Monday, May 11, 2009

Lonzino carousel




Took one out this morning, replaced it with another this afternoon. The finished lonzino was put in on 4/3 after an 11 day cure. I removed it at about 38% loss more than 2 weeks ago, but, it was nowhere near ready. I'm guessing this one to be 45-48% and is still just a touch soft, I'm a little baffled by this one. It was stuffed in a 90mm collagen casing, sprayed with the M-EK-4 mold culture and fermented in the usual fashion. It was cured using rosemary, bay leaves, juniper, salt, pepper, cure #2, sugar and garlic powder. It tastes very good, though not as good as the bresaola. Possibly a touch heavy on the rosemary, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Overall, another successful venture. My first lonzino had a bit of case hardening, showing my inexperience. By the look and taste of this one, it appears I am getting this whole thing dialed in. Thanks again to Jason Molinari for all the hand holding.
The cured-ready to dry lonzino is the finished product seen earlier in the ziploc, stuffed in a 90mm collagen(surprise).

5 comments:

  1. Hi, I'm just getting started in this hobby and enjoy your and Jason's sites.

    Your lonzino looks great.

    I'm starting a lonzino this week.
    What about yours with the 38% loss was not ready- are you just going by touch/firmness and that's what made you leave your second in until 48% loss?

    Thanks
    Jake

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  2. I cut it open and it was still completely raw. I'm only guessing on the 48%, may even be 50%, still even a bit soft. But, yes, I could tell it wasn't quite ready by the feel of it. I removed it anyway because the scale incated the 38%. Make a couple of these and you start to get a gauge on when they're ready(or close at least) Fell free to bounce questions, I owe after how much I pestered Jason.

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  3. Did you rehang it at this point, or was it a loss?

    Is the "rawness" an issue with the cure or did you just not dry it out enough?

    Thanks
    Jake

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  4. Rehung. Rawness solely an issue of time(in this case). It was cured properly, so, I knew it just needed to hang a little more. I've been lucky so far and not lost anything completely. No bad mold, just a little case hardening from being green and not being able to properly regulate my equipment.

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  5. My experience with bresaola is also that it benefits from more moisture loss than most recipes recommend. I forgot about one for quite awhile, until it had probably lost 60% of its weight, and it was fabulous, the best ever:

    http://www.thislittlepiggy.us/2009/03/01/bresaola-di-toro/

    The only trick is, the drier you let it get, the thinner you want to slice it.

    ReplyDelete