Ribeye Bresaola

February 22, 2016 by AOG Leave a Comment

Traditionally, bresaola has been made with lean pieces of beef. This is because with traditional curing methods the beef fat gets oxidized fairly easily and it goes rancid (compared to pork fat, where this process happens much more slowly). Traditional methods didn’t have many ways to reduce this oxidation, so they used beef without much fat for preservations sake.

However, using modern methods we can eliminate some of the oxidation that occurs. We use nitrates, refrigeration, and vacuum sealing to limit and slow down the oxidation process.

One method that people use to prevent beef fat oxidation is the addition of vitamin E or α-tocopherol to their products. This can be done by adding α-tocopherol powder or something called rosemary extract, which despite its name, does not give a particularly rosemary-ish flavor to the meat. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant and can slow down beef fat oxidation. However, I have not tried this method yet. Simply by using my regular modern curing procedure, I have been able to avoid beef fat rancidity.

Being able to prevent beef fat rancidity opens up a whole new world of meat curing. Cuts of beef that are high in fat that have traditionally never been cured are now able to be easily cured and enjoyed. I have been eyeing up the fatty ribeye roast cut for a while, and eventually made the jump to curing it once I found a particularly appealing ribeye roast at my local Costco.

The process of making a ribeye bresaola is not very different from my traditional method, but I will detail below the steps that I took.

Curing (3 weeks):

I followed my traditional bresaola recipe for the meat. I have updated the cure information to reflect my currently used ratios.

I cured my meat in a ziplock bag due to its larger and bulkier size. In addition, in order to make sure that my equilibrium cure had time to penetrate the entire cut of meat, I extended the time in the cure up to 3 weeks.

Casing (1 hour):

As I’ve said before, I love using beef bung casings for my whole muscle cured meats. For this one, we cut open beef middles and used them to wrap the meat. After the ribeye bresaola was cased, we used a toothpick was used to puncture any air holes.

We used butcher string to tie it up and get it ready to hang. We sprayed it was a solution of Bactoferm Mold 600 (a single strain culture that contains freeze-dried form spores of Penicillium nalgiovense). This promotes beneficial mold growth and tends to keep any potentially dangerous mold growths at bay.

Drying (1 month+, until 30% of weight is lost):

Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70-80% RH

After casing, the ribeye bresaola was put directly into the curing chamber. This one took a little bit longer, which was expected due to its large size and higher fat content. Fat doesn’t lose water weight like muscle meat does, so products with higher fat content tend to lose less weight.

Eventually, the meat lost ~30% of its initial weight, and was pulled from the chamber.

Tasting:

This end product was an awesome and unique experience. Fat is really an essential part of what makes cured meats taste so good, and this was no exception.

Having fat in a beef bresaola product really enhances its flavor and made it a more complex product.

Because beef fat has a higher melting point, or slip melting point as the scientific literature refers to it as, it doesn’t melt at room temperature like most pork fat will. I found that leaving the meat out for an hour or so before serving helped to make the fat more delectable, giving it a better mouthfeel. In a future post, I will discuss the melting points of different fats and their pros and cons for different products.

Overall, I thought this was a great experiment. I have it stored vacuumed sealed in my fridge, and pull it out for an occasional treat every now and then. If you haven’t done a fatty bresaola yet but have been eyeing up some fattier beef cuts, or have some on hand, go ahead. You might just love it.

Disclaimer: Meat curing is a hobby that comes with inherent risks. We can all do things to limit this risk by educating ourselves about the process and the utilizing the safest known methods to create our products. This website is for educational purposes only, and all experimentation should be done at each individuals own risk.

Coffee Cured Bresaola

February 12, 2016 by AOG Leave a Comment

I decided to make some different types of bresaola for the winter holidays. Since I love coffee, and I love cured meats, this has been an experiment that has been a long time coming; coffee cured bresaola.

Curing (2 weeks):

I decided to experiment with a coffee cured bresaola, using coffee and other winter spices to cure a piece of eye round roast. The eye round was mixed with the cure and allowed to sit in the refrigerator vacuum sealed for 2 weeks or so.

Casing (1 hour):

After the meat had cured for about 2 weeks, I took it out of the cure. I rinsed off the spices and patted it dry. I then cased the bresaola in beef bung casings, and used butcher netting to tie it up.

Drying (1 month+, until 30% of weight is lost):

Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70-80% RH

The bresaola was put directly into the curing chamber and allowed to lose ~30% of its initial weight, and was pulled from the chamber.

Tasting:

This one was interesting. I took off the casing first. Even at over 30% weight loss, it still seemed to be more moist than my usual bresaola.

I used white vinegar to clean off the outside of the bresaola. The coffee flavor was subtle, but complimented the meat.

After the initial tasting, the bresaola was vacuum packed for a mini vacation and will be re-tasted again soon!

Traditional Bresaola

February 12, 2016 by AOG 4 Comments

I have made bresaola in a number of different ways since my first bresaola experiment and learned tons. I have made more bresaola in the original way described in most charcuterie books. I have made bresaola using a traditional Italian recipe that utilizes red wine that was detailed to me by an Italian friend who has been doing this for ages. I have experimented with unique spice cures. And I have also used different cuts of beef to make new types of bresaola. Here, I will update my traditional bresaola process. Future posts will details some of the variations that I have tried.

Curing (2 weeks):

I have updated my curing ratios in the past few years based off of my experience, research, and discussions with other people who cure their own meat. These ratios reflect my personal preferences and can be changed according to taste, but the salt and cure #2 represent a minimum value, and less should not be used. The cure was rubbed onto the meat, and vacuum sealed. It was allowed to cure in the fridge for two weeks.

Casing (1 hour):

Beef bungs are my casing of choice for bresaola when I have them on hand. Sometimes, it’s time to case the meat, and I realize I am out. In these times, I use collagen casings. If I’m out of both of these, cheesecloth will work. In this case, I used beef bungs. I soak them in water before using them to allow them to stretch out before using them to case the bresaola.

After the bresaola was cased, a toothpick was used to puncture any air holes that may have been evident and could harbor the growth of bad bacteria.

Sometimes, I spray my meat with Bactoferm Mold 600, which is a single strain culture that contains freeze-dried form spores of Penicillium nalgiovense. This promotes beneficial mold growth and tends to keep any potentially dangerous mold growths at bay. However, after years of using a curing chamber, the chamber itself will tend to become inoculated with the mold culture itself, making spraying the meat directly less necessary.

Drying (1 month+, until 30% of weight is lost):

Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70-80% RH

The bresaola was put directly into the curing chamber at this point. If you have read my first bresaola post, you know that I used to use a fermentation stage step. I have found this to be unnecessary for whole muscle cured products, and now move directly from the curing and casing stages to the drying stage.

The meat was allowed to lose ~30% of its initial weight, and was pulled from the chamber.

Tasting:

Ahhh….the taste of a home cured bresaola, tender and flavorful never gets old.

The Use of Nitrates and Nitrites in Meat Curing

February 6, 2016 by AOG 6 Comments

Cure #1 and #2:

You will see the item “Cure #2” in a lot of my curing ratio tables. Cure #2 is a slow acting cure; composed of salt, sodium nitrite (6.25%) and sodium nitrate (1%). It may be colored pink in order to distinguish it from normal table salt. It is used in meats that will be curing over a longer period of time.

Cure #1 is a fast acting cure, used for meats that will be slow cooked and will not undergo a long term curing and drying process. It also may be colored pink in order to distinguish it from normal table salt. This involved meat such as bacon, corned beef, and ham. It is composed of salt and sodium nitrite (6.25%).

In cured meats, nitrates are slowly reduced over time into the sodium nitrite form, which helps to keep the cure #2 active for long term curing. Sodium nitrite is further converted to nitric oxide. (https://examine.com/supplements/nitrate/)

Research has shown that NO can then bind to the Fe (iron) molecule which is in the center of the myoglobin protein, a protein that is found in muscle cells.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_%28food_preservation%29)

This is responsible for the red color of cured meats, which will turn pink if heat is applied in a cooking process. (http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/content/48/2/668.abstract)

In addition to the important role that nitrates and nitrites play in creating the characteristic color and flavor of cured meats, nitrates and nitrites are used in order to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria, such as Clostridium botulinum whose toxin can have devastating effects when ingested. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6751698) This role of nitrates and nitrites make them essential in meat curing.

Some people are opposed to the addition of nitrates in their meat, which is a personal preference, but I believe that they make the process safer and at these levels do not pose an unusual threat level. To quote from MeatSafety.org (http://www.meatsafety.org/ht/d/sp/i/45243/pid/45243),

“The amount of nitrate in some vegetables can be very high. Spinach, for example, may contain 500 to 1900 parts per million of sodium nitrate. Less than five percent of daily sodium nitrite intake comes from cured meats. Nearly 93 percent of sodium nitrite comes from leafy vegetables & tubers and our own saliva. Vegetables contain sodium nitrate, which is converted to sodium nitrite when it comes into contact with saliva in the mouth.”

For example, celery is a food that is high in nitrates. Some people use celery juice to cure meat. Make no mistake; the use of celery juice IS the addition of nitrates. Additionally, there is no quantification involved when using celery juice, so levels of nitrates varies. This means, in some cases the meat will not be safe from threats such as botulism toxin, while in others, the levels of nitrates will far exceed those that are recommended. I find that it is better to know the levels you are adding and be smart about knowing what goes into your food.

The problem does not lie with nitrates or nitrites, but rather with a product that they can form: nitrosamines.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosamine)

This occurs when nitrites interact with amines, commonly found in protein such as meat. In acidic conditions (such as the stomach) or at high temperatures (such as the frying pan), pathways that lead to the formation of nitrosamines can be favored. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosation)

This reaction only occurs when nitrites and amines are present, and the environment favors this reaction. This is why, even though leafy greens have high levels of nitrates, they don’t have high levels of nitrosamines. You can check out the levels of nitrates, nitrites, and nitrosamines in different food and drink items in this free research article table: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2669451/table/T2/

The formation of nitrosamines can be inhibited by the addition of compounds that interfere with this reaction. Certain anti-oxidants are able to do this. To quote a research article that has been published on this topic (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8304939/):

” Such inhibitors include vitamins C and E, certain phenolic compounds, and complex mixtures such as fruit and vegetable juices or other plant extracts. Nitrosation inhibitors normally destroy the nitrosating agents and, thus, act as competitors for the amino compound that serves as substrate for the nitrosating species. “

This effect has been noticed by producers of cured meats, and some people add in components to limit the formation of nitrosamines in their cured meats. The most common addition is sodium ascorbate (at 0.15% of total meat weight), which is a salt of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), and is used due to its slower rate of reaction compared to ascorbic acid itself. The hope is that the addition of sodium ascorbate will bind to any excess nitrites, preventing them from binding to amines and going on to form nitrosamines. I have not used sodium ascorbate in any of my products yet, but it is something that I have been considering.

So, what is the takeaway? Unfortunately, the ingestion of nitrosamines has been weakly linked with certain forms of cancer.(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26633477) Research is ongoing, but it does make sense to know the risks and be smart about what you ingest. Creating your own products, just like cooking your own food, is the best way to be certain about what you are putting into your body.

Mosciame

February 5, 2016 by AOG 4 Comments

Seaside breezes. The smell of salt and sea in the air. Gorgeous grottos set against a dark blue sea. Sicily. The land of my ancestors, calling to me. When I picture the beauty of this mysterious island, with its rich culture and heritage, I can’t help but feel drawn back to it. And, when I come down from my reverie, and realize it’s not pragmatic to go jumping off to Sicily on a whim on a random Wednesday, like any true Italian, I connect to my heritage with a culinary project.

Mosciame is a charcuterie project that I had been wanting to do for a while. My first taste of this illusive treat was on a trip with the family back to Sicily. At the time I didn’t know, or fully appreciate, what I was eating. After I started to become invested in making my own cured meats, I rediscovered this curiously attractive project and became adamant that it was a project I needed to do.

Mosciame is traditionally made in fishing villages, where tuna has been prevalent and finding a means to preserve it was a necessity. It has been said that the Phoenicians were the first to cure tuna, and even used it as a currency of a sort, which would make sense given their history as a sea faring peoples who set up many port towns. The Phoenicians were well known for their ability to convert salt water to salt, a precious commodity at the time. They were able to use the salt that they procured to preserve the abundant tuna that they caught in the waters surrounding Sicily. Because of this history, mosciame tends to be made in areas where the Phonecians had a large cultural influence. This includes the islands of Sicily and Sardegna, as well as in some areas of Spain.

Mosciame is known by many names; in Italy it is mosciame, in Spain it is mojama, in Portugal it is muxama, and I am sure that I am missing many names, in many dialects. It is thought that the name is derived from an Arabic word, although the exact derivation is not agreed upon. Some say that it is from the Arabic word musama which means dry. While others say that it is from the word mosammed, meaning a thing that is hard and dry. Others say it is from the Arabic word almuxama. Not being an expert in Arabic or word derivations, I cannot really claim to know which of these have more truth behind it, but suffice it to say, it is most likely a word derived from Arabic due to their influence in the culture of these regions.

Today, most mosciame is made from tuna, specifically the loin of the tuna. Traditionally, it was also made with dolphin. In reality, just like most charcuterie, it probably can be made with other fish as well and is just awaiting brave experimenters to jump in and unknowingly try to replicate a lost local secret of some remote village.

There are quite a few ways to go ahead making mosciame. There is the traditional way, which I did not try to replicate but will explain for anyone who is a pure traditionalist to try. There is a traditional modern adaptation which I tried here. There is also the more modern way, which is how I do most of my cured meat projects, with variations on certain aspects of it. I will detail the process that I followed for my first modern style mosciame attempt below.

Traditional: The tuna loin or belly is harvested from the whole fish and it is cleaned and washed. It is packed in excess salt and is allowed to stay in the excess salt cure for 48 hours. After 2 days, the salt is washed off, and the tuna is patted dry. At this point, the tuna is hung outside to dry, preferably in a cool place with a good sea breeze for 2-3 weeks. Many Sicilians hang their homemade mosciame out in their backyard, some even utilizing their clotheslines for the purpose!

First Modern Trial: In my case, I bought a piece of sushi grade tuna loin.

Curing (48 hours):

I used equilibrium curing in order to cure the fish, using a mix of salt, cure #2, spices, and the starter culture B-LC-007.

Only salt and cure #2 are necessary. Spices can be adjusted based on personal preference. In this case, I added a starter culture to give the meat an extra earthy flavor, but it was more of an experiment than anything else and definitely not necessary.

After the meat was allowed to equilibrium cure for 48 hours, the cure was washed off and the meat was patted dry.

Casing: (1 hour)

Then, the meat was stuffed into a beef bung casing.

Drying (1 month+, until 30% of weight is lost):

Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70-80% RH

It was added into the curing chamber and allowed to lose 30% of its initial weight.

After the meat lost 30% of its weight, I pulled it from the chamber.

First, I pulled off the beef bung casing.

Then, I rinsed the outside off with white vinegar, patted it dry, and rubbed some olive oil on the outside of it.

Tasting: The mosciame was sliced, and boy oh boy did it hit me.

This meat was the most powerfully flavorful of any that I have made. Personally, I really enjoyed the end product. It was a full, strong earthy almost yeasty product that was as complex as it was beautiful. However, like a good cheese, it had a strong smell that was off putting to some. I find that it is great paired with some olives and wine, or on top of a dish of papas bravas.

The mosciame was stored under vacuum in the fridge for future tastings.

Disclaimer: Curing fish is a hobby that comes with inherent risks. We can all do things to limit this risk by educating ourselves about the process and the utilizing the safest known methods to create our products. This website is for educational purposes only, and all experimentation should be done at each individuals own risk.

Duck Prosciutto

January 24, 2016 by AOG 8 Comments

While I have previously written about making whole muscle cures, I have learned a lot since my initial attempts which I chronicled at the time. As I am constantly learning and adapting methods, my next few posts will discuss some of the whole muscle cures that I have made more recently, and the specific protocols or recipes that I have used. If you are looking for an overview of meat curing, please refer back to my charcuterie page introduction.

Duck Prosciutto, or prosciutto d’anatra, is a delicious cured meat product made by curing duck breasts. It can be made a few different ways, two of which I will detail here.

Duck Prosciutto is a cured meat product that many suggest as an entry level cured meat. While that may be the case due to its small size and short curing time, the layer of fat on the breast as well as traditional casing methods can complicate things. In fact, my first duck prosciutto attempt was actually my first cured meat failure. I had uneven drying, and instead if using a method to even it out, I considered it a failure and threw it out.

(I now know better, and if any of my products have uneven drying or case hardening, I make sure that I vacuum seal them and leave them in a traditional refrigerator for an unspecified period of time until they have evened out. At this point, they can be rehung until they reach the desired water weight loss point.)

A traditional duck breast is part meat, with a thick layer of fat on one side.

Because of the makeup of fat compared to protein, the fatty portion of the duck breast has less water to lose than the meat portion of the duck breast. This is important to know when deciding when a duck prosciutto is ready, since the target of 30% water weight loss might take longer than expected to reach (and in fact, may not be necessary depending on how much fat the cut really has!)

Method #1: Equilibrium Curing

Deciding on a spice cure for a duck prosciutto is 100% personal preference after the necessary additional of salt, and in my opinion, nitrates or cure #2 as I will refer to it from here on out. While some people use excess curing for duck prosciutto, I have switched over to using equilibrium curing completely. For more information on this, see the charcuterie introduction. This winter I decided to make two different duck prosciutto, one using more traditional bresaola spices and one that was a play on the French dish of duck l’orange.

Curing (2 weeks):

The duck breasts were mixed with the spice cure and vacuum sealed in a bag and allowed to equilibrate in a traditional refrigerator for the period of two weeks.

Casing (1 hour):

After the two weeks of curing was up, the duck breasts were washed off of all spices and patted dry.

They were cased in beef bungs, and wrapped in butchers netting.

If you refer to older posts, at this point, I used to do a fermentation stage for whole muscle cures. I have come to the conclusion that that is only really necessary for salami, and have stopped doing a fermentation stage for whole muscle cures.

Drying (1 month+, until 30% of weight is lost):

Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70-80% RH

After casing, the duck prosciutto was hung in the curing chamber at around 55F/12C and around 80% RH.

I have been keeping my humidity higher than I have in the past to allow to slower and more even weight loss, as well as to accommodate the cheeses that I have been keeping in the curing chamber. In this case, the traditional bresaola spiced duck breast reached 30% weight loss first and was pulled. The duck prosciutto l’orange style plateaued at a weight loss of ~25%, most likely due to its high fat content. It was pulled after it plateaued.

Tasting:

The taste test may be the best part of the whole project. The beef bung casing and netting is removed and the meat is rinsed with red wine or white vinegar (personal preference) to remove any mold that may have gotten through the casing on to the meat before being patted dry. The meat can be sliced with a deli slicer or by hand. Hopefully, the results will be heavenly.

The duck prosciutto was hand sliced with my new jamon knife, resulting in thicker slices than the deli slicer produces. Perfect for some late night duck prosciutto snacking.

Tasting of the traditional spiced duck prosciutto:

Tasting of the l’orange style duck prosciutto:

The duck prosciutto was stored in a vacuum sealed bag for snacking at a later date.

Method #2: Excess Curing

Previously, in order to make duck prosciutto I followed the method that is in a lot of the traditional literature. Excess curing is a method where the meat is packed into excess salt and spices, and allowed to cure for anywhere from 24-72 hours.

Curing: First, I did an excess salt/cure #2 and spice cure for 3 days.

Casing: Then, I wiped off then cure, and hung it in a cheesecloth casing for drying.

Drying (2 weeks+): Temperature: 54F/12C, Humidity: 70% RH

The duck breast was weighed in order to track the weight loss over time.

I tracked the weight loss over time and found that it stagnated at about 20% weight loss with some case hardening.

In order to even it out, I placed it under vacuum seal.

Tasting: After it spent some time under vacuum seal, it evened out and ended up absolutely delicious.

These are the two most common methods used to make duck prosciutto. Everyone finds methods that they prefer, and as discussed previously, I have switched to equilibrium curing and beef bungs for more even and replicable drying in the future. However, that is not to say that the excess curing method won’t work for you. Feel free to play around with your curing and create products that make you happy.

3 Step Nova Lox

June 21, 2014 by AOG Leave a Comment

Lox. Lox. Lox. Down in my belly. Lox is one of those delicious foods that you can spend a whole life missing out on after one bad experience. My first experience trying lox was at a Bar/Bat Mitzvah reception, where I cautiously loaded it onto a bagel, took a bite, and was less than pleased with the results. It was a good 5 years or so before I tried it again. My next experience was life altering. At least, culinary life changing. The fatty flavor of the salmon, salty without being overpowering, paired with the spice profile of peppercorns and dill was utterly delicious. I think I ate lox for a week straight after that experience. It was another 3 or so years, fed up with the high price of lox and the lottery of whether it would be fresh and delicious or older and less so, when I decided it was high time I learn to make my own lox.

Lox is one of those foods that is fascinating to explore the instructions on how to make them because there are so many traditions intertwined with history, that each takes you down a path of exploration that can distract you all day. There are different traditional methods on making lox, as well as new innovations and fusion spice profiles that lead to endless ways to make lox.

After doing a good amount of research, I choose a path of doing a less salty cured and smoked Nova lox. Some lox is considered finished after it has been cured for the appropriate amount of time, while others are cold smoked after they are cured. It’s a matter of preference, time, and ability, but the Nova lox I had grown to love so much was cold smoked, so I had to take the extra step. This post will detail what I call my “3 Step Lox.”

The Fish

The first step is to buy or catch a salmon. You will want it filleted in half, with as many of the bones removed as possible. Wild, fresh salmon is the best, but you can work with what’s available.

Step #1: Dry Cure (10-12 hours)

The first step is to dry cure the salmon. Using a 1:1 cure of brown sugar and kosher salt, I completely covered the exposed salmon, coating all of the fish except for the skin. After adding the cure, I wrapped the fish in plastic wrap, although any container will really do if you are opposed to the use of plastic. I placed this overnight in the refrigerator, with a weight on top of it (textbooks) to help increase the surface area contact and pressure. The solute particles in the cure act to create an differential gradient, leading to osmosis of water out of the salmon and into the cure, so beware, this will leak into your fridge if you don’t be careful and place it on something that can catch the extra liquid. This is a good sign, and it means you are starting to cure the salmon.

Note: Some recipes only use a dry cure for a certain amount of time (the longer, the saltier). Others only use a wet cure. In the days when curing salmon was done due to necessity, the lox was a lot saltier because there was no refrigeration and the salt cure needed to keep the fish edible for longer periods of time. In today’s world, curing salmon is done largely for the culinary pleasure of it. Because of that reason, we can get away with using much less salt/less curing time than traditional recipes call for. In the end, it’s what you prefer and can eat safely.

For the sake of experimentation, I first tried making lox using this 3 step method of a dry cure, a wet cure, and cold smoking. There is room to change any and all of the ratios/times listed here, and I have played around with most parameters. I have found that I prefer the results of this “3 Step Lox” to other methods when I have the time to make it. When I don’t, I make my “Quick Lox.”

Step #2: Wet Cure (10-12 hours)

The salmon is washed in cold water to clean off all of the dry cure. After this, it is submerged in a wet cure (brine) composed of salt and white sugar that are dissolved in water (1 L of water, 70 grams of salt, 4 grams of white sugar- scale up or down based on need). I use a vacuum sealer and associated vacuum sealable bags to submerge the salmon in the brine. This is put in the fridge overnight again.

Note: After the wet cure stage is done, you have cured salmon. The last stage, smoking the salmon, is an additional step that was sometimes done in order to further preserve the fish, being a convenient way to increase its edible lifespan given the ubiquitous nature of fires and therefore smoke in the lives of the earliest lox makers.

Step #3: Cold Smoking (4 hours)

Cold smoking is a method of smoking meat, fish, cheese, what have you, without actually cooking it with heat. It is done with temperatures under 90F/32C, which allows the fish to remain “uncooked” while picking up the complex flavors that smoking imparts upon food. There are many many ways to cold smoke, but most require you to be outside and are similar to a grill set up. I have two methods that I use to smoke salmon. My first choice is to use an outdoor cold smoking set up, where I use an A-maze-N tube smoker in a Weber grill, carefully monitoring the temperature level to make sure it never rises too high.

If I don’t have easy access to one, I use a jerry-rigged indoor set up, using a Smoking Gun attached to tubing that sends the smoke into a Styrofoam cooler.

Before cold smoking the lox, I add simple spices to the cured lox: fresh dill and both black and white peppercorns. Using my cold smoking set up, I cold smoke the salmon for 4 hours. After this time, I set the salmon on a rack in the fridge and allow it to rest overnight.

The next morning, the salmon is cured, smoked, and ready to enjoy!

Slice it thin and enjoy!

It is great on homemade bread, matzah, bagels, or even just by itself!

Lamb Prosciutto

June 9, 2014 by AOG Leave a Comment

This post is on the making of lamb prosciutto, or prosciutto d’agnello. The term prosciutto usually refers to the cured leg of an animal, whether it be pork or goat or lamb or what have you. Regardless of what you want to call it, it’s delicious, and is a fun project for anyone who is interested in meat curing.

Lamb is one of those meats that its often said you either like or you don’t. I lived my whole life disliking the flavor of lamb, until after a meal at an Indian restaurant it suddenly clicked and I fell in love with it. I think it has a lot to do with the way the lamb is prepared,so my advice to all who say they just “don’t like the flavor of lamb” is to keep trying it prepared in different ways. You’ll never know which one clicks with you.

After experimenting with different style bresaola, we decided it was time to move on to a different type of meat. Which better meat to try than lamb? Lamb prosciutto was one we had tried in restaurants before, and even though I hadn’t loved it, I thought there could be room for experimentation and improvement which turned out to be 100% correct.

The process started with a boneless lamb leg roast purchased from a local grocery store. Although it was actually butchered pretty cleanly, we separated the meat into two pieces to avoid creating troublesome air pockets within the meat and to let it dry faster, since I’m not the most patient of all meat curers.

Curing (3 weeks):

By this time, I’d gotten so familiar with the usual ratios of spices that I did a good amount of ad libbing with the cure. I added some spices that are usually paired with lamb to complement the meat. The basic ratios that I used are in the following chart:

*I have since changed the ratios I use for salt and cure #2. See my most recent posts for the most up to date ratios that I use.

The lamb was mixed with the spices, massaged, and vacuum sealed. It was put in the refrigerator for 3 weeks to cure.

After 3 weeks, the cure was washed away from the lamb using cold water and lamb was dried off. We packaged it usually the available casings that we had, 100 mm collagen casings. After using beef bung, I would probably prefer this method in the future, but collagen was what we had so collagen is what we used. The two pieces of lamb were oddly shaped, and so my barely adequate butcher string technique led to some interesting looking hanging lamb, but hey if it hangs it hangs right?

Fermentation (48 hours):

Temperature: 69F/20C

Humidity: 80-90% RH

*I have since stopped doing a fermentation stage in my whole muscle cures. See my more recent posts for information on this.

There is some debate on the usefulness of a fermentation stage in whole muscle meat curing. We left the lamb hanging in the curing chamber for 48 hours during this stage, after spraying the meat with a 0.5% solution of Penicillium nalgiovense to induce beneficial mold growth.

Ideally at the end of the fermentation stage, you would see a decrease in pH to less than 5.1, letting you know the meat was becoming acidic due to beneficial bacterial activity. Since I don’t currently have a pH meter, and pH strips are moderately useful at best, I’ve gone forward after 48 hours regardless. This drop in pH is much more necessary to check in ground meat salami preparations such as sausage making.

Drying (6-8 weeks):

Temperature: 54F/12C

Humidity: 70% RH

The waiting is the hardest part. At this point, all you can do is wait and monitor weight loss. Keep a careful eye on the temperature and humidity, and when weight loss reaches 30% you are ready! Some may like more weight loss, some may like less, but I’ve settled on 30%. At a weight loss of 30% your meat is definitely not the same meat you put into the curing chamber, but it’s still moist and delicious and when sliced thin is heavenly.

This lamb took somewhere between 6-8 weeks to be ready, the smaller one was ready sooner. This slightly longer time was probably due to the fact that our humidity was on the higher side, but I prefer it that way. Higher humidity means it will take longer for your meat to dry out, and you might need to combat some enemy molds, but you won’t have case hardening or end up with jerky like meat instead of the succulent treasure that is slowly cured and dried charcuterie.

Slice it up and pair it with cheese and other fermented treats and enjoy!

Limoncello

April 1, 2014 by AOG Leave a Comment

Limoncello. Such a simple yet refreshingly delicious liqueur. Limoncello is one of those after dinner drinks that makes you wonder why it isn’t always “after dinner” time, and has you scheming up more Italian-style meals just so you can get to the digestivo.

While just taking a sip of limoncello can transport you to a leisurely state of mind, bringing up memories of slowly strolling through Sicilian lemon groves, the process itself doesn’t need to be so sluggish. Traditionally, limoncello is made by infusing a grain alcohol with lemon zest (the skin of the lemon) for at least 3 months, and then adding simple syrup to give it its characteristic sweetness.

However, because we understand the chemistry of what is going on in the infusion, we have methods today that can make this process go much faster. Using the process of nitrogen cavitation (explained here: Nitrogen Cavitation Explanation), we can infuse the alcohol with the lemon zest in a matter of minutes.

Materials:

4 lemons

500 mL ethanol (Chopin potato vodka in our case)

Simple syrup to taste (made by dissolving sugar in water)

Methods:

Using a cheese grater, the skin of the 4 lemons was grated off to create zest. Traditionally, only the yellow outer portion of the skin is used for the zest, because it contains most of the flavor and the inner white region can cause the limoncello to become bitter. However, with this method, we decided to try using both and didn’t find any negative consequences. After the zest was all grated off, we peeled the lemon and cut the remaining skin into small pieces.

Now to the fun part, instant infusion via nitrogen cavitation. The lemon zest was added to the 500 mL of vodka. This mixture was placed in the cream whipper container, and a nitrous oxide canister was loaded in. The mixture was allowed to sit under pressure for about 5 minutes (completely arbitrary, but it seemed to generate good results) before the N₂O gas was released. The result was an instantly infused lemon vodka!

The last step was to add simple syrup by taste until the end result was a delicious limoncello, reminiscent of any great Italian limoncello, and completed in under 10 minutes!

Strain, serve, and enjoy!

Bresaola

April 1, 2014 by AOG Leave a Comment

After months of planning, we were finally ready to make our bresaola. There are 5 different stages to curing whole muscle meats like bresaola; curing, casing, fermentation, drying, and of course, tasting. We created a basic timeline for our meat to insure that we would be ready and available to do all the necessary steps at the proper time. So much about curing meat is experience and feel, so as beginners, we did our best to prepare as thoroughly as possible and read up on the process from people who had already done it and chronicled their process.

Total Time: 5 weeks total (approximately)

2 weeks: Curing

48 hours: Fermentation

3+ weeks: Drying

We started the curing process on a Friday, so that in two weeks, when we started the fermentation process, we could watch over the conditions to make sure the temperature and humidity stayed constant. We let the fermentation process run its course over the weekend, and then began the drying process the following Monday and let the meat dry for 3 weeks (until it lost about 30-40% of its weight).

Curing (2 weeks):

We collected all the materials we needed for the cure and based on a combination of ratios we found (see sources), and we created a spreadsheet letting us know how much of each ingredient to add (based off the mass of the meat itself).

*It should be noted that I have since updated the percentages of salt (2.75%) and cure #2 (0.25%) that I use, and suggest referring to my more recent posts for this information.

On the day we started curing the meat, we left our scale behind, so we only were able to do a rough approximation of the spice cure. In the future, we plan on experimenting with other ingredients and based on the results, changing our initial ratios. Some of the ingredients we plan on adding include cinnamon, bay leaves, coffee and white wine.

In order to make the spice cure, we ground the spices that we didn’t buy pre-ground, and added them all together. We gently rubbed the spices into the meat, and then vacuumed sealed it shut.

We allowed the curing process to go on for about two weeks, leaving the meat in the refrigerator, occasionally flipping it over and gently rubbing the spices in.

Casing (1 hour):

We removed the meat from the vacuumed sealed bag with the spice cure, and rinsed it in cold water while wiping off what remained of the spice cure.

We bought 100 mm collagen casings to stuff the meat into when we hung it, which we soaked in cold water for a few minutes before we attempted stuffing the meat into it. This was a little tight, which was good, but made it moderately difficult to do.

After we stuffed the meat into the collagen casing, we used butcher knots to string up the meat in the casing, and then used a toothpick to poke any air holes and squeeze out any air that remained in the casing.

We then sprayed the meat with the M-EK-4 solution until it was heavily dripping with the mold solution.

Fermentation (48 hours):

Temperature: 69F/20C

Humidity: 80-90% RH

*I have recently stopped using a fermentation stage for whole muscle cures. Refer to my more recent posts for more information on this topic.

After casing, the meat was ready for the fermentation process. The fermentation process is useful to induce the growth of beneficial bacteria and molds. The ideal temperature varies based on the culture that is used. While historically, the caves or rooms that were used to cure meat would already be flush with beneficial molds which would then “jump” onto the sausages and hanging meats, today, the individual with a personal curing chamber has to rely on more direct measures. We ordered a single strain culture of Penicillium nalgiovense, commercially referred to as Bactoferm M-EK-4. We created a 0.5% solution of the fungus, adding 2.0 g of the M-EK-4 to 400g of water. The ideal temperature for this strain is around 69F/20C, so we set the temperature controller in the curing chamber turned fermentation chamber to around 69F/20C. Luckily enough, this was around room temperature anyway, so basically the fridge was off for the entire fermentation stage. On the other hand, high humidity is a necessary in order to have mold growth, as well as to keep the meat from drying out during this process. We aimed for 80-90% RH for this process, and kept an eye on humidity over the weekend.

We hung the meat that had been inoculated with the “good mold” Penicillium nalgiovense in the “fermentation chamber” (i.e. the curing chamber at higher temperature and higher humidity). We hung the meat on S hooks, using the string that we tied the meat up with, and let it stay in the chamber for about 48 hours.

After 48 hours we attempted to check the pH (since it should have been lowered to below 5.1), but since we didn’t have a pH meter and had to rely on pH strips all we knew was that it did indeed become more acidic than a pH of 5, so we moved ahead to the next step, drying.

We didn’t see much mold growth at first, so we were concerned that it wouldn’t grow, but we decided to spray it again and move on with the drying stage, since beneficial mold growth is not a requirement for the bresaola to achieve the required end product.

Drying (3 weeks+):

After the fermentation process was complete, we moved on to the drying process. We changed the refrigerator set point to 54F/12C and the humidity set point to 70% RH. We let the meat hang for about 3 weeks, keeping an eye on the temperature and humidity and watching for mold growth.

Over time, we ended up having a decent mold bloom, of mostly white smooth mold with some green mold spots. Because we were uncertain of what the green mold was, we used white vinegar to clean off the mold bloom.

After 3 weeks, we measured the weight of the meat in order to see if it had lost 30-40% of its weight. It weighed in at 1016g, down from 1551g, or about 35% of its weight. It felt hard to the touch, like any store bought bresaola, so we took a leap of faith and went ahead with the tasting.

Tasting:

We cleaned the outside of the bresaola with white vinegar and water, and removed the butcher string and the collagen casing. Using a commercial deli slicer, we were able to slice the bresaola as finely as it deserved. After checking for any signs that something went amiss, such as case hardening, or a rancid soft inside with a bad smell, and finding none, we went ahead.

Wow. I had never tasted such a succulent piece of cured meat. This solidified in my mind that curing your own meat is the way to go. We prepared it as simply as possible, tasting it directly off the slicer at first, and later with some olive oil, pepper, and lemon juice.

In the days following, we couldn’t get enough of the delicious bresaola that we had created, and ate it any way possible. From sandwiches to cheese plates, a little bresaola never goes amiss. One of my favorite ways to enjoy the bresaola is in a cheese and meat plate with taleggio, an earthy Italian cheese that best pairs with bresaola.

Our experiment was a success! And with the bresaola finished, we are currently looking forward to our next batch of cured meats.

Resources:

http://curedmeats.blogspot.mx/2007/11/bresaola.html

Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (November 2005) by Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn