #2 to the spice mixture and mix it thoroughly. Store the remaining mixture in a cool, dry place inside a sealed container for later use. Using half the curing mixture, rub the hams well, over the entire surface area and into crevices. Wrap the ham in butcher paper and place it into a draining lug.
The hams are placed in a cooler ten days at as near 38˚ F. (3˚ C.) as possible. Temperatures above that mark will enable “bone sour” to occur. Temperatures below that point will hinder the curing process. Be sure to cover the hams to keep out as much air as possible. Exposure to the air will dry the meat excessively and affect the final product.
Overhaul the ham after ten days. Pour off any liquid and rub the hams again with the remaining “spice-cure mixture”. Cover the hams again and allow them to cure another 45 days. Finally, remove the hams, brush off the salt rinse them, and place them into a bath of cool water (not more than 65˚ F. (18˚C.) for 24 hours, changing the water after the first 8 hours. Hang the hams up to dry, making sure all the surface salt is gone.
If you are going to hot-smoke the hams, place them into a pre-heated smokehouse at 130˚ F. (54˚C.) when they are dry. Hold this temperature for 48 hours. Next, raise the smokehouse temperature to 140˚ F. (60˚ C.) and hold it there for two more hours. To complete the process, raise the smokehouse temperature only a few degrees every fifteen or twenty minutes until the smokehouse temperature reaches 170˚ F. (77˚ C.). Sustain this temperature for two additional hours, finally dropping the smokehouse temperature to 120˚ F. (49˚ C.) for yet an additional eight hours.
Finally, rub the prosciutti with plenty of freshly-cracked black pepper and place them in a drying room at room-temperature (72˚F.) in 75% relative humidity, decreasing the humidity by 10% over the next month. Is it worth all the hassle? Is it worth the waiting? Cut a thin slice for a sandwich, add just a hint of mustard, some onion, and decide for yourself!
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
ReplyDeleteChuckwagon’s “Cow Kickin’ Capocollo” – The Piggies’ Collar (P. 1)
If you haven’t had “pork collar”, I would like to introduce you to it. Capocollo is a great item that you may or may not be completely familiar with in the world of sausagemaking. Sometimes called “Coppa”, this delicacy is a combination of pork “collar” meat, fat, cure, and certain Italian aromatic spices and herbs. Around planet Earth, I’ve noticed everyone seems to have their own pronunciation of the word capocollo – the “proper” southern Italian name for “top of the neck”. The most common mispronunciation seems to be capicola. Others insist on calling it coppa. No matter what we call it, the delicious product is made from the muscle of pork at the top of the shoulder, immediately behind the back of the head. This specific piece of meat is available at grocery stores everywhere in Italy as "coppa fresca", and most folks there either braise or roast it. Unfortunately, for some reason in the United States as well and many other countries, it may takes some diligent searching to find it.
Unless you slaughter your own animals, you may have to look for an entire pork shoulder at your local butcher’s shop. If you are lucky, you may find one with a large portion of the "pork collar" still attached. If your butcher just scratches his head and says, “huh?”, you may have to use the next best thing – purchase a nice “bone in” large pork butt with some of the “collar” attached, and cut it yourself, carefully removing the bone. Be aware that many butchers seem to “hack” this piece of meat when they remove it, not knowing it can be used for making a wonderful dry-cured capocollo.
Many folks miss the opportunity of making this delicious product because of the “mystery” behind it. I grew up with a capicollo in sight on the table of the ranch house breakfast kitchen each morning. It was placed there for anyone who had a mind to make sandwiches of fresh sourdough bread, ranch-made butter, onion slices, freshly picked red-leaf lettuce, mustard, and capicollo as thick as a c’boy had a mind to slice it. Most knew that it was always best to slice the stuff paper-thin. After the sandwiches were made, they were wrapped in waxed paper and carefully packed in each rider’s saddlebags. About eleven o’clock, miles away from the ranch house, I usually stopped to stretch and brew up a fresh pot of Arbuckle’s. And… of course, munch on my sandwiches. Yes, coppa kept my mustache curly! Hey… Superman had his secrets… I had my capicollo! Incidentally, we were on a cattle ranch in the high country. We had no pigs. Shucks, I don’t believe ya’ll can lasooo ‘em anyway. For a little variety, once in a while we traded a steer for piggies or lambs with folks who raised their critters near a town.
Actually there’s not much of a mystery in making the stuff and the process is even quite easy but involves just a little time and space inside your refrigerator. Here is the way we went about it: Pork butts just over five pounds were selected, nearly frozen, and trimmed of their fat. We made a simple curing rub from salt, sugar, and cure. What kind of cure? I’m sorry to tell you that in those days (just after WWII), potassium nitrite was still being used. And it was not pink! We were danged lucky to have my aunt, a registered nurse, directing the operation so that no one ate poison mushrooms or overdosed on curing powder. These days, of course, we use Cure #2 in coppa. To avoid confusion, let’s make enough “Robber’s Roost Rotten Rub” to treat 5 lbs. of pork shoulder.
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Chuckwagon’s “Cow Kickin’ Capocollo” (P.2)
ReplyDelete“Robber’s Roost Rotten Rub”
Capicollo Curing Rub For Pork
70 gr. (3 Tblspns) salt
12 gr. (2 tspns) Cure #2
60 gr. (4 Tblspns) brown sugar
Mix the ingredients together well, then rub the butt with only HALF the mixture. Put the other half away in a safe place, away from children. With your hands, rub the meat on all sides very well then place it in a large zip type plastic bag. (You should have seen what we used in the old days). Next, place the bag into your refrigerator for a full week.
Following the seventh day of curing, remove the meat and rub it again with the remaining mixture that you stashed away. Place the meat bag into the bag and back into the refrigerator for ten (10) more days.
Remove the meat and rinse it well then pat it dry. Place the meat on a rack to dry for an hour while you make a spice mixture we call…
“Cow Kickin’ Capicollo Compost”
Capicollo Spice Rub
18 gr. (3 Tblspns.) freshly ground black pepper
5 gr. (2 tspns.) garlic powder
5 gr. (2 tspns.) Hungarian paprika
2 gr. (1 tspn. ) ground cloves
1.5 gr. (3/4 tspn. cayenne pepper
0.5 gr. (1/2 tspn) ground cinnamon
Mix all the spices together well then rub the mixture into the meat using your hands. Pack the meat into tin cans with the ends removed to facilitate forcing the meat into 100 m.m. collagen casings. In the “old days”, we of course, used beef bungs to case the coppa. If you use beef bungs, be aware that by their very nature they have a strong odor and have a few special handling instructions from Mother Nature. Next, it is essential to prick the casings to alleviate any trapped air. No, you can just shoot ‘em full of holes! You must use a long needle and prick the casing in several places, being sure to pay particular attention to the ends where air pockets tend to be found.
Have your storage room at 70% humidity and anywhere between 50°F and 55°F. The temperature must not exceed 60 degrees. Store the coppa three weeks before slicing the meat paper thin.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
I have two 5lb slabs of pork belly from a local source and was considering using one of them for Pancetta.
ReplyDeleteCan I make this a " ready to eat " product by using cure #2 and increasing the dry time until it hits the 38% weight loss ?
Badman’s Barbecued Brisket (P.1)
ReplyDeleteYears ago, the two muscles between the front legs of a cow (brisket) was an inexpensive cut and not exactly what one would call a “hot selling item” in any butcher shop. Why? Because of its location, it is naturally tough. And who wanted tough beef? Not the ordinary housewife. Butchers couldn’t even give the stuff away! However, over time, people learned a little secret of barbecuers and cattlemen. It seems that these folks would “bake” it in light smoke for 12 hours at only 200°F. and then cut it against the grain in thin slices. The flavor was (and is) phenomenal. An enterprising butcher in nineteenth century New York, called the stuff “London Broil" desiring to bump up the label for quick sale.
Being naturally sturdy, the brisket contains two distinct muscles separated by a layer of fat that will not render. Worse, the meat absorbs smoke like a sponge, and may easily become bitter to the palate of many folks. It is also so large, it requires a longer period of cooking time, and most chefs and cooks consider its preparation without drying the meat, a legitimate challenge. The brisket may very well be the most difficult piece of beef of all to barbecue, and the process of selecting, preparing, and barbecue-cooking brisket in many parts of the United States is truly an art form, remaining in a culinary class by itself - often chosen only to display the skills of a good chef. Inside a working ranch barbecue pit, properly cooked brisket habitually becomes a matter of economy, using all the parts of a steer.
In the marketplace, the secret is out! Brisket is not only sought by barbecuers, it is much in demand during the springtime for those who make an annual “corned beef” dish for St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th. Yes, the secret has been out for some time and the law of supply and demand has made the price skyrocket. Allow me to share a few secrets I've learned along the trail to turn this “tough stuff” into a delicious meal.
Selecting the best brisket from a butcher’s cold case is almost a combination of skill and luck and cookin' the ominous article may seem as if a miracle were needed. On the range, you may choose and cut an eight to ten pound brisket from a medium size beef, having checked the cut for flexibility - and the brand on the steer!:roll: Place your hand vertically beneath the center of the butchered brisket and let the brisket "flop" over the edges of your hand. As with the selection of tenderloin, find a pliable cut with a natural bend. If it is tough coming from the meat locker or butcher shop, it will be difficult to make it more tender on the barbecue grill.
The large end of the brisket is called the "point". Place the brisket on a cutting board and remove the outside fat from the brisket's backside with a boning knife. This layer will not render drippings and is hard, tough, and often slightly yellow in color. With a boning knife, cut the thing almost to the muscle so there is only a slight amount of fat remaining. It will look mostly red with just a bit of fat remaining. Yes, there is much waste in preparing a good brisket.
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Badman’s Barbecued Brisket (P.2)
ReplyDeleteSeasoning The Derned Thing
The fat at the front of the brisket is handled a little differently. Notice two things. First, how deeply you must cut into the fat layer of the brisket in order to remove the maximum amount of fat separating the two muscles. This fat layer invariably remains in the center traveling the length of the brisket, separating the two muscles. Second, note the inch thick layer of fat along the bottom of the brisket. This layer will vary anywhere from 1/4 inch to about 1 inch in thickness. If you select a brisket with the 1/4-inch of fat trimmed along this side, you must thank your butcher, as it certainly did not come that way. Be sure to send him a Christmas card and don’t ride yer’ hoss inside his store any longer while screaming "yee-haw"! The goal is to trim this fat edge to about 1/4 inch in thickness, offering a protective layer during the long period of cooking. Although this hardened fat will not render, it will help keep the meat moist while preventing it from absorbing too much strong smoke smudge, becoming overly bitter or having too strong a smoke flavor.
Now that you've selected the best brisket and have trimmed it to perfection, it's time to season the meat. Some folks choose to marinate the brisket, being aware the process only penetrates the meat to a depth of about 1/4 inch and won't penetrate fat at all. Whenever cooking a hefty piece of meat this robust, marinating is not all that effective, although I use marinade to introduce as much garlic flavor as possible, prior to sprinkling the meat with a spicy "dry rub".
Folks in the southern and eastern United States, apply a thick coating of ordinary yellow mustard to the meat by "painting" it with a pastry brush before the dry rub seasoning is applied. Some of these brisket-bakin’ barbecuers are the finest in the country and their plain ol’ yellow prepared mustard helps keep the meat moist, keeps the dry rub on the brisket, and seals the meat by developing a tender crust. The vinegar within the mustard will also help tenderize the meat to a slight degree. The mustard flavor dissipates entirely during the cooking process. Believe me, if you are really seeking "competition brisket", you'll spread on mustard.
In the Rocky Mountains, by tradition, most ranch cooks simply skip the mustard for some reason, usually preferring to "smoke-cook" briskets for hours inside low-temperature smoke houses using light smoke for only a short period during the actual cooking time. Rocky Mountain briskets are mopped frequently using a garlic, oregano, vinegar, and mildly sweet citrus combination sauce. I can’t explain the reason for not spreading on the mustard. It’s just not done often here in the mountains, and to be absolutely truthful, most brisket (having been marinated overnight) is cooked within a matter of minutes as high heat is applied from both sides of the cut simultaneously - London broil style… although folks in London have never heard of the stuff! Only more experienced barbecue cooks tend to slowly cook brisket overnight.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
"Cow Chip Chipped Beef" and "S.O.S."
ReplyDeleteHi Smoke Addicts!
Here's a fun project for those of you who wish to try some "Chipped Beef". It's much like Bresaola, but it is "dry-cured" and not as heavily spiced.
Ol’ timers in the U.S. military will perhaps remember something commonly called S.O.S. That was… uh… “stuff” on a shingle! These days, the real thing is not even available on the market although you can buy a beef product in a bottle that is supposed to resemble it. The Pennsylvania Dutch butcher shops make pretty respectable “chipped beef” where their dried beef is smoked and sliced very thinly. Here in the west, I grew up with it often served on the ranch where My Aunt made the best “S.O.S.” around by quickly heating a little chipped beef and a bit of onion in butter, then making a roux with flour. A little milk and sour cream was added and presto… a thick, white, nectar was poured over the top of a couple of “shingles” of toasted bread. It was delicious.
Rytek Kutas ate the stuff whiIe he served his country in the Korean War and when he settled in Las Vegas, he developed his “dried beef” recipe using a brining solution of only water, Cure #1, salt, and powdered dextrose. However, some folks preferred their “S.O.S.” made with a hand-rubbed “bresaola” or Italian Dried Beef made with a few added spices, including garlic and ground cloves.
On the ranch, we kept it simple but hand-rubbed the stuff. We used fat-free beef “round” or “sirloin” – ten pounds at a time - rubbed with the following dry-rub ingredients.
10 lbs. beef (round or sirloin is ideal)
7 Tblspns. non-iodized salt
1-1/2 Tblspns Cure #2 (NOT Cure#1)
1-1/2 Tblspns ground black pepper
1 Tblspn. sugar
1 Tblspn. Garlic Powder
Mix all the dry ingredients together to make a “rub” for the beef and remove all fat and silver skin from the meat. Rub half the mixture into the meat and place it into a lug or vac-sealed bag at 38°F (or as near as possible). Place the remaining mixture out of the way of children. After the meat has been in the refrigerator three days, drain the liquid in the container and rub the remaining dry-curing mixture into the meat. Place the meat back into the refrigerator three more days, and then rinse the excess curing mixture from the surface of the meat. Pat the meat dry and stuff it into a suitable synthetic casing for smoking. Smoke the meat for 10 to 12 hours in a stockinette at 100°F and then hang it up four weeks at 52°F. to 55°F. to dry completely. When the meat has lost 35% of its original weight, slice it very thinly to serve. Try paper-thin roll ups dipped into a little mustard or try making your own S.O.S.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
“Cabin Fever Country Ham” (P. 1)
ReplyDeleteDry-Cured Country Ham
Country hams are unique. The USDA has quite a bit to say about them, so if you are going to make one of these tasty guys, you should be acquainted with some of the rules. (Right off the bat, the FSIS says you can’t even call it a “country” ham unless it meets certain specifications.) Of course, unless you intend to sell the thing, you can call it anything you wish!
To Be Called A “Country” Ham, It Must:
1. remain uncooked
2. be from the rear leg of the hog unless otherwise specified in the law §317.8(b)13 (must be single piece of meat).
3. be cured using salt and a specified amount of sodium nitrate/nitrite or potassium nitrite, finishing with an internal salt content of
At least 4% OR…
when no sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, potassium nitrate, or potassium nitrite is used, the finished product must have a brine
concentration of not less than 10 percent or a water activity of not more than Aw0.92.
4. not utilize a combined curing and equalization period of less than 45 days. (Does not apply to pork shoulders)
5. not utilize a combined salt equalization and drying period of less than 70 days. (Does not apply to pork shoulders)
6. not exceed the internal meat temperature of 95°F. (35°C.) during the drying and smoking period
7. be treated for any possible live trichinae per USDA regulations
8. weigh at least 18% less finished, than when it was fresh
Things to know before you start:
You may wish to understand the concept of reduced “water activity”.
“Battling Bugs By Restricting Their Available Water”
How are we going to protect raw, uncooked ham from pathogenic bacterial microorganisms while it dries? Can you think of the cheapest effective means to snuff ‘em out? You could starve ‘em out couldn’t you? If you dried up their food, they would expire… right? But how about limiting their water supply? You know that bacteria cannot survive in an environment without moisture, so might it be possible to limit the amount of water available to bacteria in order to destroy them? And, what about salt? What does it do and how much should you use? All good questions!
Maybe the first thing you should know is that contrary to popular belief, salt does not destroy bacteria. It doesn’t even force water to evaporate. It does, however, immediately immobilize or bind a specific, large amount of free water, preventing it from interacting with bacteria (or anything else). The measurement of “bound” water (not available to bacteria) is called “water activity”, and is abbreviated Aw. Water Activity is measured on a scale from 0.00 (called “bone dry”) to 1.00 - the measurement of pure water. So, how about serving a bacterium a dose of salt to bind its “available water”? We can deprive it of moisture. It works. For thousands of years it has worked! Bacon, hams, sausages, and all sorts of meat have been cured with salt, smoked, and dried safely for centuries. Your grandparents certainly knew that salting, drying, and par-cooking meats were positive steps adverse to microorganism survival! They just didn’t know the reasons why it worked. They were also aware that if they smoked meat, it not only tasted better but it was not likely to develop mold on its surface.
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“Cabin Fever Country Ham” (P.2)
ReplyDeleteDry-Cured Country Ham
If the ham is to be sold, you must be aware of other applicable regulations regarding additives, smoking, honey application, spices, labeling etc. Also, knowledge of the processes of “equalization” (following the recipes below) and “packing” is essential when making a dry-cured country ham. Packing is a simple procedure to prevent “bone sour” – the result of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria entering areas along the bones in the hog leg. These bacteria thrive where there are connective tissue and blood vessels and where knife cuts have been made especially at the joints. If these deeper parts of the ham have not had sufficient time to acquire salt and there has been an introduction of spoilage bacteria, a condition known as “bone sour” will take place. Packing is accomplished by simply making narrow incisions along the bones with a slender knife and packing salt and nitrate cure into the openings.
“Dry-Cured Country Hams” are the oldest historically and the most simple to prepare. Because this ham is not cooked at all, the USDA in America has placed rules upon its preparation to protect the consumer from any possible trichinella spiralis - a parasitic roundworm whose larval form may be present in the flesh of pork or wild game. Its painful infection is known as trichinosis.
This type of ham is simply rubbed with a cure containing Prague Powder #2, containing both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate. Having been cured, salted, and dried for months, or even years, the ham may or may not be smoked.
The following ham cure meets the USDA specifications in the United States. Most people mix a large amount of the formula, then utilize only ½ pound for a 12 lb. ham, one pound for 25 pounds of ham, two pounds for 50 pounds of ham, or four pounds of the curing salt formula for each hundred pounds of pork leg (as the law indicates). Here’s the formula:
Dry-Cured Country Ham Cure (For 100 lbs of ham)
1-1/2 cups Prague Powder Cure #2 (Do NOT use Cure #1)
2-1/2 cups powdered dextrose
3-1/2 lbs. (pounds - not cups) salt
IMPORTANT NOTE: (*Use only ½ lb. of this formula per 12 lbs. of ham)
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“Bowlegged Bullshipper's Smoked Ham” (P. 3)
ReplyDelete(Injected-Rubbed-Smoked “Country” Ham)
Further federal rules apply to this product. Fully dry-cured hams must not only be treated with the above formula for a period of not less than 40 days, it must not drop below the temperature of 36°F. (2° C.). On the other hand, if the temperature exceeds 40°F. (4°C.), the ham may begin to spoil and sour from the inside. It becomes essential to carefully maintain the curing temperature as close to 38°F. as possible. The law specifies that the cure must contain at least four pounds of this formula for each hundred pounds of ham being “applied in a thorough manner” (rubbed) then laid in the remainder. In other words, having been well-rubbed over its entire surface, the ham is placed upon a “layer” of cure inside a clean, food-grade plastic lug or other suitable container, stored at 38°F. (3° C.) for the next month and ten days! Every two or three days, the ham is again rubbed with a bit more cure for at least forty days duration. By law, the ham must be overhauled, (turned over and rubbed with more cure), at least once during the curing time. Following the curing, the ham is soaked in water just below room temperature for no longer than 15 hours to remove some of the salt. FSIS rules state that the soaking water may only be changed once. Having been cured and dried, it may or may not be smoked. Often this type of ham is cold smoked over ten days before being stored for further drying. Dry cured hams are most often sliced paper thin and served to complement other foods. They are best kept at 45-50° F. (7-10° C.) in 70% to 80% relative humidity and may develop mold on their skins. Simply wash it off with vinegar. Just one more note: I kept the cure as simple as possible without adding a lot of spicy flavors. Good ham will develop its own unique and tasty flavor without using a lot of spices. Why not keep it simple?
Note: A home hobbyist may utilize two proven curing techniques in the same product by first injecting a ham with salt pickling solution and then by hand-rubbing salt-cure into the meat. Injected-Rubbed-Smoked Country Hams are brine pumped (but not brine soaked) AND dry-cured rather than being cooked. Note Prague Powder Cure #2 is used in the “rub” as well as in the injected brining cure. Although this particular ham is not cured in brine, it still may not technically be classified a “country” ham as the USDA disqualifies any use of brine or wet solution at all in making a “country” ham. Still, this “dry-cured” ham has mistakenly come to be known by many as a “country ham”.
Brining Cure (Injection) For 12 lbs. of Bowlegged Bullshipper's Smoked “Country” Ham.
2-1/2 quarts ice water (32°F.)
12 ounces kosher salt
1/2 cup powdered dextrose
1/3 cup Prague Powder #2
Inject only 7% of the ham’s weight in brine by weight, and Do Not submerge it in leftover brine following the pumping. Be sure to weigh the brining cure carefully and distribute it thoroughly by injecting small amounts in several places. For 25 lbs. of ham, simply double the ingredients. Next, prepare a “master rub” made of the following ingredients, being sure to use only 1/2 lb. of the cure for 12 lbs. of ham:
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“Bowlegged Bullshipper's Smoked Ham” (P. 4)
ReplyDelete“Master” Dry Cure Formula (For Smoked Country Ham):
3-1/2 lbs. salt
2-1/4 cups powdered dextrose
1-1/2 cups Prague Powder #2
NOTE: *Use only one-half pound (½ lb.) of cure for 12 lbs. of ham. (Based on 4 lbs. cure per 100 lbs. of ham)
This ham cure has been carefully formulated to meet the USDA specifications in the United States. Good ham will develop its own unique and tasty flavor without using a lot of spices. Most people mix the large amount of the formula give above, then utilize only ½ pound of cure for a 12 lb. ham, one pound of cure for 25 pounds of ham, two pounds of cure for 50 pounds of ham, or four pounds of the curing salt formula for each hundred pounds of pork leg (as the law indicates).
Place the ham into a clean container and rub about ¾ of the mixture well into the ham with your hands, saving the remainder for later application. Cover the ham with a clean cloth and store it in a 38° F. cooler or refrigerator. Be sure to use sterile plastic gloves when rubbing the meat as the nitrite/nitrate may be a little tough on your hands. After seven days, turn the meat over and rub the remaining cure onto the meat. You will be amazed how much water is drawn from the meat by the salt. Do not pour the liquid off. Cover the ham and leave it alone another eight days. Remove the ham and rinse it well but do not soak it. Pat the ham dry with a clean cloth and allow time for equalization to take place (see below) before smoking. Finally, cold smoke the ham 24 hours at 65°F. If you do not have a cold smoker, you may use a preheated smokehouse at 120°F only. It is important that the smokehouse temperature does not increase during the rest of the smoking process. Smoke the ham in hickory smoke for as much as 24 hours. Again, be sure to keep the smokehouse temperature at 120°F. or below. A country ham will naturally taste a bit salty and will be drier than boiled ham. As the Aw (water activity) drops to .91, the threats of e.coli, Shigella, Clostridium botulinum, Salmonella, and Listera, are eliminated. As the water activity continues to decrease to Aw 0.86, Staphylococcus aureus will not survive. Following this process, the ham may be “dry aged” three months at 65°F.
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“Bowlegged Bullshipper's Smoked Ham” (P. 5)
ReplyDelete“Equalization”
Whether dry curing or brine curing, salt travels toward the center of the meat… BUT… moisture travels toward the exterior surface. The only restrictions are fat and silverskin - and both will indeed inhibit the action of either. In formed hams, it is not as much of a problem because there are no muscles encased in silverskin or surrounded by layers of fat. However, in a “whole muscle” ham, you must allow enough TIME to compensate for the penetration of
(a.) intramuscular fat, and
(b.) various inner muscles encased by silverskin.
Not all the inner muscles (making up the entire ham) will cure at the same RATE, hence the need for equalization.
Don’t confuse the equalization process with that of equilibrium in curing a fermented-type sausage. Equilibrium deals with the extraction of moisture and it is achieved when the rate of “diffusion” (moisture moving from the center of the sausage to the exterior) equals the rate of evaporation (in which the moisture leaves the surface and enters the atmosphere).
“Equalization” is reached when salt has not only fully penetrated the meat, but has dispersed evenly throughout the entire ham as well. It is important to understand that because there are various muscles surrounded by intramuscular fat, as well as different inner muscles encased by silverskin, the RATE of curing in each is dissimilar. Time must be allowed to insure complete dispersal and a specified amount of “pick-up” of the cure.
Imagine cutting a sample “disc” of rings from a tree. The inner rings will always contain more moisture than the outer rings. Comparable, is an imaginary “sample disc” of “whole-muscle meat” - there is more moisture at the center. Following the initial curing process of the meat, there remains approximately ten times less salt at the center than at the first subcutaneous sample. In other words, if the very first indication of salt is 5% (just beneath the surface), then at the center… the salt content will only measure about .5%. For this reason, it is important to understand that the continuance of “curing” must occur WITHOUT adding additional salt. At this point, it simply needs more time. In allowing for equalization, it must be understood that the flesh nearest the surface will invariably contain more salt than that nearer the center immediately following the curing step. To remedy this imbalance, a ham (to be cooked) is SOAKED to remove some of the salt that would otherwise create a barrier to smoking or further drying. If the ham is a dry-cured ham, it is simply hung (or rested upon a shelf) having been brushed and rinsed to eliminate excess salt for a period of time while equalizing occurs before any smoking takes place. If this ham is made carefully and correctly, it will be the best tastin’ ham you’ve ever slapped a lip over and it is sure to tickle yer’ tonsils on the way down. Good luck.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
“Hole-In-The-Wall Whole Hog” (P.1)
ReplyDelete(Barbecued Whole Hog)
I don’t know if Butch Cassidy ever roasted a pig on his barbeque spit at Hole-In-The-Wall… but he should have! Have you ever been asked to cook for a very large party? Most folks freak out and decline if the guest list gets to be much more than a couple of dozen folks. If a little “Saddlebum Savvy” is applied, it actually isn’t that tough at all but an entire hog gets to be a bit pricey if just one cowboy if footing the bill. But what about fundraisers and organizational get-togethers where a company might foot the bill or one where participants could all pitch in and help with the expenses? Why not barbecue an entire hog? It really isn’t that difficult if you have a spit and a pit. Shucks pards, here’s how ol’ Butch and Sundance would have cooked the dang thing!
Barbecuing a whole hog somehow seems to be the total assessment of a confident chef’s mettle, although I’ve seen beginning grill jockeys arm themselves with a little “know how” and just “smoke away” a few self-proclaimed pros. Lands sakes owl hoots, you may very well be the world’s next best swine-smokin’ specialist. Tackle the job of barbecuing an entire hog, and you’ll gain everyone’s respect.
How much Pork?
A hog is a pig over 120 lbs. The dressed carcass of a hog (with the head on) provides about 40% edible meat. In other words, a dressed, hundred pound hog will yield about 40 pounds of great tasting pork. A hog having a dressed weight of 150 pounds will give you about 60 pounds of meat, while a 200 pounder will provide about 80 pounds of meat for your party. A wise cook plans on at least a half-pound of meat per person.
Planning Ahead
This is one project you don’t wish to be left scratchin’ your head thinking about what must be done at the last minute. Make a written plan and schedule. Plan to purchase all your spices, briquettes, smoking wood, utensils, sauces, and anything else you will need. Arrange for special items such as a large serving table with fresh butcher paper taped to the top. What about grill gloves, a couple of towels, thermometers, extra pans, paper towels, and plenty of water? Find a good water spritzer and make sure you’ve got plenty of tinfoil available. You don’t want to be looking for these items at the last minute. Although you might never use one, why not have a fire extinguisher on hand just in case of an emergency. You never know what might take place. Someone could knock over a grill or kids could throw something flammable into the fire. Be ready – not sorry!
Again, plan on cooking at least one pound of meat per person and give your butcher plenty of notice. Tell him you’ve got a party in about two weeks and that you’ll remind him again in another week. Follow through and make sure the butcher has ordered the piggy so it will arrive on time. Don’t take chances with the meat spoiling while you prepare it. If you don’t have access to a cold storage locker, purchase a couple of new plastic garbage cans and fill them full of ice to make a temporary refrigerator. Use any means necessary to keep the temperature of the meat between 35 and 38 degrees F. (1.7 to 3.3 degrees C) up until the time you begin cooking.
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Barbecued Whole Hog (P.2)
ReplyDeleteMaking A Butt Rub
Rub porky inside and out with plenty of “Butch Cassidy’s Butt Rub”. I like a little vegetable oil with plenty of freshly crushed garlic and black pepper added to the recipe for this type of barbecue cooking. Simply rub the mixture into the fresh meat before it starts to cook.
"Butch Cassidy’s Butt Rub"
1-1/2 tblspns. freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 tblspns. lemon pepper
1 tblspn. cayenne pepper
1 tblspn. dried basil
1 tblspn. garlic powder
1 tblspn. onion powder
1 tspn. dried parsley
2 tspns. paprika
1/2 tspn. salt
How much heat?
A whole hog is best cooked “low and slow” at about 225°F. (107°C.) for several hours. Leave the head on the carcass and plan to cook one hour for every 5 to 6 pounds of pork inside a constant 225°F. (107 °C.) smoker or fire pit. At least three hours of that time should be with your favorite smoke permeating the pork. Turn the meat at intervals to ensure even cooking. The meat is done when the deepest part of the thigh registers 190° F. (88°C.). Make sure the thermometer does not touch a bone and don’t be tempted to rush the process by increasing the heat. Be patient. If you need a reference, think about this: A smaller hog may be cooked at 225° F. (107 °C.) for only about eight hours to achieve the ideal serving (internal meat temperature) of 190° F. (88°C.) while a porker weighing about a hundred pounds requires up to sixteen hours slow cooking at 225° F. (107 °C.). A larger piggy needs eighteen hours or more to reach that same ideal serving temperature (an internal meat temperature of 190° F.).
Mopping Sauce
“Ma’s Monument Valley Magic Mop” is not some sort of Harley-Davidson cleaning utensil; rather it is an ideal liquid for mopping an entire slow cookin’ hog, lamb, or steer, preventing the meat from becoming too dry as it cooks. This sauce actually has its origin in Cuba long ago, where folks often buried a hog to cook it at Christmas time. I have no idea how my aunt came to acquire it… I’m just happy that she did. Note the lack of sugars in the recipe, which would char before the meat cooks.
“ Ma’s Monument Valley Magic Mop”
(Whole Hog Mopping Sauce)
2 entire heads of garlic
1/2 gallon cider vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup lemon or lime juice
1 tspn. kosher salt
1 tspn. freshly ground black pepper
2 tspns. dried oregano
1 tspn. dried basil
3 sprigs rosemary
Okay pards, do you remember how to make vinaigrette? The recipe calls for three parts of oil to one part of vinegar. This recipe contains just the opposite - three parts of vinegar to one part oil. Remember to add sugar-based sauces only at the end of cooking. Right now, porky needs a thin, permeating, garlic flavored product to penetrate and flavor the meat as it slowly barbecue-bakes.
First, crush and mince all the garlic. Heat the olive oil and the apple cider over medium heat in a saucepan and braise-cook the rosemary and garlic until the garlic slightly browns, being careful not to burn it. Remove the rosemary sprigs, and add the remaining ingredients, lowering the heat to simmer the mixture for a couple of minutes only. Allow the sauce to cool and steep for an hour before brushing it onto the barbecuing hog. (Whenever barbecuing an entire lamb, remember to mix in a bit more rosemary with lemon). Mop the entire carcass every twenty minutes or so, slowly turning it on a spit, barbecuing over slow embers of only 225°F. (107°C.) coals of hickory or oak.
(Continued in next post)
Barbecued Whole Hog (P.3)
ReplyDeleteDo-it-yourselfers often fashion first-rate grill-smoker barbecue pits large enough to accommodate a 75-pound animal, by cutting in half, (lengthwise), a common 55-gallon clean barrel drum. Expanded metal is used for a grill, placing hot briquettes upon smaller expanded metal grates (air must get to the coals) inside the bottom. If you have a four-burner gas grill, you may handle a smaller piggy (40-50 lbs.) with ease.
Use indirect heat and remember to cook only with hot, glowing, coals – never over an open flame. Keep the temperature constant as possible at 225°F. Use dampened hickory or another suitable hardwood for smoke smudge and don’t forget to find a nice large red apple to place in porky’s mouth when he is served. When you suspect the meat is nearly cooked, start taking porky’s temperature regularly or use a probe-type thermometer with an alarm. Again, the hog is done when the deepest part of the thigh registers 190° F. (88°C.). When the piggy has cooked and flakes with a fork, brush on plenty of “Robber’s Roost Rust” before serving. (BBQ sauce in Utah, does NOT go on meat as it cooks and we usually hang anyone who burns and blackens good barbecue sauce on perfectly good meat; Oh, of course… they get a fair trial first, but then the guilty meadow-muffin munchin’ mutton head is lynched on the spot! Robber’s Roost Rust is served hot, separately at the table. Be sure not to confuse mopping sauce with BBQ sauce.
Barbecue Sauce
(Yee Haw!)
“ Robber’s Roost Rust”
Utah Barbecue Sauce
4 cups ketchup
1 bottle (10 oz.) A.1. Steak Sauce™
2 bottles (10 oz. each) Heinz 57 Sauce™
1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup white vinegar (more or less to taste)
2 cups apple cider
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
¼ cup molasses
4 Tblspns. “Frank’s Hot Sauce™”
4 Tblspns. liquid smoke
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
Directions: Uh... sorry about the "yee haw"... I just couldn't resist. Combine all the ingredients in a large non-reactive Dutch oven and simmer the sauce over medium heat for half an hour stirring it frequently. Taste the sauce and correct the flavors. Stir the mixture slowly and often as it continues to cook to develop flavors. As the mixture reduces, add a little more vinegar if desired, a little at a time, until it suits your taste. Continue to simmer two more hours until the mixture reduces and thickens. Adjust the vinegar (or sugar) to taste. The best way to serve “Robber’s Roost Rust” is piping hot in small bowls at the table. If using this sauce with ribs, be sure to serve an unlimited supply of moistened finger towels. Cool leftover sauce and pour it into jars, then cover and refrigerate them. This sauce will keep several weeks when refrigerated.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
I seem to remember a better sauce, from back in my Colorado days. Elwyn Shimoda was a professor at Colorado School of Mines. One afternoon, over at his house, we barbecued using a 50/50 mixture of soy sauce and bourbon which, he said, reflected our ethnic roots and therefore was bound to be appropriate.
DeleteWell, every 30 minutes or so, he would lift the lid on the smoker and we would mop the meat, close the smoker back up, make up the level in the bowl with bourbon, and each take a sip to make sure it "met our quality expectations." This went on for several hours, mopping and testing, until...
Well, to be honest, I don't remember how it turned out. For that matter, I don't remember what it was that went in, or how we all got home, or...
But I'm real sure that it was great, as well as politically correct. (It was THOSE days, you know. Peace, man. Far out recipe. ...or as the kids from the eastern third of the state said, "farm out".)
Duk
Yeah, I'm like splittin' for a groovier scene!
Delete
ReplyDelete“Aces And Eights” Lomo Embuchado
The Spanish make a nice dry-cured pork loin using Cure #2, called Lomo Embuchado (Loin Cold Sausage).
1 pork loin of 6350 grams (14 lbs.)
30 grams of Cure #2
170 grams of salt
6 grams paprika
9 grams of freshly ground black pepper
2 or more fresh cloves of garlic (or 2 grams of garlic powder)
2 grams of onion powder
2 grams of ground thyme
85 grams of sugar
All ingredients are mixed together with just enough water to make a paste. The paste is hand-rubbed into the loin and the loin is placed into a zip-lock type bag for a week and three days (10 days), inside your refrigerator. Following the curing, the excess salt is brushed off and the meat is stuffed into a synthetic casing. Next, spray the cased loin with a little Mold 600 before hanging it in a curing chamber at 75% humidity at 46°F (8°C). During this period, the salt will have time to “equalize”. The loin is then dried for nearly a month at room temperature for flavor development while at least 40% total moisture removal is achieved.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
What is a good rule of thumb for determining cure times for whole muscle meats ? I seem to remember reading that the cure will penetrate 1/4 inch per day from all directions. Is this accurate or would it be better to use a formula based on weight ?
ReplyDeleteHi Wayne,
DeleteLots of folks develop favorites from experience. Some of them never vary once they find one that seems to work. Of course there are a couple of factors to consider before determining the duration. The most important is strength. As you read down through the following information, you might see why there are too many variables to consider just one as a favorite. I would suggest that you develop a favorite for each type of project.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Will do, thanks for the reply,
Delete“Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat” (P. 1)
ReplyDeleteFor years, brine-soaking whole-muscle meats to preserve them was just about the only method used by home hobbyists. Often their centers would begin to spoil before the salt-cure penetrated the meat sufficiently, especially if the cut contained a bone. Worse, the unquestionable barriers of skin and fat allow only slow penetration of the curing agent. For smaller cuts of meat, simple brine soaking arguably may be sufficient and remains a widely used practice today by hobbyists. However, in curing larger hams or cuts of meat, the curing brine must be forced or injected into the cells of the meat to provide complete penetration within the short time allotted before spoilage occurs. Traditionally this has been done by curing solution being introduced through the main artery of a leg or ham and this “nature's pipeline” literally distributes curing pickle to every cell including bone marrow. Perhaps you’ve purchased a brine injector having two different needles. The one with a slanted, sharpened end is the one to use for injecting an artery. The needle is usually 5-3/8 inches in length, 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and is made of chrome-plated brass.
Don’t confuse arteries (carrying blood to the animal's cells) with veins, which return blood to the heart. Pumping a vein will simply not work as it collapses the vein and will not carry the brine solution. How will you know the difference? Veins are larger than and not as flexible as arteries. Because an artery is sometimes hard to locate after an animal has been butchered, and since time equals money in a commercial operation, these days most often a curing solution is injected quickly into the flesh using a gang of smaller needles. A variety of "stitch pumping" gang needles are available to commercial processors, but generally, we home hobbyists are “stuck” (no pun intended) with the second type “perforated” single needle that comes with your brine injector. It is usually 5-1/2 inches long, 3/16 of an inch in diameter, and contains a dozen perforations. This needle is withdrawn slowly as the cure is distributed throughout the meat. Care must be taken not to "overpump" the meat as it may become mushy since salt removes some protein. For this reason, only six to twelve percent of the meat’s weight is injected and then it is left to soak in the remaining refrigerated brine. Recipe instructions usually carefully indicate the exact amount of brine to be used and the recommended amount of time for soaking. Anyone can "give a piggy a shot" and injection pumping a ham before soaking, is by far, preferred over simple brine soaking alone. Weighing brine cure is simple. Simply move the decimal point left one place as you weigh the meat. This gives you the 10% brine weight. If the item contains a shank or bone, be sure to inject sufficient cure along the bone.
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 2)
ReplyDeleteLet’s take a look at how we make a “boiled ham”. Generally, only hams of 14 pounds or less are selected for this type of water-cooked ham. Following the curing process, the ham is smoked then prep-cooked in water until the IMT (internal meat temperature) reaches about 150° F. (66°C.) before it is finally baked and served. This “preparatory cooking” ensures protection against all sorts of pathogenic bacteria as well as microbial parasites such as trichinella spiralis. “Boiled Ham” is by far, the most common type of ham made worldwide. But “boiled ham” is never boiled. Preparatory cooking in heated water has undoubtedly given this ham its name. Please note that a water temperature of only 170°F. (77°C.) is required to safely prep-cook the ham by reaching 150°F.(66°C.) IMT. (Water boils at 212° (100° C.).
Making A Brining Solution Using Salt
(1.) How much brine is needed?
We must consider three separate qualities in the brine we are about to make. First, the volume of liquid must be determined. Second, we must note the strength of the nitrite “pickup” in parts per million. Third, the amount of salt in the pickling solution will partially determine how quickly the pork will turn to ham.
Begin making a brine-curing solution by determining how much water is going to be needed. The liquid must cover the meat yet it is important to use a container that is not too large. The size and shape of the container should definitely be taken into account in order to use a minimum volume of brine. When the volume has been determined, the weight of that volume will be used in a formula to determine the salinity strength of the liquid. There’s a simple ol’ timer’s adage that reads, “The amount (weight) of brine should equal about forty or fifty percent of the weight of the meat being cured”. In other words, you don’t need a barrel-full of brining cure to baptize one duck! Simply use enough brine to equal forty percent of the duck’s weight. I like to get a “ballpark” figure by placing the ham into the receptacle used for brining and cover it with cold water with just a little to spare. This gives me 100%. It’s simple to divide it in half and weigh it. Once this volume of water is determined, it is weighed to use the sum in a mathematical formula.
Remember to pat the ham completely dry and place it back into the refrigerator. And remember to record both the volume and weight of the water in your notes. For reference, one U.S. gallon weighs 8.33 lbs.
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 3)
ReplyDeleteLet’s say you wanted to cure 20 pounds and 12 ounces of ham using enough brine to equal 40% of the weight of the meat. (20 pounds and 12 ounces is 20.75 lbs.). Twenty and three quarters pounds multiplied by .40 is 8.3 pounds. That is how many pounds of water you’ll need. That happens to be the weight of one gallon of water. That means if you cure ten pounds of ham, you’ll only need half a gallon of water, which weighs 4.1 pounds. If one gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds, then we can simply divide 5.6 by 8.33 to get .67 or simply gallons of water.
Remember, we’re just measuring an “adequate” amount of liquid at this point. A rough estimate. I like to use 50% of the weight of the meat being cured for a formula because it makes the math easier! For instance, if I am going to brine 14 pounds of meat, I know I’ll have to use 7 pounds of water – or just a little less than a gallon. The amount of brine is wholly determined by your own judgment. We’ll determine the amount of salinity later. Right now be concerned with making enough brine to cover the meat.
Now, test yourself! You’d like to brine a ten pound ham and you’ve found a snug container for the brine, so you’ve decided to use 0.40% of the weight of the meat. How much water will you need? Grab a pencil and figure it out. Next compare your math with mine. Ten pounds of ham multiplied by 0.40 equals 4 pounds. That’s the weight of half-a-gallon of water.
(2.) How much cure #1 is needed?
How strong must the curing capability be? Note that for immersion, pumped, or massaged products, the legal maximum in-going nitrite limit is 200 part per million. (In comminuted sausage, the legal maximum is only 156 ppm.) In a brine-cure, 200 ppm pickup is achieved when 4.2 ounces of Cure #1 is added to ONE GALLON of water. In other words, to achieve 200 parts per million, 8.33 pounds of water (1 gallon) must contain 4.2 ounces (120 grams) of Cure #1. This is much more cure than is added to comminuted sausage simply because after the sodium nitrite has worked its magic, the remaining brine is poured down the drain. This is not done in comminuted sausage where the nitrite remains in the sausage until it has been completely reduced to nitric oxide. Note the volume amount in 4.2 ounces is 20 teaspoons or a little more than 6 tablespoonsful!
In our recipe for brine-curing a ten pound ham, we need to use ½ gallon (0.5 gallons) of water, so we must multiply 120 (grams) by .5 which gives us 60 grams – the total amount of Cure #1 needed in half a gallon of water to cure our ten-pound ham at 200 parts per million sodium nitrite.
(Continued in next post)
Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 4)
ReplyDelete(3.) How much salinity is recommended?
There is no all-inclusive, all-purpose brine. A solution’s strength is entirely up to the sausage maker. However, there are some practical applications with the use of salt and many recommended strengths have been made by experienced sausage makers for a variety of reasons. For instance, it has been found that generally, poultry is best when brined in a solution of only 21° to 25° SAL. On the other end of the scale, fish are usually brined in a solution of 70° to 80° SAL. What about pork and beef? Anywhere from about 40° to 70° SAL is effective. A brine of 40°SAL is most popular because the formula is so simple to remember (one pound of salt to one gallon of water). If you are racing the clock to cure a ham before it begins to sour, a brine of 75° SAL is not out of the question. All things considered, a stronger brine may be used for a shorter period of time, while a weaker brine takes longer to effect the same result. Why do we bother to measure the strength of the brine each time we make it? In a nutshell… consistency! We like to be able to predict the outcome and be sure of its unvarying success time after time.
If you study the brining tables below, you’ll see that the first column designates Salinometer Degrees in which water is measured from a point containing no salt whatsoever, to a point where it becomes totally “saturated” and cannot dissolve more added salt. The scale is divided into 100 degrees for convenience. Note that 14°SAL is the strength of seawater, while 100° represents saturated salt water brine. The second column indicates the percentage of salt by weight in the solution, while the third column specifies the number of pounds of salt (per gallon of water) needed to attain that particular degree of brine strength. It is this third column you’ll need to use to determine just how much salt (by weight) must be added to make the brine strength of your choice, indicated in the first column.
Let’s make a 40°SAL brine-cure solution for our ten-pound ham. That’s a lighter-end brine strength for pork and should require only about five day’s brining time to pickup 200 parts per million sodium nitrite providing we inject it also. Begin by looking in the left column of the brining chart (below) to find 40°SAL. In the third column we find that it corresponds with .98 (one pound) of salt for ONE GALLON of water. One pound equals 453.5 grams. We’ve already determined that our 10-pound ham needs 0.5 gallons of ice water, so we’ll multiply 453.5 grams by .5 to get 226.75 grams needed for a half-gallon of water. This is 8 ounces (½ lb.) of salt. However, at this point, it becomes necessary to take into consideration, the salt content in the Prague Powder Cure #1. As we are adding 60 grams of Cure #1 to the brine, we must deduct that amount from the weight of the kosher salt we are about to add. With this adjustment, we are ready to proceed. Here’s the recipe:
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 5)
ReplyDeleteHobble Creek Hog Leg
Brining Cure For 14 lbs. Of Boiled Ham
1/2 gallons ice water (32°F.)
60 grams Cure #1 (also called Prague Powder #1, Instacure #1 or “pink salt” #1)
226.7 grams (1/2 pound) of salt (not iodized)
2/3 cup powdered dextrose
Make the brine by adding the Cure #1 and the salt to the icewater and stirring it until the salt becomes dissolved. Many people have attempted to cure a ham by simply soaking it in salt brine before it spoils. The truth is that in using brine soaking only, the cure will not penetrate the innermost flesh, bone, and marrow of the leg, by the time it begins to spoil. - the very reason we must render a little assistance with a brining needle and give the piggy a shot in several places. You may find a large hypodermic called a “brining needle” in your kitchen supply store or at your favorite sausage supply store. We are going to inject 10% of the meat’s weight in brine so the next step is to weigh out 1 pound of brine. That’s 453.5 grams (16 ounces) of solution. Pour it into a plastic cup and weigh it. Next, inject it in several places throughout the entire ham, but only into meaty muscle. Don’t worry about injecting the fat as it cannot be cured using sodium nitrite. Having injected the ham, submerge it in the remaining brine, (called a “pickle”), for 4 to 5 days at near as 38° F. as possible. Longer brining will produce a more salty product. This step removes the threat of some notoriously dreadful bugs including such micro-organisms as clostridium botulinum, campylobacter jejuni, escherichia coli O157:H7, listeria, cyclospora cayetanensis, staphylococcus aureus, clostridium perfringens, and three pathogens in particular responsible for 1,500 deaths annually - salmonella, listeria monocytogenes, and toxoplasma. Following a week’s brining, the ham should be ready to cook. Generally, this type of ham is not smoked. However, it is your choice and may be done at this point. DO NOT soak the ham in fresh water before smoking or cooking it. Simply rinse it off, pat it dry, and begin smoking it (if desired) by preheating your smoker to 140° F. and introducing smoke for several hours.
Immediately following this step, place the ham into a suitable cooking utensil whereby it may be covered with 170° water and maintained at that temperature until the internal meat temperature reaches 150°F. Again, most hams of this type are never smoked. Lots of people mistakenly believe that smoking a ham cures it. Smoking meat absolutely does NOT cure it. This “preparatory” cooking is part of the curing process, and may take some time. Be patient and don’t try to rush the cooking. Use a probe type thermometer with a timing alarm to alert you when the meat has cooked. Note that as the temperature surpasses 138°F. (59°C.), any possibly existing trichinella spiralis are destroyed. At 150°F. (66°C.), the ham becomes fully “prep cooked” and the threat of “crypto” has been removed. Next, cool the ham with cold running water, pat it dry, and then refrigerate it until it is finally cooked by any number of means to a finishing-serving temperature of 160° F.
(Continued in next post)
ReplyDeleteBrining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 6)
Most people would be astonished if they realized how easy it is to actually re-introduce staphyloccous aureus at this point, having destroyed any trace of it previously by the cooking-curing step. Unfortunately, when re-introduced, staph may develop toxins which are not destroyed by further cooking! Ouch! So, if you smoke the ham, please get it into a refrigerator as soon afterward as possible until you reheat it for serving. Use sterile plastic gloves to handle it, and make sure the shelves in your smoker are clean too, or simply hang it while smoking. Remember, in order to smoke the ham, it must be dry to the touch. Use your smokehouse to maintain the ham’s IMT at 140°F., the upper edge of the bacterial “danger zone”.
When preparing the ham for dinner, please note that the FSIS suggests using a minimum 325°F. oven and serving it when the IMT reaches 160°F. For a moister ham, some folks even re-introduce it into boiling water before serving it. Of course microwaves or countertop appliances may be used as well. This ham is actually best having rested a couple of days. Be sure to wrap the ham tightly in butcher paper and keep it refrigerated. As this is a fully-cooked and cured product, it is perfectly safe to slice cold for sandwiches.
What about sweetener? In ham, it’s just like my banjo pickin’ - a little goes a long way! Powdered dextrose is only 70% as sweet as sugar but it forces itself into meat cells more readily. If you don’t have it on hand, dissolve regular sugar into the brine. Technically, adding sugar will increase the strength of the brine. Many people say that it “counteracts” the harshness of salt, but I disagree. I believe it simply “balances” flavors. Please make your first ham simply as possible, using a minimum of added sweetener, without additional flavorings or seasonings. Don’t expect it to be as strongly-flavored as “country ham”. The pros simply do not add a variety of other flavoring ingredients to “boiled ham”. The taste of properly cured ham is exquisite. The two most common mistakes by beginners are over-spicing and overcooking good ham.
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 7)
ReplyDeleteSalt Brine Tables for Brine at 60 F (15° C) in US Gallons
Column 1 = Salometer Deg. °
Column 2 = % Salt by Weight
Column 3 = Lbs. Salt Per Gal. Of Water
Column 4 = Lbs. Salt Per Gallon Of Brine
Column 5 = Lbs. Of Water Per Gallon of Brine
0_____ 0.000_____ 0.000_____ 0.000_____ 8.328
1_____ 0.264_____ 0.022_____ 0.022_____ 8.323
2_____ 0.526_____ 0.044_____ 0.044_____ 8.317
3_____ 0.792_____ 0.066_____ 0.066_____ 8.307
4_____ 1.056_____ 0.089_____ 0.089_____ 8.298
5_____ 1.320_____ 0.111_____ 0.111_____ 8.292
6_____ 1.584_____ 0.134_____ 0.133_____ 8.286
7_____ 1.848_____ 0.157_____ 0.156_____ 8.280
8_____ 2.112_____ 0.180_____ 0.178_____ 8.274
9_____ 2.376_____ 0.203_____ 0.201_____ 8.268
10____ 2.640_____ 0.226_____ 0.224_____ 8.262
11____ 2.903_____ 0.249_____ 0.247_____ 8.256
12____ 3.167_____ 0.272_____ 0.270_____ 8.250
13____ 3.431_____ 0.296_____ 0.293_____ 8.239
14____ 3.695_____ 0.320_____ 0.316_____ 8.229
15____ 3.959_____ 0.343_____ 0.339_____ 8.222
16____ 4.223_____ 0.367_____ 0.362_____ 8.216
17____ 4.487_____ 0.391_____ 0.386_____ 8.209
18____ 4.751_____ 0.415_____ 0.409_____ 8.202
19____ 5.015_____ 0.440_____ 0.433_____ 8.195
20____ 5.279_____ 0.464_____ 0.456_____ 8.188
21____ 5.543_____ 0.489_____ 0.480_____ 8.181
22____ 5.807_____ 0.513_____ 0.504_____ 8.174
23____ 6.071_____ 0.538_____ 0.528_____ 8.167
24____ 6.335_____ 0.563_____ 0.552_____ 8.159
25____ 6.599_____ 0.588_____ 0.576_____ 8.152
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 8)
ReplyDelete26____ 6.863_____ 0.614_____ 0.600_____ 8.144
27____ 7.127_____ 0.639_____ 0.624_____ 8.137
28____ 7.391_____ 0.665_____ 0.649_____ 8.129
29____ 7.655_____ 0.690_____ 0.673_____ 8.121
30____ 7.919_____ 0.716_____ 0.698_____ 8.113
31____ 8.162_____ 0.742_____ 0.722_____ 8.105
32____ 8.446_____ 0.768_____ 0.747_____ 8.097
33____ 8.710_____ 0.795_____ 0.772_____ 8.089
34____ 8.974_____ 0.821_____ 0.797_____ 8.081
35____ 9.238_____ 0.848_____ 0.822_____ 8.073
36____ 9.502_____ 0.874_____ 0.847_____ 8.064
37____ 9.766_____ 0.901_____ 0.872_____ 8.056
38____ 10.030____ 0.928_____ 0.897_____ 8.047
39____ 10.294____ 0.956_____ 0.922_____ 8.038
40____ 10.558____ 0.983_____ 0.948_____ 8.030
41____ 10.822____ 1.011_____ 0.973_____ 8.021
42____ 11.086____ 1.038_____ 0.999_____ 8.012
43____ 11.350____ 1.066_____ 1.025_____ 8.003
44____ 11.614____ 1.094_____ 1.050_____ 7.994
45____ 11.878____ 1.123_____ 1.076_____ 7.985
46____ 12.142____ 1.151_____ 1.102_____ 7.975
47____ 12.406____ 1.179_____ 1.128_____ 7.966
48____ 12.670____ 1.208_____ 1.154_____ 7.957
49____ 12.934____ 1.237_____ 1.181_____ 7.947
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 9)
ReplyDelete50____ 13.198____ 1.266_____ 1.207_____ 7.937
51____ 13.461____ 1.295_____ 1.233_____ 7.928
52____ 13.725____ 1.325_____ 1.260_____ 7.918
53____ 13.989____ 1.355_____ 1.286_____ 7.908
54____ 14.253____ 1.384_____ 1.313_____ 7.898
55____ 14.517____ 1.414_____ 1.340_____ 7.888
56____ 14.781____ 1.444_____ 1.368_____ 7.878
57____ 15.045____ 1.475_____ 1.393_____ 7.867
58____ 15.309____ 1.505_____ 1.420_____ 7.857
59____ 15.573____ 1.536_____ 1.447_____ 7.847
60____ 15.837____ 1.567_____ 1.475_____ 7.836
61____ 16.101____ 1.598_____ 1.502_____ 7.826
62____ 16.365____ 1.630_____ 1.529_____ 7.815
63____ 16.629____ 1.661_____ 1.557_____ 7.804
64____ 16.893____ 1.693_____ 1.584_____ 7.793
65____ 17.157____ 1.725_____ 1.612_____ 7.782
66____ 17.421____ 1.757_____ 1.639_____ 7.771
67____ 17.685____ 1.789_____ 1.668_____ 7.764
68____ 17.949____ 1.822_____ 1.697_____ 7.756
69____ 18.213____ 1.854_____ 1.725_____ 7.744
70____ 18.477____ 1.887_____ 1.753_____ 7.733
71____ 18.740____ 1.921_____ 1.781_____ 7.721
72____ 19.004____ 1.954_____ 1.809_____ 7.710
73____ 19.268____ 1.988_____ 1.837_____ 7.698
74____ 19.532____ 2.021_____ 1.866_____ 7.686
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Brining And Brine Curing A Whole Muscle Meat (P. 10)
ReplyDelete75____ 19.796____ 2.056_____ 1.895_____ 7.678
76____ 20.060____ 2.090_____ 1.925_____ 7.669
77____ 20.324____ 2.124_____ 1.953_____ 7.657
78____ 20.588____ 2.159_____ 1.982_____ 7.645
79____ 20.852____ 2.194_____ 2.011_____ 7.633
80____ 21.116____ 2.229_____ 2.040_____ 7.621
81____ 21.380____ 2.265_____ 2.069_____ 7.608
82____ 21.644____ 2.300_____ 2.098_____ 7.596
83____ 21.908____ 2.336_____ 2.128_____ 7.586
84____ 22.172____ 2.372_____ 2.159_____ 7.577
85____ 22.436____ 2.409_____ 2.188_____ 7.584
86____ 22.700____ 2.446_____ 2.217_____ 7.551
87____ 22.964____ 2.482_____ 2.248_____ 7.542
88____ 23.228____ 2.520_____ 2.279_____ 7.532
89____ 23.492____ 2.557_____ 2.309_____ 7.519
90____ 23.756____ 2.595_____ 2.338_____ 7.505
91____ 24.019____ 2.633_____ 2.368_____ 7.492
92____ 24.283____ 2.671_____ 2.398_____ 7.479
93____ 24.547____ 2.709_____ 2.430_____ 7.468
94____ 24.811____ 2.748_____ 2.461_____ 7.458
95____ 25.075____ 2.787_____ 2.491_____ 7.444
96____ 25.339____ 2.826_____ 2.522_____ 7.430
97____ 25.603____ 2.866_____ 2.552_____ 7.416
98____ 25.867____ 2.908_____ 2.570_____ 7.409
99____ 26.131____ 2.948_____ 2.616_____ 7.394
99.6__ 26.289____ 2.970_____ 2.634_____ 7.385
100___ 26.395____ 2.986_____ 2.647_____ 7.380
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Does anyone have any photos of your best homemade bacon? We'd sure like to see them. Don't be shy.
ReplyDeleteLet's see your bacon photos!
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Hobble Creek Hog Leg Pork Loin
ReplyDeleteI used a 2.5 lb pork loin, and the Hobble Creek Hog Leg recipe. I injected with 1/4 lb of the brining solution. It brined for 5 days. After getting the water to 170 degrees in a stock pot, I put the stock pot in a 210 degrees oven until the thermometer read 150 degrees in the meat.
It rested in the fridge for 48 hours, then I put it into a 350 degree oven until the meat read 170 degrees.
Wow it really tastes good. a couple of pictures follow.
After brining
[URL=http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/captaincutler/media/ZB2674__IMG_2395-1024_zps55c27766.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a503/captaincutler/ZB2674__IMG_2395-1024_zps55c27766.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
finished ham
[URL=http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/captaincutler/media/Z3CE24__IMG_2403-1024_zps41971a7f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a503/captaincutler/Z3CE24__IMG_2403-1024_zps41971a7f.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Enjoy,
Sal
Hope my picture are not too big.
Delete