My first ham, air dried ham, and pancetta - a trifecta!

[lrfiv]

While deboning a shoulder for my first BBB, I dissected one of the lean muscles intact to make into a ham of some kind. I did two shoulders, so I ended up with two of these lean cuts. I had just done belly bacon, and had a chunk of it uncured as well.

I proceeded to dry cure all three, using the same percentages in the cure calc found on this site. The only difference between the three was the cut of meat (two lean shoulder, one belly), the aromatics added, and the handling. This resulted in three totally distinct products!

threemeats.jpg

• lrfiv
• Oct 24, 2012

At the top is the best deli-style ham I've ever had. It was hot smoked with applewood. It's moist, fully cooked, and makes a great sandwich.

The little guy is what's left of the second lean cut. It was seasoned with juniper, rosemary and bay, then smoked and hung to lose 30% of it's weight in moisture. It was as big as the top one - you can see it's popular, with only a little nub left. The drying resulted in a silky texture, and a concentration of flavor. I jokingly call it Tennessee Speck.

The big guy at the bottom is pancetta, which got the same aromatics as the dried ham. I know, this is cheating because it's not smoked, but how could I not include that beautiful creation? It has hung longer than the previous item - what a difference the cut of meat makes! It is bound for duty in spaghetti carbonara.

I'm amazed by the differences between the three... it's like being a wizard! Alas, only an apprentice wizard. I welcome your comments! Just the other day I found out I was cutting my BBB 90 degrees off-kilter, so I need all the feedback I can get.

 

[roller]

Thats amazing I want to do an air dried Ham...

 

[jp61]

Looks great!

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Very nice!!!

I make a dry-cured cottage ham from the shoulder that's very similar.


~Martin

 

[lrfiv]

Martin - I'd love to know the details of how you do yours, as I'm planning on trying as many things as possible to learn. My ultimate goal is a whole prosciutto, but I'm not ready for that yet.

 

[woodcutter]

Nice shoulder!

 

[woodcutter]

I have been wondering about cutting BBB lately. I noticed when pulling a butt that the grain seems to run for the most part vertical after you get past the bone. I can see a difference when slicing the bacon from one angle to the other, but the texture doesn't seem all that different. Maybe its just me.

 

[mike johnson]

Those look great! Now I just need the time and material to make a dry cure room.

 

[lrfiv]

I have been wondering about cutting BBB lately. I noticed when pulling a butt that the grain seems to run for the most part vertical after you get past the bone. I can see a difference when slicing the bacon from one angle to the other, but the texture doesn't seem all that different. Maybe its just me.

Maybe it's the way I cut the shoulder. I actually dissected an outer muscle off to cure separately, and trimmed it up pretty good because I knew I could throw the scraps into sausage that I was making the next day. I do remember butterflying the bulk of the meat and sorta flipping it over, then whacking it a few times to square it up. The grain seemed to all go one direction (mostly) in the final product.

I'm fairly sure I'll never get one to turn out so nice again! Beginner's luck, for sure.  :)

bbb_sm.jpg

• lrfiv
• Oct 8, 2012

 

[woodcutter]

Those pieces look really good. I'm still impressed with your hams.
 

 

[smokinhusker]

Great looking trifecta! 

 

[thoseguys26]

Can you tell us about the dry cure process a bit?

Looks amazing.

 

[lrfiv]

Can you tell us about the dry cure process a bit?

Looks amazing.

I'm far from an expert - so as a note to those who see this later, this is what I did, and not an official guide of any kind. I realize most of this is common knowledge on this site.



1. Each piece of meat was weighed, and the cure was calculated for each. There is a calculator on this site, and a good one on diggingdog's website. Salt is a matter of preference. I think 3% for room-temp cured whole muscle, sliced paper-thin, is pleasant. Any meat dried at room temperature for weeks, that I am going to eat, will use pink salt in addition to salt. The calculators will give you an amount, which can be sanity-checked in the Ruhlman books.



2. I applied the salt and aromatics (whatever I felt the urge to use) onto the meat, sealed each one up in a standard ziplock freezer bag, and refrigerated them. Flipped and massaged them every day for 7 days.



3. Cold smoked the items that I wanted to. Deli ham was done at this point.



4. Hanging. I haven't seen anyone do this the way I did, but I'm sure someone has. If the air is too dry, the meat can case harden - when cut it will have a dark brown ring towards the outside, with a raw interior. Too moist and you get mold.



I tied a double loop of string through a puncture in one corner of each piece, and hung them in the kitchen. Then I slipped a paper bag over each one, sized to fit snugly, but with a little extra space. The bags were left open at the top, only loosely gathered. Humidity inside the bags was controlled by both the permeability of the bags to water vapor, and regulating how tightly the bags were sealed at the opening. I just peeked every few days, and adjusted the openings. I got one tiny outbreak of harmless white mold the size of a Tic Tac, which wiped right off with vinegar.



It worked like a charm!



EDIT: I forgot to mention that I took the deli ham to an IT of 140F plus carryover after cold smoking. Kinda important!

 

[daveomak]

Irfiv, morning.... So... I'm interpreting the paper bag as a "humidity" chamber of sorts to insure the outer casing of the meat stays moist to insure thorough drying of the interior of the meat ????  Is that a close assumption on my part ??  A poor mans fermenting refer ???  

Dave

 

[lrfiv]

Yes, that was my intent. It seemed to work like a charm. Note that these were whole muscles, not sausage. I am making a chamber to try salami, but I'm not experienced in dry sausage, only fresh. I plan on using a cardboard box for that - nothing but the best!

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Martin - I'd love to know the details of how you do yours, as I'm planning on trying as many things as possible to learn. My ultimate goal is a whole prosciutto, but I'm not ready for that yet.

I cut out the "cottage ham" from the neck end of the shoulder.
Here's a link to some pics of BriCan cutting one out.
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=76097&sid=58873393c01ff5d13896aa7a96f255fc

Salt, cure and cold smoke.

Dry until ready.


~Martin

 

[lrfiv]

Thanks for the link!