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