What did they do back when.....

[chef jimmyj]

The only reason I raised this question in the first place, was for 13 years, I made dry aged Italian sausage with my ex-father in-law. A real off the boat Italian and a great guy.
Though all that time, we never used and/or even talked about cure #1 or #2, he taught me to use just salt.
1/2 a tablespoon per lb of pork, with other spices, and that's it.
The dried sausages tasted really great, something I have never been able to reproduce on my own, and nobody ever got sick or even ill.

What was the rest of the procedure? Did he make it all year? Or only during the November/December typical hog slaughtering cold weather? Lots of old world recipes using salt only, but the production followed strict procedures and time of year production. They make Prosciutto all over Italy but those made in the North use a lot less salt than that made at the tips of the boot where the weather is warm year round. There are salt only sausages made in only the hottest and sunniest parts of the world where they are assembled and laid in the sun. They are dried in hours not the days it would take in PA. It's folks that find Grandpa's salt only recipe with a list of ingredients and only the instructions " hang to dry for a month..." That end up in the hospital...JJi

 

[forkin pork]

You are correct, yes we only did it at the end of November and just hung it in a cold but not to cold maybe 45*F room in his basement.

 

[chef jimmyj]

You are correct, yes we only did it at the end of November and just hung it in a cold but not to cold maybe 45*F room in his basement.

Great to hear. That makes a huge amount of difference. Plus add that many Grandpa's slaughtered their own hogs. The family would take great care to make sure the meat was not contaminated and handled properly, working clean, cold and quickly. I would likely try a Salt only recipe if I processed the hog. No way I would try it with Wally World Pork...JJ

 

[bill ace 350]

My first attempt at a dry sausage without cure was a success(as were attempts 2-5)!

I had purchased "The Sausage-Making Cookbook", by Jerry Predika.

In the book he explained the purpose of cure, and the recommended amounts etc.

He also stated he chose not to use it.

Not having any cure and having then recently shot a deer, I chose a recipe from his book and substituted venison for beef, stuffed in hog casings.

Hung it in a spare fridge, temp set at 48. In a few weeks, it was done, as far as I could tell. Smelled good, tasted good, and I didn't die, or the others that tried it.

Then I was introduced to making summer sausage by a friend from North Dakota. He had s recipe that used TenderQuick.

Real good stuff....

Then I PCS'd and didn't have time, space or equipment to make any.

Once I got settled to a point where I could start again, I started making stuff with TenderQuick and then Cure #1.

Absolutely possible without cure, but nowadays, I don't want to take a chance.

 

[forkin pork]

No way I would try it with Wally World Pork..

I agree and never really gave much thought to where the pork came from, only because, I don't know where father in-law purchased his meat, only know he purchased like 200 lbs in butts and we would grind it for a few ours (wit a hang grinder) YES!
The 200 lbs would sit on the kitchen table for hours at room temp while we finished grinding then seasoning and mixing (by hand) YES!
Then stuffing wit a an old black cast iron stuffer that only held 10 lbs (crank by hand) YES! again.
So all that sitting out at room temp, always made me nervous, but then again, the stuff came out great and nobody ever got sick.

I don't want to take a chance.

Yes I do agree and I don't like taking chances, but I'm trying to find that great tasting flavor that my father in-law had.

I'm glad I'm not crazy, cuz everyone says "It can't be done" Thank You!:p

 

[mneeley490]

"I agree and never really gave much thought to where the pork came from, only because, I don't know where father in-law purchased his meat, only know he purchased like 200 lbs in butts and we would grind it for a few ours (wit a hang grinder) YES!
The 200 lbs would sit on the kitchen table for hours at room temp while we finished grinding then seasoning and mixing (by hand) YES!
Then stuffing wit a an old black cast iron stuffer that only held 10 lbs (crank by hand) YES! again.
So all that sitting out at room temp, always made me nervous, but then again, the stuff came out great and nobody ever got sick."

Reminds me of my grandparents having me hand crank the old ice cream maker. Not sure if it was because I was so tired, or because my arms felt like they were going to fall off, but that still seemed like the best ice cream ever.

 

[jokensmoken]

What did they do back when, if their dry cured meats went past the dryness level that they wanted. I’m thinking if you leave a copa or other hanging long enough it will turn into jerky. So what did they do? Re-hydrate in soups and stews? Use as jerky or did it not last that long? A lot of knowledge here I want to learn from.

I've over dried jerky a couple times and steam it s bit in my veggie steamer before eating.
AND as you and others eluded to...it works great in soups, stews snd bean pots.

Walt.

 

[bill ace 350]

Ok lets get back to basics, I'm quoting myself below, when I asked


No one really seemed to have a reasonable answer, why? Because we don't know!

Now, before I got divorced, I was married to a lovely woman, her parents were off the boat Italian, hard core!
My father in-law taught me how to make vino and dried cured sausage, soppressata and cappy for 13 years.

The way he taught me.... we never/ever used cure #1 or #2 , actually he never heard of cure, we only used 1/2 a tablespoon of salt per lb.. that's it!

I and everyone else for years always ate and enjoyed some of the best Italian sausage, soppressata, cappy and yes even prosciutto.

So, as I agree with using "cure", why is it that they always made it without cure and no one ever got sick and I have to say, was some of the best homemade stuff I ever had.
Remember, these were folks from off the boat.

And don't say they were lucky, I think in some small way, all this cure stuff, is a little hyped up.

I have been researching the process for dry-curing a "country ham".

The University of Kentucky has a great video of the process. THe one thing that grabbed my attention is te fact that the University method only calls for brown sugar and salt...

Anyone here have any experience making these?

I was wondering if using Morton Tenderquick/Sugar Cure would be the better route?

 

[daveomak]

I have been researching the process for dry-curing a "country ham".

The University of Kentucky has a great video of the process. THe one thing that grabbed my attention is te fact that the University method only calls for brown sugar and salt...

Anyone here have any experience making these?

I was wondering if using Morton Tenderquick/Sugar Cure would be the better route?

Would be the better route that what route....

 

[bill ace 350]

Would be the better route that what route....
View attachment 351937

Thanks for the picture.

Route? Pretty clear I was asking whether using Morton products would be a better choice than the ingredients indicated in the video.

Great video, in my opinion. You should check it out.