Home Made Sausage, Cured, and Smoked Meats

[Piobaire]

Three chubbs met their fate last night.

 

[Piobaire]

Okay, trying my Umai product for the first time. Had two nice duck breasts curing in the fridge since last Saturday. Rinsed them off very thoroughly and decided to just rub a tiny amount of smoke paprika on the meat side only. Minimum two weeks in the fridge for these guys.

 

[Piobaire]

And for my last project this holiday weekend this is the bacon I put down to cure last weekend and smoked today.

 

[Piobaire]

First try of the duck breast prosciutto. I'm going to let the other breast dry out more and will try to cut when semi-frozen. It was hard to get good cuts on the slicer with this last night. Overall very happy with the taste and texture.

 

[tom153]

Nice! Did you just hang it up or put them n the fridgeto dry out?

I hung mine for just over a week I believe.

What kind of slicer did you get?

 

[Piobaire]

Yours looks pretty great too. For mine I cured it for a week in the fridge, rinsed, and then used the Umai material and let is sit in the fridge for another two weeks. I want to give the other breast more time to get it even drier.

Can't remember the brand of slice; Mrs. Piob researched and bought it. Love it for cheese too.

 

[otc]

Ok, I am trying to use the smoker for the first time. Got a couple of racks of baby back ribs in there with some random rub on them (it was left over from a pork belly I made a long time ago...can't for the life of me figure out what all is in it).

If I smoke for the first few hours and then move to the oven...is there anything different I should do if I don't plan to eat them all? Like pull out the ones I am not eating tonight an hour early or before saucing?

 

[Piobaire]

I would just do the whole batch the same. That's what I do and then package up the excess into a vacuum sealed freezer bag, defrost in the fridge overnight, and nuke for a couple minutes for a great work day meal.

 

[Piobaire]

First shot at lamb breast/belly bacon. Overall, very happy with the result, but next batch I'll use less salt in the cure. I used salt, maple sugar, pepper, and Instacure #1 and I just need to cut back the salt a little to get them perfect. Being a little too salty is not a big problem as this stuff is super rich and full of rich, smoky flavour. I'll using some for a carbonara next week and will just under salt and let the bacon cubes add the salt.

Here's the belly cut in two about to be stove top smoked. I used 1/2 cherry and 1/2 hickory.

 

[otc]

How much should I break down a pork shoulder before freezing it?

Went to the meat packer to find fat back and also picked up more meat than I need (by about 10lbs...). I know it should be fine freezing it for sausage... But it is not like I can vacuum pack this thing in one piece.

Should I cube it now so it is ready to thaw and grind, or maybe debone, slice into slabs, vacuum, and freeze so it has less surface area.

Figured I would just cut the fat back into a few pieces and freeze in an excessively long vacuum bag (so that I can take some out and reseal as needed)

 

[tom153]

I would cut it into as large of pieces as you can and vac seal it. That way when you thaw it out there will be a smaller surface area which may turn grey and stuff. Would make it easier to cut it off.

 

[otc]

Made Kabanosy last night. The recipe was targeted at becoming familiar with collagen casings and smoking links. Don't think I like them...sheep is expensive, but these are way too tough to chew. Had some trouble monitoring the temps on such small sausages (the thermometers just stalled out) so I think I broke the fat but they are still tasty. Probably won't let them age the recommended 5 days and will just eat them with the superbowl.

Also, stuffing casings this small (19mm) with a grinder tube (like a fancy version of the kitchenaid stuffer tubes) was brutal.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Too small of a diameter...stuff kept coming back up the auger-screw and just getting smeared to ****. It is functional on a larger sausage, but basically useless at this size to the point where I threw away a bunch at the end that was just smeared mush that wasn't worth stuffing into a casing. I guess I will have to get a vertical stuffer if I want to make stuff this size.

Now I've got some pork butt in the smoker...these seem to be going along without issue (although I wasn't getting great smoke this morning):

 

[tom153]

Nice otc! I just pulled out two duck breasts out of the smoker. Turned out fantastic!

Check out the LEM 5lbs stuffer. That's what I use and it has been great. Way bettet than stuffing out of the grinder...

 

[Piobaire]

That's the stuffer I use too.

 

[Cary Grant]



That's the stuffer I use too.

Oh-- wait.

I thought you said fluffer...