Category Archives: Calculators

Calculators, Fresh Sausage, Sausage, Sausage Calculator

The Not Lincolnshire Sausage

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This sausage formulation was posted on the sausagemaking.org forum. It has had a slight alteration by me. It was developed from a recipe that was originally supplied by the butcher Phil Groth to forum member Parson Snows with some adaption by another forum member, Oddley.

I have since been informed that the only herbs and spices in a ‘true’ Lincolnshire sausage are sage, salt, and pepper. This was supported by The Lincolnshire Sausage Association’s application for EU PGI status. So, this recipe is ‘technically’ not a true Lincolnshire; it is, however, a great recipe and a Lincolnshire sausage in spirit.

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Air Dried Meat, Calculators, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Bresaola

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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.

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Calculators, Cooked Cured Meat, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Black Ham

Originally posted in 2009...

What springs to mind if I mention Emmet? Is it a Cornish tourist, or maybe the neighbour of Hyacinth Bouquet in the famous sitcom? Well, to any foodie or meat curer it won’t be either; it’ll be the makers of the famous Suffolk Black Ham that used to hold Royal Warrant, Emmett’s of Peasenhall. They’ve been making ham for over 150 years. Whilst there are other black hams, including the famous Bradenham from Wiltshire, Shropshire Black Ham, and a less well-known one from Derbyshire, Emmett’s seems to have become the one people talk about. It’s featured in the press and used to be rolled out on Delia Smith’s TV programmes at Christmas.

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Calculators, Cooked Cured Meat, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Pauline’s Ham in a Bag

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About 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.

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Air Dried Meat, Bacon, Calculators, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Pancetta di Larbo

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This 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:

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Air Dried Meat, Bacon, Calculators, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Pancetta di Thurlaston

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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!

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Air Dried Meat, Bacon, Calculators, Cured Meat, Curing Calculator

Jason’s Pancetta

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Many 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.

Pancetta

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:

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