Lendenspeck

On of my favorite projects this year has been Lendenspeck. This is a cured pork loin wrapped with a curred bacon side then smoked for several hours to a desired internal temperature. This particular recipe comes from the following link. http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Lendenspeck.pdf

Here are some photos that illustrate the project as it unfolds. The first shows the assembly complete with the product trussed up and ready for smoking.



After reaching the desired internal temperature the appearance is beautifully colored.



Then into the curing chamber for another 60 days to age



Finally it's ready to slice.

Life as a ham

Getting on with all this salami biuisness I have to say, man cannot live from Salami alone.
I'll reserve room in my next few posts for the meatier viarety of dry curing, the ham.
Additionally I'll throw in some Canadian Bacon, Lendenspeck and a brined cured ham from a couple years ago.

First, lets get started by introducing the first of my hams in the dry cure process, the Missouri Style Ham. I cured these two hams using a sugar cure method, one with natural pure cane brown sugar, the other with a pure maple sugar cure.



These hams were salted with a sugar cure variation mostley stemming from this recipe:

1 (15 lb.) ham
2 cups Salt
2 tbsp. Brown sugar
1 tsp. Black pepper
1 tsp. Red pepper

There was also a ham my wife made (sorry, she's more secretive and not as sharing as I)
here is the ham being spiced.



Ok, so I'm not just going to hang these hams in a shed in the middle of winter here in Michigan. They'd syurely freeze and never finish curing on my time line. So we opted to hang them in the cooler.

Bagged up for more time in the cooler.





There are many ways to cure. I prefer salting for a given period of time based on weight, a proper equalization period, then either with or without smoking, move the ham into the drying chamber for the aging process. I prefer to smoke my hams prior to drying if I do use smoke.

Here is a photo ofg some hams under smoke in this process:






Lookin mighty tastey. We'll let these set for a spell.. Bewteen 6 months to a year perhaps.


And then the day came.... Sliced and ready to taste. It was everything you could expect. Even better. The spices were very evident but not overpowering or strong. A perfect balance.

Making up and drying a run of Salamis

In previous posts you saw vaious salamlis being made. This post offers a little more insight into the process.

First, the grinding of pork and back fat,

.

Mixing a paste for stuffing

Filling the stuffer

Stuffing and netting the casing

Introducing the salamis into the fermenting chamber for the fermenting period.



Then hanging the salamis in the drying chamber until the proper drying weight has been reached.

I beleieve that combined with the correct spices, lactic acids and proper fermentation, this process is the most important. I think that too much emphasis is put on the actual minute by minute controlling of the temp. and humidity but an overall correct enviroment with few changes to be most important.

Pepperoni

This run of pepperonis offered us a bounty of different dishes from pizzas, to suaces spiced with diced and minced pepperoni. Again using lenpolis wesite for the recipes, this project was rather quick to dry.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/pepperoni.pdf

Salami Noisette

Here is a great salami recipe that I tried not too long ago. Nice medium flavor using a nice balance of wine with hazelnuts.
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Salami%20noisette.pdf

Next, we'll be trying some Pepperonis.

Rossette de Lyon

My next project in this run of salamis was a Rosette de Lyon. The recipe used was from the link below.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Salami%20rossette.pdf

Following the proper instructions in mixing and stuffing the casing salami was left hanging in the chamber for just under 60 days. The green weight for this salami was 4.5 lbs. I pulled the salami from the chamber and sliced it at 2.4 lbs. The result when sampled was a bit more mild tasting with a light garlic flavor.

Below is a photograph of a platter of sliced salami I put together using some of the Rossette and an ealier made salami, Luchesse.

Salami Felino

The next salami on my list is a Felino. Altogether a pretty good salami as salamis go the red wine was noticeable and the mouth feel a bit dry to me. While the recipe indicates that this is a mild flavored salami I found it a little strong for my taste.

I attribute this to the possibility of the deviation from the recipe in as where I should have held the salami at 80% RH for 10 days prior storing at a lower 60% humidity. As I have other salamis curing together with this batch this was a variable that I had to forgo. Altogether though, a pretty tasty salami as as salamis go.


The recipe used was as follows:

3lbs. Pork shoulder
2 lbs. Beef, lean
3/4 cup NF Powdered Milk
5tsp. Kosher salt
1 Tbs. Dextrose
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Cure #2
2 tsp. Black pepper
1/2 tsp. Sodium Erythorbate
1/4 tsp. Starter culture (LHP)
1/2 cup Red wine

The recipe was taken from:
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Salami%20felino.pdf


I cased these salamis in #3 collagen casings and fermented them at 80*F and 90% RH for 24 hours. Following the fermentation process they were stored in the curing chamber for approximately 30 days at a temp. of 60* F and 70% humidity. After loosing the prescribed 30% weight I went by feel of the sausage to determine the best maturity.


Here is a photograph of the end result when it was sliced.



Next.... A Rossette de Lyon