r/Charcuterie

Here’s a Lomito that just finished equalizing after drying. I took it to about 40% loss.

I used Costco pork, which I think has a pretty high moisture content and probably could go even longer drying.

Seasoned with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika, Calabrian chili powder, and bay leaf.

By far, this is the best thing I’ve made. Salt level is perfect! Texture is fantastic, my wife tells me it’s her favorite so far.

This is my third time making salami. Hanging them under my house where it usually sits at 15 degrees but humidity is quite low (around 60%). This year I hung some plastic painters drip sheets to try increase the humidity and have found myself battling some suspect mould. Two days ago I had some white fluffy spots and today I have grey, green and yellow. I’ve wiped them down with a 1:1 vinegar/water solution but nervous. I’ve only had the powdery white mould in the past so this is freaking me out a bit.

I’ve removed the plastic sheets and spaced them out a bit to improve air flow. Was the vinegar/water solution the right thing to do - or do I bin them?

A recent coppa with some aged white provolone and a slice of toasted Italian bread.

I bought some beautiful heritage breed pork from Autumn Olive Farm in Virginia and cured for 23 days before hanging in my chamber at 55 degrees and 80% RH for a little over 4 months and a weight loss of 33%. I vac sealed and fridges for 4 more months, and finally sliced some yesterday. It is fantastic in flavor, really lovely fruity and floral notes, then spicy and porky to end it. Even brought some to the ballpark to snack on while the Orioles got waxed.

Cure consisted of salt, brown sugar, black pepper, red pepper flakes, Aleppo pepper, Chipotle, garlic powder and smoked paprika.

Hello everyone! First time posting here. So I had this 1.3 kilogram pork jowl to make Guanciale.

I put it in 1 kilogram of salt and 1 kilogram of sugar for six days.

Then this came out as a result.
The odor is fine. I didn’t noticed any mold.

I noticed the thickest part wasn’t as firm as I was expecting but proceeded anyway.

Now it’s been two days wrapped on paper towels inside the fridge, since is summer in the place I live and don’t have other place to put it.

Let me know what you think 🤔 and if you have any thoughts about it.

Hey friends, looking for some help regarding the color of my cured muscles. This is wagyu bavette that I cure and serve for my restaurant. I use the salt box method with .025 curing salt #1 then vac seal for 2 days. I then hang it until 30% weight loss. Every time I cut into the bavettes there is this massive grey ring around the inside of the muscle. Any tips? My guess would be I’m not curing it long enough in the bag for the curing salt to work all the way through. Anything helps, thank you all!

Pork neck cured and dried to 38% weight loss about a year ago. A year of equalizing and it’s getting better and better. Local Montana pork

Some mold after about 10 days in wine fridge. No collagen wrap. Should I keep as is or reduce average humidity? Third to keep it about 65. Clean blue spots with vinegar now?

I just want a sanity check for my very first batch of "Simple Salame" using Ruhlman's Salumi book as my guide (Bactoferm T-SPX, Mold 600, Prague Powder #2).

The salami sits at 40% weight loss. This took exactly 28 days (i was thinking it would have taken closer to 40) using 55mm beef middles at about 10" final lengths.

What things do i need to check with a finished batch?

1. pH was safe prior to hanging
2. No bad molds, although i was disappointed with the amount of white mold growth.
3. No uninviting smells, only lightly of lactic acid.
4. I do not see overly concerning air pockets.
5. I see case hardening. What amount of case hardening is unacceptable? Should i vacuum seal and place in fridge?

This is a new fridge and I am trying to see what improvements need to be made. Based off my research i think the air flow needs to be reduced, humidity was at 70%+ for the entire duration.

Just finished the first coppa. Made it with a curing bag in the fridge. 37% weight loss. I see the case hardening, but does this look OK?

I friend gave me this book and they use Morton's curing products and I live in Colombia so I can't get them in the market so I looking for homemade alternatives. Thanks in advance for your help.

Time to cut some hams

I've been a long time lurker on this thread, but I've finally finished my first project, so I figured it's time to post.

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This is my version of Ruhlman and Polcyn's Salami Picante recipe. I used Bactoferm's T-SPX starter culture, and Mold 600 on the outside. In addition to regular red chili flakes I added some Korean Gochugaru chilli flakes as I'm a big fan of them. (they add great flavor without too much extra heat).

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To complete this project I made my own drying chamber out of an upright frost free freezer with inkbird controllers and humidifiers, heaters and dehumidifiers.

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Overall I'm extremely happy with how this turned out. If I were to make this recipe again I might try making it slightly leaner, with slightly less fennel, and maybe a bit larger diameter, but I feel that's personal preference.

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I dried it to 38% weight loss. I didn't notice any significant moisture gradient across the salami slices, which tells me my control in my drying chamber seems to be pretty good.

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I'm still waiting on my variant of 2 guy's and a Cooler's Genoa salami to finish drying. So I'll let you all know what I think of that in the coming weeks!

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Cheers and happy charcuterie making!