hello all
I love sausages, salami and cured meats so i guess this is the place to be
I've been lurking around for a while now and feel its time to jump in and ask questions.
I have a kenwood chef + mincer+stuffer attachment to make sausages and feel a bit of trial and error wont have much bearing on my health. so will just try and try again until i've had enough of sausages(if thats possible) or I'm to fat to make them anymore
But am more wary about making salami and curing meats and its an investment: time and money. the meats i love (as most do) are pancetta, parma ham, coppa/lomo, kabanos, chorizos and... well all salami
i'm wanting to cure meat cuts the most. working my way up to whole parma ham legs. but want to start with smaller cuts like pancetta and lomo.
i have searched and researched the process, but as still a little unclear.
I know its seams unclear what questions i'm actually asking but want a little reassurance is all. the process seams to be far too simple to be true and i must be missing something? is the preocess really as follows and does it rely on a proper regulated enviroment (hydromiter/temp fridge)
Do i just hang the meat in the fridge untill cured, with bowl of water in the bottom, i have an air pump that can bubble up in the water to creat more of a humid environment. do i need to air the fridge daily?
can this be done without the exact temp/humidity levels mentioned in previous threads. doesnt the enclosed fridge curing setup encourage bacterial growth - warm, damp and stagnant!
I know this may be a silly question: but does the cure... well cure the meat? what are the parameters of this cure working? how/when will it not work?
Curing to untrained eye goes against everything your taught about meat, leaving meat out in the air, rotten meat, meat going off etc... seams hanging out in the open seams wrong and have to go against my instinct that says 'keep it in the fridge, use in three days'
so is it:
1-rub half of the parma cure into the meat and cure it in a ziplock bag for 15days in a fridge,
2-then rub the remaining amount into the meat and left for a further 15days
3-then i need to start curing proper. hang in fridge untill cured - which is when?
if read these threads:
Paul Kribs re: lomo: rehaps you could help me out. your picture has inspired me two buy to loin eyes, picking up on sat and i dont even have the cure yet!!!!!! so will wack in the firdge
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=977&highlight=lomo
other threads that I have perticularly caught my attention
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=953&highlight=pancetta
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=927&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=pancetta&start=0
sorry to waffle, but would apprecaite you lot washing away my doughts if you can
cheers
aeddon