Jonty
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Posts posted by Jonty
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Oh my word… that looks amazing islandgun - you must be really pleased with that!
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1 hour ago, islandgun said:
Brilliant. Well that seems like a good place to start. Which would be the best cut for Ham. I bought this last summer and hot smoked a lot of mackerel but would like to try ham if possible, as said earlier it goes to 135c
I have the very same smoker Islandgun - mine is taking a break at the moment because the element packed in and I've not got round to fixing it yet - I must pull my finger out.
You definitely can smoke a ham on that - its got a perfect temperature range. You'd want to set it at 110C-120C and cook the ham to a minimum internal temperature of 65C (cooking to the internal temp is far more accurate that trying to guess minutes a pound etc). You can cook it to 70C or above depending on your taste/texture preferences but 65 will do it for me.
When the internal temp hits about 60C, some wizardry occurs within the meat (all meat) and it wont absorb anymore smoke after that temp, so you can save adding woodchips at that point as they wont have any effect.
For cuts of meat, anything from the leg or shoulder will work - I think leg is the more traditional. If you go for shoulder, ask for a solid piece, I've found a lot of shoulder is rolled and tied and turns into strands if you cut the string.
Are you looking at dry curing (dry rub) or wet curing (immersed in brine) ?
Also, you mentioned you have Prague Powder, there are two types #1 and #2. You want #1 for ham and bacon - anything that you cook, and #2 is used for uncooked things such as parma ham or salami. It's important to get the right one as they are not interchangeable.
I'm looking forward to seeing your results!!
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7 hours ago, old'un said:
Jonty is your man...https://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/profile/8521-jonty/
Thanks Dave - for your confidence 👍
@islandgun bacon and ham are very similar, the technique is the same, it’s just a different cut of meat. I’ve made a good few hams, wet brined and dry brined, I’d be happy to help you out with whatever you are wanting to achieve. Curing is pretty simple really - I’d be glad to assist.
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9 hours ago, rimfire4969 said:
I keep my own pigs and always cure some loin and belly when I get the meat back from when they go to slaughter.
Nothing better that a English breakfast with bacon and sausage from my own pigs and eggs from my chickens, even better in the summer with my own tomatoes as well.
I hope this sounds the way it was intended - in our house we’d call that a ‘smug meal’ …. Tucking into something that you’ve had so much involvement in makes it taste far, far better. I always try to remember that when I’m dragging a red when I’m knee deep in a bog 😀. Having my own pig is on my wish list - you’re a lucky bloke to be involved in that whole field to table process with your own food 👍
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3 hours ago, bruno22rf said:
That's me out then, any more gadgets in the kitchen and the other half will kill me.
if you roll belly bacon and wrap in cling film then part freeze you can slice it pretty well
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6 hours ago, Dave53 said:
👍 Check out pokel salz, from weshenfelder, it has different cures on the packet. I've used it a lot and it makes good bacon. Loin or belly.
👍
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1 hour ago, old'un said:
Hi Jonty, I am interested in having a go at this, you say, you have to be accurate with your weights of ingredients so what's the weight of each ingredient for the 1 kilo cure? And where the best place to buy the prague powder#1
thanks
Hi Dave
I would gladly make you a batch an put it in the post if you like. But if you wanted to make it yourself, it's very easy. The method I use is called equilibrium curing - you use a set percentage weight of salt etc per the weight of the meat which means that you cannot over cure/over salt the bacon. Basically the chemistry of the salt means it wants to be equal on both the inside and outside of the meat, so the meat will absorb the salt until there's the same amount inside the meat as on the outside. If you just whacked a load of salt on the meat, it would keep absorbing it and you end up with overly salty bacon, this method avoids that completely. I use nitrite which is the Prague powder#1/cure#1 and that's the bit that you really need to be accurate with. It will be on the package but typically you use it at 2.5g per kg of meat, in order to make weighing things out I usually make a batch of cure for up to 10kg of meant and then use the appropriate proportion depending on the weight of the pork I am using.
A good basic cure mix is:
250g salt (sea salt is better than table salt)
100g sugar (any will do but I like soft light demerara)
25g Cure#1
Please note that there is also a cure called Cure#2/Prague powder#2 - this is different to #1 and wont work as a substitute, its used for meats you don't cook such as salami and has nitrate in it which stays in the meat far longer before it dissipates.
mixed together the total weight is 375g and is enough for 10kg of meat. So 1kg would need 37.5g of cure, 1.3kg would need 48.75g etc
When you weigh out your amount of cure - it will look like not nearly enough but don't be tempted to use more, the key is using it at this ratio will make sure you are only applying the nitrite at that 2.5g/kg and that's the main aim from a food safety perspective. At this rate, the nitrite will dissipate into nothing whilst the meat cures.
Rub the cure mix all over the meat, and either vac pack or put in a zip lock bag and squeeze the air out. Give it 1 x day for every 1/2 inch of thickness of the meat plus 2 x days for good luck. If you don't leave it long enough, you may have a 'silver dollar' of uncured pork in he middle of your rashers, but it doesn't matter if you leave it for longer - there is no way it can get over salty / over cured.
Once the time is up, rinse it quickly under the cold tap and leave exposed in the fridge for an hour or two to dry out. if you put it in the freezer for an hour before slicing, it is easier to slice thin rashers, and if you use belly pork, I roll it up and wrap it tightly in cling film - that makes it far easier to slice.
If you want to add more flavourings such as pepper/mace/bay/treacle etc, you can add those to the rub or bag - just make sure you add them after you've weighed out the appropriate amount of cure mix.
You can also play around with the salt and sugar content if you find the starter cure mix above doesn't suit your palate. you can go as salty or less/more sugar as you like, but you wouldn't want to go for less than 180g salt per 10kg as it doesn't really make bacon.
Weschenfelders is a great online supplier, but if you like, I can always make you some up and would be very glad to do so.
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4 minutes ago, ditchman said:
if you havnt a vacupack machine ..can you use clingfilm tightly wrapped
Absolutely, in fact, just a ziplock bag would work better. The idea is to keep all the salt (irrespective of whether it is still salt or now brine from the meat juices) in contact with the meat. Cling film leaches the liquid and a plaggy bag works better
2 hours ago, ditchman said:you clever ******.........what a superb idea....
It honestly isn’t difficult- but thank you. Once you have mixed the cure , it literally is a case of weighing the meat and rubbing in the appropriate amount of salt mix
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2 minutes ago, Dave53 said:
Home cured bacon is relatively easy and tastes great, no water when cooking. But go one better and cold smoke it. You can't beat it
Dave, I do quite a lot of smoking, but I honestly prefer unsmoked bacon - I absolutely know where you’re coming from though mate!
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13 hours ago, bruno22rf said:
Brilliant work, but is it appreciably better than, say, Aldi thick cut smoked back? When you take into account the time spent and ingredients?
I can’t answer that for you - but for me… of course it is. I’ve made it myself, dictated the sweetness/saltiness ratio, know exactly what’s gone into it, and then had a real laugh with my boy at the end - it’s just good fun and immensely satisfying.
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My local Booths supermarket had some unusually cheap pork loin on sale the other day. I bought a kilo to make some back bacon. It’s a really simple process, just three ingredients into the cure (salt, sugar & cure#1/prague powder#1). You do have to be accurate with your weights of ingredients to make sure you use the cure#1 in a safe manner but it’s not difficult. Cure was rubbed into the meat and then vac packed and into,the fridge for a week or so. We rinsed it last night and after slicing it this morning, my boy and I had a go at making tastier versions of McMuffins complete with round sausage patties and the questionable perfectly round fried/steamed egg.
If you want to have a go at home curing, bacon is so simple, it’s definitely worth a try.
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4 hours ago, old'un said:
Blimey, sorry to hear about your wife Jonty.
I am sure she will love what you have done and must say it looks pretty good from here, will you be putting on a plaque or screwing direct to the stable door?
Thanks Dave - she’s had it for over 20 years but she’s a fighter and looks for the positive where’ve she can. RE the letters, I’m going to let her decide how she wants them, I have a leaf from an old oak table set aside if she wants a plaque, or was going to get some farriers nails if she wants it fixing direct to the door..
16 minutes ago, Aled said:Sorry to hear about your wife's troubles Jonty. That is great craftmanship nice one.
Thank you - on both accounts.
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My wife fulfilled her lifelong ambition of getting a horse - it's not my thing, and I wasn't a fan, but she has MS and very limited mobility so seeing her being able to be out and about in the countryside once again does warm my heart and she's obviously over the moon. The kids and I wanted to surprise her for mothers day, so we've been cutting and bending horseshoes to make a name sign for the stable door - I'm really grateful that the horse only has a short name! My welding is absolutely shocking so please don't look too closely - the main thing is the wife will be happy. A while ago, I made a trivet to sit on top of my wood burner, a mate of mine in the states really liked it so whilst I had the tools out, I've also knocked one up for him.
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11 hours ago, Penelope said:
Would you do the same with fox cubs?
Of course not…
They'd never be able to catch the fish I was putting in the temporary pond every day.
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I was lucky enough to look after these two for a few weeks before Christmas. The female was found orphaned in the beck that runs along the side of my house. She was taken away to a specialist rehab centre where she was paired up with an orphaned male of the same age. The were brought back to my neck of the woods where we had them in a large soft release pen for a few weeks before they headed out into the world. it was an absolute pleasure to be able to be relatively up close and personal with some creatures that you only ever usually get a fleeting glimpse of.
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Thanks for all of the responses chaps. Turns out you pat the deposit listed on the website and pay for the gas on top. A 20 litre bottle is £110 deposit and £90 for the gas. After that its just the £90 for the gas.
I do have a pub CO2 cylinder hitched up to my little brewery set up, but I thought I'd keep the two separate.
Thanks again - I've been teaching myself with flux core wire and I think I'm about ready to switch over to gas.
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I have a question for anyone who uses hobbyweld gas - does the initial rental deposit for the cylinder get you a full cylinder or is there another charge for the gas on top? I’ve been looking at their website and also a couple of their dealer sites and it seems unclear to me - I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience “
thanks
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I had curry goat a couple of weeks back at Leeds market food hall - it’s my regular meal whenever I go there. Domestic goat, in my opinion is lovely, there’s a great goat farm at Cockerham near Lancaster, I was speaking to the owner once and she was saying how she sometimes found it frustrating as most people turned up to buy her delicious meat only to curry it. Braised leg of goat on a butterbean and chorizo stew is a thing of beauty.
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11 hours ago, Agriv8 said:
Jonty I hope I never need the services of you and your colleagues but as age creeps up on me a foot caught In an unseen rabbit hole or a boot not quite as firm on a slippery rock I know that sometimes accidents happen. I am risk overse but like pushing myself as a Yorkshire man I need hills and I need to climb them rain sun snow and fog !
simple things can make a huge difference like a survival bag I wander if you have a link to remind us what steps and planning we can take to help you help us if the accident does happen!
thanks
Agriv8
In the nicest possible way - I hope I don't bump into you in a professional capacity too 😀
You raise a good question, there is a really good site called Adventure Smart https://www.adventuresmart.uk/ which is endorsed by most MR teams. It's all based on three questions:
Do I have the right skills? Do I know what the weather will be like? Do I have the right kit? - it's pretty self explanatory and makes a lot of sense.
On top of that, for me, I just plan for if I do come unstuck, with the best will in the world, in the hills in the UK you are looking at anywhere between 60-360 minutes before help can arrive, and even longer before you could be extracted from the hill. So I want to make that potentially grim time, as least grim as possible for me and anyone else in my party. For me, that's a decent first aid kit (including analgesia and aspirin), a group shelter/bothy (can keep your party warm as well as yourself rather than a 1 person bag) and a spare jacket & hat. Obviously people will have there own opinions and will also carry their regular day to day hill kit, but those three items are a permanent fixture in my bag.
Regarding calling for help in the hills, even if it's a medical event, call 999 ask for police then ask for mountain rescue. If it's serious enough to warrant an air ambulance, they monitor the call out system that the police work to and will self deploy if necessary. If it requires a regular ambulance, the MR team controller will coordinate that - usually by getting the ambulance to a RV where the paramedics can be transported off road in an appropriate vehicle. If you do call 999 and ask for ambulance then MR, its not really a problem, they use the same callout system, it's just that there can be some confusion in coordinating the ambulance to the most logical/accessible spot.
I hope this helps 👍
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We always save ours till the weekend after Burns night- I’m not sure how or why we started doing this but it’s just stuck now. We did have an unplanned Buns night in November when my daughter got her guy Fawkes and Rabbie mixed up and was so disappointed we had to nip out and find a haggis.
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4 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:
Well done Jonty and to ALL of your colleagues.
4 hours ago, JohnfromUK said:+1
3 hours ago, martinj said:Agreed! 👏
3 hours ago, Penelope said:Top man.
1 hour ago, JKD said:@Jonty Full respect to you, and your colleagues 👋
1 hour ago, old man said:+1
Thank you all, it’s much appreciated. I have to say the positives far outweigh the negatives and it’s incredibly rewarding…..most of the time 😉
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52 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:
Still got some upstairs.
Cool…I’d probably still risk one - they must only be some 30 years out of date 😀
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I definitely would. My wife bought me one the other day after me waxing lyrical about the tin of babies heads in the old compo ration packs - that was my absolute favourite menu. I liked the FB puddin, but definitely not a patch on the old tinned compo version.
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I saw that incident from Langdale Ambleside MRT, and I wholly agree that the couple of people who headed up to the Fairfield Horseshoe in those conditions/weather forecast certainly didn't make the best decision that day.
I've read through the comments on here and although I don't know much about Morris dancing, as a MR team member, I thought I could chip in on a few of the very valid points made by some of you guys. I must say that i think my thoughts reflect most teams/team members, but they are only my thoughts/opinions.
I suppose the first is that most team members are climbers/hikers/cavers/mtb'ers/mountaineers who enjoy the outdoors and have been able to do so safe in the knowledge that if it does go pear shaped one day, there would be a group of well trained, well equipped kindred spirits who would come out to help make your bad situation better. So, when we get the opportunity to join a team and return the favour - most of us jump at the chance. However, as time has progressed, there's a much broader spectrum of people venturing out into the hills. I would say that a typical team's callout list includes far, far more 'unnecessary' callouts than it did even 15 years ago.
We are all volunteers, so when a callout comes out (over an app on our mobile phones) we all have the opportunity to say no if we want. In a case like the LAMRT one mentioned, I think most members would find it difficult to say no in those conditions, purely to support and protect your team mates as much as anything. But, whichever shouts we attend, there's no one forcing or obliging us to turn out. The 'honeypot' teams (national three peaks locations, Yorkshire three peaks, etc) do have much higher callout numbers than a lot of teams, and yes, it can sometimes be frustrating to see the same incidents again and again due to people biting off more than they can chew through lack of training, equipment or ability. However, we aren't the mountain police and tearing someone a new bumhole for making an error in judgement isn't always productive - that said, there is a time and a place where 'a word' is required but that is usually done firmly and discretely rather than as a public lynching. It's a misnomer that we never criticise so some supporters feel that they should do it on our behalf - usually the penny drops with the casualty on the long haul of the hill and they're certainly receptive to a relevant debrief if required.
Regarding fining people and using the funding back into the teams - the general consensus is the chance of a fine would detract people from calling for help. We'd all rather walk a cold wet poorly prepared person off a hill with a small party of members at 5 pm rather than having a full team callout to search for and stretcher the same unconscious hypothermic casualty of the hill at midnight. There's typically quite a lot of interaction between casualties and team leaders these days prior to calling out the team so if a self rescue option can be achieved, there's a strong chance that would happen. if fines/charges were in place, although the prospect of effort free funding sound great, any money coming from a statutory authority/local government comes with strings and requirements. At the moment, we are all independent bodies and can spend our funding as we need to, a good example would be that when paramedics or police officers come out onto the hill with us, we can equip them in the clothing we have decided is best for our area of operations rather than their kit which is purchased centrally and usually from the supplier who tendered the lowest price. It also works for our training/vehicles/medical kit/rescue rigging kits/etc - we can tailor our own equipment specifically to our needs. Being independently funded also means that we aren't regulated like a statutory body, for a lot of the situations we find ourselves in, we'd still be on the roadside filling the paperwork in for hours rather than getting on the hill and doing what needs to be done. We obviously have a duty of care to both our members and casualties but that flexibility to be dynamic with risk assessments etc is very closely guarded by all teams.
I'm out in the hills to some degree or other every day, and I must admit to seeing some folks out and having a 'shaking my head' moment pretty much on a weekly basis, but the best way to deal with it is to be encouraged that people are going out, and be lucky enough to maybe be able to help them out if they do become unstuck. I genuinely think there are some really good points and observations made in this thread, so I thought I'd try and give a little insight from the other side of the fence so to speak.
Looking for steel tube - any suggestions?
in Craft and DIY Section
Posted
Folks, I’m after some help or suggestions if possible. I’d like to make some hinges for a smoker in the same format as those in the picture. Basically I need either 10mm or 12mm bar and then some 10mm ID or 12mm ID tube. The only tube I seem to be able to find is quite thin walled at 1mm or 1.5mm. Ideally I could do with at least 3mm if possible. I’m no fabricator so I apart from some random googling, I don’t really know where to look. With the amount of seasoned fettlers on here, I was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction of a supplier who might be able to help me out.
thanks in advance