Lamb Prosciutto

Whole legs of lamb are currently on special at Sainsbury's, only 5GBP per KG. With that in mind I'd have to be barking mad not to give this a whirl.

First job is to get the bone out and butterfly it as I need it evenly sized for curing purposes and I'll be rolling it up later. Deboning it was easy enough, although I ended up with two pieces. My little piece I suspect is the shank. That has worked out quite nicely however as the little piece won't take too long to air dry.

Next weight it as you'll work out the weight of the other ingredients from the meat's weight.

Now to calculate the weight of the cure ingredients from the 1124g starting point based on the following percentages.

1. 3.8% salt

2. 3% sugar

3. 2% minced garlic

4. 1.4% black pepper

5. 1% fresh rosemary

6. 0.4% flattened juniper berries

7. 0.25% Prague powder No.2

After weighing it all out mix it all up.

Sprinkle half on the bottom of a large zip-lock bag and plonk the lamb on top. Grab the second half and massage it onto the top of the meat. Flip over and give the underside a massage. Bung it in the fridge for 15 days, massaging both sides daily. 

Phase one has begun. Phase two in commences in 15 days.

Homemade Bresaola - Not quite right!

It's had three week and has lost about 40% of its weight. To my knowledge that surely means it is ready! It would appear not! I cut the lump in half and it is quite squishy in the middle.

@lambposts of River Cottage fame to the rescue again. He says bung it in the fridge and it should toughen up in 10 days or so. Job done!

Homemade Bresaola - MAJOR MOULD - Week2

Six days ago. Nothing. Now this.

White mould is good. Green, not so good, but not the end of the world. It's black mould that would be the death of it. Can I see black mould? Maybe.

I'll plough on with it anyway. I've washed the worst of it off with red wine vinegar and popped it back in the loft for the final week.

Homemade Salami/Chorizo - FINISHED

Job done! Not nearly as much mould as the last time I made them. Not sure why? Any mould that was on there I washed off with red wine vinegar. They're nice and firm (maybe too firm) with a peppery kick. They've lost a lot of weight, again more than last time, again I'm not sure why? Next time I'm going to make them fatter. Maybe try and get hold of an ox bung. That ought to do the job.
http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Natural_OX_bung.html

Bresaola - Air Cured Beef - Hung for 1 Week

The beef has been hanging in the loft for a week so I couldn't resist a peek. It looks great. Exactly how I'd expect it to be. Two weeks to go for this.

In other news, from 23rd March legs of lamb are 5.50GBP per KG instead of 11GBP in Sainsbury's. Next project therefore will be Lamb Prosciutto!

Homemade Salami/Chorizo - Week3 (Mould Close-Ups)

Not much more mould really, which is a bit disappointing. Definately still shrinking. I'll be eating these beasts this time next week!

Into the last week we go!

Bresaola - Air Cured Beef - The Last Bit

So the beef came out of the cure at 9pm on Sunday. This is what it looked like.

It was firmer and a deep red after it's 15 hour wine bath. I dried it off, wrapped it in cheesecloth and popped it into the loft where it will hang for 3 weeks.

Bresaola - Air Cured Beef - The Next Bit

After 15 hours in the dry cure your beef will be a lot firmer. There will also be a bit of liquid in your container. That's the salt drawing out the moisture.

Next 15 hours of wet curing. You'll be needing a bottle of cheap Italian plonk. Not too cheap mind you. Mine was a fiver down from six in Sainsbury's. 

Chuck it over the beef. Turn the beef every hour so that every part gets a stint completely submerged.

Mine will be finished at 9pm. 

Back at 9pm to finish this off.

Bresaola - Air Cured Beef

This is my first bash at this, but I can't really see how anything could possibly go wrong. As it's my first go I've gone for a small piece of beef, but a nice organic one!

So the rule with this is to cure for 24 hours per 500g and then hang for 3 weeks. The curing is done in two stages, one dry and then one wet. For a piece of beef this size I'm curing it for 30 hours, 15 dry and then 15 wet.

For the dry cure you need 3% of weight in sea salt (Maldons), but I'm using 4% as 3% didn't look like enough to me. Then you add whatever flavouring you fancy. I've gone with chilli flakes, freshly cracked pepper corns, torn bay leaf, juniper berries and cloves.

Then 'dredge' your beef through the salt making sure that all size are nicely covered. Pop in the fridge and re-dredge every now and then. It needs 15 hours in all.

At 7am I'll get on with the next bit.

Homemade Salami and Chorizo - Week 2

We have some mould! Not a lot, but a little nonetheless! They've certainly lost some weight, about 20% I'd say, and are firmer but not rock hard. They'll certainly be ready in two weeks, if not before!