Garth's Small Goodies - Part 1: Pancetta and Lonza

[GarthFader]

So i've ventured into the world of dry-cured meats and am starting with pancetta (pork belly) and lonza (pork loin)

I bought this book a while ago, and have been reading it through so decided to get started by converting a secondhand fridge into a drying chamber.

Second hand fridge: $50
External themostat: $24
Clued up mate to do the wiring: 1kg homemade bangers

This simple setup with a tray of equal parts salt and water (as suggested in the book) manages a 14-16º range at 60-70% humidity as the book recommends. Until the depths of winter, I can get away without a heat source, but come winter I might wire up a ceramic heat lamp on the heating circuit just in case it's needed.

i found a good free-range butcher in Mount Waverly called Simply Free Range. The guys there were nice and happy to answer a few questions when I went in today. I came away with a shitload of pork... about 2kg of belly, plus the small rib section that came with it and a whole loin and back-fat section, I separated the loin from the back fat myself, and kept all the trimmings for sausages including the back fat and skin. The ribs got put aside for a snack on the weekend.



I used the salt-box method for the loin and the belly as the book recommends, then vac sealed the cuts with the cure and lobbed them in the fridge (dropped back to 4ºC, with the loin weighted down.




The belly will be ready to rinse in wine and hang tomorrow night, the loin the day after. Then it's just a matter of waiting til they lose 30% of their starting weight before they're good to go.

Finger crossed it all works out, i've been pretty fastidious when following the methods in the book... the last thing I want to do is poison myself or my mates. Now I just need to get a decent deli slicer to cut some paper thin slices from the cured pieces.

[Nath]

Cool! I have some pancetta and coppacola in my fridge almost ready to break open.
Done in misty gully bags.
I'd be interested to learn more about your set up.
I think the main problem you may face is the humidity, do you have anything to monitor it? You can get cheap digital humidity testers on eBay.

Did you use any Cure #1 in your recipe? If not I would consider cooking before eating.
This is just coming from what I have read.
Anyway, enjoy, and be prepared to wait for agess!

[GarthFader]

I have an monitor for humidity, but not a controller, if I struggle to maintain the humidity i'll get a humidifier that will switch on and off as needed, but the setup I have is holding steady both in temp and humidity.

Neither of the recipes i'm following call for cure #1, the pancetta isn't a rolled one (the recipe in the book for rolled pancetta does recommend cure #1, but not a flat pancetta). The basic rules of the book are;

3% of meat weight in salt
1 day per kilo on salt
hang in 12-18º @ 60-70% humidity til 30% of the initial weight is lost.

Provided you don't get signs of spoilage (non-white mould), or case hardening once you hit the weight reduction target, you should be golden.

[Nath]

Cool!
Well i'm excited to see its progress.
Ill post up my results here as well as continue my thread on my curing on Aussiecue forum.

Sounds like you have the humidity sussed, that's great coes those humidifiers get bloody expensive.

[GarthFader]

They're not too bad. You can pick up a 5l domestic one. Put it in the bottom of the fridge and wire it into a $20 controller that switches it on and off in the same way as the thermostat I've got controlling the temp. Total cost would be about $60-70.

[gussigan]

Garth, I'm so excited to see how this turns out!

I think I might need to come up with an excuse for a Melbourne trip to visit your set up

[food&fish]

Cool!
Well i'm excited to see its progress.
Ill post up my results here as well as continue my thread on my curing on Aussiecue forum.

Sounds like you have the humidity sussed, that's great coes those humidifiers get bloody expensive.

Do you have a link to the ausiecure forum tried google no luck

[GarthFader]

That's probably because he mentioned "Aussiecue"

http://aussiecue.freeforums.net/

[Nath]

thanks Garth

[GarthFader]

So after 24hrs costed in salt and vac-sealed, the belly was ready to be rinsed off and hung.

I washed all the cure off in some white wine, gave it a good soak and rubbed it down.

Once washed I needed to poke some holes in the pieces and tie some kitchen twine through them to hang them from, this was tougher than expected but in the end I managed it buy pushing a plastic straw though the holes with a skewer, then threading the twine through the straw.



When the pieces are ready to hang, I weighed them and recorded the weight on a bit of tape on the string, along with the target weight (30% less than the starting weight), and the date so I can assess how quickly different cuts cure and evaluate the setup i'm using.

In total the two pieces are about 1.5kg, so the finished product will be 1kg (if it works).

Once they were tied and weighed it was into the fridge to dry. I've had to keep the temp low for the next 24hrs while the loin is still on salt (you can see it in the photo under the timber and bricks, it's in a vac-sealed bag too), once it's had another day on salt it will come out, get rinsed and then tied up. And the fridge will get back to curing conditions (12-18ºC @ 60-70% humidity).



I've realised I need yet another fridge, that can be used for general storage, mainly beer... but also for the meat that is salted and vac-sealed before going into the drying fridge. So my next stop is eBay!

[gussigan]

you gonna smoke them while they're in the fridge?

[GarthFader]

Nope. They're not supposed to be smoked. Just salted and dried. Plus I want the fridge to be a smoke free zone so it doesn't affect the flavour of the things I've got hanging.

[Rabika]

do you have an approx how long you will have to wait?

[Smokey]

do you have an approx how long you will have to wait?

Salamis, about six weeks
This bigger stuff, six months to a year. However I would Definatly use cure No 2 to be on the safe side.
Particularly doing it in a fridge with no UV light or ozone control and no RH control.
Salt water trays don't work. better off with a tub of water and a small fish tank heater in it.
The first few weeks and or months for the thicker stuff needs a RH of 80%.
Or the rind dries out and prevents the middle loosing moisture, then goes rancid.

[GarthFader]

However I would Definatly use cure No 2 to be on the safe side.
Particularly doing it in a fridge with no UV light or ozone control and no RH control.
Salt water trays don't work. better off with a tub of water and a small fish tank heater in it.
The first few weeks and or months for the thicker stuff needs a RH of 80%.
Or the rind dries out and prevents the middle loosing moisture, then goes rancid.

I had the same thoughts about not using cure #2, but again, i'm going from the recipes in the book, and for both these products they don't use it... It does say you can add it, but i'm going to give it a whirl without first time and see where I end up.

The cabinet i've put together maintains the environmental conditions they recommend, so fingers crossed it works out.

I've read up on botulism and listeriosis, just in case I do make myself sick... that way I can identify symptoms early and get to hospital. Hopefully it's all good. But you never know.