Jovidah
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We shouldn't tell everyone. Once more people discover how nice PX is it'll stop being so surprisingly cheap.
Nitrite can be found in celery and can be used as a substitute in the curing process - Google is your friend here.Because nitrite consumption is associated with a significantly increased risk of colon cancer. It's one of the things that consistently pops up in the data, and why 'processed meats' are pretty widely considered as unhealthy at this point.
That being said, botulism is not something to joke with. It is possible to make cured meats without nitrites (parma ham for example) but my guess is this requires having really good control of your process. Not something I'd screw around with without doing significant research first.
If I were to go down this adventure I'd also consider making coppa. Quite different from guanciale, but just like guanciale a lot more interesting than pancetta. I tend to always use guanciale & coppa in a 50/50 mix to get the best of both worlds.
Indeed. The nitrite in the celery is exactly the same nitrite that is in cure #1.Nitrite can be found in celery and can be used as a substitute in the curing process - Google is your friend here.
wouldn't you need a huge amount of nitrate, making the taste of celery quite overpowering?Indeed. The nitrite in the celery is exactly the same nitrite that is in cure #1.
When people use celery as the cure, they use celery juice powder, which contains both nitrite and nitrate and is more concentrated than just ground celery. And, yes, it can affect the flavour, so the end product can have some of that celery taste in it (as well as getting a greenish hue).wouldn't you need a huge amount of nitrate, making the taste of celery quite overpowering?
Not a problem. If you let it ripen long enough, the nitrate converts to nitrite and then into nitrous oxide. 30 days of ripening is generally quoted as the minimum to get the nitrate to drop to a safe level.I was surprised to see that nitrate (next to nitrite) was used with the commercial guanciale above.
Traditionally, guanciale is unsmoked. But I don't see why you couldn't smoke it. It'll come out a lot like many German speck versions that way, certainly very delicious!Btw, I always cold smoke at the end. Never gave that any thought. Smoking is addictive, I cannot do without anymore
Yeah, I doubt it was aged for at least a month. I hang them for about 3 weeks and I felt that was longer. Mind you, the commercial one was with skin on.Not a problem. If you let it ripen long enough, the nitrate converts to nitrite and then into nitrous oxide. 30 days of ripening is generally quoted as the minimum to get the nitrate to drop to a safe level.
I should have put emphasis in the first sentence I always smoke after drying, not before. Also imagine the fridge would get a delicious smoking smell.Traditionally, guanciale is unsmoked. But I don't see why you couldn't smoke it. It'll come out a lot like many German speck versions that way, certainly very delicious!
basically the lack of a cool environment with correct humidity (no garage but a wooden shed that gets damp and blistering hot in summer) and this;Yeah, I doubt it was aged for at least a month. I hang them for about 3 weeks and I felt that was longer. Mind you, the commercial one was with skin on.
I should have put emphasis in the first sentence I always smoke after drying, not before. Also imagine the fridge would get a delicious smoking smell.
Yeah, smoked guanciale is basically a kick ass pancetta affumicata. I've encountered it in Italy on rare occasions.
Curious what made @MarcelNL decide to use a dry aging bag.
That's one lucky 6-year old I hope you do impart the amount of respect that is required. Potassium nitrate is no joke.@Michi, I'm not making any sausage, I just picked up some KNO3 for old time sake and 'demonstrational purposes' to introduce a very inquisitive 6 year old to the wonders of the world of chemistry.
For most sausages, you don't need any nitrite or nitrate at all. Anything that is cooked within a few hours or so of making it, or frozen shortly after making it, no need for nitrite. The nitrite thing comes in only if the product spends an extended amount of time (hours or more) in the danger zone (3 ºC to about 60 ºC), and if conditions are anaerobic. Then nitrite is called for. Nitrate is needed only for things that spend more than 30 days in the danger zone, such as salami.I plan to inch my way forward in this...as I'm quite wary of food poisoning and all that.
Pancetta is step 1, that'll take a good month as you mention, next up is Mangalica Guanciale but I guess I'll have to bribe that farmer first to get some cheek, perhaps sausages after that....we're probably three months out by then.
I don't have a dedicated drying chamber and ripen things in a normal fridge. Humidity in there is too low (around 65%) for normal ripening to work; I'd end up with bad case hardening all the time. I've had good success with the dry age steak wraps from The Sausage Maker, as well as with UMAi bags. It's not as perfect as doing things in a dedicated drying chamber at 80% humidity, but the results are good enough. It means that I can make cured and dried hams and salami without having a dedicated fridge that is good only for charcuterie.The dry age bags should (I hope) work well to control humidity for anything that needs air drying but we'll see...I'll learn more as I go along and hope to stay on the safe side of food poisoning.
I toyed with the idea, perhaps at a later stage when I have a better 'feel' for the product....That fridge would have to sit in the shed, and I expect it will not be able to control temperature in our 'modern' summers. plan on using the wine fridge for the dry aging part , that for sure will not work in summer, a Peltier element can only cool x degrees and is quite slow too but for now it should work.Ah clear. I thought you were making/converting a dedicated fridge for charcuterie
Edit:
Cured Meats is also a nice recipe source
Nothing to worry about. It can take eight or nine weeks, or even more. It depends on the size of the meat and the temperature and relative humidity. The capocollo and (small diameter) salami I made recently took seven weeks, and I could have let them go for quite some time beyond that. What weight loss are you shooting for? (Not that it matters. Anything between 30% and 45% or more is normal—it's just a matter of personal preference.)midstage(?) report, the meat is drying but VERY slowly....
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