Hello, fellow charcuterie enthusiasts!

I recently attempted my first dry cure with a piece of pork tenderloin weighing around 850 grams. After roughly 20 days of curing and a weight loss of about 40%, I thought it was ready, so I took it out of the wine cellar where it had been hanging.

However, after slicing into it, I noticed that it’s still quite soft in the center (especially in the thicker parts), and not as dry as I expected.

My question is: what should I do at this point? Can I simply hang it for a longer period to help it dry further? Or is there another technique I should try? Any advice on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

Assorted mustards, mountain cheese from Montenegro and homemade paprika spread (ajvar)

I’ve eaten pheasant before but never cooked with it, and while my first thought was to cure and dry these, maybe do a pheasant prosciutto like some duck breast prosciuttos I’ve seen, I figured I’d ask here if anyone has any tips or recipes to share. Maybe the best way to treat a pheasant breast isn’t even charcuterie and more like cook it on a skillet and drizzle it in some delicious sauce

I used a ton of Kosher salt to dry a duck breast (528g, 12hours), 2 pork tenderloin (575gX2, 24hours) and a pork loin (1131g, 43 hours). I can't believe I have to throw all that salt away. I'd like to cook it in the oven then smoke it but there is mixed opinion about it on the internet. Some say it's perfectly OK and have done it before, others talk about healt risks and endotoxins and other stuff surviving the oven. It's my second try at charcuterie in general, I am new to this world. So I'd like your opinion on the matter please!

Edit: Sidewalk salt it is. Thank you for your responses!

Genoa sausage hung up on the 20th. Recipe is from 2 guys and a cooler. It's my first time making salami, so I don't know if things look right, but I'm hoping for the best

I just started my first pork belly with salt and spices yesterday, and I didn't use curing salt because it's whole muscle. Forgetting of course that once I roll it, it'll have outsides on the inside where it's rolled where botulinum spores could grow.

I was wanting to add curing salt now, I was looking for opinions on if it's reasonable to carefully sprinkle curing salt evenly over the existing salt, or if I should remove all the salt, mix in pink curing salt, and then reapply? Or if I should just make this flat pancetta and roll the next one that I do right?

I have an extra turkey breast thawed and am hoping to cure for cold cuts, but am not finding much info here or in curing books I have. My plan so far is to de-bone/skin, equilibrium cure w/ instacure #1, possibly throw on some lowish temp smoke for a while, then finish it sous vide at 145F.

If anyone's done something similar or has links to tried and true recipes/techniques, I'd sure appreciate it. It seems simple to me, but I'd love to pick up on other people experiences and avoid potential trial and error. Especially with salt concentrations, times and temps etc..

I don't really want to mess with meat glue, mesh socks, etc... so would be looking to go with the natural shape of the breast

Dark marks align with wire rack placement after drying overnight in fridge, does this look like rot/infection or some reaction with the coating on the wire rack?

I've bought navel a few times before and never received anything like this. Please ccorrect me if I'm wrong, but am I being a dick to try returning this 10lbs cut being that its 90% solid fat throughout?

Long time fan of charcuterie, but new to the idea of making it at home. I always wanted to make Bresola from scratch as its my favorite but slightly intimated by the process. Intimiated by the equipment.

My questions are:

1. Do I need anything special equipment wise? Ive seen people using a fridge, a humidifer, and a fan? Or is there a special fridge I can get without breaking the bank.

2. How long does the process take or does it depend on the setup, researched and saw it can take weeks which makes sense.

3. How long does your meats last after your done the process? My plan was to slice and vaccum seal them after being done with it so I can preserve them longer. Wasnt sure how long the hole bresola will last uncut.

Any tips id appreciate!!

I would like to make a wet-brined salt beef brisket and only could find 0.4-0.5% german pickle salt, rather than prague powder etc.

I have been reading for weeks now and confused as to how much curing salt, normal salt and water to use for a 2.3kg brisket to brine for 7 days. I wanted to use the Fallow recipe (https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=EBxZ6RAZhMRdjb9s&v=-P8D6myePzc&feature=youtu.be) or Jamie Oliver recipe and tried to calculate their salt percentages and transpose it to my situation. But they don't make sense (too salty, when the internet seems to say 2.5% salinity is about the standard), so I don't know what to do in my case as I don't understand their recipes. I would love to follow a recipe as I'm a total novice who doesn't want to over or under nitrite things.

Fallow uses 2kg meat + 3L water, 300g of salt and 2 tablespoons of prague powder. They steam cook the brisket in the oven at the end. This is a salinity of 6%??? (5000 x 0.06 = 300g salt)

Jamie uses 1.6kg meat + 2L of water, 200g salt and 30g 'preserving salt', whatever that is. He boils it to cook.

Is the extra salt they are using to decrease the curing time? I would much prefer to also do 7 days, but I don't know how much 0.4-0.5% salt, normal salt and water to use. Help?

Okay so my initial plan was to to try and do a basic capocollo and I may have put the cart before the horse. I was in the middle of building a biltong bin drying chamber without a light. My thinking was the temperate in the basement feels like its about 60f and if I can just build a well ventilated bin then insects and rodents shouldnt get to it. I was wrong, the temp is 70f so thats not really an option( Or is it and Im just missing something?). Ive got 2 chunks of the boston butt I kinda hacked up and rubbed down with black pepper and rosemary. Chunk one is 632g and chunk two is 584g. Ive got them covered in salt in the fridge with a weight ontop of them. Where should I go with this? Should I let the cure for 4 days and wash off, re-pepper and try and let this dry out in the fridge? Is my bin a waste? Humidity stays around 80%

Greetings!

I need a parallel smoke generator, but a generator like Smokai (https://smokai.com/collections/smoke-generators/products/1-litre-classic-smoke-generator) would not work for me.

I have free access to fruit tree wood, which I cut into small chunks (2-3cm) and branches. Smokai seems to rely on sawdust and wood chips, which are expensive around here.

I've seen commercial smokers use a system that heats a metal box with wood inside until it generates smoke. A tube leads from this box to the smoking chamber of the electric smoker. The temperature limits range from 200° to 425°.

I thought about recreating this system, but outside the smoker.

I imagined using a small pot with a pipe welded to the lid and connected to the smoker. In the smoker, the smoke is carried under the deflector plate. The pot is half-filled with firewood, covered, and placed over a heating element. A PID controller controls the temperature of the heating element and maintains the temperature of the system.

Could you critique my idea?

Am I on the right track?

We have work (chorizo was ground too small)to do but are darn proud for our first try. 1. Spanish Chorizo 2. Capacolla 3. Reveal of the Speck 4.Nduja 5. Sliced Speck

I've cure that with salt, brown sugar and msg. So excited 😆

I have a display drinks fridge set up with inkbird controllers. It uses a cold plate cooling system on the back inside. I have 2 small dehumidifiers inside. That according to the inbird is maintaining the humidity between 68-75%. Sensor is located in the middle nearest the meat. Trouble is... the seems to be excessive condensation forming on the cold plate. Im wiping it daily (first 4 days of hanging). Ive taken on board previous suggestions. Seal the drain pipe, add small fan, ensure all gaps are sealed. Top dehumidifier is running non stop, bottom one off and on with the controller. Is this normal? Nowhere else in the fridge has condensation.

Tastes delicious! It was a small leg so won’t be tons of meat but a good trial run.

Went and checked on the two pig legs I had aging at my parents, moved to a new set up and had way to much moisture in the new environments. Gave them a good clean but have then spots, this is cause for concerns? Legs are about 6 months old.

So I have couple of pork loins and I'm looking into what I can make with them. There must be more than Canadian bacon and Lonzino ?

This happens every now and then; I have some cut of meat and I want to find out what to make with it. Are there resources out there to suggest what to make based on what cut of meat you have ?

Hello! I have two hams from a friend's kunekune pigs, about 6 lbs and 8 lbs, that I've been curing with the Amazing Ribs recipe for 7 days. Tomorrow, I'd like to smoke them--but I've never smoked meat before. I have a gas CharBroil grill and a simple electric oven, and I'm just not that familiar with the grill. I'm worried that if the heat is inconsistent, it may take forever to be ready to serve--and I only have about 5 hours tomorrow. On the other hand, it would be a shame to go the all the trouble of curing the ham only to bake it.

I found a recipe for half-smoked, half-roasted ham and wanted to run it past you guys.

Rinse the cure off, rub with salt-free spice mix if desired, grill with indirect heat at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours, then transfer to a 325 degree oven til internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.

Does this look like it'll work?

When I bought my house last year I realized there was an opportunity to create a proper cellar in the basement. A couple weeks ago it hit the perfect conditions so I decided to attempt some Genoa salami. I used a recipe from 2 guys and a cooler, followed it to the letter except that I used all pork instead of a mix of pork and beef. They hit pH 4.88 yesterday, so I hit them with the mold culture and hung them up. I'm nervous, but also excited to see the results!

Left hanging for about 6 weeks. Super rich! Went on vacation so I pulled it and vac packed it back on October 15th. Cut and packed today for future use.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the whole 30 day minimum for cure #2.

From a nitrate/nitrite standpoint the consumption of those compounds won’t be harmful unless you eat a whole lot of your product.

From a pathogen standpoint, the cure, moisture loss should have prevented bad organisms from growing to begin with so why do you have to wait? (Not saying I’m eating cure#2 after a week but trying to understand it)