Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Poor man's prosciutto follow up


I'd kind of given up on this poor bastard. I left in my chamber for months. I dipped it in the vinegar solution several times, as it had picked up some exterior mold. Every time I removed, it didn't seem to be making any progress. Being that it wasn't such a huge hunk of meat, I was confused. I removed everything from the chamber when I went on vacation. I couldn't leave anything due to me blowing my second humidifier in 6 months. Without a meatsitter changing the hanging wet rag every other day, everything would be rubbish. It sat in a regular refrigerator for a week, where I paid it no mind, actually mad at it for not curing :). Came home from vacation and put some things back in the chamber. I came to the ham and opened it. I finally said screw it, I'm going to cut into it. WOW, it looks perfect. I cut some up and chunked it to be fried up. I couldn't be happier, it's great. Suffice to say, I'm no longer cross with it! It is my opinion that if any of you who read this have any intention on making a prosciutto, I highly recomment starting with this. It doesn't even take one third of the time it would for a normal proscitto, and the taste is definitely a representative example of the vaunted cured meat. This revelation has led me down a new path. I am about to embark on a new endeavor.

5 comments:

  1. That sounds delectable!

    I may just make some of this in addition to the prosciutto just to have something to nom on earlier :)

    Thanks Scott!

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  2. That does look picture perfect, Scott!

    Hmmm. I've got a whole hind leg sitting in my freezer, because my hog farmer threw it in for next to nothing, so maybe it is time to tackle prosciutto.

    As Porsha reminds us, it is everyman's favorite!

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  3. Or at least try a "poor man's" prosciutto! I'll post about my newest endeavor soon, regarding this. But, a one word hint for now......speck.

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  4. Any details on the cure and the method for this? What piece of meat is it? It does look great!

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  5. Yessir! This is the same piece of meat from my post in April. It was a boneless piece of ham. It was cured with fresh thyme, fennel seed, ground coriander, fresh garlic and of course, salt, pepper, sugar, and cure #2.

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