When I wrote about my first attempt to make hot dog sausages I posted the link to the original recipe that I adapted. It’s by forum member Big Guy at the sausagemaking.org forum. I’ve just realised that some of the ingredients he mentions aren’t available in the UK. Here’s my anglicised version.
Continue reading Hot Dogs
It’s a while since I’ve done any sausage-making, what with trying to convert a bedroom into a work space and not feeling too good. We really need to make a trip to buy meat but in the meantime, I raided the freezer to make some hot dogs.
“Hot-dogs”, you ask, “Why would you want to make horrible fast food?”. Well, my dear reader, there’s a vast difference between what you buy on a Friday night when the clubs close and a good homemade hot dog in a quality bun; ask any American! They virtually have wars over there as to which style is the best!
Continue reading Hot-Dog TutorialI thought I’d have a go at making a ‘burger type’ soft roll, minus the sesame seed ‘cos I’ve run out!
Time has moved on since I first made these rolls in June 2008; the recipe’s changed slightly, and I have another recipe that’s better for burgers – the Soft Potato Bread Roll. This is still my favourite for everything else, though.
Continue reading Soft Bread Rolls
For those that don’t know, Bresaola is an air-dried beef that originates in the north of Italy. In the past, I’ve always made it using Jason Molinari’s recipe from curedmeats.blogspot.co.uk. The recipe below, whilst very different from Jason’s, owes its heritage to his. I’ve removed the cinnamon and clove, reduced the other spices and added a small amount of garlic.
Continue reading Bresaola
Lomo is made from the solid muscle that forms the eye of a pork loin. It starts by cutting the ‘eye’ from a loin of pork.
After removing the ‘tail’ of the pork loin, the loin was dry-cured in a vacuum bag with Spanish smoked paprika, black pepper and garlic for a couple of weeks:
The cured Lomo was rinsed and then dried overnight in the fridge…
Continue reading Lomo embuchadoOriginally posted in 2009:
This ham is ‘in the spirit’ of a traditional Suffolk Black Ham, but made using a simplified curing process.
The famous Suffolk Black Ham made by Emmett’s of Peasenhall is still available to buy, both online and from their shop. They’ve been making ham for over 150 years.
There are other black hams, including the famous Bradenham from Wiltshire, Shropshire Black Ham, and a less well-known one from Derbyshire.
Continue reading Black HamAbout a year ago I replied to a comment on Pauline’s Ham and said: “…I have done this cure with a lot less liquid by using a vacuum bag and just putting 100 – 200 ml of brine cure in with the meat (after injecting, of course).” It was my intention, at that time, to write further about this with an explanation and more detail.
Contrary to popular belief, the reason’s not that I’m tight-fisted! There are also some technical reasons why it’s a good idea. They’re not related to injection-curing; it’s the immersion part of the cure that’s the potential cause for concern.
Continue reading Pauline’s Ham in a BagThis is a rolled pancetta – pancetta arrotolata – from a recipe by my mate Larbo who now lives in the US.
It’s unusual as it’s flavoured with orange zest and fennel – not the traditional flavours you expect in pancetta.
The meat was dry-cured for 12 days, rolled and tied, and has been hanging in my air-drying fridge for 27 days.
Allowing for the removal of the skin when it was rolled, it’s lost 22% of its original weight – in supermarket terms it’s been made with 127gms of meat per 100gms pancetta.
Here’s Laurence’s recipe:
Continue reading Pancetta di Larbo
This Pancetta cuts right back on the spices letting the meat shine through.
If you make it, try to get a very thick piece of belly pork from the butcher; the one I used wasn’t really thick enough because the shrinkage is quite considerable. It looks thicker in the photo than it actually is. What looks like green/black mould is actually beneficial white mould on top of the powdered black pepper that I used because I was too lazy to grind the coarse black pepper that I included in the recipe!
Continue reading Pancetta di ThurlastonMany local farm suppliers are only too happy to sell you half a pig, usually rare breed; Gloucester Old Spot and the like. They generally weigh around 55-60lbs for the whole side before boning and making it into whatever pieces you require.
For curing, I wanted a side from a much larger pig, a ‘baconer’; a side of this will weigh between 80-100lbs. I got one from Don Hutton at Warwick Bridge Farm, Littlethorpe weighing 93lbs which has given me 75lbs of usable meat (60lbs excluding hocks, trotters, liver, heart and cheek). By the time it’s converted into ham, bacon, sausage, faggots etc I’ll have about 70lbs of edible products. This photo of a piece of loin being dry-cured for back bacon shows the size of it.
I’ve made all the usual things like bacon, ham and sausage and decided that my first venture into air drying meat would be pancetta. This Italian streaky bacon is made by dry curing bacon with a load of spices added to the cure, and then hanging it up to dry for a month or so – apart from the spices, that’s how we made bacon a few years ago!
Firstly, take a nice chunk of belly pork:
Continue reading Jason’s Pancetta
