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Lonzilla - Cured pork loin my way

With a little time on my hands time to get some curing done. Tonight my daughter and picked up a pork loin and an eye of round (this is tomorrows project, Bresaola)
 
1. Open the pork loin and pat dry.Then trim all fat. You can also separate the fish at this time or cure as a mutiple muscle group. I've decided to trim and use the fish for tomorrows dinner so just curing the main loin.
 
2. I prefer to truss the whole muscle meats I cure. This is not a necessary step but it make it easier to hang the meats in the curing chamber and also keep the meat uniform in shape + it just looks good.
 
3. Next its time to build the cure. The metric system I you friend use grams. There are 3 ingredients for the cure the rest is flavoring. So you must accurately weight the meats and also the cure, salt, sugar. I use a jewelers scale accurate to 1/100 of a gram
    A. Kosher or canning salt (nothing with iodine) at a rate of 2.8% the weight of the meat
    B. Sugar (white or raw is fine) at a rate of 0.5% the weight of the meat
    C. Cure #2 at a rate of 0.25% the weight of the meat.
 
Then you can add any spice you like in the quantity you prefer.
 
I'm using - Granulated garlic, dried Thyme, dried Rosemary, Juniper berries, black pepper and jalapeno dust.  
 
4. Make sure the cure is thoroughly combines and sprinkle it over the meat. You will use all the cure/spice mixture and any that will not stick is scraped up and put in the bag with the meat. 
 
5. Next break out the vacuum packer and cut off a section of bag longer than the meat. Double seal on side and fold back the other. Also label the bag with the date, weight and product. 
 
6. Lower the meat into the bag and put any remaining cure/spice mix in the bag. Unfold the end and pull a 80% vacuum and double seal the bag. You do not want to vac pack it you want some air space in the bag so you can swish the accumulated juice around.
 
7. Place in a 37 to 41 degree fridge for 2-1/2 to 3 weeks flipping every couple days to redistribute the cure contain juice. 
 
See you in mid January 2020 for phase 2, Rinsing and mold inoculation!
 
 
 
 
 

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So its been 3 weeks +/- and the curing stage is done. This morning I rest set the temp/humidity controls and sanitized the interior of the drying/aging chamber (50/50 white vinegar water solution) and all the equipment to make it ready for the meats.
 
The picture of Nancy is not political I use it to compare meats too. When there are as dry and wrinkled as Nancy they are done
 
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The chamber has a heater, humidifier, dehumidifier plus the cooling from the refrigerator
 
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Temp and humidity controls
 
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While the chamber is settling down time to get the mold culture rehydrated. 1 cup of room tem distilled water and 1 gram of Bartroferm 600. This will rehydrate for 12 hours then loaded into a sanitized srpay bottle and the meats will get misted with the mold culture.
 
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While the mold culture is rehydrating remove the meats from the vacuum bag rinse well with fresh water and pat dry. Meats are then weighed so you can calculate when they are done and ready to eat. One the loose 35% of their weight they are ready to eat. I prefer to let them go until they lose between 40 an 505 of their original weight. The meats are a bit more chewy but sliced paper thin they are tender and ore condensed flavor
 
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Meats rinsed weighed and hanged in the chamber until the mold culture is rehydrated. Once inoculated with the mold the 1st bloom will happen within 48 hours. You'll see small white dots all over the meat.  Then every 12 hours will double in size until about the 7 day mark when the meats are almost  totally encased in a white fluff mold the consistency of talcum powder.   
 
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More pics to follow
 
Ashen said:
Sweet curing chamber setup.


Was it hard to get those inkbird pids tuned in?
 
Not in the least. Inkbird are easy peasy to set up. Here' s my cheat sheet for curing whole muscle meat.
 
Temperature controller:
 
  • Temp set point (TS) = 57 degrees
  • Heating differential value (HD) = 2 degree (dead band)
  • Cooling differential value (CD) = 2 degree (dead band)
  • Alarm high (AH) = 62 degrees
  • Alarm low (AL) = 50 degrees
  • Compressor delay (PT) = 2 minutes
  • Temperature calibration (CA) = 0 degrees
  • Display temp Fahrenheit or Celsius (CF) = F
 
Humidity Controller:
 
  • Humidity set point (HS) = 80%
  • Humidification differential value  (HD) 2.0% (dead band)
  • Dehumidification differential value (DD) = 2.0% (dead band)
  • Alarm high (AH) = 87.0%
  • Alarm low (AL) = 50.0%
  • Compressor delay (PT) = 0 minutes
  • Humidity calibration (CA) = 0.0%
 
Well 1st mold bloom somewhere around the 80 hour mark. I'll post photo's roughly every 12 hours for the next few day so you can see how raid the mold growth is. 
  • Meat were inoculated on 1/11/20 @ 5:15pm
  • Meats checked on 1/14/20 at 5:20pm no sign of mold
  • Meats checked on 1/15/20 @ 5.45am and the 1st bloom has occurred
1/15/20 - 5:45am
 
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Chorizo857_62J said:
I am really not familiar with this whole proceedure, so I assume this is a good, desired thing, as long as it is not fluorescent green, sprouting horns, etc...
 
Yes I purposely want these meats to be covered in "good" mold. It helps protect the meat from omnipresent molds in the air. Just like a healthy lawn chokes out weeds the white mold out competes the other molds leaving it encased in a protective layer. Also there is enzymatic action between the mold and the meat lowering the pH and imparting flavor. 
 
If you ever seen the white on the outer layer of cured meat slices like salumi, sausage etc its mold or actually some makers will dip the meats in corn starch and water to give fake mold covering. 
 
  • White mold = good/beneficial
  • Green mold = not bad. Some are edible others can be neutralized and wiped away with a paper towel soaked in white vinegar. If caught in time and treated they will not ruin the meat.
  • Black mold = bad as in the product is ruined and trying to save it is a very dangerous endeavor.
 
Chorizo857_62J said:
Looks like a big powdered doughnut, so YUM!
 
When the meats are done I use a nylon brush to brush off the excess mold. I do it outside and upwind as it look like I'm emptying a shop-vac full of drywall dust :party: .  
 
Sort of but not really. They are all dried meats to some level but flavor is an texture are way different.
 
Also what dried beef are you referencing? Some home cured dried beef is similar like a 3rd cousin similar  but prepackaged Hormel/Armour stuff in a glass jar or Mylar bag is way different. 
 
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