Curing Update II
Right, where are we at with all the cures I started? Well, as can be seen from the previous post, the Ventrèche is done, but what of the other things that were put to cure at the same time?
The Hunt Beef's sitting in the fridge hopefully soaking up all the wonderful flavours from the spices and garlic that I added in my last Curing Update.
The lomo has been taken from it's cure, washed and then left to dry for 24 hours in the fridge:
It was meant to go into a natural ox casing, but the blasted casing was only about 40mm wide:
So it's plan B - a collagen casing:
It's been strung tightly and any air pockets pricked with a needle.
That was 6 days ago. I've weighed it today and it's lost over 13% of it's weight, more than I'd expected, or for that matter, wanted. The fridge temperature and humidity's fine, so I'll just keep my eye on it for the time being.
The pancetta's been drying now for 12 days and is progressing steadily having lost 18% of its initial weight. I'm only going to dry this one to about 23 - 25% as it's for cooking rather than eating raw.
That just leaves the Ham in the cider cure - I've rinsed it today, it was a really sludgy old cure:
It's sat in the fridge now drying out and 'equalising' - that is, I'm leaving it so that the cure, that's at present mainly in the outer parts of the meat, can spread evenly throughout the whole joint.
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