Prosciutto Crudo

Oh my, it’s been a while since a last posted something here. I haven’t stopped making stuff, I’ve just been making stuff which I’ve already posted about, like coppa and bresaola. So I didn’t think it was worthwhile to post them.
But now, finally, I’ve made something new. A whole, bone in prosciutto crudo. Don’t think prosciutto needs any introduction, but just in case, basically it’s  a whole real hog leg salted and then dried. I didn’t have veyr high expectations for my outcome, given it was my first try with a prosciutto. I followed Craig Deihl’s advice on salting time and general process.
In this case I used a rear leg of an American Guinea Hog, a small heritage breed hog from Carolina Heritage Farms. This is a great breed for home curers as they are only about 100lbs fully grown.

A Facebook group of curers

A while back a friend of mine, Scott from Sausage Debauchery, started a Facebook group for open discussion of sausage making, curing meats and anything else involving deliciousness. It's a good place to ask questions and get advice from a group of folks who know their way around a curing chamber and a grinder!

Come join us. Search for the "Sausage Debauchery" group in Facebook or use this link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sausagedebauchery/

See you there!

Heritage Foods Guanciale Taste-off

Heritage foods is a company which sources and resells premium, small farm, meats from around the country. Really, this is the kind of pork you want to be curing. Small farms raising heritage breed pigs in a happy environment on good feed. A while back someone from Heritage Foods contacted me asking if I wanted to try some of their products for curing. Of course I did! After a little back and forth with them, I told them that rather than just curing a couple different cuts of pork, why not cure the same cut from two different breeds, and see if there are any organoleptic differences between just breeds, keeping all other variables the same.