Charcuterie Thread

oifmarine2003 said:
Salumi and Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman are a good starting point for some basic knowledge. I get most of my info online. There is a great blog called Cured meats as well as some good facebook groups.
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Two very good resources indeed. I would look into joining the Facebook group "The Salt Cured Pig."
 
You guys using any special pork or just non solution? The pork I picked up the other day for coppa was 10$ and for the loin it was 15$ a pound. Curious what you guys are paying?
 
I haven't really been seeking out heritage breeds yet, as I feel like I'm really still in the early stages of trial and error. I usually get most of my pork from Grant Park Packing in Chicago. It's about as fresh as you can get without butchering the hog yourself. They process hundreds of pigs a day and mainly supply restaurants and so on but open to the public on Saturdays. Their prices are very low. 1.89/lb for pork belly, same for loins. Shoulders are 1.29/lb and hams are 1.19 with skin on (no feet). Thinking about asking them if they'd cut me a full leg
 
K, this thread is a massive inspiration! I will be ordering the recommended books, but if anybody has any extra time on their hands, would you mind giving like the 50-word, Reader's Digest condensed version of what is required/involved to practice this noble pursuit?
 
theTastyCat said:
K, this thread is a massive inspiration! I will be ordering the recommended books, but if anybody has any extra time on their hands, would you mind giving like the 50-word, Reader's Digest condensed version of what is required/involved to practice this noble pursuit?
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You really don't even need fifty words. Meat, Salt, and time. You thought it required patience for BBQ? Ha! wait till your 6 months to a year or more into curing meat. :) 55-70 degree temps and high humidity (70%ish) will get you in the ball park. A cold, damp, dark basement is good enough to start. You can move up to a DIY curing chamber if you enjoy it and want to get more accurate and consistent with your products.
 
CakeM1x said:
You guys using any special pork or just non solution? The pork I picked up the other day for coppa was 10$ and for the loin it was 15$ a pound. Curious what you guys are paying?
Click to expand...

All the above pics I posted were mast fed heritage breeds but if you are just starting out commodity stuff is fine. It's similar to asking if you need to start with Wagyu briskets when learning to BBQ. No point in paying top dollar till you get the basics down IMO.
 
jermoQ said:
I am getting a book to start studying up to get my charcuterie degree. Any recommended books?
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I have this one. Phenomenal book....

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Salting-Smoking-Revised-Updated/dp/0393240053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424403685&sr=1-1&keywords=charcuterie+by+michael+ruhlman+%26+brian+polcyn"]Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (Revised and Updated): Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn, Yevgenity Solovyev: 9780393240054: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xa69CUiVL.@@AMEPARAM@@51Xa69CUiVL[/ame]


I haven't read this one, but it's the other one oifmarine2003 mentioned.
Ruhlman is the MAN!

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Salumi-Craft-Italian-Dry-Curing/dp/0393068595/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424403685&sr=1-3&keywords=charcuterie+by+michael+ruhlman+%26+brian+polcyn"]Salumi: The Craft of Italian Dry Curing: Michael Ruhlman, Brian Polcyn: 9780393068597: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51f3%2BCtxKSL.@@AMEPARAM@@51f3%2BCtxKSL[/ame]
 
Shagdog said:
I haven't really been seeking out heritage breeds yet, as I feel like I'm really still in the early stages of trial and error. I usually get most of my pork from Grant Park Packing in Chicago. It's about as fresh as you can get without butchering the hog yourself. They process hundreds of pigs a day and mainly supply restaurants and so on but open to the public on Saturdays. Their prices are very low. 1.89/lb for pork belly, same for loins. Shoulders are 1.29/lb and hams are 1.19 with skin on (no feet). Thinking about asking them if they'd cut me a full leg
Click to expand...

Hmm the stuff I've see from you looks great. Maybe I jumped the gun on my purchase but yeah this is definitely heritage porkies. Maybe the next ones will be from somewhere a tee bit cheaper:). I'm big into researching and doing it right the first time but maybe I should have waited til I found a great recipe. But I am confident my chamber will work well tho so I'm not upset at myself just yet. We'll see in about a month. Just got 6lbs of butt for buck board bacon, 3 lbs of pork loin for lonzino, and 3lbs for the coppa set in the fridge curing whilst cooking a dinner for 4. Busy night, just finally got to sit down.
 
Bourbon Barrel BBQ said:
All the above pics I posted were mast fed heritage breeds but if you are just starting out commodity stuff is fine. It's similar to asking if you need to start with Wagyu briskets when learning to BBQ. No point in paying top dollar till you get the basics down IMO.
Click to expand...

I agree but would you use any of the crap that has a solution in it like hormel does? I stopped by 4 big grocers and all they had was hormel injected loins/butts(I was getting pretty annoyed at this point). Said screw it and called a popular pork butcher in town just to end the pain. If your store has a meat counter you shouldn't only carry hormel crap imo. /rant off
 
CakeM1x said:
I agree but would you use any of the crap that has a solution in it like hormel does? I stopped by 4 big grocers and all they had was hormel injected loins/butts(I was getting pretty annoyed at this point). Said screw it and called a popular pork butcher in town just to end the pain. If your store has a meat counter you shouldn't only carry hormel crap imo. /rant off
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who's the butcher? and where are they?

thanks!
 
fantomlord said:
who's the butcher? and where are they?

thanks!
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It's in Madison not too far from you.

http://conscious-carnivore.com/

Looks like they just updated their website this week too because it was just a single page on Monday. They bring in their pigs on Wednesday to butcher so put in any custom cuts you want before then and they'll have it ready by Thursday.

Another place to check is the underground butcher. I work with a guy whose parents own the farm that sell them their pork. I only thought he sold to the local high end restaurants until I asked him if they sold to any butchers. I didn't go there because I promised the wife we'd go together since she wanted to take me there. They might have better prices(and probably better pork). He brought some pork in to grill and it was superb.
http://www.undergroundbutcher.com/
 
CakeM1x said:
I agree but would you use any of the crap that has a solution in it like hormel does? I stopped by 4 big grocers and all they had was hormel injected loins/butts(I was getting pretty annoyed at this point). Said screw it and called a popular pork butcher in town just to end the pain. If your store has a meat counter you shouldn't only carry hormel crap imo. /rant off
Click to expand...

Yeah solution pork would probably throw off your cure measurements.
 
We just started into charcuterie, my wife did this bresaola. Served carpaccio style.

36788-albums318-picture6086.jpg


She also made duck breast pastrami and prosciutto, but no pics. We bought a wine fridge just for this purpose.
 
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