I've been assisting my grandparents with making all sorts of cured meats since I was a kid. We've never measured anything, the meat was done when my grandpa's hands felt like it was done. Well, his hands arent around anymore so this is my first time having to figure it out on my own
This was a small piece of loin, weighed around 825g before salting. I pulled it at 35% weight loss (~535g) based on various recommendations I read and Im quite disappointed with the texture. Its far far softer than what we would previously make and more light pink in color rather than the darker pink or even purple color Im used to. Its very squishy in the center too
So two questions – 1) is it safe to eat? Everything I can find online seems to indicate so but Im having a hard time convincing my family
2) Would I be able to just re-hang it in some manner at this point? I'd personally like it to dry closer to 40% to see if thats closer to what we've typically made. After cutting it open, any way to get there?
by ThomasFranksGum
6 Comments
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Yes, you can rehang.
Your outside is a fair bit drier than the inside. A bit of that is normal, but I don’t usually get quite this much difference. Is your chamber humid enough? Vac packing it and leaving it in the fridge for a week or two to let the moisture even out will also help.
That seems to have a lot of moisture still. Not to question your method but any chance you wrote your weight down wrong? You have some case hardening but nothing severe based on the photo. For 35% weight loss, it’s odd how wet it is inside, even near the edges. I dry to 35% weight loss all the time and it turns out great.
How long did you hang it for?
And yes, I believe it’s safe to eat as long as nothing smells off.
Not knowing your setup and just going by your photos and description I will say this. Yes 35% loss is ok “I prefer a 50% weight loss”. It looks dryer on the outside than most which would keep it from drying much more. I find that by vacuum sealing and giving the product time in the fridge (a week or two) to equalize and then drying again until the desired weight loss is achieved works well.
I can’t stop thinking that pic2 looks like a rat
Don’t say case hardening around here