Yogurt

Making yogurt is easier than you think and you can make far better yogurt than you can purchase.  The first thing you will need to do is purchase a container of yogurt with active cultures in it...this will get you started the easy way.  I like the one make by The Greek Gods, plain Greek yogurt.

You will also need a container for making the yogurt in, a large casserole dish works well.  Just make sure it will hold one gallon of milk easily.  You will also need a pot large enough to heat one gallon of milk for this recipe.

So, here goes.....

On the stove in your large pot, bring one gallon of milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  During the heating process, you will want to stir it pretty frequently to keep it from burning on the bottom of the pot.  Also, don't rush this.  Bringing it up to temperature slowly is not only the safe way to do it but it helps so you don't burn it in the bottom of the pot.

Once the milk has come up to temperature, remove it from the heat and let it cool to about 100 degrees.  At this time add one cup of the Greek yogurt and stir in in well.

Pour the entire pot into the casserole dish and place it in your oven.  If you have a gas oven with a pilot flame, you are done till tomorrow.  If you don't have a pilot flame or you have an electric oven simply turn on the light and close the door.  

Check in 24 hours and you will have yogurt!  Be sure to reserve one cup in a container for your next batch.  You can line a colander with good cheese cloth and place the yogurt in it to remove some of the whey.  This will produce a thicker product.  You can even leave it in the cheese cloth, tie up the corners and hang it for another 24 hours for yogurt cheese.  You can mix in chives, a bit of garlic powder and it makes a great topping on crackers.  Add ingredients that make you happy and enjoy!

Cider update

Today is day twelve on the second batch of cider.  This batch is just concentrate, water and yeast and so far it is still bubbling along.  It is sitting at about 58 degrees as I want it to go slow. 

The O.G. on this batch read out that if it goes completely dry, it should end up at 7% or just under that which is about right as far as I am concerned.  I ordered an 8 ounce bottle of apple flavoring from the Spice Barn that I plan on adding in right before bottling.  They say that 2 ounces of this will flavor a 5 gallon batch....we'll see. 

More as we go.....oh, and I just received a new batch of Bac-T from Butcher Packer Supply so a batch of Salumi is on the way in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.....

Apple Cider

I have been toying with the idea of making some hard cider for quite some time after tasting some on a trip to Oregon a few years back.  During our visit this past September, I look high and low for some fresh pressed cider that did not contain preservatives but that seemingly is hard to find anymore.

We did find that Smileys just above Hood River is making their own hard cider and we sampled it and found it to be quite refreshing and good.  Since I couldn't lay my hands on any raw product, I did what comes natural....punt.

We decided to use all natural juice from concentrate and make some with a good ale yeast and here she is:

It is really not too bad for a first run and we learned from this adventure.  Another batch is currently in the fermentation carboy with a tweek here and a few tweeks there, we are going to get this the way "we" like it.  On the first batch, I added a cup of honey.  This boosted the "jet fuel" (sugar) ratio and made more of a apple/honey wine and I would guess the alcohol content to be about 10-12%.  The reason I say I am guessing is that I did not take a beginning gravity reading so I don't know where it ended up.  On the batch I just started, I am omitting the honey and the gravity reading says that it will end up at about 6-7% which is more in keeping with what is the norm.  I will let you know how it turns out.

A form of Head Cheese from Turkey

So check this out.....Turkey meat formed into a loaf just the same way as pork would be used to make "Head Cheese".  We used the leftover turkey and made a stock from the bones and other parts.  Added spices and some gelatin and there you go.

And by-the-way, it's some good stuff!  We deep-fried one 14 pounder and cook another one in the oven so we had plenty of leftovers.  One of our favorite dishes with the turkey is a broccoli casserole using the remaining turkey from Thanksgiving.  This year we had enough to play around this this idea and it worked great.

What we call Bologna

Last weekend was one of those weekends that we needed during the summer, rain and cool temperatures but it came late and the result was just cold and wet.  With being trapped in the house, it was time to make something not from the garden.  We have been canning veggies out of the garden and we have a 100 foot long row of beets staring at us but thank goodness they can stand a good cold snap before we need to deal with them.  So, what's a person to do when trapped in the house....make bologna!

Here it is in the ice bath after the smoking session.  Here is my the recipe:

3- lbs. Beef....I used 1.5 lbs. of skirt steak and 1.5 lbs. round steak
4- lbs. Pork....I used 1.5 lbs. boneless country ribs and 2.5 lbs. of loin meat
1.5 Ts. Kosher Salt
2 Ts. Black mustard seeds...slightly cracked
1 Ts. white pepper
1 ts. fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 ts. ascorbic acid
1.5 ts. Pink Salt
6 Garlic cloves minced very fine
1 Ts.Garlic powder
1 Ts. Garlic salt

The meat should be cut into 1" cubes, put in a large bowl, mixed with all the ingredients and partially frozen prior to grinding.  Grind through the larger plate of your grinder and then cool back down in the fridge.  Grind again through the small diameter plate and cool again.  During the cooling of the meat this time, place the paddle attachment of your stand mixer in the freezer.
Went the meet has cooled, add to your mixing bowl with the paddle out of the freezer and beat the meat until it develops a "sticky" texture.  This is best done in four batches.  Mix all the meat together and get ready to stuff your casings.

I use 80mm collagen casings that have been prepared by wetting with warm water.  Stuff the casings tight and tie with butchers twine.  At this point, I rest the meat in the fridge on a sheet tray for about 2-3 hours while preparing the smoker.  My wood of choice is peach as I have this available to me most of the time from my yard.

Smoke at 175- 200 degrees until an internal temperature of 155 is reached.  At that time, plunge into an ice bath and cool the sausages until they can be wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the fridge. 

This is a lot leaner than the recipes you will find from other sources but it really turns out well and is very tasty.  The key to making good sausage is to read, listen, learn and experiment smartly.  If you pay attention and learn the basics of preparation including proper sanitation, you will be safe and pleased with your results.

A Different Summer Sausage

So I had cut some pork shoulder for a cured product but as I have stated before, I really don't like curing anything in the heat of summer.  I really doesn't matter as everything I have to make cured product is temperature and humidity controlled but it is just not the same to me.  So back to the topic at hand...I had 7 pounds of pork shoulder and it needed to be used.  I decided to make a cooked (smoked) product out of it.

I ground the meat, added salt, mustard seeds, white pepper, red chili flakes, black pepper, ginger powder, nutmeg, hot smoked paprika, pink salt and a couple of other simple ingredient's.  We stuffed it all in 80mm collagen casings and put them on the smoker for about 4 hours with peach wood.  After that, I put them in a 170 degree oven until the internal temperature reached 170.  They then get a dunk in ice water and into the refrigerator to rest for a day and here is the results:

This was a successful venture....this stuff is great!  Every recipe you read for summer sausage includes beef.  I really only have one thing to say about that....try pork only and make it spicy, it works and it is great.  This stuff won't last long and I will definitely do this again.  If you want the recipe, email me or send me a comment.  I can't guarantee that your will turn out like this did do to the variables with smoking and the species of the wood you may have available but it is worth the time if you are up to it and have the basic supplies needed for the simple preparation.

Scott

Something new

A couple of weeks ago I tried a great Calabrese and decided to see what I could do to make a product that in someways would be close to what I tried but have my own twist to it.

This is the product right after it was brought out of the fermentation chamber.  I stuffed them in 140mm casing (the size of bologna) and flattened them out for a few days in the fridge before putting them in the fermentation box.  They are now in the aging or maturation cooler where they will stay until they have lose 30% of their total weight which is now about three pounds each.  I also made some in smaller casings along with two and a half pounds of Genoa with extra garlic. 

Another waiting game....the hard part!

Scott

June note....these both turned out well.  It is really amazing the amount of heat (in the way of dried chili pepper) you can throw into the batch and just how mild it comes out when done.  I have yet to reach a point to where I think it is "spicy".  That demand another batch to experiment on this. 

As for the Genoa, the little extra bit of garlic was mild but nice.

Coppa

 

 

Here is a Coppa that I made in the past several weeks.  This is a particular cut off the shoulder and is pretty easy to see if you know what you are looking for when you look at a whole shoulder of the hog.

 

 

It was pretty simple to make and the results are pretty good.  It was salted and held in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days to give the salt time to do it thing.  Then I spiced it with black pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ground fennel and a bit more salt.  Then I put it in a net to hold it together and it was hung in the cure box until it lost 30% of it's original weight.  That took about 4 weeks over, give or take a day or two.  The results are pretty good and really a bit salty but good non-the-less.

New Heat box

I have been using an old wooden box that I threw together years ago for a heating chamber.  It has served me well but is beginning to breakdown due to the moisture from both being used and being washed out.  So I have started on a new bigger, better unit. 

It looks a bit like a phone booth but that is intentional.  I want the heat to be consistent as well as the moisture so I am installing a heater in the bottom that has a small fan in it.  It will slowly circulate air and heat but the heat will "hopefully" be more consistent in the top half of the box.  That is also where I will measure the temperature for control.  Moisture will be provided by a small household humidifier that will be run on a humidistat.  The old box derived its heat from a 100 watt light bulb.  The humidity was from a water pan with an aquarium heater in it.  What?.....it worked! 

As you can see, there is a lot of work needed.  Insulation, power for an interior light, racks in the top for hanging, the outside skin and a door.  I will take a few more photo's as I go along but this thing needs to get done soon so keep checking back for more pictures in the near future.

Genoa week one update

Here is a picture of the development after the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Well on their way to perfection.  After weighing all of them, the loss is as expected and they seem to be progressing nicely. 

Cured Meats for Christmas

This past weekend, we produced a batch of Garlic heavy Genoa for Christmas gifts.  The batch started out at 12.5 lbs.  It made seven good sized salami's which should be done for Christmas.  I will probably cut these in half, vacuum seal them and send most of them out to family.

I just noticed today that a slight trace of white mold is starting to form on the casings which is exactly what  will help these become all that they can be.  This is the "beneficial" mold that helps slow moisture from escaping to quickly and prevents what is called "case hardening".  It will also protect the salumi from bad bacteria that may come into contact with it during the next several weeks of conditioning. 

Hoping you all have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

The Weekend Project

It has been a while since I have made any meat products and the weather is still a bit warm and dry to get me in the mood for that, but there is always things to do. Thus this past weekends project, cheese!
Cheese is easy to do with a few of the right ingredients, some basic kitchen equipment and an afternoon of commitment and care.  I always keep some starter and rennet on hand and usually make cheese several times a year but have not done so this year until this past weekend.

I was able to get my hands on some raw organic cows milk that is from cows that only eat grass hay and also some raw goats milk to try a new cheddar type cheese that I have been thinking about.  Due to this being made from raw un-pasteurized milk, I will age this for at least three months before we crack into it.  Also, this cheese will need that much time to mature and develop the flavor profile I am hoping for.  If it works the way I have planned, aging for longer would be more appropriate but patients has never been my strong suit! 

I will report on the experiment when the time comes.  That should be sometime around Thanksgiving.. Until then it will be pampered by flipping, rubbing and cleaning of the surface when and if necessary to do my part to give it what it will need to become something much enjoyed.  I will be rubbing the surface with salt for the first few days to protect it and to impart flavor leaving it at room temperature to form a "rind" of sorts on the outside prior to putting it in the cooler.  My cooler is not the fridge....it is my meat hanging cooler that stays at 55 degrees and at 80% RH.  A normal refrigerator will not do this without modification, just so you know.

This project was inspired by a visit to the Manwaring Cheese Factory in Rigby, Idaho a few days before.  We purchased some cheese there and looked briefly at their operation.  The cheese we sampled was very good and we were met by the owner with a warm welcome.  On their website, you can purchase their products.  The website is manwaringcheese.com and it is a very small family operation.  They do not ship during the warm months of the year so right now the shipping program is not operational.  They will ship as soon as the weather cools so the product will not be ruined due to the heat.

Scott

Hot August days and nights

As I have said in an earlier post, I don't make any cured meats in the summer time due to the heat and the low humidity.  It is very difficult to control the moisture more than the temperature because here in Utah, our normal humidity is about 13 to 25% everyday.  This makes it very difficult to maintain the 70% needed for proper curing.

Fresh sausage is a different story.  There is not many things better than a fresh made batch of sausages pressed out into 38mm casings and thrown on the grill....heaven.  One of the better books I have came across for many recipes for fresh sausages is Home Sausage Making by Peery & Reavis.  It covers basic equipment, handling, safety and techniques for making sausage with 100 well written recipes.  I recently purchased another copy of this book for a friend that is just getting into the swing of making his own sausages and will be delivering the book to him on a visit to Montana in a few days.  He is traveling down from Calgary to see friends that we will be visiting with at the same time.

I have over 100 pounds of pork in the freezer right now.  Deer season is in a couple of weeks here and my younger son and I will be participating as we normally do.  I'm kinda hoping he gets one and I get a few good walks in the out doors.  That way he can also have all the "dirty work" associated with harvesting an animal and I just reap the benefits....it's someone else's turn for this, I've had my time.

It would be nice to have some venison to make some summer sausage from, we'll see what happens by the end of the month.  Hopefully by then, this hot weather will start to subside and we will be able to enjoy a long Indian Summer for a change.

Later.....

Some people

We just returned from traveling last week and during the course of our travels we stopped by a premier meat shop in a small town in Montana.  The meat case was pretty impressive and featured many cuts of what seemed to be Montana's best beef, pork, chicken and some lamb from Colorado. 

In the front window and in other places in the store were proud posters announcing their partnership with Boar's Head of which they did have quite a selection of.  We purchased some steaks and I asked the woman to slice me about a half pound of Coppa.  She did this after struggling to get the slicer to work right but in her frustration with the slicer, she forgot to remove the netting which shredded all throughout the slices of meat.  I did not realize this until we got back to where we were staying.

All I can say about that is wow, what a disaster.  From what is supposed to be a "Fine Meat Purveyor" in a mostly upscale tourist town.  Some people need to learn to relax, take their time and do things in the same fashion that it took to produce a great product. 

The meat shop will go un-named as will the town.....

What's happening

Just to let you know why things have slowed down...This time of year here, it is so dry that it makes it tough to keep the moisture during both incubation and the maturing stages.  For this reason, I don't usually make any product during the summer.  When fall comes, we will get started again with a renewed excitement for what will come.

I have been working on the electrical controls for a new production chamber for a commercial producer in our area.  They are changing their process and I will be building the controls for the temperature and moisture controls in the chamber.  That's my real job, electrical design, sales and manufacturing custom controls.  Always tinkering......

Scott

Dario....NOT but interesting non-the-less

Today is test day for what I have been calling Dario.  Although it is very consistent in texture and color throughout, it does not have the flavor profile that I was looking for.  Actually, there is a somewhat bitter component that I think came from the nutmeg...just what I think. 

Below is a picture of the finished product and as you can see, the color is very uniform and there was not problem with case hardening.  I frustrate when the result does not come out the way I had envisioned it would taste but more over I am curious about the texture of this product.  These salami lengths were sprayed with Mold-600 the same way that I have done for a long time with the MEK product and even in the maturator that will product beneficial mold even on product that I don't want to have mold, these would not mold-up....?  Weird.

Very slow to dehydrate, no mold, consistant color and texture, the "correct" color profile, everything looks and smells great.  The taste, good...as good as I expected except for the little tweek that I believe came from either the nutmeg, allspice or the mace I added.  Anyway, one more reason to press on and try again to create a product that I am want a taste of.  Here is a picture of the completed product.  I'm not a food photographer but I try.

Scott

Quick note

The Chorizo is done and it turned out very mild.  Also, next time I will use a 3/8" grinding plate rather than the 1/4" to get a more coarse texture.  That should not effect the taste, just the texture which is traditionally done in a larger grind.  Nothing new as work demands that I concentrate on it rather than my hobby.  Dario running it's course and all goes well there.  I will probably need a few more weeks at it's current rate.
I will make an update then.

Oh and you in Oregon (and you know who you are), you will have a package coming soon.

Scott

The Pursuit of a Flavor Profile

So here's a new batch that I am trying to make that hopefully will replicate the taste of something that I really like.  The Batali's call it Dario and Christiano Creminelli calls it something else but it is infused heavily with nutmeg, mace and allspice.  We'll see how this test works out in about 30 to 40 days.  I wanted to do this in 60 or 80 mm casings but did in in 100's....long story, no big deal.  It will make it develop differently and take more time.  That's all part of the experiance....tasting the results.

Spanish Chorizo

Well, that dark colored thinner product is 5 pounds of Chorizo.  This stuff smelled terrific this morning when we stuffed it into the casings.  It needed to cure overnight in the pan prior to stuffing.  It smells like the smoked paprika and the red bell peppers that I charred, pealed and chopped into the mix.  Really, all I have to say is that I hope it turns out as good as it smelled this morning.

Genoa on the Rocks

A picture of the Genoa as it came out of the ageing chamber and a small packaged parcel of one of the earlier harvested hangings.  As you can see, I did more of a coarse grind than what we are used to seeing in the supermarket.  It changes the texture so it is not so "mealie" like some popular store bought brands.  You might also notice that I produce it a bit more lean.  I know I know, fat is flavor but in this case achieving the right balance leads to a product that won't leave a protective film on the roof of your mouth and will taste the way it was intended to be.....enjoyable and special.