Porchetta Di Testa

So today was my day off, and I'm starting to plan my week ahead. This is whats going on so far. The nduja is finally down and ready for the charcuterie plate. The prosciutto is going to be coming out of the cure on Tuesday, rinsed, and them pressed for incubation. The calabrese, cardamom-orange, pepperoni, and chorizo all need about another week and they'll all be just about done. The duck prosciutto is out and on the plate. Coppa is done. Today I'm experimenting making some flavored, homemade salts to incorporate some new flavors. Again, this is just a couple of test runs. Not really sure what the outcome will be, what flavors I want, or if it will even work. I was thinking about trying something new, and doing a little research online I've decided to try porchetta di testa. Basically, it is another way of doing headcheese. Instead of using a terrine or casings, I'm going to bone out a pig's head, marinade it for a couple of days, then braise it in a sous vide bath. I want to start this on Wednesday, hopefully.

Coppa

I pulled the coppa down from hanging and it tastes really good. I used my camera phone on this picture, so it's kind of fuzzy. Hopefully I'll be able to take a better picture soon. The restaurant has been selling a lot of salami plates, and we've been running through product pretty quick. I'm gonna to hopefully start some lonza pretty soon. I like to have at least 2 muscles on the charcuterie plate. With the coppa ready, I now have that, and duck prosciutto. I also have the lardo that needs to be used.

I've been doing some research on new salami flavors, and starting this week, I am going to start flavoring my own salts and using them to create new flavors to mix with the pork. Doing this will allow me to create many more combinations that I couldn't normally do. Im very excited about starting this and will keep posting what I come up with.

Duck Prosciutto

Today I applied the second stage of cure to the prosciutto. After another 15 days comes the incubation process, and waiting another 3 months. I've been gathering some more pork to start another batch of salami in another 2 weeks or so. The one's hanging now should be out of there soon. I'm going to start looking up different flavor profiles to start creating my own flavors for something a little new. The bottom picture is of the N'duja. It really has a great texture and an awesome dark red color. Hoping to put it on the charcuterie plate starring next week. The two pictures on top are of the duck prosciutto.

First taste of N'duja

So with valentine's day this past week and everything being so busy I haven't really had a chance to blog much, but there are a few things that I've been able to do that I want to share. With the shoulder prosciutto, it is still in the first stage of curing. I took it out yesterday just to get a good look at it and it seems to be doing good. At this stage I like to take a good look at the muscle. As the salt starts to cure, and the color starts to change, you can really get a good look and make sure that the cure was spread out evenly over the product. If you see some spots that are still a little pink, I like to just sprinkle a little of the salt mix, just to make sure it gets cured because another week from now, when you pull it out to apply your second stage cure, it might be too late.
Yesterday wasn't a very busy day at work so I was able to mess around with the N'duja a little bit. I have 2 links in a warmer room and 2 links in a cooler room. I want to see if the warmer room (70 F) ferments a little better and effect the texture than the one in the cooler room (60 F). Its not scheduled to come out for about another 10 days, but I was a little eager to try some out. I was able to cut a little off a link in the cooler room and taste some. Just as I expected, it was pretty darn spicy! Everywhere you try to get info on n'duja over the internet stresses how spicy it is, and this one was no different. But what really stood out to me was also how flavorful it was! After a few seconds the spice tends to dissipate, and your left with just a delicious, smooth, pork taste coating your mouth. On a "spreadable" scale from 1-10, 1 being like a rock and 10 being like butter, I would give it about a 6. It wasn't completely soft, but you were able to put it on toast (which really helps with the heat!). I also put a little in a saucepan with some butter and tossed it in some pasta, and it was delicious! The recipe I used reduced the heat down from 25% to 15%, but I think maybe on a future batch, I would take it down just a little bit more.

Prosciutto In the Cure

I was able to get a good deal on a bone-in, skin on, 9 pound pork shoulder and finally was able to start some prosciutto. After doing a little bit of research online, I decided to leave the bone in. On Monday I was able to apply the first stage of cure to it. The recipe I used was a pretty basic one. I mainly just used salt, sugar, pepper, and juniper berries, and of course, some curing salt. It wasn't so much about the flavor for me this time, as it was about making sure it gets done right. After 15 days I will re-apply the rest of the cure, then after 30 days I will pull it from the cure and apply some sort of weight on it to help along with the curing process. Without the added pressure from the weight, the prosciutto would take about 18 months to cure. I want to try and have mine done in about 4 months. Also, I was able to pull all of the duck prosciutto from the cure and now all 4 breasts are hanging and should be done in a couple of weeks. The coppa was rinsed and is also hanging and should take a little over a month before its done. I was able to price a couple pig heads for another torchon and I really want to start one the week following valentines weekend. Chorizo, calabrese, pepperoni, and cardamom-orange are still looking great. The one I have in the warmer room seems to be curing just a little bit quicker than the ones in the cooler room., which is expected. After a couple more days, I will be moving it to the cooler of the rooms to finish the curing process. N'duja is expected to be done around the 26th. They are feeling great and still soft enough to spread. It's going to be a busy couple of months.

Day 3

So today was the first day I checked out the salami hanging. They have already started to turn a little darker in color. I was also able to look at the one I have hanging in the warmer of the two rooms. This one was already starting to come together a little more. I noticed that along with the color change, the meat had already started to shrink up a little bit. I also decided to take a link of the N'duja and hang it along with the one in the warmer room. I want it to ferment a little more in the last couple weeks of curing. It's still looking and feeling great! It also has wonderful aroma of smoke and spice! This week I plan to get a pig's head in and make another torchon. I recieved a lot of positive feedback from servers and guests.

Next batch...

So I was finally able to stuff and hang all 20 pounds of the salami i had grounded. I was able to make 2 logs that are about 2 pounds each, of each type of salami, and was even to make 2 more logs of mixed salami. Kind of a "leftover meat that wasn't able to fit into the other casings" mix. This time around I did something a little different. I hung most of the salami in the room where I do most of my curing in. The room stays around 60 degrees, and about 65-70% humidity. I really liked the way the flavor came out, and it looked fantastic. However, I wanted to do a little more experimenting with the fermentation, so I was able to hang a couple of pieces in another room that is a little warmer. This room is about 70 degrees and has a humidity level of about 75-80%. This temperature will help the culture ferment a little better. Since both batches were made the same exact way, at the same exact time, the only variable will be the rooms I am curing them in. Doing this, I will be able to compare both different batches and be able to find out which one I like better. I'll be sure to post pictures of both and share my comparisons.

Iberico de Bellota Popcorn

So today I decided what I'm going to make for the week. I have 2 duck breasts curing in a traditional prosciutto cure, another 2 are in an ancho-chile spiced salt, and the last 2 are going to be in a juniper berry salt cure. Also, with the 20 pounds of pork I have, I'm making 5 pounds of pepperoni, 5 pounds of chorizo, 5 pounds of cardamom-orange, and 5 pounds of calabrese. I figured alot of people would like pepperoni since it's a very familiar taste to everyone. I've done the orange-cardamom one before and it has amazing flavor that I really think alot of people will enjoy. My former chef and great friend Bruce Trathen came up with this recipe a while back and it's really great! The calabrese salami is a very old-world, dry salami, with a bit of heat that adds great flavor tot he pork. Needless to say, it's going to be a very busy day tomorrow. Hopefully will have time to stuff and hang all of these. Also, the coppa is going to be coming out of the cure tomorrow, rinsed, and then hung for a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to put up some pictures of the drying process.

Today, my girlfriend and I also made some popcorn with some iberico be bellota fat scraps. After tossing it with some butter and salt...amazing!