It's time for a new cooking adventure.

[Hayabusa Rider]

Charcuterie.

Yep.

Well might as well eh?

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I love smoking meat . . .

Er . . . that came out . . . dammit that sounds wrong.

 

[Markbnj]

Subject has always fascinated me, and I love just about every kind of sausage... dammit that does sound wrong, doesn't it?

Let us know how you make out.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Hayabusa Jamón? Has a nice ring to it.

What do you plan to use for a curing room?

 

[Gibsons]

Hayabusa Jamón? Has a nice ring to it.

What do you plan to use for a curing room?

Was wondering this also. Not everyone has a cave nearby.

Maybe a wine cooler?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Hayabusa Jamón? Has a nice ring to it.

What do you plan to use for a curing room?

I have smallish refrigerator that has a wide temp range that I use for retarding bread doughs. It's just a fridge and no freezer and I've tested it so I know I can reliably keep it above 50 but below 55. I'll have to rig something for humidity but that shouldn't be difficult. I could use a PC fan for air circulation. Worth a shot.

 

[IronWing]

Charcuterie.

Yep.

Well might as well eh?

That thing in the middle looks like Gila Monster!

 

[NetWareHead]

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages and The Art of Making Fermented Sausages are two books I am interested in getting and recommend you do too. These are not coffee table type books with pictures and recipes made for easy reading. These are written by a serious charcuterie connoisseur with a scientific and precise approach to the processes. So far, this author has intrigued me enough to recommend his books and I have not found a book yet that matches the kind of information this author writes about.

I read the reviews for this book an Amazon Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing and came across the first review by a user called "Larbo" He is pretty critical of the author which happens to be the same one who writes the book you posted in the OP. He recommends the books I am interested in for the aforementioned reasons (can be found in comments here

I'm also interested in charcuterie and would like to make my own bacon as well as capicolla, guanciale and sopressatta. I also like polish charcuterie and would like to make hunter's sausage kielbasa and kebanos.

 

[Kaido]

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages and The Art of Making Fermented Sausages are two books I am interested in getting and recommend you do too. These are not coffee table type books with pictures and recipes made for easy reading. These are written by a serious charcuterie connoisseur with a scientific and precise approach to the processes.

The more I've gotten into cooking, the more I've been amazed at just how much of a science it is, rather than an art. I mean sure there's art involved, but at least in trying new recipes, why reinvent the wheel? The majority of meals have been time-tested & you can get great results by following someone else's hard work. That's why I love Good Eats & America's Test Kitchen. And even the artistic presentation of the meal can be a learned skill. I still throw crap together from time to time, but thanks to the Internet & great resources like the books you mentioned, it's gotten a lot easier to get wonderful results without having to pioneer the techniques.

And OP, I'm expecting some Charcuterie Sous Vide bacon sausage in my Secret Santa stocking this year :biggrin:

 

[NetWareHead]

The more I've gotten into cooking, the more I've been amazed at just how much of a science it is, rather than an art. I mean sure there's art involved, but at least in trying new recipes, why reinvent the wheel? The majority of meals have been time-tested & you can get great results by following someone else's hard work. That's why I love Good Eats & America's Test Kitchen. And even the artistic presentation of the meal can be a learned skill. I still throw crap together from time to time, but thanks to the Internet & great resources like the books you mentioned, it's gotten a lot easier to get wonderful results without having to pioneer the techniques.

Agreed. One of the problem with the author of the book in the OP was a lack of scientific approach to the recipes. Its not as simple as for example you add too much spice and the meal now tastes too garlicky. The science of charcuterie is very precise and if not adhered to can kill people at worst or lead to a spoiled result at best. We are talking about a science that developed a way to preserve and store meat before refrigeration and commercial preservatives were invented. The complaints I read about the author were not using the correct portions of salt to meat weight and perhaps the worst complaint was adding too many nitrites. The level was way past recommended doses and approaching levels of toxicity to the human body.

Once I read those complaints, I decided to search elsewhere and found the 2 books i recommended in my previous post.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Agreed. One of the problem with the author of the book in the OP was a lack of scientific approach to the recipes. Its not as simple as for example you add too much spice and the meal now tastes too garlicky. The science of charcuterie is very precise and if not adhered to can kill people at worst or lead to a spoiled result at best. We are talking about a science that developed a way to preserve and store meat before refrigeration and commercial preservatives were invented. The complaints I read about the author were not using the correct portions of salt to meat weight and perhaps the worst complaint was adding too many nitrites. The level was way past recommended doses and approaching levels of toxicity to the human body.

Once I read those complaints, I decided to search elsewhere and found the 2 books i recommended in my previous post.

I've heard the references you've suggested are good and I'll get them as well. The one I picked is an introduction with many having good results.

Caveat on the science though. While it's true there is a scientific basis for the process, that does not mean "antiseptic" in any way. There are principles involved which ought to be understood lest real problems ensue, however the challenge seems to be to provide a controlled environment which is repeatable. I'm not questioning your understanding, but some people don't understand that we're looking for fermentation and that involves complex biological and environmental interplay, and that's where the science lies. Still there is much which is an art in that the judgement during the curing process. There is no "charcutiere" microwave button, an allusion to "Snakes on a Plane".

I'm also looking into something relatively new. I've seen some reviews for dry aging steaks, also a microbial relevant process.

Possibly useful

Looking around the internet those who have tried it seem to think there is potential, however I'm at the bottom of the learning curve and am not rushing to judgement. I think I will keep an eye out for a strip primal and try the dry aging it. Reviews are favorable, but researching is painful in that much of the material presents like a ginsu infomertial.

I find this all fascinating, as is fermentation of bread and beer (which I have not tried). That useless decades old doctorate in cell biology I earned isn't completely so for these purposes.

 

[NetWareHead]

I've heard the references you've suggested are good and I'll get them as well. The one I picked is an introduction with many having good results.

Caveat on the science though. While it's true there is a scientific basis for the process, that does not mean "antiseptic" in any way. There are principles involved which ought to be understood lest real problems ensue, however the challenge seems to be to provide a controlled environment which is repeatable. I'm not questioning your understanding, but some people don't understand that we're looking for fermentation and that involves complex biological and environmental interplay, and that's where the science lies. Still there is much which is an art in that the judgement during the curing process. There is no "charcutiere" microwave button, an allusion to "Snakes on a Plane".

I'm also looking into something relatively new. I've seen some reviews for dry aging steaks, also a microbial relevant process.

Possibly useful

Looking around the internet those who have tried it seem to think there is potential, however I'm at the bottom of the learning curve and am not rushing to judgement. I think I will keep an eye out for a strip primal and try the dry aging it. Reviews are favorable, but researching is painful in that much of the material presents like a ginsu infomertial.

I find this all fascinating, as is fermentation of bread and beer (which I have not tried). That useless decades old doctorate in cell biology I earned isn't completely so for these purposes.

Yes it is fascinating too me as well and fermentation is a cool science experiment if done correctly can have tasty results. I've done plenty of food preservation in vinegar or boiling water-canning but there was no fermentation aspect as the strong acid and temperatures killed any bacterial action. I did recently try sour pickles in brine, fermented in a crock as well as milk fermented into yogurt overnight in a warm oven. The results were delicious and tasty. Bread, wine and beer are on the list so why not meats too?

Thanks for that link to the videos. I see they have videos on capicolla which is one of my favorite salumi. Capicolla is challenging to me and I want to understand the process better. Its one thing to make a salami or sausage where the ingredients are ground and through mixing, the mixture becomes homogeneous before stuffing into a casing. But capicolla is an entire whole pork shoulder that is stuffed into a casing and the curing of whole muscle groups is something I want to understand better. Good luck with your meat curing/fermentation and post pics and updates!

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

I have smallish refrigerator that has a wide temp range that I use for retarding bread doughs. It's just a fridge and no freezer and I've tested it so I know I can reliably keep it above 50 but below 55. I'll have to rig something for humidity but that shouldn't be difficult. I could use a PC fan for air circulation. Worth a shot.

From what I know of it people use a humidifier and a humidistat for that purpose since the humidity has to stay around 75%. You'd have to put a hole in the fridge (if there isn't already one) to run the humidistat sensor.

Good luck with the experiment and keep us updated with the progress.