Curing

[vulpicide]

Thanks Colin lad I will post results as and when, I am toying with the Idea of curing some pinkfeet breasts and making a salami shaped cooked sausage out of them adding some belly pork garlic and some of the seasonings it will be to slice down. Ideas on methods drawbacks pitfalls etc gratefully received.

[Jonty]

Vulpicide, what you're describing is what they call a summer sausage. It's partially cured and then cooked (normally hot smoked) and then sliced like a luncheon meat. They are usually made with dark meat so I reckon goose would be spot on. If you wanted that smoley flavour and don't have access to a smoker, buy some liquid smoke (ebay) and mix it in at a rate of about 1/4 or 1/2 teaspoon per pound of meat. You would also need to add some Cure#1 to the meat mix http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Cure_1.html Cure#1 is to be used with cooked products such as bacon or cooked sausages, use at at the ratio described on the packet - very important! Also, it's best to have a meat thermometer, again you can get them off ebay for literally a couple of quid, as when you cook the sausage it needs to be done at low temperatures and pulled out at the right time to avoid overdoing it and spoiling the end result.

 

I'd mix your ingredients togethe, maybe add a little water or wine to the mixture and then stuff and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Next day, put a baking tray full of water in the bottom of the oven, cook at 90-95 degreesC until yhe internal temp of the meat reaches 70 degreesC.

[vulpicide]

Cheers jonty I'm using laycocks dry bacon cure I have a meat thermometer and a hot smoker so looks like I may be busy thanks for the info I will keep you all informed.

[vulpicide]

Streaky fine this morning Colin lad that was just 4 days cheers for that just had two rolls with homecured streaky bacon and chestnut mushrooms Yum Yum.

[colin lad]

Streaky fine this morning Colin lad that was just 4 days cheers for that just had two rolls with homecured streaky bacon and chestnut mushrooms Yum Yum.

we use a cure from lucas called easicure they do it in lots of different flavors but the smoked cure is a winner with our customers i do struggle to keep up with it,

dont know whats going to happen this christmas lots of overtime i guess,

 

colin

[PhilR]

Has anyone bought the electric slicer on offer at the moment at Lidl for £34.99, if so is it any good?

[vulpicide]

wish I Had I bought one from lakeland £41 single speed I wish I had waited for the Lidl one variable speed and cheaper.

[moor man]

All this talk of salty loins is making me hungry

Very tempted to try venison Breseola, any tips?

 

cheers MM.

[hafod]

if your bacons too salty soak it in cold water for 12 hours then cook it boutifull

[Jonty]

Vulpicide - I made some summer sausage yesterday using beef rather than venison or goose. I'll be sticking them in the smoker later on today. If you get round to making some with your goose, the cheapest casings I could find online were on the sausagemaking.org site

 

 

Moor man, theres some pics and a description of breasola on the previous page to this mate.

[vulpicide]

Thanks for that I've got all my stuff I just need some peace and quiet at home to get started.

[Jonty]

I made the christmas ham this year, I've never attempted brining a whole leg before so it was a combination of a bit of an experimet and plagarising other recipes.

 

The brine was home made cider, water, salt, brown sugar, bay leaves and cure#1

 

 

I injected brine into the meat at a ratio of about 10% of the weight of the leg (it was a 22lb bone in leg)

 

 

 

Ater 10 days in the brine

 

 

Then I let the mother in law do her magic

 

 

I was a bit worried that I either hadn't left it in the cure long enough so it would be still pork not ham in the middle, or left it in too long so it would be too salty. But through more luck than judgement it was cured through and not at all salty, you could definately taste the flavours of the cure.

 

Edited January 4, 2013 by Jonty

[Zapp]

Wow, that looks stunning. What did you pay for the uncured leg?

[Jonty]

Just pulled out the receipt, it was £36. Its not organic rare breeds, but my butcher breeds his own free range pigs so it is good local meat

[Zapp]

For a full ham that is very good, there were skanky looking bits of gammon in Tescos for £20.

[Jonty]

I know, I'll not be buying any large hams again, this one weighed in at just short of 22lbs bone in

[Muddy Funker]

This is an amazing thread, thanks for all the info.

 

I bought an old full oil drum bbq off the bay without grill to be the starting point for a smoker.

 

I think one of those Pro Q cold smokers will be the order of the day as I was originally going to build a smoke box with pipe work ect, this would be much more simple!!!

 

Did you say that the smoker needs to be ventilated or do you want it sealed so the smoke remains locked in so to speak? How much ventilation?

 

Thanks!

[Jonty]

Hi MF, if you're smoking, the smoke needs to be able to leave the smoker vessel otherwise it leaves an acrid taste to the food. Ventilation needs only to be very small. I use an oil drum and it has 2 x 10-15mm holes at the bottom and 3 x 10-15mm holes at the top. to be honest, with a barbeque of any kind, as long as theres some ventilation, but not too much so the smoke just dissapears straight out, you should be right.

 

Definately go for the pro-q, it's honestly not worth messing about to come up with an alternative.

[Muddy Funker]

Perfect thanks for the reply!!

 

What I have is a full oil drum on its side and hinged, sitting on legs. The only thing it is missing is the grill, I think that's why I picked it up cheap.

 

There's no way it's going to be airtight and I've seen the hole at one of the ends is not blocked so I think this could be winner

 

I'll post some pics and maybe you can give me your verdict?

 

Thanks again.

[Muddy Funker]

Right this is what I have for a starting point.

 

 

One end

 

 

Other end

 

 

 

 

Inside it's just an empty space with no grill, just rust.

 

I was going to clean it up and give it a lick of paint and try and sort out a grill or build some sort of rack for it.

 

Is this something that can be utilised? With regards to holes shall I just leave it as is, or block some off?

 

Cheers!!!

[Jonty]

Hi mate, for cold smoking it'll be just fine. I'd be tempted to block up the holes a bit, the bigger of the two definately wants blocking up by maybe 1/2 or 2/3. As the proQ doesn't produce any heat, you could just use some adhesive tape, that way you can adjust it to suit. Ideally you want the chamber full of smoke, with a little ventilation to enable the dust to smoulder and the smoke to escape so the meat/cheese etc is conntinually bather in fresh smoke. The ventilation doesn't need to be much as the dust isn't really burning so it's not like feeding a fire, and the stream of smoke it produces is small but constant so you don't need a huge exhaust.

 

Here's a picture of mine, for ventilation it's got 4 of the small white plumbing fittings you can see at the top of the drum, each one is about 20mm diameter

 

[forestry]

Well thats the bacon done, first attempt. A 4.3kg whole pork loin from premiermeats.co.uk ( £25 ) , curing mix from tongmaster, meat coated and in fridge now for 6 days. Cant wait !

 

I have tried 2 different types of cure, one sweet dry cure and one already with the smoke flavour through the mix, does anyone have any experience of the tongmaster ready smoked cure ?

 

[Muddy Funker]

Small BBQ grill I found lying around giving the ProQ something to sit on.

 

Some wood from the off cuts bin at local homebase that cost pence to allow the normal BBQ grill I use to fit in the barrel.

 

I do believe I'm ready to smoke some food!!! Gonna give it a go later this evening overnight

 

Great thread again Jonty!!

 

 

[AlistairB]

Did my first side of smoked salmon last week as a bit of a tester. I misread the instructons on page 1 of the thread and cured it for 2 days in the salt/sugar/dill mix. It came out like a sheet of cardboard, but once it had been washed down and left in the fridge uncovered for a day, it softened up a bit.

 

Into the smoker (A galvanised bin with a Q-Smoker in it, 4 tiny holes in the side for ventilation, and an old oven shelf bolt-cropped down so it just rests inside) for 12 hours and it softened up even more. Even the dogs could go past it without stopping for a sniff!

 

Then I wrapped it in cling film and left it back in the fridge for another day. At first tasting (the tail end of the fillet) it seemed quite strong, but the thicker end of the fillet was absolutley fantastic with some black pepper and fresh lemon juice. I gave a wedge each to some friends to try, just waiting to see what they thought. To me, it was like smoked salmon you used to get, more translucent, stronger tasting with a longer lasting taste, not like that opaque pink stuff you get wrapped in plastic at the supermarket nowadays.

 

Next time i think i'll reduce the curing time and maybe cut the smoking time a bit to see how that comes out!

 

This is a great thread, bacon is next on the agenda.

 

AB

[Muddy Funker]

Awesome!

 

I'm new to this so lots of experimenting needed.

 

I've fired it up, I've got some cheese, sausages and believe it or not bananas chucked on (read about the banana in a book!)

 

I'll try salmon next I think!