1st Prosciutto

[chopsaw]

How long to equalize?

Just depends , week or 2 . I don't do it myself . Sliced thin enough it's a non issue for me .

 

[Ishi]

That’s a great feat IMO to make this! Nice work and congrats!

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Charles, you knocked that out of the park my friend… WOW! I’d sure pay for some smell o vision right now!! YUM!

Can’t go wrong with @chopsaw advice… Rich knows his stuff!

Nicely done my friend… and Congrats on a well deserved spinner ride! For what it’s worth, Rich suggestion on a small piece in the cheek… I’d be all over that!

Now I am wanting to follow and get some going.

 

[KBFlyer]

Nice work. Looks real good.
I still have some UMAi bags someplace. Used to do a lot of pepperoni in the tube casings but I think I still have some bags left. Did a coppa when I first got them. Need to find them. Now where did I put those.

My coppa from years ago using the bags.

 

[KBFlyer]

Well I will start my own post soon but I guess I'm in for the long haul. All spiced up and vac sealed in a UMAi bag. Start weight is 1250 grams. Good enough to get back into it

 

[pineywoods]

I missed this until now that looks awesome Charles. You may need another fridge because we know you need the bellies in cure but I'm sure your going to need more of this stuff too lol

 

[DRKsmoking]

Fantastic Charles, That is nice work and some very good looking eats.

David

 

[bill ace 350]

Wow! Gotta add that to my list

 

[912smoker]

Never tried it Charles but it sure looks great!
Congrats on the ride

Keith

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I missed this until now that looks awesome Charles. You may need another fridge because we know you need the bellies in cure but I'm sure your going to need more of this stuff too lol

Thank you Jerry. Bellies are in now...

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Fantastic Charles, That is nice work and some very good looking eats.

David

Thank you David! I appreciate your comments...

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Never tried it Charles but it sure looks great!
Congrats on the ride

Keith

It's not hard at all Keith. Just time (patience) and fridge space...

 

[chopsaw]

This stuff is so good and the smell in the fridge was fantastic.

Well , I was rooting in the chest freezer downstairs to find a couple whole chickens I knew were in there .
Man , it's packed full of ground beef and bottom round .
Found the chickens , and all the way at the bottom , 2 pork cushions . One has lost the bag seal . If it checks out I'll do an Omak ham with it , or just smoke it .
The other one looks good . It's going in a Umai bag .

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Well , I was rooting in the chest freezer downstairs to find a couple whole chickens I knew were in there .
Man , it's packed full of ground beef and bottom round .
Found the chickens , and all the way at the bottom , 2 pork cushions . One has lost the bag seal . If it checks out I'll do an Omak ham with it , or just smoke it .
The other one looks good . It's going in a Umai bag .

I've got 2 packs in the freezer, also...

 

[forktender]

As my journey into curing continues, I saw this thread by Rich @chopsaw. We eat a good bit of prosciutto and with pork cushion on sale at the time, I decided to give it a try. Back in February, I reached out to Rich and with his help, I got it going.

After a couple of weeks curing in the recipe from Len Poli, the cushion was rinsed and vac sealed in the UMAi bags and into the garage fridge on March 12. Keep this in mind, the Len Poli recipe says to cure for 5 days. I went with the 14 days just like I cure bacon...
View attachment 734643

After maybe 3 weeks, I weighed the cushion. One was already at 36% weight loss and with the smell in the fridge driving me crazy, I sliced it to try. Great taste, but the other 3 weren't even close to my 40% target, so the wait continued. Why 40%? Because that was Rich's target, so why not?

With Mother's Day coming up and we being assigned to bring charcuterie, I decided slice the rest up regardless. Weighed the packs and one was just over the 40% while the other 2 were close...
View attachment 734644

Close...
View attachment 734645

Out of the bags...
View attachment 734646

The outside was hard so I trimmed them...
View attachment 734647

The wait is over. Sliced as thin as I could get it...
View attachment 734648

This stuff is so good and the smell in the fridge was fantastic. I followed this Carne Salata recipe from the Len Poli site that Rich posted. Other than the wait, this is simple enough for anyone with the fridge space, to do.

Question is what to do with the trim? I feel sure there is something I can do with it other than prosciutto jerky that it currently is.

Thanks to Rich for all of his help...

Damn, that looks absolutely KILL'ER Charles, I need to do this one for sure.
As for the trim, I'd use it in beans, soups, or fry it up like bacon and use it with green beans, or crumbled over my morning eggs. Although I would most likely just eat it like jerkey. LOL

 

[uncle eddie]

I would loved to have smelled that fridge smell...and probably just being in the same room when you sliced it up. Nice work!