Charcuterie

[DoubleJ]

 Just flipped the prosciutto and it's gone bad.  Clear rot smell.  Only pig leg I could find was frozen and I think by the time the middle thawed out, the outside had been thawed for awhile and it went bad.  Now it's bagged and in the freezer waiting for garbage.

[Angry Perch]

That sucks. Sorry to here that. But better to find out now than after a couple years of TLC!

[DoubleJ]

That sucks. Sorry to here that. But better to find out now than after a couple years of TLC!

True.  It does suck to throw $60 in the trash though

I kind of smelled it when I salted it but I was hoping the salt would save it.  Wrong

[quadrafire]

Sorry dude. That sucks

[DoubleJ]

Just started up my last 2 copas for the year.  Also grinding 14lbs of pork into sweet italian sausage tomorrow.  That will probably do it for me for awhile

[DoubleJ]

14.5lbs of sweet Italian sausage.  We don't eat links very often but my wife makes so many dishes and uses this as an ingredient.  I bet this doesn't last a month.  She basically feeds us like an old Italian Grandma

[DoubleJ]

through some experimentation, I've discovered something wonderful.  If you have something in your curing chamber that is covered in good mold, take it and rub it on a piece of meat that isn't, like a new piece of meat you're just hanging.  Get some of that good mold to physically transfer over.  BAM, instant good mold on the new meat.  I hung a capicolla and rubbed it that day with one of my mold covered bresaola's covering all sides just a little bit.  It didn't harm the mold on the bresaola but within about 3 days, the new capicolla was completely encased in good mold.  The bresaola's covered naturally with good mold but even that took about 6 days being left to themselves, about twice the time.

[Angry Perch]

through some experimentation, I've discovered something wonderful.  If you have something in your curing chamber that is covered in good mold, take it and rub it on a piece of meat that isn't, like a new piece of meat you're just hanging.  Get some of that good mold to physically transfer over.  BAM, instant good mold on the new meat.  I hung a capicolla and rubbed it that day with one of my mold covered bresaola's covering all sides just a little bit.  It didn't harm the mold on the bresaola but within about 3 days, the new capicolla was completely encased in good mold.  The bresaola's covered naturally with good mold but even that took about 6 days being left to themselves, about twice the time.

Funny, I did the exact same thing. No more buying packs of mold 600. Every time something new goes in, it get's a proper introduction to it's new chamber friends, and voila!

[sumpnz]

Do you clean off that mold at the end before you eat it?

[Angry Perch]

All of these are cased in inedible casings, so yes. However, with edible casings, such as hog casings, or on bare meat, it's the eaters choice!

[DoubleJ]

Do you clean off that mold at the end before you eat it?

That mold, as long as it's powdery white mold, is completely edible.  In the penicillin family.  It is left on

[DoubleJ]

Just cut down one of my capicola's, one of the loins I made like capicola.  Next time I will use a proper Loma Embuchado recipe for loins.  The flavor is just ok.  I don't think the loins have enough fat for the spices that capicola uses.  Very porky.  I cut it down at 30% weight loss and cut the ends off because they are clearly more dried out than the center.  I sliced about 8oz off in total and re-hung the main body to dry further, closer to 40%.  I'm not unhappy with it, but it could have been better imo.  Even the ends that are probably 35% weight loss, the texture is still very soft and not of the proper consistency.

[sumpnz]

Do you clean off that mold at the end before you eat it?

That mold, as long as it's powdery white mold, is completely edible.  In the penicillin family.  It is left on

Last time I took amoxicillin I broke out in a head to toe rash.  Not sure if I'd react to the mold like that, but I think if I get into curing like this I'll be cleaning that mold off before I eat it.

[DoubleJ]

Do you clean off that mold at the end before you eat it?

That mold, as long as it's powdery white mold, is completely edible.  In the penicillin family.  It is left on

Last time I took amoxicillin I broke out in a head to toe rash.  Not sure if I'd react to the mold like that, but I think if I get into curing like this I'll be cleaning that mold off before I eat it.

Best to do it like Angry Perch does it then.  Take all of your meat and case it in beef bung or collagen casings.  Then, when it's ready to eat, you can peel the casing and the mold right off.  I hang mine naked.  I don't have a reason for it, just that I don't have casings and don't want to buy any

[merkaba93]

Yeah, I've been curing meats for a few years now. I took an upright freezer and added a controller what can heat/cool or dehumidify/humidify. I have the freezer plugged into the controller, always programmed to cool. Then depending on the time of year and how many fresh projects I have in the chamber I go back and forth between dehumidify and humidify. I'm currently on the west side of the state so most of the year I'm dehumidifying.
I also have two computer fans on timers, one behind a one way vent to recirculate air out of the freezer and one fan inside to create some "breeze" at times.

I've cured a lot of coppas, guanciale, pancetta, salamis, and a few 500+ day prosciuttos.

Yeah, pretty much any fermented foods I'm a fan of. My parents make wine (have their own vineyard). I make cheese, cure meat, ferment soy sauce, vinegar, kimchi, sauerkraut.