Curing your own meat

Yeah, many have more issues with removing than adding. If it is too high at best it will take much longer to cure, at worst it will spoilt. Most likely it will simply take a little longer to cure though. The higher humidity also encourages less good kinds of mould so you'll need to be vigilant about that and clean dodgy spots with vinegar.

If you convert a frost-free fridge you will probably need to add humidity however, at least after the initial phase of drying where the meat loses the initial liquid.
 
Last edited:
FrenchTart said:
Yeah, many have more issues with removing than adding. If it is too high at best it will take much longer to cure, at worst it will spoilt. Most likely it will simply take a little longer to cure though. The higher humidity also encourages less good kinds of mould so you'll need to be vigilant about that and clean dodgy spots with vinegar.

If you convert a frost-free fridge you will probably need to add humidity however, at least after the initial phase of drying where the meat loses the initial liquid.
Click to expand...

So best to aim for a wine fridge that's got a humidity control built in?
 
DcD said:
So best to aim for a wine fridge that's got a humidity control built in?
Click to expand...

What kind of humidity control does it have? I'm guessing it's just for removing humidity as much as possible rather than setting an actual humidity level? If so it could work but you may find yourself having to add more humidity in later on.
 
Marvt74 said:
There's a sandwich shop round the corner from my office that does spreadable chorizo for sandwiches. It was fantastic.
Click to expand...

Nice. I spoke to some of the guys at Littlewoods butcher in Heaton Chapel about nduja the other day and they said they would be more than happy to grind up a ton of pork fat in the way it would require. I'm going to get some more beef bungs and make this recipe I think :)
 
I work just over the road from the Hilton on Deansgate. The sandwich shop is above a chippy round the corner on Liverpool road just next to Cask (great bar if you've never been and you can take good from the chippy in with you!)

It was a few months ago I last went in so not sure if it's a regular option but I'll try get in one day next week to check if they still do it.
 
Marvt74 said:
I work just over the road from the Hilton on Deansgate. The sandwich shop is above a chippy round the corner on Liverpool road just next to Cask (great bar if you've never been and you can take good from the chippy in with you!)

It was a few months ago I last went in so not sure if it's a regular option but I'll try get in one day next week to check if they still do it.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks :) The beer in cask is indeed great. There's a pizza place near there that does nduja pizzas too.
 
DcD said:
Are most of the problems experienced not being able to ADD humidity to these rather than get rid of it? It's my understanding they need to be at a constant 70%. What if it's too high?
Click to expand...

I use cigar beads in the water tray. With cigars you have to try and keep a humidor at 70degsF and 70% humidity to keep them from drying out and losing the natural oils in the tobacco. Cigar beads controls this very well, you just add water to them and it maintains humidity at 70%.
 
Bear said:
I use cigar beads in the water tray. With cigars you have to try and keep a humidor at 70degsF and 70% humidity to keep them from drying out and losing the natural oils in the tobacco. Cigar beads controls this very well, you just add water to them and it maintains humidity at 70%.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!

Do you have a link to what you use, and what quantity of beads? The fridge I've just bought is about 6500 in3.
 
Heartfelt beads are very popular but pretty much any cigar place will have some sort and much cheaper. You just have to play it by ear with something that large, just make sure you get a hygrometer and then play around with the amount of beads to get the humidity you want. Leave it for a couple of days to stabilise first and adjust as needed.

You will need to keep an eye on it every couple of weeks once you get it sorted to top up with water.
 
The trick will be balancing the humidity if you are using a fridge. The coolerplate will be far below the saturation temperature of air at 70% humidity. 70F is 21degC not much cooling so not much drying. Meats often cure at 10-15C so the fridge will be on longer in a warm environment. This will take a lot of water, the beads from their description don't supply much. I used a bowl of salt and water which apparently, according to a heating control engineer I know has an equilibrium of 74% RH. This dried out in only a few days and needed regular top ups.
 
Bacon's just finished!
1w04Ip.jpg


Black pudding.
OTfWWw.jpg



My personal favourite, mustamakkara - Finnish blood sausage.
6BqOIv.jpg
 
FrenchTart said:
Looks amazing. What recipes/methods did you use? :)
Click to expand...

Used a generic mustamakkara recipe for the sausages and a black pudding recipe from Youtube (the bloke's name was Scott but I forget the username).

Jonny69 said:
That bacon looks epic. Did you cure it as slices or slice it up afterwards?
Click to expand...

I got hold of pretty much the side of a pig from my butcher - got a friendly relationship with him as I give him trout when I go fly fishing, so he helps me out in getting the exact cuts that I want. I had the upper half of the cut from the loin and belly, towards the neck end - about 4kg in total size after I'd trimmed everything away and de-boned. There's a specific name for the cut but I can't remember what it was. It wasn't that large as the butcher doesn't get pigs that are reared specifically their bacon.

Simple salting process, smoked in mesquite for a short while and then air dried in my DIY wine cooler/curing chamber. Best bacon I have ever had and will certainly never buy shop bought again.
 
Just picked up a 7-8kg (I forget the exact weight) pork leg for curing. Annoyingly I wasn't paying attention and the trotter part got cut off but heyho.

Going to be extremely careful with this one as it will be an expensive mistake if it goes wrong...
 
For anyone interested here's the plan I've made for the curing. It's going to be a long process :eek:

Process
Prepare Pork Leg
Massage femoral artery to remove all blood
Add cure mixture to leg
Store in fridge
Curing
Turn leg over daily
After one month take out, rinse, soak overnight in plain water.
Hanging
Hang in curing fridge for at least a month
Apply lard/flour paste to exposed meat.
Wash, add crushed black pepper to the exposed bone/under skin.
Hang back in fridge for a few weeks.
Move to shed.
Diary
Prepare Pork Leg
Leg weight: Xkg
Cure ratios: 2.5% salt
Cure amounts: Xg salt
Added to fridge: 26/09/2014
Curing
Take out of salt mixture: 25/10/2014
Soak overnight until: 26/10/2014
Hanging
Hang in fridge: 26/10/2014
Wash, add lard/flour and black pepper: 23/11/2014
Move to shed: 13/12/2014
Move back to house when temperatures outside get above 13C
Done: 01/11/2015 (zomgz)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom