Monday, March 14, 2011

Speck results


4 long months of waiting is finally over. This is the smaller of my 2 speck projects. As you may be able to tell from the picture, that is certainly not a photo I took. Thanks to Angelo, not for just the picture, but for slicing and the actual harvesting of the cut. There isn't much to add from my initial post about this item in December. They dried for nearly 4 months in my chamber. I had to remove them on several occasions to be wiped down with a vinegar solution based on the mold build up. However, after about their fifth washdown, I noticed that the mold was all white and wasn't returning with any fervency. So, I decided I would just let it go and see what happened, while keeping a close eye on it. Strangely enough, the mold returned, grew a bit and then kind of faded. Lucky, I guess. I pulled it down out of curiosity last week and noticed it was rather hard in spots, and made the decision to cut into it. Great decision. It is fantastic. Keep in mind, this was done with just regular commercial pork. As this was my first attempt, I make it a rule to never use heritage or super top quality pork for practice. I can't imagine having to throw out a $200 piece of pork. It looks perfect, quite reminiscent of the speck I ate in Sudtirol. Smoke is near perfect as well. Very moist still on the thicker inside slices. Just delicious. I'm not alone in that regard, I brought this over Angelo's house the other night and after everyone got their greedy little hands on it, I am left with what you're looking at in the picture. Good thing I have big speck lurking in the chamber. This is one of my favorite things I have made to date.

7 comments:

  1. Schwartzwalder Schinken it looks like to me, I have to say, great results well done! You must be delighted! Better than my first time, not sure I can remember that far back...Lol

    Regards
    Marc-Frederic
    Le Charcutier Anglais

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  2. Thanks, Marc. It is quite similar to black forest ham. Yes, I am quite pleased. I'm going to leave the larger one in a couple extra weeks to see if there's a difference in flavor.

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  3. Speck is my fav too!!! Making some right now. This looks great...nice job.

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  4. Thanks chef. When will yours be ready? Perhaps we can do a trade. I live less than an hour south of the CIA. I hope you post about yours.

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