Curing & Dry Aging Meat

[jeffrice6]

Has anyone here ever cured & dry aged ham / meat? Just curious about the process & interested how our forefathers preserved their meat without refrigeration.

[RUMshooter]

This was recommended to me-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393058298?pc_redir=1409726930&robot_redir=1

I don't know enough to offer any advise as I have just started dabbling a bit.

[deckhandmike]

I think they just salted the crap out of it back in the day. I'll be doing some cured meats soon with a chef buddy but I think we will be using a fridge set in the 50's.

[jeffrice6]

I think they just salted the crap out of it back in the day. I'll be doing some cured meats soon with a chef buddy but I think we will be using a fridge set in the 50's.

Please post what you learn

[deckhandmike]

Yeah, I will. My friend does everything from basic sausage to iberico hamon. Nothing like a pro to really give the down low. I'm stoked to age and cure my own meats. I'll break it down step by step. It will be really cool to not only learn but to actually produce high end restaurant quality meat.

On that note. I guess that friend has got a hook up to hunt Hearst Castle property. Tons of pig and wild exotic rams and other critters. I can't wait to go out hunting with her.

[jeffrice6]

Yeah, I will. My friend does everything from basic sausage to iberico hamon. Nothing like a pro to really give the down low. I'm stoked to age and cure my own meats. I'll break it down step by step. It will be really cool to not only learn but to actually produce high end restaurant quality meat.

That's awesome!
I know my grandfather as a youngster helped his pops salt, cure & smoke meat ~ Really wish he was still around to ask him........

[Loubot10]

Look up and buy "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" by Rytek Kutas also known as the Bible of Sausage Making.

It is an incredible resource that covers everything you need to know including history and correct temperatures throughout the different processes.

I make sausages, salami, beef sticks, pastrami, & corned beef. There are recipes and instructions for dry curing techniques including hams.

[hermosabeach]

Tag

[jtake]

I cured both pork shoulder and pork belly to make bacon -- turned out real yummy although the shoulder was a little more hammy-flavored due it being leaner than the pork belly.

I used Morton Tenderquick as the curing agent for my bacon. You do not need much, about a tablespoon for 2-3 lbs of meat, and you make a rub using the tenderquick, sugar, seasoning (onion, garlic etc.) rub the pork with the salts, then let cure in a ziplock bag in the fridge for 7 days, turning the bag every day. Lots of recipes on the web for making bacon.

The pork comes out nice and pink from the curing, then you can smoke it to an almost cooked state, fry it up, then eat.

Leaner bacon without all of the extra additives. Yum

[Untamed1972]

Dry aging is what you do to be beef by letting the slaughtered carcass hang in a cooler anywhere from 5-21 days. This removed a lot of water weight from the meat and allows the natural enzymes in the meat to start breaking it down and tenderizing it. The aging is done BEFORE the final cutting if the meat. My butcher ages my cows usually about 10-14 days.

In the old days, in some places in the country anyway people would have what they called a "spring house". A little shack build over a natural cold water spring, that kept it cool inside like a natural refrigerator.

One thing I do notice is that dry aged beef cooks ALOT faster on the grill because you're NOT spending a lot of time just cooking the water out of it.

[mofugly13]

This is an excellent book with a lot of info on curing and preserving meat as well as the killing and butchering of animals:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0882663917/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Another excellent book:

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Canning-Freezing-Curing-Smoking/dp/1580174574/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0G8HSWZ7QNCMT7B3K985

[jeffrice6]

Dry aging is what you do to be beef by letting the slaughtered carcass hang in a cooler anywhere from 5-21 days. This removed a lot of water weight from the meat and allows the natural enzymes in the meat to start breaking it down and tenderizing it. The aging is done BEFORE the final cutting if the meat. My butcher ages my cows usually about 10-14 days.

In the old days, in some places in the country anyway people would have what they called a "spring house". A little shack build over a natural cold water spring, that kept it cool inside like a natural refrigerator.

One thing I do notice is that dry aged beef cooks ALOT faster on the grill because you're NOT spending a lot of time just cooking the water out of it.

I was referring to the curing and aging of meat to be stored, minus refrigeration.

[woodsman]

Pressure can your meat and no refrigeration is needed.

Chicken, beef, pork etc...

Season it or not..

Eat it cold or not.

As for dry aged beef to cook, we just dry aged some rib-eye for 7 days and grilled them. They were unreal. Definitely increases flavor and tenderizes the meat. Still juicy and the decrease in ( mostly external ) water content helps create a great outer crust on the grill. Yes they do cook faster.

Lots of youtube stuff on both topics.

Been making sausage for years but want to try cold smoking, just need to build my cold smoker.