Couple newbie questions

Air dried cured Meat Techniques

Couple newbie questions

Postby Quick99 » Sat Aug 24, 2013 4:02 pm

I'm looking at making some genoa, pepperoni and coppa and just had a couple questions that I can't locate answers to on the forums.

- Does the pork I'm going to use for all 3 of these need to be frozen to prevent trichinosis? I haven't read really anyone mentioning doing that but in a lot of the books I've read it's suggested.

- I have a room in my basement that's 58-62f and 65-70rh. Will this work or do I need to wait a couple months in the hope that my temp drops consistently below 60? Is humidity ok or should I put in a humidifier to get it to 75?

I think that's all I can think of right now

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Chris
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Re: Couple newbie questions

Postby wheels » Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:34 pm

Hi Chris, welcome. We're a world-wide forum and it will helps members reply if we know where in the world you are.

Advice on preventing trichinosis is somewhat dependent on where you are.

Phil
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Re: Couple newbie questions

Postby Quick99 » Sat Aug 24, 2013 7:45 pm

Makes sense. Minnesota, USA.
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Re: Couple newbie questions

Postby wheels » Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:22 pm

In that case, I'll leave it for one of our N. American members to advise. They'll know the current situation far better than I do.

Phil :D :D
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Re: Couple newbie questions

Postby Wunderdave » Fri Aug 30, 2013 4:47 pm

I'm fairly certain that there's very little or no incidence of trichinae in the US commercial pork supply. If you're curing meat from wild boar or a smaller farmer (not USDA inspected?) then you may want to take the freezing precaution.

Even if you want to err on the side of caution you have nothing to lose except about a month of time, I haven't noticed that previously frozen pork cures or handles any differently than fresh pork.

It sounds like your basement room provides some pretty decent curing conditions. Are they stable day to night and year-round?

58-62 is on the higher end of acceptable temperatures. It could work, but you really want to stay below 61 if possible as staph bacteria begin to propagate around 62F/16.xC. Remember that higher temperature air holds more water than cooler air so 70RH at 60F can be as wet as 75RH at 50F or more (I don't know the specifics).

You may need to add humidity at the beginning stage of drying to prevent case hardening, but you should probably find out for yourself.
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Re: Couple newbie questions

Postby johngaltsmotor » Fri Aug 30, 2013 5:03 pm

I tend to freeze mine for a month, but that's more out of frugality (buy a lot when it's cheap and freeze it). I use newer pork for cooked sausages and by the time I get around to making dry cured stuff the pork has already been down for a month.
As Wunderdave said, I haven't heard or seen any stories about thricinae, and with the minimum recommended cooking temperature (for restaurants to serve) being dropped I would feel safe without 30days of freezing if it hampers your schedule.
Pigs are magical creatures.... they turn vegetables into BACON!!
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