Brothers, Sisters and lovers of fine food and free ranging pigs. The day is fast approaching when we shall make our wonderful pigs into some exquisite creations. Here are a few pointers for our activities on Saturday.
Directions, if you need them, will be via e-mail. I will send those out this week.
Timeline:
07:30 I will trotter along to Mr Humphries' fine store and pick up our harvest.
08:00 unloading as much as I can into the double fridges.
08:30 from about 8:30 onwards people will start arriving, unloading their gear, drinking coffee eating flapjacks etc
09:00 we will try to get going. I suggest splitting into platoons of sausage makers, bacon makers and ham curers
13:00 break for lunch. Lunch will be a leg of Wilshire cured ham with new potatoes and salad. A glass or two of wine and then back to the grinder
14:00 onwards, finishing off sausages. Tying up roasting joints. Bagging and labelling. Experimental salami cures. Washing up and all that good stuff.
In our first year, we finished around 1am. We're much more expert now. I hope to be done in time for tea.
What to bring:
If you show up with just yourself and a happy smile then you can't go too far wrong. Among the other people there on the day you will find plenty of kit go around as we all share salt, sausage skins etc. However, it is always nice to bring a few bits to the sharing party and it is obviously helpful to take your produce home in your own plastic pots and freezer bags. Below is a list of things you might consider bringing along but by no means is any of it essential.
Your sharpest boning knife
A cutting board
Plastic pots and tubs for brine cures and meat
Cooler box and ice packs for finished goods
Freezer bags and cling film
Herbs and spices for your sausages
A pre-prepared sausage mix
Rusk for sausages
Some sausage skins
A pre boiled up brine cure in the brine tub
A dry mix for your ham cures
Some bacon cure
A mental list of the recipes you are going to inflict on your pig
For supplies, these two have proved pretty reliable.
http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/
http://www.sausagemaking.org/
Don't forget your winning smile, it can be a long day of standing up cutting meat. Children are welcome to poke their heads in to see sausages being made but it isn't a good place for them to be hanging around very long. Too many sharp knives and not enough space to dismember more than 10 bodies in one day.
Parking. Hopefully there should be plenty of room. 4x4s on the grass, ferraris and lambos on the tarmac.
Jamon Libre.
Sunday 26 April 2009
The Long Goodbye - pigs off for haircuts
Its a sad time when it comes to saying goodbye to our porcine friends. This last week has been about preparing them for their departure and this can be a gloomy set of tasks.
On Tuesday evening I began their trailer-entry training programme. It is quite basic. Position the trailer in its departure point and stabilise it with bricks and both ends. Then for a few days feed them from the trailer. This was learnt from experience. The first couple of batches of pigs weren't so well drilled. I had to practically carry one of them up the ramp and into the trailer. By the second batch I had worked out that a week long feeding routine was probably the answer. However, 6 days in and they still wouldn't go up the ramp. It took me a while to work out that while the trailer felt stable to me, the considerable weight of 4 pigs made it behave like a seesaw. I learnt this by finding myself at the wrong end of the seesaw one morning before work. It was much like the closing scene from the Italian Job with me at one end and pigs at the other.
Then there is the tattooing. Another melancholic task but one I'm getting closing to mastering or at least competency. Back in 2007, the first few pigs I tattooed were a massive inky mess. I had tried to apply large amounts of the ink to each pig and then slap with the spiked slap-marker. Keeping track of which pig had been labelled was a joke as they jostled each other for position at the feeding trough.
I have advanced my skills in two ways. Firstly, don't apply ink to the pig, only to the slap marker. Fingers crossed that works well enough for the meat inspector to read. Looking at my hands now, it appears that even small quantities of ink go a long way and last well.
Secondly, identify the pigs before hand with two clothes pegs clipped to the wiry hair on the back of their necks. (kiwi's refers to this hair style as a mudflap) Then as each pig it slap-marked, remove the clothes pegs, one for the right shoulder and one for the left. Bingo. The job was complete in less than 20 minutes. A great improvement on the first tattooing experience which was an all morning affair with more than a hint of farce.
With only days left, rations have gone up to 12kg per feed. They seem blissfully happy rooting among the leaf litter and under the turf and they are certainly enjoying this exceptional spring weather. Two more days sunshine and then we'll pack-up our snouts and go. They'll be missed.
On Tuesday evening I began their trailer-entry training programme. It is quite basic. Position the trailer in its departure point and stabilise it with bricks and both ends. Then for a few days feed them from the trailer. This was learnt from experience. The first couple of batches of pigs weren't so well drilled. I had to practically carry one of them up the ramp and into the trailer. By the second batch I had worked out that a week long feeding routine was probably the answer. However, 6 days in and they still wouldn't go up the ramp. It took me a while to work out that while the trailer felt stable to me, the considerable weight of 4 pigs made it behave like a seesaw. I learnt this by finding myself at the wrong end of the seesaw one morning before work. It was much like the closing scene from the Italian Job with me at one end and pigs at the other.
Then there is the tattooing. Another melancholic task but one I'm getting closing to mastering or at least competency. Back in 2007, the first few pigs I tattooed were a massive inky mess. I had tried to apply large amounts of the ink to each pig and then slap with the spiked slap-marker. Keeping track of which pig had been labelled was a joke as they jostled each other for position at the feeding trough.
I have advanced my skills in two ways. Firstly, don't apply ink to the pig, only to the slap marker. Fingers crossed that works well enough for the meat inspector to read. Looking at my hands now, it appears that even small quantities of ink go a long way and last well.
Secondly, identify the pigs before hand with two clothes pegs clipped to the wiry hair on the back of their necks. (kiwi's refers to this hair style as a mudflap) Then as each pig it slap-marked, remove the clothes pegs, one for the right shoulder and one for the left. Bingo. The job was complete in less than 20 minutes. A great improvement on the first tattooing experience which was an all morning affair with more than a hint of farce.
With only days left, rations have gone up to 12kg per feed. They seem blissfully happy rooting among the leaf litter and under the turf and they are certainly enjoying this exceptional spring weather. Two more days sunshine and then we'll pack-up our snouts and go. They'll be missed.
Monday 20 April 2009
Sausage Making
I have posted a few sausage recipes below. There are quite literally thousands or recipes for sausages. From the earliest Roman soldier's ration to the modern rubbish served from hot metal trolleys to drunk tourists. The tradition of taking pork meat and storing it in a handy sausage skin is as old as civilisation itself. The scope for variation (and abomination) is immense.
I guess what we all aspire to create when we set out to make our first sausages is a classic English breakfast sausage. The recipe posted below for 'Regular Breakfast Sausage' has the benefit of being straight forward and low on the effort quotient. Sausages in the UK tend to be made of around 80% pork with the balance made up of rusk (yeastless bread crumb), water and spices.
The addition of water and rusk might appear to be detracting from the wonderful pork you are stuffing into your sausage skins. However, the rusk and water help to promote a moist texture and soak up some of the juices and fat from the gently cooked meat.
It is entirely up to you, as sausage designer, whether you want to vary these ratios. You might prefer a sausage with 100% pork and only spices added, Toulouse sausages are like this. You may prefer to add breadcrumb and Stilton and only have 50% pork meat, pretty much anything goes.
The other established practise that is also open for experimentation is the inclusion of a certain amount of fat. Traditionally, one would use around 50:50 mixtures of shoulder and belly pork, minced. With a naturally reared, rare breed pig you would normally expect a higher proportion of fat in the meat already. Therefore we have settled on using mostly shoulder meat for our sausages. I like to save the belly joints for slow roasting or for using in pork rillets.
Then there is the spice. Around 1-2% by weight is normally salt. The other regular is pepper, in both black or white forms. Herbs, well that is your option.
So there you have it, 80% pork, 20% rusk/water and 2% spices and you have made your sausage mix. While keeping the mixture cold, mush it all up in a nice clean mixing bowl and stuff into your sausage skins. Mr P has very kindly offered the loan of his excellent sausage stuffing machine so we're in business for the sausage making day on 2nd May.
If mixing up your own sausage mixtures seems like hard work, I can recommend the mixture from the website www.sausagemaking.org called Old English Breakfast. It is maybe a little commercial but the results are consistently good. Also, while at the e-store, buy some natural sausage skins and some rusk and you will have all the ingredients you need.
Jamon Libre!
I guess what we all aspire to create when we set out to make our first sausages is a classic English breakfast sausage. The recipe posted below for 'Regular Breakfast Sausage' has the benefit of being straight forward and low on the effort quotient. Sausages in the UK tend to be made of around 80% pork with the balance made up of rusk (yeastless bread crumb), water and spices.
The addition of water and rusk might appear to be detracting from the wonderful pork you are stuffing into your sausage skins. However, the rusk and water help to promote a moist texture and soak up some of the juices and fat from the gently cooked meat.
It is entirely up to you, as sausage designer, whether you want to vary these ratios. You might prefer a sausage with 100% pork and only spices added, Toulouse sausages are like this. You may prefer to add breadcrumb and Stilton and only have 50% pork meat, pretty much anything goes.The other established practise that is also open for experimentation is the inclusion of a certain amount of fat. Traditionally, one would use around 50:50 mixtures of shoulder and belly pork, minced. With a naturally reared, rare breed pig you would normally expect a higher proportion of fat in the meat already. Therefore we have settled on using mostly shoulder meat for our sausages. I like to save the belly joints for slow roasting or for using in pork rillets.
Then there is the spice. Around 1-2% by weight is normally salt. The other regular is pepper, in both black or white forms. Herbs, well that is your option.
So there you have it, 80% pork, 20% rusk/water and 2% spices and you have made your sausage mix. While keeping the mixture cold, mush it all up in a nice clean mixing bowl and stuff into your sausage skins. Mr P has very kindly offered the loan of his excellent sausage stuffing machine so we're in business for the sausage making day on 2nd May.
If mixing up your own sausage mixtures seems like hard work, I can recommend the mixture from the website www.sausagemaking.org called Old English Breakfast. It is maybe a little commercial but the results are consistently good. Also, while at the e-store, buy some natural sausage skins and some rusk and you will have all the ingredients you need.
Jamon Libre!
Lincolnshire Sausage
I have made this recipe on a couple of occasions and I like it a lot. The recipe is obviously open to your own interpretation and the number of ingredients makes it a bit time consuming but if you have the patience I think this is a good one. Sourced from sauagemaking.org this variation was originally posted by 'sausagemaker'
Sausagemaker wrote:
Lincolnshire Style Sausage, 2 Kg mix
1.000g Pork Shoulder
500g Pork Belly
270g Water (Chilled)
180g Rusk / Breadcrumb
50g Seasoning
Lincolnshire Sausage Seasoning
(Adapted from a Recipe supplied by Parson Snows 2005)
50g Salt
5g White Pepper
5g Black Pepper
5g Nutmeg
2g Mace
3g Ginger
1g Allspice
15g Dried sage
14g Corn flour
Mix above together until even in colour.
Preparation
1. Chill all meats well, 2 – 3 Hours
2. Chill the water in the refrigerator
3. Dice meats to fit Mincer Throat – return to refrigerator until ready to start
4. Weigh up the seasoning as above & weigh out the 50g required
(Keep the rest in a screw top jar)
5. Weight up rusk or bread crumb – put to one side
Method
1. Mince the meats through the blade of your choice (Course or fine)
2. Add meats to the bowl & fit onto the mixer with the K beater
3. Start the mixer on slow speed and add the seasoning
4. Add the chilled water and continue mixing on slow for the water to absorb this should take no more than 20 seconds.
5. Turn the mixer up to speed 4 and mix vigorously until the meat mixture looks sticky, Again about 30 – 40 seconds (this is myosin the protein that sticks the sausage together & gives texture, rather like the gluten in bread)
6. Add rusk or bread crumb & mix well in
7. If the mixture is wet or soft let it stand for a few minutes for the rusk / breadcrumb to re-hydrate.
8. Fill into suitable casings,
9. Allow standing overnight to Bloom (Flavour Development).
Sausagemaker wrote:
Lincolnshire Style Sausage, 2 Kg mix
1.000g Pork Shoulder
500g Pork Belly
270g Water (Chilled)
180g Rusk / Breadcrumb
50g Seasoning
Lincolnshire Sausage Seasoning
(Adapted from a Recipe supplied by Parson Snows 2005)
50g Salt
5g White Pepper
5g Black Pepper
5g Nutmeg
2g Mace
3g Ginger
1g Allspice
15g Dried sage
14g Corn flour
Mix above together until even in colour.
Preparation
1. Chill all meats well, 2 – 3 Hours
2. Chill the water in the refrigerator
3. Dice meats to fit Mincer Throat – return to refrigerator until ready to start
4. Weigh up the seasoning as above & weigh out the 50g required
(Keep the rest in a screw top jar)
5. Weight up rusk or bread crumb – put to one side
Method
1. Mince the meats through the blade of your choice (Course or fine)
2. Add meats to the bowl & fit onto the mixer with the K beater
3. Start the mixer on slow speed and add the seasoning
4. Add the chilled water and continue mixing on slow for the water to absorb this should take no more than 20 seconds.
5. Turn the mixer up to speed 4 and mix vigorously until the meat mixture looks sticky, Again about 30 – 40 seconds (this is myosin the protein that sticks the sausage together & gives texture, rather like the gluten in bread)
6. Add rusk or bread crumb & mix well in
7. If the mixture is wet or soft let it stand for a few minutes for the rusk / breadcrumb to re-hydrate.
8. Fill into suitable casings,
9. Allow standing overnight to Bloom (Flavour Development).
Cumberland Sausage
This is about as complex as I think sausage recipes can get and the addition of phosphate and dextrose makes it closer to a commercial recipe than a homemade one. However, someone has clearly spent a lot of time working on this recipe so you've gotta think its going to be good. The phosphate is intended to improve the moisture content and mouthfeel. The dextrose should darken the colour of the meat and potentially add some sweetness. (source: sausagemaking.org)
For 80.79 % Meat Content
78.4 % Pork Shoulder = 63.33g
21.6 % Pork Belly =17.45g
Iced Water 10 % of meat = 8.079g
Breadcrumb 10% of meat = 8.079g
Phosphate 0.8 % of meat = 0.646g
Seasoning 2.9 % of meat =2.34g
Total weight = 99.26g
The seasoning for the above batch of 100grams would be:
Salt = 1.528g
Black Pepper = 0.152g
White Pepper = 0.152g
Nutmeg = 0.155g
Mace = 0.078g
Coriander = 0.155g
Cayenne = 0.02g
Dextrose = 0.173
Sage = 0.229g
Thyme = 0.127g
Parsley = 0.127g
Total 2.9
I would kike to know if Oddley thinks these quantities match up to his recipe
For 80.79 % Meat Content
78.4 % Pork Shoulder = 63.33g
21.6 % Pork Belly =17.45g
Iced Water 10 % of meat = 8.079g
Breadcrumb 10% of meat = 8.079g
Phosphate 0.8 % of meat = 0.646g
Seasoning 2.9 % of meat =2.34g
Total weight = 99.26g
The seasoning for the above batch of 100grams would be:
Salt = 1.528g
Black Pepper = 0.152g
White Pepper = 0.152g
Nutmeg = 0.155g
Mace = 0.078g
Coriander = 0.155g
Cayenne = 0.02g
Dextrose = 0.173
Sage = 0.229g
Thyme = 0.127g
Parsley = 0.127g
Total 2.9
I would kike to know if Oddley thinks these quantities match up to his recipe
Gloucester Pork Sausage
Rich in sage this recipe is for a tradition Gloucester pork sausage. (source: sausagemaking.org)
Pork 80%
10 % Breadcrumbs
10 % Iced Water
1.88 % Spice Mix
Spice Mix
79.7826 % Salt
5.5449 % Black Pepper
4.4359 % Nutmeg
5.5449 % Sage
3.412 % Thyme
1.2797 % Marjoram
Usage weight 18.8 g/Kg or 1.88 %
Method
Keep all meats cold. Mince pork once through a 8 mm plate then mince again once through a 4.5mm plate. Mix Pork, water and all spices for about 2 min's in a mixer, or by hand about 5 min's, or until texture changes to slightly sticky, kneading like bread. Then add the breadcrumbs (3 day old bread crumbed in a food processor) or rusk and mix until well distributed. Stuff hogs casings. Leave in the bottom of fridge overnight to bloom. Eat within 3 days or freeze.
Pork 80%
10 % Breadcrumbs
10 % Iced Water
1.88 % Spice Mix
Spice Mix
79.7826 % Salt
5.5449 % Black Pepper
4.4359 % Nutmeg
5.5449 % Sage
3.412 % Thyme
1.2797 % Marjoram
Usage weight 18.8 g/Kg or 1.88 %
Method
Keep all meats cold. Mince pork once through a 8 mm plate then mince again once through a 4.5mm plate. Mix Pork, water and all spices for about 2 min's in a mixer, or by hand about 5 min's, or until texture changes to slightly sticky, kneading like bread. Then add the breadcrumbs (3 day old bread crumbed in a food processor) or rusk and mix until well distributed. Stuff hogs casings. Leave in the bottom of fridge overnight to bloom. Eat within 3 days or freeze.
Regular Breakfast Sausage
A fairly plain sausage with a bit of a peppery bite. Ingredients for 1kg. Recipe sourced from sausagemaking.org
780gm Pork Shoulder (about 75/25 meat to fat)
80gm Rusk
120gm water
20gm seasoning mix
Seasoning mix:
Salt 60gm
Pepper White 10gm
Pepper Black 8gm
Nutmeg 2gm
Mace 1gm
Ginger 2gm
This gives about 1.45% salt.
780gm Pork Shoulder (about 75/25 meat to fat)
80gm Rusk
120gm water
20gm seasoning mix
Seasoning mix:
Salt 60gm
Pepper White 10gm
Pepper Black 8gm
Nutmeg 2gm
Mace 1gm
Ginger 2gm
This gives about 1.45% salt.
Endless Summer Sausage
A US based recipe from sausagemaking.org making about 5lb total mix.
Robust seasonings and long, slow cooking in the oven make this a fine-textured, flavourful sausage that cries out for a good homemade mustard and crusty bread.
5 pounds ground beef chuck
3 tablespoons curing salt (such as Morton’s Tender Quick)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon pressed garlic
2 tablespoons each chopped rosemary and sage
3 tablespoons chopped sweet marjoram
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, or 2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeño or Serrano chiles
2 tablespoons fresh ground, toasted coriander seed
4 tablespoons brown sugar
Robust seasonings and long, slow cooking in the oven make this a fine-textured, flavourful sausage that cries out for a good homemade mustard and crusty bread.
5 pounds ground beef chuck
3 tablespoons curing salt (such as Morton’s Tender Quick)
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon pressed garlic
2 tablespoons each chopped rosemary and sage
3 tablespoons chopped sweet marjoram
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, or 2 tablespoons minced fresh jalapeño or Serrano chiles
2 tablespoons fresh ground, toasted coriander seed
4 tablespoons brown sugar
Chilli Willies
A spicy little number (source: sausagemaking.org)
Sausage Meat
488 gm Minced Lean Beef Minced through 3/8 Plate
228 gm 60/40 Lean Fat Pork Belly Minced through 3/8 Plate
30 gm breadcrumbs
90 gm Chili Paste (See Below)
3 gm pepper
6 gm Salt
Chili Paste
215 gm Finely chopped onion
100 gm Tomato Puree
2 Minced Cloves garlic
2 Skinned Red Chilies
4 gm Cumin Seed powder
4 Tbs Light Olive Oil
Method
To make the chili paste skin the red chilies by holding them over the gas until they are blackened put them into a sealed plastic bag for five minutes the skin should then rub off easily. meanwhile in a frying pan fry the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until caramelised. This will add sweetness to the paste. Add the garlic and chopped chili to the pan and fry for 1 minute do not brown. then add the cumin seed powder fry gently for 2 minutes to release the oils. now add the tomato puree and fry gently for a further five minutes. When cooled slightly put into a blender with the remaining olive oil and blend until smooth. You can also use a mortar and pestle to accomplish this.
To make sausages make sure your meat is cold at all times (between 1 - 4 deg C) slice the meat across the grain to easily fit the mincer then mince on the 3/8 in plate. Now massage all the ingredients into the meat. Fill the skins and link. Place in the bottom of the fridge overnight to mature.
Sausage Meat
488 gm Minced Lean Beef Minced through 3/8 Plate
228 gm 60/40 Lean Fat Pork Belly Minced through 3/8 Plate
30 gm breadcrumbs
90 gm Chili Paste (See Below)
3 gm pepper
6 gm Salt
Chili Paste
215 gm Finely chopped onion
100 gm Tomato Puree
2 Minced Cloves garlic
2 Skinned Red Chilies
4 gm Cumin Seed powder
4 Tbs Light Olive Oil
Method
To make the chili paste skin the red chilies by holding them over the gas until they are blackened put them into a sealed plastic bag for five minutes the skin should then rub off easily. meanwhile in a frying pan fry the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until caramelised. This will add sweetness to the paste. Add the garlic and chopped chili to the pan and fry for 1 minute do not brown. then add the cumin seed powder fry gently for 2 minutes to release the oils. now add the tomato puree and fry gently for a further five minutes. When cooled slightly put into a blender with the remaining olive oil and blend until smooth. You can also use a mortar and pestle to accomplish this.
To make sausages make sure your meat is cold at all times (between 1 - 4 deg C) slice the meat across the grain to easily fit the mincer then mince on the 3/8 in plate. Now massage all the ingredients into the meat. Fill the skins and link. Place in the bottom of the fridge overnight to mature.
Louisiana Sausage
A US recipe for Louisiana Sausage (source: sausagemaking.org)
5 lbs. medium ground pork butt (shoulder)
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 1/2 tsp. chilli pepper
5 tsp. salt
1 large minced onion
2 tsp. black pepper
4 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 tsp. allspice
1-cup cold-water
2 tsp. thyme
Mince either once or twice for prefered texture and fill into hog casing and link to required size. I prefer to poach each link for about 10 mins in water/beer mixture and then fry or freeze as needed.
5 lbs. medium ground pork butt (shoulder)
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 1/2 tsp. chilli pepper
5 tsp. salt
1 large minced onion
2 tsp. black pepper
4 cloves pressed garlic
1/2 tsp. allspice
1-cup cold-water
2 tsp. thyme
Mince either once or twice for prefered texture and fill into hog casing and link to required size. I prefer to poach each link for about 10 mins in water/beer mixture and then fry or freeze as needed.
Yuletide Cocktail Sausages
A Christmas special, from sausagemaking.org by Paul Kribs
Ingredients
1500 grams Turkey Leg meat cubed (sinew and tendons removed)
500 grams Pork Belly cubed (skin removed)
60 grams phosphate * (optional)
50 grams redcurrant jelly
35 grams Sea Salt
15 grams Sugar (or 25 grams Dextrose)
10 grams Dried Sage
10 grams ground dried Orange Zest (or finely chopped)
5 grams Ground White Pepper
2 grams ground Cloves
1 gram ground cinnamon
1 gram ground Nutmeg
200 grams sausage rusk
200 grams iced water
Sheeps Casings
Method
1. Chill the cubed meat for 30 minutes in the freezer. Pass the meat through the mincer. I like to pass it once through an 8mm screen and then through a 4.5 screen. Put the minced meat into a large mixing bowl.
2.Sprinkle the dry ingredients (including the rusk) evenly over the meat. Mix well for 2 minutes and then add the redcurrant jelly and the iced water and mix well for a further 4 or 5 minutes. If the mixture feels stiff, then add more water little by little until the mix becomes pliable.Leave to stand for 15 minutes. At this stage you can fry a little patty and adjust the seasoning to your taste if required.
3. Stuff into sheeps casings and link off at 2" increments. Leave to bloom overnight in the refrigerator before cooking.
Superb eaten hot or cold.
note: If you are unable to obtain dried orange zest then it's easy to make. Use a fine vegetable peeler to remove the zest (not the white pith) from 2 or 3 oranges, place the zest slithers on a flat plate and place in an airing cupboard for 2-3 days. Crumble up and grind with a pestle and mortar.
They are a delicious way to utilise the turkey and can be enhanced by wrapping them in smoked collar and roasting in a medium oven for 30+ minutes. The only pain in the a*se is linking them, but you are rewarded by the fact that those who eat the turkey breast won't beleive the flavour.
Ingredients
1500 grams Turkey Leg meat cubed (sinew and tendons removed)
500 grams Pork Belly cubed (skin removed)
60 grams phosphate * (optional)
50 grams redcurrant jelly
35 grams Sea Salt
15 grams Sugar (or 25 grams Dextrose)
10 grams Dried Sage
10 grams ground dried Orange Zest (or finely chopped)
5 grams Ground White Pepper
2 grams ground Cloves
1 gram ground cinnamon
1 gram ground Nutmeg
200 grams sausage rusk
200 grams iced water
Sheeps Casings
Method
1. Chill the cubed meat for 30 minutes in the freezer. Pass the meat through the mincer. I like to pass it once through an 8mm screen and then through a 4.5 screen. Put the minced meat into a large mixing bowl.
2.Sprinkle the dry ingredients (including the rusk) evenly over the meat. Mix well for 2 minutes and then add the redcurrant jelly and the iced water and mix well for a further 4 or 5 minutes. If the mixture feels stiff, then add more water little by little until the mix becomes pliable.Leave to stand for 15 minutes. At this stage you can fry a little patty and adjust the seasoning to your taste if required.
3. Stuff into sheeps casings and link off at 2" increments. Leave to bloom overnight in the refrigerator before cooking.
Superb eaten hot or cold.
note: If you are unable to obtain dried orange zest then it's easy to make. Use a fine vegetable peeler to remove the zest (not the white pith) from 2 or 3 oranges, place the zest slithers on a flat plate and place in an airing cupboard for 2-3 days. Crumble up and grind with a pestle and mortar.
They are a delicious way to utilise the turkey and can be enhanced by wrapping them in smoked collar and roasting in a medium oven for 30+ minutes. The only pain in the a*se is linking them, but you are rewarded by the fact that those who eat the turkey breast won't beleive the flavour.
Monday 13 April 2009
Home Made Hams and the Wilshire Cure
Of the thousands of different cure recipes for ham the essence remains the same. To take a large piece of pork and to cure it in salt. European and Chinese civilizations were founded on the pig and two thousand years ago the Gauls were exporting their hams to Rome. The Gallic hams were made from the wiry lean stock that was farmed throughout Europe. 
It wasn't until the Chinese and European civilizations collided that the modern pig was born. The European and Chinese pigs were first crossbred in England around 1760 by the Leicestershire breeder Robert Bakewell. It is from this happy marriage that we have been dining ever since. The Farnham superstar William Cobbett once wrote that the cottager's pig should be too fat to walk more than 100 yards. That may have been the fashion back then but the current vogue is for a leaner animal. Our spring batch of Farnham old spots have spent this weekend storming about the place like rocket fueled quarterbacks. I've spent the weekend pondering their hams.
In order to make a demonstration for new joiners to the Guerrilla ham club I popped along to Michael Humphries' butcher shop in Rowledge. Michael had set aside a leg of pork for me to cure. Its a monster. 9 kilos and not an once of fat. We will be serving it up for lunch on the pig day. Michael is a great butcher and distant relative of mine, there's nothing that he can't tell you about the produce he's selling. In my opinion, he is by far the best butcher for miles around. However, I returned from his store slightly crestfallen.
He explained that the leg had come from a three way cross-breed, farmed over towards Godalming. Duroc X Large White X Landrace. Duroc for the hardiness to raise them outside. Landrace to give them a long back and hence more bacon and chops. Large white for the sheer size. Michael was pretty pleased with this, and it is indeed a large piece of meat, but three breeds and not one of them was there for the flavour. Its a fine specimen of its type. There's lots of it and yet it is pale and insipid looking. I dare say you could slice off a lump and fry it and it might taste like chicken. Only more bland. Its little wonder people don't buy much pork anymore, it got too cheap to be any good. Or you might say that farmers got too good at farming it. 
So we need to add flavour. What better way than to cure it in the Wiltshire style with beer and black treacle. This is a wet cure as opposed to immersion or dry cure. The principle methods of making a ham are as follows:
a) Dry cure. Rub with either salt or a mixture of salt and sugar. This is a fairly slow acting cure and gives a mellow flavour without doing too much damage to the meat.
b) Immersion cure. Mix up salt and sugar in water, add spices and immerse your pork in the liquid. This is a faster acting cure and the salt will harden the meat making it tougher. The addition of the sugar slows the take up of the salt and lessens the hardening effect.
c) Wet cure, somewhere in between. There's not enough cure to cover the meat but the meat is partially exposed to the cure liquor and turned daily.
d) Air cured. Not so much a cure but an additional procedure following a traditional wet or dry curing.
e) Hybrid. Normally a dry cure followed by an immersion and then often a period of maturation where the salts are given time to equalise within the meat. Smithfield and Virginia hams are nice examples of these.
In earlier posts (below) I have given some examples of immersion cures and air dried methods. What follows are instructions for a simple Wiltshire Cure. We had a Wiltshire cured ham this Christmas and it was delicious. Choose the beer carefully as the flavour is quite prominent.
Wiltshire cure ham wet method
Enough for 6.5 kg
Treacle 156 gm
Salt 156 gm
Black Pepper 5 gm
Beer 440 gm (440 ml Can of Beer)
Cure #1 = 20 gm (151 ppm Nitrite Ingoing)
Saltpetre 2 gm (257 ppm Nitrate Ingoing)
10 Juniper Berries
Weight of brine = 779 gm
Method
Heat beer to boiling point. Then add salt, treacle and black pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, let it cool to below 20 degrees and then add the Cure#1 and Saltpetre. You may need a set of jewellers scales to weigh the small quantities accurately. Weigh the finished brine mixture and with preboiled water bring up to 779 gm. Now add the Juniper berries. Put meat and cure into a suitable container (non metalic) and turn the meat in the brine. If possible put the meat in a vacuum bag and seal it in with the liquid. Leave the meat in brine in a fridge, for 5 days per 500 gm or no less than 14 days Turn every day. If you have access to a brine pump you might consider pumping the brine into the meat to ensure a rapid and even cure. This doesn't detract from the flavour or create an artificial product it just allows the cure to reach the centre quicker.
Once you judge your ham to be cured you can remove from the brine and wash. Store in the fridge uncovered to allow to mature or you may choose cook it straight away. To cook it, gently poach or steam until the core temperature is around 70 degrees. Then remove the skin, cross hatch the fat with a sharp knife and glaze. A mixture of brown sugar and English mustard is traditional. Marmalade is a novel alternative. Now put into a hot oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the glaze begins to caramelize.
It wasn't until the Chinese and European civilizations collided that the modern pig was born. The European and Chinese pigs were first crossbred in England around 1760 by the Leicestershire breeder Robert Bakewell. It is from this happy marriage that we have been dining ever since. The Farnham superstar William Cobbett once wrote that the cottager's pig should be too fat to walk more than 100 yards. That may have been the fashion back then but the current vogue is for a leaner animal. Our spring batch of Farnham old spots have spent this weekend storming about the place like rocket fueled quarterbacks. I've spent the weekend pondering their hams.In order to make a demonstration for new joiners to the Guerrilla ham club I popped along to Michael Humphries' butcher shop in Rowledge. Michael had set aside a leg of pork for me to cure. Its a monster. 9 kilos and not an once of fat. We will be serving it up for lunch on the pig day. Michael is a great butcher and distant relative of mine, there's nothing that he can't tell you about the produce he's selling. In my opinion, he is by far the best butcher for miles around. However, I returned from his store slightly crestfallen.
He explained that the leg had come from a three way cross-breed, farmed over towards Godalming. Duroc X Large White X Landrace. Duroc for the hardiness to raise them outside. Landrace to give them a long back and hence more bacon and chops. Large white for the sheer size. Michael was pretty pleased with this, and it is indeed a large piece of meat, but three breeds and not one of them was there for the flavour. Its a fine specimen of its type. There's lots of it and yet it is pale and insipid looking. I dare say you could slice off a lump and fry it and it might taste like chicken. Only more bland. Its little wonder people don't buy much pork anymore, it got too cheap to be any good. Or you might say that farmers got too good at farming it. 
So we need to add flavour. What better way than to cure it in the Wiltshire style with beer and black treacle. This is a wet cure as opposed to immersion or dry cure. The principle methods of making a ham are as follows:
a) Dry cure. Rub with either salt or a mixture of salt and sugar. This is a fairly slow acting cure and gives a mellow flavour without doing too much damage to the meat.
b) Immersion cure. Mix up salt and sugar in water, add spices and immerse your pork in the liquid. This is a faster acting cure and the salt will harden the meat making it tougher. The addition of the sugar slows the take up of the salt and lessens the hardening effect.
c) Wet cure, somewhere in between. There's not enough cure to cover the meat but the meat is partially exposed to the cure liquor and turned daily.
d) Air cured. Not so much a cure but an additional procedure following a traditional wet or dry curing.
e) Hybrid. Normally a dry cure followed by an immersion and then often a period of maturation where the salts are given time to equalise within the meat. Smithfield and Virginia hams are nice examples of these.
In earlier posts (below) I have given some examples of immersion cures and air dried methods. What follows are instructions for a simple Wiltshire Cure. We had a Wiltshire cured ham this Christmas and it was delicious. Choose the beer carefully as the flavour is quite prominent.
Wiltshire cure ham wet method
Enough for 6.5 kg
Treacle 156 gm
Salt 156 gm
Black Pepper 5 gm
Beer 440 gm (440 ml Can of Beer)
Cure #1 = 20 gm (151 ppm Nitrite Ingoing)
Saltpetre 2 gm (257 ppm Nitrate Ingoing)
10 Juniper Berries
Weight of brine = 779 gm
Method
Heat beer to boiling point. Then add salt, treacle and black pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, let it cool to below 20 degrees and then add the Cure#1 and Saltpetre. You may need a set of jewellers scales to weigh the small quantities accurately. Weigh the finished brine mixture and with preboiled water bring up to 779 gm. Now add the Juniper berries. Put meat and cure into a suitable container (non metalic) and turn the meat in the brine. If possible put the meat in a vacuum bag and seal it in with the liquid. Leave the meat in brine in a fridge, for 5 days per 500 gm or no less than 14 days Turn every day. If you have access to a brine pump you might consider pumping the brine into the meat to ensure a rapid and even cure. This doesn't detract from the flavour or create an artificial product it just allows the cure to reach the centre quicker.
Once you judge your ham to be cured you can remove from the brine and wash. Store in the fridge uncovered to allow to mature or you may choose cook it straight away. To cook it, gently poach or steam until the core temperature is around 70 degrees. Then remove the skin, cross hatch the fat with a sharp knife and glaze. A mixture of brown sugar and English mustard is traditional. Marmalade is a novel alternative. Now put into a hot oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the glaze begins to caramelize.
Immersion Cured Hams
There is something satisfying about knowing your ham is fully dunked in the cure. There's nothing woolly about it. Wet cures and dry cures leave plenty of scope for user error but what can got wrong once your meat is fully in the bucket. I will post a few simple immersion recipes. What they have in common is the requirement for a non metallic container, large enough for the cure and meat and ideally small enough to squeeze into the fridge next to the lager and ready meals.
Jane Grigson - Saumure Anglaise
First published in 1967, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery is an excellent reference book and an illuminating window on a time when English gastronauts were discovering life beyond the British Isles. Ironic then that she should return with Saumure Anglaise. A word of caution though, Jane Grigson's cures tend to be rather heavy on the saltpetre and in many countries these doses would be beyond the legal limit.
Saumure Anglaise pour la fabrication du Jambon d'York. This English brine produces a good jambon blanc. A joint of pork left in it for two or three days is greatly improved. This is the best one to keep in an all-purpose brine crock.
5 pints of soft or rain water
3/4 lb sea salt
3/4 lb granulated or brown sugar
2 oz saltpetre
Put all these into a large pan and bring very slowly to the boil, giving them the occasional stir.
Meanwhile cut a small square of clean linen or muslin, large enough to hold:
1 level teaspoon juniper berries
small piece of nutmeg
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of thyme
1 level teaspoon peppercorns
4 cloves
Tie up in the cloth so that nothing falls out. Add to the cure mix and allow the mixture to cool. This can take quite a while.
Add your piece of meat to the brine crock and stir every few days. After three days you will have a very mild salt pork cure. At six days the thinner pieces such as the belly will be fully cured and ready. After seven days, leg and shoulder of pork should be ready. The brine can be used again and again only you must reinforce your brine as curing each item will remove salts. Reboil and add further cure ingredients, the old yardstick being that the density of the salt solution is enough to float a fresh egg. However, by this stage I think you're making it up and should really consider throwing the old cure away and starting fresh.
Easy Ham Recipe - reproduced from sauagemaking.org forum
This is a more up-to-date recipe with a more appropriate nitrate/nitrite level
3 Gallons ice cold water
6oz sea salt
6oz cure No. 1
1 level tbsp ground white pepper
20 bayleaves or 1tbsp ground bayleaf
1 tbsp ground cloves
3oz brown sugar or replace 3 pints of the water with 3 pints coca cola (not diet)
This should make enough brine for a whole ham. Use a food grade plastic container and leave to cure in a fridge for 14 days turning daily. When the cure is finished drain and dry the ham thoroughly.
Ham Recipe using Cure #1 - reproduced from sauagemaking.org forum
Water 1000 gm (ml)
Salt 130 gm
Sugar 110 gm
Cure #1 32 gm
Total 1272 gm
Use half white sugar and half demerara or dark brown sugar.
Flavourings - In the last ham for example, to a 3 litre of water mix we added 10 Juniper Berries, 4 Cloves, 10 Black Pepper Corns, 4 Parsley Stalks, 1 sprig Thyme, 2 Bay Leaves and 6 Coriander seeds.
Method
Find a container that the meat fits in closely, but not tightly. Work out how much brine you need - if the meat is vac packed you can use water to find out! Calculate your brine.
Weigh your ingredients out and after bashing the spices about a bit, weigh them.
Bring the Water (or some of it), Salt, Sugar and spices to a boil and leave to cool.
When cold, weigh and add water to make it up. That is, add up the weight of the water, salt, sugar and spices and make up the brine with water to this amount. Mix in the cure #1.
Weigh your meat and measure out 10% of its weight in brine. Inject this into the meat in lots of different places (That's different places in the meat, not different places around the house or country - although that would be more fun. ) So if, for example, your meat is 3172 gm you would inject 317 gm of brine, in total, into the meat.
Put the meat into your container with the remaining brine. Leave, in the fridge, for 7 - 10 days (longer won't hurt) turning the meat over every day or so - or in my case when I remember.
Rinse in cold water, and cook. Poach in a large pan with the water at 75 to 80C until the internal temperature of the meat is 68C. I hold it at this temperature for 1/2 to 1 hour.
Jane Grigson - Saumure Anglaise
First published in 1967, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery is an excellent reference book and an illuminating window on a time when English gastronauts were discovering life beyond the British Isles. Ironic then that she should return with Saumure Anglaise. A word of caution though, Jane Grigson's cures tend to be rather heavy on the saltpetre and in many countries these doses would be beyond the legal limit.
Saumure Anglaise pour la fabrication du Jambon d'York. This English brine produces a good jambon blanc. A joint of pork left in it for two or three days is greatly improved. This is the best one to keep in an all-purpose brine crock.
5 pints of soft or rain water
3/4 lb sea salt
3/4 lb granulated or brown sugar
2 oz saltpetre
Put all these into a large pan and bring very slowly to the boil, giving them the occasional stir.
Meanwhile cut a small square of clean linen or muslin, large enough to hold:
1 level teaspoon juniper berries
small piece of nutmeg
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of thyme
1 level teaspoon peppercorns
4 cloves
Tie up in the cloth so that nothing falls out. Add to the cure mix and allow the mixture to cool. This can take quite a while.
Add your piece of meat to the brine crock and stir every few days. After three days you will have a very mild salt pork cure. At six days the thinner pieces such as the belly will be fully cured and ready. After seven days, leg and shoulder of pork should be ready. The brine can be used again and again only you must reinforce your brine as curing each item will remove salts. Reboil and add further cure ingredients, the old yardstick being that the density of the salt solution is enough to float a fresh egg. However, by this stage I think you're making it up and should really consider throwing the old cure away and starting fresh.
Easy Ham Recipe - reproduced from sauagemaking.org forum
This is a more up-to-date recipe with a more appropriate nitrate/nitrite level
3 Gallons ice cold water
6oz sea salt
6oz cure No. 1
1 level tbsp ground white pepper
20 bayleaves or 1tbsp ground bayleaf
1 tbsp ground cloves
3oz brown sugar or replace 3 pints of the water with 3 pints coca cola (not diet)
This should make enough brine for a whole ham. Use a food grade plastic container and leave to cure in a fridge for 14 days turning daily. When the cure is finished drain and dry the ham thoroughly.
Ham Recipe using Cure #1 - reproduced from sauagemaking.org forum
Water 1000 gm (ml)
Salt 130 gm
Sugar 110 gm
Cure #1 32 gm
Total 1272 gm
Use half white sugar and half demerara or dark brown sugar.
Flavourings - In the last ham for example, to a 3 litre of water mix we added 10 Juniper Berries, 4 Cloves, 10 Black Pepper Corns, 4 Parsley Stalks, 1 sprig Thyme, 2 Bay Leaves and 6 Coriander seeds.
Method
Find a container that the meat fits in closely, but not tightly. Work out how much brine you need - if the meat is vac packed you can use water to find out! Calculate your brine.
Weigh your ingredients out and after bashing the spices about a bit, weigh them.
Bring the Water (or some of it), Salt, Sugar and spices to a boil and leave to cool.
When cold, weigh and add water to make it up. That is, add up the weight of the water, salt, sugar and spices and make up the brine with water to this amount. Mix in the cure #1.
Weigh your meat and measure out 10% of its weight in brine. Inject this into the meat in lots of different places (That's different places in the meat, not different places around the house or country - although that would be more fun. ) So if, for example, your meat is 3172 gm you would inject 317 gm of brine, in total, into the meat.
Put the meat into your container with the remaining brine. Leave, in the fridge, for 7 - 10 days (longer won't hurt) turning the meat over every day or so - or in my case when I remember.
Rinse in cold water, and cook. Poach in a large pan with the water at 75 to 80C until the internal temperature of the meat is 68C. I hold it at this temperature for 1/2 to 1 hour.
Air Dried Hams Prosciutto Style
Following previous pig harvests we have tried a number of methods for making air dried hams, some more simple than others. At its most basic, the ham is dry salted for a period and then hung in a dry draughty and cool place to mature and lose moisture. In Italy, the traditional time of year for harvesting the family pig is January. Not only does this tie in nicely with the running down of the Autumn stores but also gives a period of cool weather in which to cure your pig. We've successfully air dried hams in the winter months but it does get somewhat more patchy towards the end of spring as ambiant temperature rises. The ideal environment would be a steady 10-15 degrees centigrade and 85% humidity. Fridges are normally too cold and too dry. Personally I wont be making air dried hams this May but others might. I know Bod did well with his last spring (air dried a la mode du Clapham) and Rob had success with his cellar-cured Dorking parma.
On with the recipes.
I can put my hand on three recipes for prosciutto but I know there are countless more.
The HFW.
Hugh describes a very basic but fairly successful prosciutto recipe in the River Cottage Cook Book. Find an old wooden wine box or any other non-metal container with a porous bottom. Pack the bottom inch of the box with salt, preferably not table salt (anti-caking agents). Drop the leg into the box and pack salt on top. When covered, add a flat board and some weights totalling around 2.5 times the weight of the ham. Leave in a cool spot for around 21 days. The longer you leave it in salt the more potent the cure and better preserved. The less time you leave it the more acceptable the taste. Its a fine line between the two.
Once cured, remove from the box, wash off the salt. Wash the ham down in white wine vinegar and hang in a cool draughty place for a few months. As it loses moisture the ham will harden. If it loses moisture too quickly, a hard outer layer will form trapping the moisture inside and possibly causing it to rot. To slow moisture loss you either need a more humid environment or you can cover the ham in lard and back pepper.
There are two point of contention with this recipe, aside from the obvious lack of predictable results. Firstly, there are no nitrates or nitrites. While this didn't trouble the Romans when they made hams it does leave the door open to botulism and some other nasties. Secondly, there is a constant dilemma as to whether to remove the bone before curing. Leave it in and the bone can start to rot before the cure reaches it. Cut the bone out and you leave a void for stuff to start growing and you invariably introduce bacteria in the cutting process. One possible solution is brine injection but I've yet to experiment on this. Hugh says take the bone out, his chef Gill says to leave it in.
Prosciutto Toscano Kyle Phillips-- Tuscan Prosciutto
This recipe of old Italian origins was reproduced on a ham enthusiasts' forum. It allegedly comes from a book, Etruschi il Mito a Tavola, by Giuseppe Alessi. It isn't vastly different from the HFW but has a more authentic feel and is a little more specific on the detail.
A very fresh ham from an animal that's just been butchered, cut free from the carcass by an expert butcher, and which hasn't been refrigerated; it should be well fleshed, with the central vein well drained (have the butcher do this for you, squeezing out all the blood, because if any blood remains the prosciutto won't cure properly), and weigh between 26 and 33 pounds (12-15 k), or even more if it's from a sow.
12-15 cloves garlic, peeled and ground in a mortar together with lightly moistened fine sea salt, abundant peppercorns and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; you don't want them to overshadow everything else). This is an indicative quantity; you could find yourself needing much more. In any case, lay the prosciutto on a surface that won't absorb liquids and rub it very well with the garlic mixture. Let the prosciutto rest for 3 days, wiping up any liquids it may give off, then message it again with more of the garlic mixture and salt it well with fine-grained sea salt. Repeat the process again after five days and salt it abundantly. Leave it flat on the surface to absorb salt and give off moisture for 30 days, then shake off the excess salt and leave it lie for another ten days.
At this point it is salted; rinse it with a mixture of equal parts warm water and vinegar, and hang it up to dry in a dry place that's impervious to flies (they're drawn to prosciutto at this stage) for 2-3 months. Stucco the flesh side of the ham with rendered lard and hang it to age for 7-8 months.
ParmaHam - Franco Style
The proprietor of the online curing and sausage making store sausagemaking.org has set out some excellent instructions for using his own brand of parma ham cure. It is a more thourough and more modern recipe that makes use of nitrates/nitrites and a probiotic.
http://www.sausagemaking.org/parmaHam.html
On with the recipes.
I can put my hand on three recipes for prosciutto but I know there are countless more.
The HFW.
Hugh describes a very basic but fairly successful prosciutto recipe in the River Cottage Cook Book. Find an old wooden wine box or any other non-metal container with a porous bottom. Pack the bottom inch of the box with salt, preferably not table salt (anti-caking agents). Drop the leg into the box and pack salt on top. When covered, add a flat board and some weights totalling around 2.5 times the weight of the ham. Leave in a cool spot for around 21 days. The longer you leave it in salt the more potent the cure and better preserved. The less time you leave it the more acceptable the taste. Its a fine line between the two.
Once cured, remove from the box, wash off the salt. Wash the ham down in white wine vinegar and hang in a cool draughty place for a few months. As it loses moisture the ham will harden. If it loses moisture too quickly, a hard outer layer will form trapping the moisture inside and possibly causing it to rot. To slow moisture loss you either need a more humid environment or you can cover the ham in lard and back pepper.
There are two point of contention with this recipe, aside from the obvious lack of predictable results. Firstly, there are no nitrates or nitrites. While this didn't trouble the Romans when they made hams it does leave the door open to botulism and some other nasties. Secondly, there is a constant dilemma as to whether to remove the bone before curing. Leave it in and the bone can start to rot before the cure reaches it. Cut the bone out and you leave a void for stuff to start growing and you invariably introduce bacteria in the cutting process. One possible solution is brine injection but I've yet to experiment on this. Hugh says take the bone out, his chef Gill says to leave it in.
Prosciutto Toscano Kyle Phillips-- Tuscan Prosciutto
This recipe of old Italian origins was reproduced on a ham enthusiasts' forum. It allegedly comes from a book, Etruschi il Mito a Tavola, by Giuseppe Alessi. It isn't vastly different from the HFW but has a more authentic feel and is a little more specific on the detail.
A very fresh ham from an animal that's just been butchered, cut free from the carcass by an expert butcher, and which hasn't been refrigerated; it should be well fleshed, with the central vein well drained (have the butcher do this for you, squeezing out all the blood, because if any blood remains the prosciutto won't cure properly), and weigh between 26 and 33 pounds (12-15 k), or even more if it's from a sow.
12-15 cloves garlic, peeled and ground in a mortar together with lightly moistened fine sea salt, abundant peppercorns and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; you don't want them to overshadow everything else). This is an indicative quantity; you could find yourself needing much more. In any case, lay the prosciutto on a surface that won't absorb liquids and rub it very well with the garlic mixture. Let the prosciutto rest for 3 days, wiping up any liquids it may give off, then message it again with more of the garlic mixture and salt it well with fine-grained sea salt. Repeat the process again after five days and salt it abundantly. Leave it flat on the surface to absorb salt and give off moisture for 30 days, then shake off the excess salt and leave it lie for another ten days.
At this point it is salted; rinse it with a mixture of equal parts warm water and vinegar, and hang it up to dry in a dry place that's impervious to flies (they're drawn to prosciutto at this stage) for 2-3 months. Stucco the flesh side of the ham with rendered lard and hang it to age for 7-8 months.
ParmaHam - Franco Style
The proprietor of the online curing and sausage making store sausagemaking.org has set out some excellent instructions for using his own brand of parma ham cure. It is a more thourough and more modern recipe that makes use of nitrates/nitrites and a probiotic.
http://www.sausagemaking.org/parmaHam.html
Sunday 5 April 2009
Making Bacon
For those who have enlisted for a Guerrilla Pig, one of the greatest treats you can look forward to is homemade bacon. No more of that icky white gunk in the pan. This is real bacon. Food of our forefathers.
It's really simple. For tools, you require a thin, sharp knife, scales, cutting board and some bacon cure mixture. You can mix your own bacon cure, see recipe below. There are countless recipes for curing bacon. Brother Hugh likes to use sea salt with a pinch of saltpetre (see River Cottage Cookbook for details). Hugh's curing recipes tend to be rather too Victorian for my taste, they're slapdash and excessively salty. For a consistent result I like the bacon cures from http://www.sausagemaking.org/
Next take your loin of pork. This is the trickiest part of the whole exercise. Very carefully remove the spine and ribs leaving the bacon shaped loin behind. It is ridiculously easy to nick the eye of the loin and leave the bacon in ribbons. I often make a hash of it.
Now, you're almost done. Weigh out the required quantity of cure mix. In this case 50 grammes per kilo of meat. Add the cure to the meat and rub it in ensuring it gets into all the nooks and crannies and is evenly distributed.
Now wrap it tightly in clingfilm or vacuum pack and store it in the fridge between 1 and 4 degrees centigrade. Turn the meat every two days and cure for 1 day for every half inch plus 2 days. We've found a week and it is far too salty, 4-5 days is about right for an average loin. When time's up, take it from the fridge, wash it in clean cold water. Return to the fridge uncovered to mature and lose some moisture, alternatively tuck in straight away. Hack off thick slices with your sharpest knife and drop into your favourite frying pan. Serve with pride and a dollop of satisfaction.
...
If you fancy going it alone and making your own bacon cure, the following recipe is honest and straight forward:
It's really simple. For tools, you require a thin, sharp knife, scales, cutting board and some bacon cure mixture. You can mix your own bacon cure, see recipe below. There are countless recipes for curing bacon. Brother Hugh likes to use sea salt with a pinch of saltpetre (see River Cottage Cookbook for details). Hugh's curing recipes tend to be rather too Victorian for my taste, they're slapdash and excessively salty. For a consistent result I like the bacon cures from http://www.sausagemaking.org/
Next take your loin of pork. This is the trickiest part of the whole exercise. Very carefully remove the spine and ribs leaving the bacon shaped loin behind. It is ridiculously easy to nick the eye of the loin and leave the bacon in ribbons. I often make a hash of it.
Now, you're almost done. Weigh out the required quantity of cure mix. In this case 50 grammes per kilo of meat. Add the cure to the meat and rub it in ensuring it gets into all the nooks and crannies and is evenly distributed.
Now wrap it tightly in clingfilm or vacuum pack and store it in the fridge between 1 and 4 degrees centigrade. Turn the meat every two days and cure for 1 day for every half inch plus 2 days. We've found a week and it is far too salty, 4-5 days is about right for an average loin. When time's up, take it from the fridge, wash it in clean cold water. Return to the fridge uncovered to mature and lose some moisture, alternatively tuck in straight away. Hack off thick slices with your sharpest knife and drop into your favourite frying pan. Serve with pride and a dollop of satisfaction.
...
If you fancy going it alone and making your own bacon cure, the following recipe is honest and straight forward:
Oddleys Dry Cure (Saltpetre)
Saltpetre 5 Grams
Salt Weight 200 grams
Sugar Weight 100 grams
Sodium Ascorbate 5.5 grams - Sodium L-ascorbate; E301 - You could however; assuming that ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300) is allowed by the applicable codes/standards; substitute it for sodium ascorbate though based on their molecular weights you would need to reduce the amount used by 16.667 %
Usage 31 grams per 1 kg meat
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