It’s been a little over a month since I wrote on my blog. I’ve been waiting patiently for some curing projects to come full circle. I’m sure you all out there (all 2 or 3 people that read my musings!) have been patiently waiting with me!
I put whole meat – 2 flavors of loin, 2 flavors of coppa and black forest ham – and ground meat – salami picante and mushroom salami – in the new drying chamber.
Orange Fennel Loin – cured & dried, ready to taste
Black Forest Ham – cured, brined, and smoked, ready to dry
Salami
The recipes for the loin, coppa and salami were all new this year. The recipes came from this book:
I also tried something new with for the black forest ham and salami. I used UMai dry aging bags instead of natural casings (for the salami) or open air drying (for the ham). The bags are used with a vacuum sealer but, unlike normal vac bags, these bond with the surface of the meat and allow moisture out of thru the bag.
Incidentally, I’m using a UMai Drybag to age a bone-in prime rib for the Superbowl party… I hope I remember to take a few photos during the festivities. But I digress…
So today I finally decided to pull the salami out of the curing chamber. Most of what I’ve read says to dry until the meat has lost 30% of its weight, but I’ve come to prefer a dryer product that is more along the lines of 40% of its weight lost through drying. I tasted both flavors and vac bagged half sticks and put them in the fridge for long term storage.
Salami Picante out of the bag (L) and Mushroom Salami in the bag (R)
The UMai Drybag peeled off the Mushroom Salami
Glamour shot of the first slice with my new Tojiro knife
The tasting: house made farmers cheese, salami and pickled peppers
The mushroom salami was absolutely delicious. Hints of the mushroom and parmesan cheese mingled with the flavor of the cured pork. Made me want a pizza! This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Stay tuned next week for some dry aged prime rib!