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  1. J

    Sous-vide heart?

    I think sous vide would be great. I’ve always done them the same way the French do duck breasts. Heavy cast iron or stainless pan on a medium low to low heat. Half and clean heat. It will somewhat resemble a duck breast at that point. Put heart in pan uncut side down on heat first (if it’s a...
  2. J

    Another cold smoked belly

    Now it sits for the next 30-90 days. Smell is ridiculous as always. Might get the slicer out at the 30 day mark and cut some of it into a nice bacon. Most of this one will be for the holiday charcuterie boards though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
  3. J

    Another cold smoked belly

    As most well laid plans usually fail when part of that relays on Mother Nature this one too is right on the brink. Supposed to be cold smoking all weekend, and I will be, but the temps went from high 40-60 to highs in the 70’s. Shop is well insulated and right now with a high of 72° it is still...
  4. J

    Another cold smoked belly

    Day 3. As you can see it’s got quite a bit of brine that’s been driven out of the meat. I’ll let it essentially wet brine like this until day 7 then drain the liquid, rinse the belly, pat dry and then lightly salt again. The salt will have completely penetrated by day 7 so the next 7 days are...
  5. J

    Strange occurances in the woods

    What a great thread! Haven’t read through them all yet but I definitely will. Here’s one that comes to mind every time this subject comes up: I’m on the pricier river fly fishing in late September (prairie river in Lincoln county Wisconsin). Working my way down with a hopper dropper and doing...
  6. J

    Another cold smoked belly

    Well, with temps falling in Wisconsin I figure the time should be right in about 14 days for this belly to go for a 3 day smoke bath in about 14 days. This time I’m leaving the belly whole so just one type of seasoning. Honestly there wasn’t much difference in the taste on the last ones so this...
  7. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Haven’t mentioned the slab that I didn’t cold smoke since I hung it up I think. For those of you without a cold smoker or living somewhere that it’s just to warm for a 3 day smoking session this is an option. I pulled it down today. My idea behind this is that it would be similar to Italian...
  8. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Alright. 90ish days. Longest I’ve ever made it for sure. Worth it? Yes. Worth it every time every piece? No. A couple for sure even if it’s just to save some for later. The flavor profile changed dramatically form 30-60 days to the point that I’m of the opinion that at 30 days if you’re really...
  9. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    So we’re at 60’ish days. I pulled down the tester slab to whack a piece off. I have been spritzing these with water almost daily since the day 30 test. They are all very close to their target weight. There’s a bit more long term white mold growth but overall the outside appearance is...
  10. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Honestly you probably do! My first one was just a wooden box. Cheap pine lumber with the thinnest piece of plywood I could find. Think it was just 4 1x2’s and one piece of plywood actually. Then I put a cookie pan in the bottom and set the amazen smoker tray on that. Three years ago we were very...
  11. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    We’ll day 30. So I pulled one down and cut a 1” strip off of it for tasting. I probably talked myself into this one. I mean it was bound to happen but they really really felt like they were getting to dry so that was a good excuse. Of course the weights said a different story but why not check...
  12. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Today is day 29. It’s killing me not to try these. This weekend we’re having a birthday party for my youngest and I don’t see how one of these doesn’t end up on a cutting board with some crackers and a nice cheese.
  13. J

    Cold smoked and dry aged sausage

    If anyone wants to take a crack at these you do not actually need to cold smoke them and once I even used liquid smoke. I used to get hung up on the temp and humidity to the point I was building out a refrigerator to act as the aging chamber. For the first batch I ever did I thought “I’ll just...
  14. J

    Cold smoked and dry aged sausage

    We’re pretty jacked for the Alaska trip. Been in the works for over a decade and finally got it all put together. Generally speaking the food is either freeze dried or salmon so some nice sausage will be a good way to break it up a bit.
  15. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Well they’re coming along. Didn’t take any pics today because they really don’t look any different. There isn’t enough surface moisture to have a big colony growth to see. I may start water treating them with a spray bottle just to add a touch of moisture to the outside. I think this is day 28...
  16. J

    Cold smoked and dry aged sausage

    Well they dried out a bit quicker then I would’ve liked. Prefer to get around 30 days of hanging for the flavor profile to ferment but today when I checked with a knife everything looked and tasted really good with just the right amount of moisture. The bright red are the Hungarians and the...
  17. J

    Cold smoked and dry aged sausage

    Well there they are done in the smoker and then hanging in the room with the pancetta. Not to long of a wait for these. Usually ready within 21-28 days. I let them hang like that overnight last night and then today I took some spacers (I used canning caps) to make sure none of the sausage was...
  18. J

    Cold smoked and dry aged sausage

    I fired up the cold smoker again today. Completely forgot to take any pictures and it’s closed with the smoke rolling so I’ll post some tomorrow when I pull them. Anyway, two types. Did an old family recipe for Hungarians. Half stayed fresh and went in the freezer and the other half got the pink...
  19. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    And now they hang. Ended up somewhere in the 36-40hrs of smoke range. The smell in my little aging/canning/wine room is overpowering as usual. You can really see the dark colors of the three on the left that were smoked compared to the non smoked on on the right. It’ll be at least 3-4 weeks for...
  20. J

    Dry aged pancetta (flat) and my new cold smoker

    Ok. I’ve got the fire box issues all resolved. It was a lot of tinkering yesterday but everything is working on that end as it should now. As a bonus having everything set up properly with the correct airflow has really extended how long each tray is lasting. The one I lit this morning looks...
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