Weigh the food before and after!!!! Can then work out amount of dehydration.
13th Jan
I decided to go ahead and try some dehydrating. I had some cabbage and a carrot in the fridge, and as I'm heading up North in a couple of days I wanted to give the dehydrator a spin. I used the mandolin to chop up the carrot and so thin slices, that all went on one tray, I hope they do not stain it too much. I had about 1/2 a cabbage and started to cut it into about 20mm thk slices and lay on the trays. I used about 3 trays. Some of the slices were a bit thick, so that tray I put on top. I looked up on the interwongle for dehydrating Carrots and cabbages and came to this website: https://www.easy-food-dehydrating.com/ There were pages for both the vegetables. Setting 125-135F, so I've set it at 50C Time 6- 12 hours. Check and rotate trays. I started at 4.30pm , so will check hourly'ish as I go.
Process
Something that needs to be done is to weigh the food before and after!!!!
Then you can see how much an item has been dehydrated. This needs to be done to help estimate dehydration times later.
13th Jan
There was a bit of a vege wiff as I started it up, so closed the door to laundry. That is quite a handy room for these things. I stored the other shelves in the cupboard above. Later checking on it I noticed there was condensation on the lower part of the window, so I opened that further. Also it was a bit warmer. I suppose 50 deg C heating of a small amount of air warms a small space . I rotated the shelves to allow for a more even drying across the trays. Next morning at 8am I checked. The carrots, which covered the whole of the tray had shrunk to 1/4 of a tray and were firm. Still chewy, so I bagged them. The cabbage still looked very moist so I rotated those trays and it is still running. So about 15 1/2 hours and 3 trays of cabbage still moist. Maybe, because of low power it will take a lot longer than the more expensive dryers.
14th Jan
I have separated the sliced leaves of the cabbage to let air around them and they are drying faster now. I'll bag them shortly.
Mango's and apples
I decided to take the mangos and apples out of the fridge and dry them too. I just cut them up and put them on trays. I think the apples may need to have a quick blanch, but I'll do that next time. I do need a corer for the apples though, so shall put that on my list. They are in at 50 deg C and I put them in about 1pm. The mango's I weighted. 2 mangoes(whole) 661g. I then peeled them and sliced them and was left with 342g of pieces. So in dehydrator now and I need to check weight when removing. Final weight is 90g, so 74% dehydration. Some of the bigger bits are still soft but the smaller/thinner pieces are very dry and no taste.
Making chips in dehydrator
This video looks interesting. Zoe can have these.
I used a potato and sliced up on mark 2 on the mandolin to make thin and then washed in warm water to get some of the starch out. Then soaked in some malt vinegar for a couple of hours and then put in dehydrator overnight. I didn't add herbs or salt. A bit dissapointing, soggy. I chucked a few in the air fryer but that didn't do much. Still soggy.
End comment
Well I've dehydrated stuff! Not planned but grabbing stuff out of fridge and drying it. As far as the Dehydrator goes, it works quite well, I'm happy with the veges that I've dried so far. It is more a test at this point as I'm heading off for a while, but I see some good oppertunities for pre-packed meals that I can vacuum seal and forget in a cupboard. I'm interested in trying the biltong andjerky in the dehydrator, as well as chicken and trying fruit leather and crackers. It's a matter of using the oppertunity of cheap fruit and meats to make something that can be used over a long period. I'm pleased i purchased this and can see that i can add things to it for preserving. The next step is to get the vacuum sealer extesion and use mason jars to store some things long term. Also buy frozen veges in bulk and dehydrate them, so less storage in freezers and more in jars for preserving. So, dried meals, dehydrated veges from cheap frozen packets. I'll need mason jars and vacuum seal extension.
After the success I had with making the Transfer onto a T shirt in Part 1 I decided to look into the whole transfer process in a bit more depth.
Transfer to Dark colours & sheet sizes
The first thing was for iron on onto a non-white shirt. You need a different transfer paper to do that. There are videos on YouTube that show you can do face up images with the ink jet process. There are also face down ones as well.There are some from AliExpress that are for A3 size, 10 for the same price as 12 in NZ (for A4 , 12 sht for white ) here. It's the delivery time that is slow. There is an interesting video that shows the difference between light(white) and dark transfers , and also shows what happens whwen you do a light transfer onto dark T shirt. As it relies on the white background to show the colours it does not show anything.
Sublimation onto mugs & heat resistant tape
this was interesting, you can do bespoke labels onto mugs. The mugs need to be a regular size and you can use the same paper to do the transfer. The actual mug holders have a heat element that heats all around the mug, so an even surface is required. There is a specific machine that does this. You need heat resistant tape to be able to hold the Transfer label in the right location when setting it in the machine. An example of the machine can be found here. The machines are a reasonable price but the shipping is quite expensive.
Sublimation onto mugs & heat resistant tape
I then found the video below that uses these clamps that can be used in an air fryer to make the transfer, see the video below, about 8$ NZ from China free delivery (so a month before they come):
30*38CM 5 in 1 Combo Heat Press Machine Sublimation Printer 2D Thermal Transfer Cloth Cap Mug Plate Pen T-shirt Printing Machine
You can buy machines that will do Tshirts, plates (small and large), mugs, caps and pens. They basically have a heating element and a timer and different shaped elements for different tools. From video below you can see the different setups for most of the features: The price is about $200NZ for the machine and the shipping another $230NZ for a total of $430NZ from China. Not unreasonable if you have a quantity of stuff and you have a small business.
TradeMe
This has a few of the things, blank mugs, silicone straps (for air fryer sublimation) and also the transfer paper. Some are not unreasonable for shorter delivery times. Go HERE. There are also "T shirts blank " that you can buy. This is aways a challenge as you have to check quality and also have a variety of sizes available.
End comment
I think I'd like to try the air fryer mug sublimation, so get a transfer and put it on a mug. This may be handy for Zoe's business. I'd need to find some cups and price the blanks, maybe the Warehouse or Uncle Bill's for aone or two to test. Then 13$ for the silicone strap (and await delivery). As I'm heading North I think I'll hold off on that until my return, or order when I'm up there.
I came across this programme by Andrei Kashcha's that I found through Keir Clark on his Maps Mania website and thought it was pretty cool. It would make peaks on a map anywhere in the world.
I though iot would make a really cool T Shirt design. So I started looking into how to make T Shirt designs and came across this really cool lady doing screenprinting. I think Charli Marie's video and PDF download are great. A real talent:
Frames and mesh
So I started to look into screen printing further and there are some cool videos out there on the topic. Like the one below: Although the Fucia fish doesn't do it for me. A good process.
Then I thought, how do you clean the screen prints after you've done a couple and want to do them in different colours. The video below shows you: So there was a lot of stuff that you have to get and setup. So screens and frames, the sponges, the paints the light sensitive medium for the screens, transparent paper to print on etc. Anyway, I watched Charli Marie's video on bespoke labels for Tshirts : And in the video she uses an ink jet printer and an iron on transfer. So I thought, thats a quicker way to do logos. So I started looking at Iron On Transfer paper for ink jets and saw that the WareHouse Stationary had a pack of A4 size 12 sheets for 37$. So I thought I'd thry that process instead. Its a good way to test a design, and if it works then you can always go for a more complex method once you are happy with the design.
Process
I'm using the black on white design and using GIMP to remove the background to make it transparent. I tried bringing it into Revit but the image is rubbish. I don't think it likes PNG files. So I used Word instead. The backgroud came out a bit creamy so inside Word you can, when selcting the image, go to Format tab and choose color button and there is a re-colour section so you can get a white background. As you have to reverse the image there is a feature in the Format which has rotate button, that has a FLIP selection that I used. As you cut out all the white/empty space of the image (otherwise you have a plasticky film over those parts on the Tshirt I decided to try putting some logos into those spaces. I couldn't put an image on an image in Word, so had to go back to GIMP to do that. I did have a Floating Text box over the image, that worked fine.
After testing the page size on a standard piece of paper in the ink jet printer, a useful thing to do as I had no margins on the page and the printer wouldn't print to the edges, so I had to shrink the image slightly so that it fitted. After getting the size right I checked which side the ink went on the paper, so I had the iron-on transfer papaer face down as it prints on the bottom side. I then put the settings to BEST and highest quality paper and fired up the printer again. All fine. Then I took a scalpel knife and cut out the white spaces and and then ironed on to the Tshirt. I initially had a pillowcase over the sticker but found it was better doing it directly onto the sticker, although the amount of heat meant that the shirt discoloured slightly (browned) around the sticker area. It'll be intersting to see if that washes out.
Second Try
I decided to give it another try and tried an almost black logo. A couple of problems: 1/ I had the printer on best quality and the ink over saturated the label, so a bit of bluring at the edges. A bit dissapointing. It will need testing to find the correct settings for different colours and richness. 2/In my enthusiasm for trying it out, I forgot to reverse the logo, so its flipped horizontally and reads backwards. This is the image that I sent to the printer:
This is the image from the printer at BEST QUALITY. You can see there is too much ink and the edges between Black/white are blurred- Check the text.
This is what is on the T Shirt. I decided to go ahead, even though the image was reversed. The Black area is quite saturated, so that is good.
T shirt folder
I was watching one gentleman showing off his T shirt logo making space, very interesting , a great setup with some expensive machines. He had to make and package a T shirt in under 10 minutes and went through the process of how this was done. At the end he had a T shirt folding machine (all plastic with hinges) that I thought was pretty cool. On googling the T shirt folding machine I saw there was a Wiki How on making one out of cardboard, also a video with an evolution development process adding enhancements. I'll have to keep my eyes out for a cardboard box big enough so I can give this a try. See link
I'm happy with the pork I'm curing, but as its going to take ages to cure and there is more room in the hanging box I thought I'd try doing a couple of other cures at the same time. I note in the Italian's fridge he had a few things on the go. I'd do a salami but don't have the skins, so will look at other alternatives. I've been watching some more Pancetta videos, some flat and some rolled up. As this is just pork belly I thought I'd get a couple and try both methods. The salt content for curing seems important.
8th Jan
In Pak,n,Save pork Belly was 19$/kg, and in Countdown they have some frozen pork 18$/1.25kg = 14.40/kg so I got that instead. I note they have frozen pork ribs too, so I may try some of them sometime. So 600g for each approx. They both need to be in the fridge for a while, not sure whether to salt and bag or dry and drain. The Salt and bag will stop smells going into other food in the Fridge, so I think I'll try that method. One comment was on the curing, if mould is present, use red wine vinegar and spray to kill off mould, so I may need another spray bottle for that. A good idea.
Flat pancetta
The video below is for the flat method: Its pretty much the same as the first chap, cuoredicioccolato: This one has you turning the meat in the fridge for 7 days, but a nice finish to it.
Rolled Pancetta
This one is good, by the River Cottage channel: Its great hearing the spanish:
Process
It was taking a while to thaw the frozen pork belly so I put it in lukewarm water and that sped up the thawing. I decided I'd go with the videos that put the meat in bags as I didn't want meat smells in the fridge. I skinned the Skin off of the meat, one side went well, the other side I was cutting too deep and a fine layer of meat and fat came off. After de-skinning it weighed just over 1kg (started at 1.25kg). So I decided to cut that in half, one side was thicker than the other, so that will be the flat and the thinner can be rolled (it'll be easier to do).
At 500g each, 5% of weight is 25g of salt. I als had some bay leaves and peppercorns and corriander seeeds. I put each piece of meat in a seperate bag and rubeed half the mixture over each side (the salt being finer was at the bottom, so I had to flip over a couple of times to make sure I distributed the salt evenly). I heat sealed the bags so all the juices don't leak out and put them in the fridge. I also put the skin in a seperate bag, I havent decided what i'll do with that yet.
14th Jan
It has been a week in fridge curing so I am taking from fridge, washing them both and put a rub on them and hang them overnight in Biltong box to get the loose fluid out of them. I decided I'd leave these in the fridge when I head up country and let them cure here. The flat one I did first and followed the Italian Gentlemans rub mixture and rinced off in beer , in my case, Stout as that was all I had open. The rub was approx 2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp garlic pepper 2 tsp brown sugar (I think about 3) 1 tsp of chilli flakes 1/2 nutmeg ground on microplane I also used the same rub for the rolled one too and washed in Beer. Flat panacetta- weight 545g and then hung
Rolled panacetta weight 533g then hung
I initially had trouble doing a tight roll. The green/white string broke, so I went to builders line string. The idea is that no air inside ads that can hold bacteria.
I put rub on inside and outside of the rolled meat. I then put it in the garlic plastic stocking, that made it easier to tie up.
I then hung all 3 meats in the biltong box for a bit of an airing & drip drying with containers under them.
15th Jan
I need to move these meats to the fridge and hang them with a dish under whilst I'm away. As I wont have much fresh food in the fridge I'm not worried about meat smell getting into other foods. The tags are sitting on top of the wood to say what they should weigh after 35 and 40% dehydration.
27th Feb
I was up with Zoe and Karl for about 6 weeks so the meats just hung in the fridge. On return I had to weigh them.
flat
rolled
shoulder
545
533
882
305
388
547
240
145
335
0.559633
0.727955
0.620181
0.440367
0.272045
0.379819
0.440367
0.272045
0.379819
44.0367
27.2045
37.98186
Pork Shoulder
I found the Pork Shoulder had a bit of white mould on the outside, and sprayed it with vinegar, and when I sliced into it there where pockets of white mould.
If you tasted the Pork Shoulder slices with the white mould it tasted mouldy, but if you cut out the mould it was a very nice cured meat. Quite delicious.
It was hard to slice as it was very hard. So you ended up with either shavings or a thicker slice.
Pancetta, flat and rolled
The flat pancetta dried a lot more than the others, as it was thin and flat it had a much bigger surface area, so dried faster. The rolled pancetta I used a plastic stocking to hold it in shape, the plastic almost pealed off entirely but there were one or two patches where the plastic sock was embedded in the meat and I had to use a pair of tweesers to remove most of the plastic. The rolled one also only got to 27% dryer so its still quite flexibel, I think the sock stopped it drying as much. I have it on a plate in the fridge at the moment. I have yet to taste test either, but maybe the flat is a better way to go as it cures quicker
Tasting.
They were both pretty good, and they've lasted for ages. The rolled one was a bit soft in the middle and even in the fridge all the time never hardened that much. They were both a bit salty, especially the flat one, but easy to use. I cut some off and shaved it and have it in the freezer.
Another recipe 29th April 2020
This is another method, hopefully not as salty. I'm making 2 flat panacettas. I've just had them in the fridge for 7 days and am now hanging them. The last small $5 fan died, although it was running almost continuously for days and days. I've just ordered another online at the Warehouse, in level 3 so still cannot shop so I'm waiting for when I can pick it up, along with the Stand mixer.
I want to make a multigrain bread like the one from Arobake. It is lovely and crusty on the outside and moist and chewy, like a ciabatta inside. A lot of videos I watch just have a brown bread, which is not what I want.
The video below is the first that I've seen that looks like what I want: Some takeaways from this recipe is 1/ The polish overnight ferment, and 2/ the soaking of the grains. In the Arobake one there are bits of corn in it, that I like. The one below is simpler and worth a try:
600 g Strong white flour Seeds 50 g sesame, 40 g chia seeds, 70 g flax seeds, pumpkin seeds 100g - Total 260 g NOTE: seeds dry so more water, if seeds soaked then less water required 15g Active Yeast 70ml oil 5 g salt 20g sugar 350ml water
Poolish
This is an interesting article on why you would use a poolish for bread making The yeast content is way lower than what I'm currently using. Artisan bread baking tips: Poolish & biga I also like the idea of using a different flour for poolish. Maybe try wholemeal flour A good reason for poolish is the big air holes in the bread, which I like.
Process
I decided to soak the seeds (corn, pumpkin, sunflour, sesame & poppy) overnight and strained the next day. I did a standard Ciabatta poolish overnight. Next I added normal ciabatta mix except I used 100g of Wholemeal flour with the strong white flour. Same water as the seeds were soaked, so no added water for them. It has had the 2 rises and is now on the 20 minute rise before going in the oven.
Result
They didn't brown as much as the Arobake ones, I had them in the oven for 12min/8 min/ 4min/4min/4min so a total of 32 minutes trying to brown the outside. They are quite crusty outside and soft inside so that is pleasing. Maybe the Rye Flour adds to the browning.
Tastes nice with Hummus on top. I'm going to have Gambas Pil Pil (only one chilli though this time, 2 are far too strong)
Not quite the result, but definitely good. I will keep an eye out for some Rye Flour. I will definitely do again. Its good with Honey or Marmalade , but too strong for eggs. So after making it I found it has its uses but the Ciabatta is a more general bread. Maybe I should try just using a bit of Wholemeal in that for a more healthy bread.
Ciabatta with 150g of Wholegrain flour
I tried doing my standard Ciabatta loaf, but substituting 150g of Wholemeal flour in the total flour of 550g for the mix. I kept the poolish as 200g of strong white. I added the Wholemeal in the later mix. I'm sure I addded the 1 teaspoon of salt to the mix. It doesn't taste that way though. The result is it does not have any salty taste at all. Maybe I didn't add salt, although I'm pretty sure I did. The bread is fine, a little darker than the normal ciabatta, and I gave it 2 x 12m and then a further 3 min , so a total of 27minutes in the oven at 230 deg C.
Comment
I'm not that blown away by it, mainly because of the lack of salt taste in the bread, more noticeable by iuts absence rather than the fact that it influences the flavour too much. This may have been my mistake, or maybe it needs more salt. I will try it again, ensuring I put the salt in and check, or maybe adding another 1/2 teaspoon to the mix.
Zoe brought down a stale baguette and I put it in the freezer, thinking that I'd make breadcrumbs out of it. I wanted to clear the freezer and got the baguette out and let it thaw, then I put it under the tap to moisten and let it rest. Then I used a sharp knife and cut it really thin, about 5mm thick, so that, I could chop it up for croutons if the crispbread idea didn't work out. I have seen stale toasted bread advertised as a speciality in shops. I'm not interested in it, but its a good idea. So I used the air fryer, some with a bit of lard spread on it. I toasted some with lard on, and some without, and the airfryer set on max and for about 10 min, and they toasted up nice, you don't need to add the lard. I had some with cheese and pickles on, but you could do these with bruchetta as well. Definitely a handy snack. I've put the bread into smaller bags and frozen them so thaty i can use them for snacks.
Ginger beer is something that I have mean't to do but have been a bit nervous about exploding bottles. Mary bought me a coaster with a Ginger beer recipe from Graytown a couple of years ago but I never got around to doing anything about it.
Another hold back was not having the correct vessel and a 2nd air lock for the brewing process. So this time around I went looking for a simple vessel from the Warehouse and ended up with a 22$ 20l water vessel. I didn't think it through, and don't think it was the wisest purchase as it has a lot of nooks and cranies so is hard to clean.
Fermented or non alcoholic
There are a few videos out there on the subject, some have more alcohol than others. I thought I was just making a refreshing drink, but there is also an alcoholic beverage as well.
Process 5th Jan 2020
I watched a few videos on the subject and I'm not sure that I haven't banjaxed this first batch. Some of the people boil the ginger, others don't. Some add lemon zest, others don't. I decided to chop up and boil in a little water about 150g of ginger and also peeled the zest off the lemons and put that in the boiling water, I think that was wrong as the mixture tastes more bitter than gingery. I also wasn't sure whether I was trying for alcoholic or non-alcoholic. I wanted to put the yeast into the big vessel, let it ferment in there, then bottle it. In the bottles I can put a bit of sugar for carbonation for the fizz, just like the beer, so I know I wont have exploding bottles. Recipe that I did
150 g ginger
zest of 2 lemons
boil in a small pot and then let sit for an hour Strain and pour into large vessel add 2 lemons juiced and strained 750 g white sugar overall water 8-9 litres Added powdered ginger 1.5 tablespoons (into large vessel) Added 1 1/2 teaspoons bread yeast.
Sitting in cupboard to ferment. Doesnt seem to be active though as no bubbles in trap. I don't have a high expectation of this at the moment, but I'll wait and see.
6th Jan
No bubbling from air lock. I put another teaspoon of yeast in to the mix but there doesn't seem to be much activity at airlock. I think this is mogadored. I have it on the bench to keep an eye on. There may be a gingery, sugary fluid to drink but I'll let the yeast settle out first.
7th Jan
After thunking about it I realised I could just put some yeast in a glass of the ginger beer that I'd poured out. That way I can see i yeast is reacting. It was. So in fact I'd put lots of yeast into the mix. Anyway I bottled the Ginger beer and put them on the bench. I possibly overfilled some of them only leaving about 10-20mm between cap and liquid. I turned the tops through 180 degrees and heard a little hiss. Did that each morning/evening. Of the 2 glasses left over from bottling, the taste was very nice.
9th Jan- Spray all over
I opened one cap of one bottle and it started spraying all over the place. I realised that I hadn't fully released all the gas and there was a massive buildup of CO2 in all the bottles. After taking to the sink, covering cap with my hands to direct spray down into the sink, almost 1/2 the liquid emptied from the bottles, so only about half the ginger beer left. The one thing I didn't want to happen, happened. So not good. Next time I'll leave in large vessel. I think the gas was getting out via the grommet edges.
I've been meaning to try this for a while. I've been pickling vegetables from the time I was trying to make papusa's. The papusa's I wasn't impressed with but I did like the pickled veges. I haven't had them for a while, so I need to move the jar to the front of the fridge so that it's a green choice I can make with meals. What has slowed me down from making this is getting another airlock trap and the right vessel. I then found a method where I didn't need the airlock for the process, see below.
Saurkraut process 5 jan 2020
Anyway, I went to the market and got a green cabbage($1.50) and then went to the Warehouse where I bought a 2.2l glass jar (mason type with Cam lock $6) to use. Fortunately its an OK height to fit in Fridge with current shelving arrangement.
The Saurcraut process seems pretty simple, cabbage, a bit of salt and ferment for a few days. Good simple, cheap ingredients. I followed Joshua Weissman's video:
Salt by weight should be 2% (vid belos says 2-3%) so I went with 2. In the above video he uses an airlock for the fermentation. In the video below he uses a bag of water to act as a weight and an air seal. I just used a cheap sandwich bag and knotted it and filled with water. See Daddykirbs Farm video below about 18 minutes in. He puts salt in the water, I didn't bother.
I like his leaves on top, but I didn't do that, maybe next time. I did find that getting the fluid in the cabbage took a bit of time and I gave it a bit of a beating in the jar with a handele of a thick wooden spoon. Timing, one says taste as you go for around 7 days, the other says 30 days or more.
The one thing to remember is to weigh the cabbage, so you need 2 vessels. I forgot about weighing the vessel empty first. So had to unload and reload the mixing bowl.
I did a lot of tamping of the cabbage in the jar to get the fluid, I'm not sure how mixed the salt & cabbage are. It will need to be a taste test. If it doesn't work I can always try again as the ingredients are pretty cheap.
One says a light place, the other a dark place in the videos. I have a bag of sugar sitting on the jar so it can be pushed up if the pressure inside is too great. I need to figure out how to stop the ferment. I think you just put it in the fridge, but I'll need to test it out. It was a bit wiffy, so I put it in the laundry with the biltong.
I was left with quite a bit of the cabbage, just less than 1/2 of it, so I can try and make some more coleslaw and vacuum seal that into portions. Maybe pickle a bit on the vinegar jar too. Actually I used this in the dehydrator.
13th Jan - Checking
In one of the first videos it said let it go for 7 days, in another it said 30 days. I took the water bag from the top of the jar and rinced it and then mixed the saurkraut up. I had a taste and it was a bit salty, but odd tasting as it was room temperature. I've usually had it hot or chilled.
It looks fine and tastes ok, so I'll leave it to ferment for whilst I'm away. It seems happy in the laundry wrapped in a towel to keep the light from it. I washed the outside of the water bag and put it back in the brine.
28th Feb
I've come back from seeing Zoe, a bit longer than I'd intended. So its been fermenmting for about 7 weeks. So I'll need to look up some recipes to have with it. I presume to stop it fermenting you put it in the fridge, so I'll do that shortly. Sausages, potatoe & saurkraut, or Corned beef/Silverside seem to be the things to have it with.
I have been trying to do Pork biltong as well as Beef Biltong. I've just done a6 day cure on both, the pork was quite thick, that is why I left it longer. I saw this mans video on home curing, and although a long process I'm interested in giving it a try
Process
(14th Jan) I should have weighed the joint when it was being dried in the biltong box so that I could calculate the amount of dehydration. In the video below it mentions losing about 35-40% of its weight. He also attaches a lable to it showing original weight, date and what it is, so it can readily be checked- a good idea.
part 1- 5 jan 2020
I got a pork shoulder with bone in (8.99/kg) and got a $13.50 joint. By the time I take the rind off and bone out it should most probably be around 1kg. I ran the pork skin and fat in the air dryer and drained off the fat into a jar, and ate the pork crackling.
My piece of meat needed to be folded and I tied it up, not as elegantly as he has done in the video. Next I had the brown sugar& salt mix (weighed by eye), his recipe isd 500g of Sal & 250g of brown sugar, and rubbed it into the meat. I had some rock salt pieces that I sat underneath the joint in a tray and put in the fridge.
So it is now curing in the fridge overnight for a 24 hour cure The next phase is washing off with vinegar and then doing a salt and pepper rub. Then hanging it at oroom temperature for a further 24 hours. I'll do that in the Biltong box.
part 2- 6th Jan 2020
Out of fridge and all the sugar/salt in the dish, then rinsed with white vinegar.
Next, salt 1Tblspoon, Brown Sugar 1Tblspoon , Pepper cracked 2 Tblspoons rubbed all over then fine pepper rubbed in over the first rub.
Next the meat is hung in the biltong box with a drip tray under for 24 hours, then after that it goes into the fridge somewhere. I've got to figure that part out. I wonder if I should try a cold scellar arrangement, such as in the cupboard in the spare room. Thats an internal cupboard so should stay cooler. Or maybe in the room under the stairs?That stays pretty cool.
part 3. Curing 7th Jan 2020
I decided that I'd try the cool basement method using the tool cupboard under the stairs. I'm concerned about insects and vermin getting at it so I decided that I needed a suspended box with a good airflow across it. There didn't seem to be too much dripping into the tray in the biltong box so I just used a bit of polystyrene for the drip tray. So there is a plank of wood across the space. It is serendipitous that I got the chains out of the Warehouse Skip (they changed the lights from Sodium to LED) and the chain just hangs over the timber. I have 2 metal coat hangers going diagonally across top of box with all side flaps folded inwards. The coat hanger hooks loop through the chain, so are robust, and I have a crocodile clip used for a loop inside for the meat.
There is muslin at the back and the front, the back is fixed with electrical tape (wide) all around, so is fixed. I also have the electrical tape across the diagonals to try and keep the box rectangular in shape. That helps support the muslin (folded two layers thick) in the middle at the back.
The front muslin is taped at the top and has elastic band to other 3 sides that hold the front in place, so there is good through air across the meat. The box is quite wide so you could put another couple of pieces of meat to cure inside. Currently I only have the one point of suspension, but I could push a dowel or wire through the sides to allow other pieces to hang next to it. I will check to see hw its doing but plan to take out on about 2nd Feb, 3 1/2 weeks from now if al goes well.
Check Day 1 Curing-(Day 3 total) - 8th jan 2020
It looked ok and the meat was still very sof/moist. It was a pain putting the netting back on. I may need to modify the system.
14 jan-checked and moved
I have been checking daily but mould seems to be growing in the folds. IO got a vinegar spray and sprayed the crevices and that seemed to get rid of the white furry mould. I did this a couple of days ago and have just done it again. I don't think there is enough air movement in the under floor cupboard so I've decided to bring it up and put it in my biltong box for curing instead. I think air curing may be the better way to go. I should have weighed it originally but I weighed it today and it is 882g. I'll leave it in biltong box overnight and tomorrow I'll hang in fridge before I go away. I used a stocking (garlic cloves sleeve) for the rolled panacetta , I should do it with this next time. Again, important not to have trapped air inside (can hold bacteria). So assume 5% dehydrated so far, needs to go another 30% (617g) to 35% (573g)
15th Jan
Now hanging in fridge
27th Feb
I was up with Zoe and Karl for about 6 weeks so the meats just hung in the fridge. On return I had to weigh them.
flat
rolled
shoulder
545
533
882
305
388
547
240
145
335
0.559633
0.727955
0.620181
0.440367
0.272045
0.379819
0.440367
0.272045
0.379819
44.0367
27.2045
37.98186
Pork Shoulder
I found the Pork Shoulder had a bit of white mould on the outside, and sprayed it with vinegar, and when I sliced into it there where pockets of white mould.
If you tasted the Pork Shoulder slices with the white mould it tasted mouldy, but if you cut out the mould it was a very nice cured meat. Quite delicious.
It was hard to slice as it was very hard. So you ended up with either shavings or a thicker slice.
The one in the middle in the photo above has some white mould in the nicked edge area, after cutting out the mould it had some really nice flavours. Well worrth doing again. This was a poorer cut of meat but very flavoursome. It went through a few iterations. Hanging in fridge seems to work nicely.
Next time, if I roll a piece of meat I'll make sure it is in a sock and tight, so there are no air pockets, as this is where the mould got to. Also really tighten with string. Lesson for later
7th March 2020
I saw this on special and decided to get it. I cut the skin off and then cut it into 2. I have it saled/sugard in the fridge at the moment. The biltong box is running for the bacon, so I'll use it tomorrow for the pork leg. I found this was the least saltycured meat and I really like it, so I'm trying it again. This time I'm going to air dry cure one in the biltong box and the other in the fridge. I need to check the weights of them both prior to curing.
9th March
After tying them up, and saltinmg and leeving in fridge overnight, I took out, washed with vinegar and then put the salt/sugar/pepper and fine pepper rub on them and then put in the biltong box for a couple of days. I weighed them both, one was 538g and I hung this one in the fridge. The 2nd was 480g and I put this back in the biltong box to see if that will dry out quicker. Both need to dry out by between 35% to 40%. for 538g this needs to be (35%) 350g (40%) 323g for 480g this needs to be (35%) 312g (40%) 288g I'll monitor them to see how they are doing, and keep a sharp eye on the one in the biltong box for mould. I can use the vinegar sprayer on it if some does show.
11th March
I've been looking at meat slicers to try and cut up the meat. I'll have to go on trademe to get one. They are a little bit expensive as I've blown my budget this month. I wondered if my mandolin slicer would work, and it did. It only cuts smaller slices, but they come out nice and fine. I was very pleased with the result.
The more firm the meat, the thinner you can slice. The rolled panacetta which is pretty soft in the inside I needed to put the mandolin on setting 2. For the flat panacetta and pork shoulder setting 1 was fine. The mandolin did bow in the middle when used. Also the flat panacetta came in shorter strips, I couldn't seem to get long ones, but a nice solution.
6th April
Another run at doinmg the pork shoulder. I already have one still curing in the fridge and I've pretty much finished the other ones. A stump lefot of 3 of them. I'm doing another cured pork shoulder but its a big one, 860 g , and that is after I left it to leak overnight in salt to get rid of some of the moisture. So maybe only 30% less in weight, instead of 35-40% so for 30% it needs to go down to 600 g. I have it in the biltong box at the moment. I found that it cured a lot quicker using the biltong box and the fridge, not as cured in the very middle, but that is fine as long as its not too soft. As this is such a big piece, if it is too soft in the middle I'll look to cut it part of the way through. The other ones do have a musty taste to them. I may need to spray with vinegar more frequently.
