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Charcuterie Must haves.

Capozzoli said:
The Foxfire books have some good info to on curing and preserving meats and building a smokehouse.
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OMG!! :shocked: I thought I was the last remaining soul in the world that remembers and used the Foxfire books!! Coincidentally, I live on Foxfire St. in Moore, OK! :-D
 
Mikey063 said:
Talk about info overload. Everybody has given me alot to think about. I will wait for the book to arrive before I go much further into the process, except I will get the meat grinder for my KitchenAid. I wanted that for awhile, mainly to make my own hamburger. As to the stuffer, I will look for a good quality one.
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I thought you had the Charcuterie book ordered already..[EDIT - I just looked at your first post, it is on order].. okay that's a good call to get if first. In the meantime, HERE is a link to my favorite site for things like this. Start with the "Making Sausage" tab, it has sub-tabs that will walk you through the entire process. This is not a substitute for getting both the Ruhlman and the Kutas books, they are bibles..... but this site is dang good.
 
I think for the most part, except for the meat grinder, Thirdeye has nailed it with the reading materials, meat lugs, space, thermos, link to the Marianski's web site etc. The Charcuterie book is a good start but possibly a bit advanced for a guy with no equipment in my opinion. You'll see that the dry cured products require more equipment and knowledge.

I'll add/reinforce the point made about the grinder plates by saying each plate should have its own knife. Realisticly you'll need a good grinder, sooner or later, and stuffer for top quality sausages. A meat mixer is a valuable tool since it substancially reduces the time the meat spends out of the fridge/handeling. Have everything you'll need to do the job lined up and ready to go so you dont have to drive back into town and get the one thing you thought you had but dident.

Personally I would reccomend picking up a small stuffer, and a larger one if you really like sausage, so you can make small batches (experimental recipies) and not have to clean a big stuffer for only a couple pounds of sausage.

Most importantly have a good time with the project so it dont seem like your working, drink lots of beer, take a bunch of pics and enjoy making your own cured meats.
 
I started out with the KitchenAid grinder and stuffer, but soon found that the holes are too small in the grinder plate. To make really good sausage you need a really coarse grind on the meat and other ingedients, thus that's why I got my grinder with the big holes( plus it heats the meat less). Just info i've learned the hard way. Also the tube style stuffer doesn't heat the meat either. Good luck! jb
 
Matt_A said:
OMG!! :shocked: I thought I was the last remaining soul in the world that remembers and used the Foxfire books!! Coincidentally, I live on Foxfire St. in Moore, OK! :-D
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Looking at my set of Foxfire books on the shelf right now! :thumb:
 
pitbossJB said:
I started out with the KitchenAid grinder and stuffer, but soon found that the holes are too small in the grinder plate. To make really good sausage you need a really coarse grind on the meat and other ingedients, thus that's why I got my grinder with the big holes( plus it heats the meat less). Just info i've learned the hard way. Also the tube style stuffer doesn't heat the meat either. Good luck! jb
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There should be 2 plates with the KA grinder, not sure on the size of the fine plate, but the coarse plate has 1/4" holes. Did your kit have both plates? I only grind my sausage meat once through the coarse plate. As far as heat goes, cube and chill your meat until it's icy before grinding.


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I will second the thought that the Kitchenaid grinder is OK but the stuffer SUCKS.

I used it once and immediately went out and bought a 5# tube-type stuffer. You will want to pull your hair out trying to use that POS Kitchenaid stuffer. It truly blows. :crazy:

There, I feel better now. :laugh:
 
AWESOME thread. Lots of great info for us charcucherie noobs.
I also bought the Ruhlman book a couple of months ago and was immediately hooked. NOW....if I can only create my clone so I can have more time in my daily life.....:roll:

I've been looking at CL lately and have had some luck finding commercial grinders and stuffers from closing processors, restaurants, etc. It may be worth a search to see if there's something like that in your area.

I simply have a real hard time buying the KA mixer for what they want new. (CHEAPO TO THE MAX) I've seen those on CL as well for deals.


Personally, I can't wait to make my own sausage and bacon.:thumb:
 
I too, bought the book. After reading it and further investigetion, I found that there are no retail dry curing chambers. The closest you get is a wine fridge. The problem is keeping the humidity, and the temperature exact. I saw some converted fridges, with humidifiers, and lightbulbs installed on the inside. These do the job of balancing the temp and humidity. Also , I've heard of using salt, in the bottom of the fridge. Most people didn't seem to have alot of luck this way tho.

It'll be great to see what results people on here have had, or get. I did some bacon, and it turned out spectacular! Plan on doing some canadian bacon, or proscuitto next!
 
For sausage and bacon smoking the masterbuilt electric smoker does a outstanding job.I've
seen them on sale for $140 at Academy.They also do a good brisket.I leave out the thing where you put the wood chips and attached a smoke pistol,but I think if you use pellets
instead of chips you will get smoker results.Also a good dry smoker. We soaked pinto beans and smoked them,they came out incredible.When I do a brisket in my pit it is smokier,but they are equal in tenderness.The pellets come in a wide range of flavors. If your going to make sausage a smoker is almost a must.
 
Look up the Len Poli sausage site. It is the best sausage site on the internet.
The Kitchen Aid mixer will grind, but has small plate holes and plugs up a lot.
The Cabelas #42 grinder looked great. It was very quiet when grinding. My neighbor has 3-4 grinders and the $99 ones make an incredible amount of noise when grinding.

I have the northern Tool $299 model and it works well. Its main draw back is that the shaft that drives the cutter is oversized. I bought a second shaft and machined it down to be able to use standard #12 plates and cutters.
 
mcoupe said:
I too, bought the book. After reading it and further investigetion, I found that there are no retail dry curing chambers. The closest you get is a wine fridge. The problem is keeping the humidity, and the temperature exact. I saw some converted fridges, with humidifiers, and lightbulbs installed on the inside. These do the job of balancing the temp and humidity. Also , I've heard of using salt, in the bottom of the fridge. Most people didn't seem to have alot of luck this way tho.

It'll be great to see what results people on here have had, or get. I did some bacon, and it turned out spectacular! Plan on doing some canadian bacon, or proscuitto next!
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DIY Cheese cave. Having actually gone through all trouble researching what it takes to build a cheese cave/ sausage ageing booth I can tell you, it's really not all that hard. That link will show you what you need to do to an old fridge to modify it for the right temp's and humidity. Plus there's all sorts of forums like this one dedicated to cheese that have people MacGuyvering their own. It's pretty awesome. Just work clean, and you should be just fine.
 
mcoupe said:
I too, bought the book. After reading it and further investigetion, I found that there are no retail dry curing chambers. The closest you get is a wine fridge. The problem is keeping the humidity, and the temperature exact. I saw some converted fridges, with humidifiers, and lightbulbs installed on the inside. These do the job of balancing the temp and humidity. Also , I've heard of using salt, in the bottom of the fridge. Most people didn't seem to have alot of luck this way tho.

It'll be great to see what results people on here have had, or get. I did some bacon, and it turned out spectacular! Plan on doing some canadian bacon, or proscuitto next!
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I think you meant to say "dry aging chambers". Dry aging is the method used on something like a quarter beef or a whole loin, and takes 20 to 40 days under controlled conditions, like temperature, humidity, air circulation etc. This is what's done in a special room, and most of the pro's discourage home aging. However.... a lot of the Eggers are doing it without special equipment (just a beer fridge). And there is a company that sells a system called a Dry Bag that can be used at home. It has special vents and a procedure to follow.

Dry curing is what is used on Buckboard bacon, some belly bacon, even pork chops. It only needs a non-reactive container or bag and your beer fridge. And all of these things are cooked at the end of the process. Dry cured items like hams, salami and proscuitto are not cooked that's why they need a different blend of curing agents.

Maybe you dry cured the bacon you did? I just sliced and packaged the dry cured bacon I smoked yesterday. Two of my buddies got enough for a king sized breakfast for their families.


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I think after looking at that pron. I need some me time. That bacon looks great. I believe you used a meat slicer to get the nice cuts. Very nice.
 
I 100% agree with that statement about the KA attachments. I had my brother in law make me a plate with 3/8 holes. Him and I are pretty good with CAD, and after using a set of calipers took every bit of three minutes to draw up and he has access to a waterjet. Even then the suck factor was pretty high grinding and the stuffing operation was always ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. I do not make all that much sausage (honestly cause how horrible the stuffing operation is with the KA) but I still am gonna get a vertical hand crank stuffer.

You can get electric motors from surpluscenter (even with washdown enclosures) for real cheap and you can put together a grinder like what Pitboss did for probably less than $200 depending on where you get your parts from. Nice rig BTW Pitboss.



Grabnabber said:
I will second the thought that the Kitchenaid grinder is OK but the stuffer SUCKS.

I used it once and immediately went out and bought a 5# tube-type stuffer. You will want to pull your hair out trying to use that POS Kitchenaid stuffer. It truly blows. :crazy:

There, I feel better now. :laugh:
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