Salting and / or pickling, cold drying of meat

Preparation steps

• Dry salting / pickling
• Rub good meat with salt and sugar and possibly some other suitable flavors such as crushed pepper, paprika, pine ... possibly garlic in granules ... It is good to add salt to the total amount on several occasions so that the meat absorbs salt as well as possible , and if possible press something heavy, occasionally rearrange the meat, pour the blood from the bottom of the pan, maybe add a little salt, or add the rest of the total amount, but do not go much above 11%, carefully rub salt, especially into the hollows of ham ... 2-3 weeks ... and more for big hams. Wet lasts at least 3 weeks.
• Combined salting / pickling. The first week is done as written in dry salting. The CHILLED meat is sprinkled with salt and sugar provided for brine immediately after slaughter (if frozen, immediately after thawing). Sugar is mixed with salt because it makes it easier for salt to penetrate the meat. Water with all other ADDED ingredients after a week boil and cool, and pour on the meat. Stick to the ratio, if you put 5 kg of salt on 50 kg of meat and you need, for example, 20 liters of water, then it is too much, because the salinity ratio should be about 5-6% and increase the amount of water to reduce total salinity, or meat rub with approx. 3.5 kg of salt and not 5 kg as in dry pickling (meaning 50 kg of meat and 20 liters of water is 70 kg of mass, 5-6% of salt is 3.5-4 kg in total). If it is only dry pickling then about 5 kg of salt (10%) is needed. before smoking, be sure to soak the meat in clean water for at least an hour. IMPORTANT whether you add water or meat, increase the total mass, stick to the percentage of salt, 5-6%.
• Wet, wet salting / pickling
• For wet pickling, an aqueous brine solution is made, boiled and cooled. Approximately 10 kg of brine mixture is added to 50 liters of water. A larger amount of the mixture in the brine leads to faster salting, but then the product becomes saltier. The meat is dipped in the mixture so that it is completely covered. This method, which lasts 3-4 weeks, is less commonly used in our country today. Injecting brine into meat and blood vessels is very effective. Meat in brine should be inspected, topped up or renewed with brine if necessary. The room must be dark and airy, and the temperature must not be above + 8 ° C, as the meat will start to spoil. After salting, the meat is salted in lukewarm water at a temperature of approximately + 20 ° C. This usually lasts one day, and the next day the meat is drained and ready to be smoked.
• Drying and smoking of meat and processed products
• Drying and smoking of meat and processed products is the effect of smoke, steam and air current on meat and meat products, in order to increase their durability and get a characteristic smell and taste. You should use as little wood as possible (preferably sawdust) and make sure that the temperature does not exceed + 300 ° C, because then some harmful chemical compounds are formed. Therefore, care should be taken that the wood burns slowly. The best way to control this is to install a thermometer on the door, which shows the internal temperature as close to the meat as possible, because the warm air goes up and we see the temperature coming to the meat, if it is higher than +20 C, pull the firebox out, or muffle the firebox. with an adequate cover which may have vents as well as a firebox. The firebox is most ideal on wheels (metal) and you can mix it and pull it out like a pram. Hardwoods, such as oak, beech, hornbeam, ash, etc. are most suitable. Direct burning of wood in a smokehouse is usually used, but the firebox can be located outside, it is the best option, to bring the smoke through the pipe into the smokehouse / dryer, so you can easily control the temperature and report, ie smoke if necessary without entering the smokehouse. If you are burning inside, make sure that the firebox is mobile, so that the fire can be prepared outside, and later stirred in the smokehouse.
• Smoking dries the meat and changes its appearance, smell and taste. Cold smoking (at a temperature of + 20 - 25 ° C) is applied to permanent meat products, which are smoked for several weeks, depending on the size of the piece. Hot smoking (up to + 100 ° C) is applied to products with a shorter shelf life, in the period from half an hour to several hours. The picture shows my portable brainchild and handicraft, multifunctional smoker, oven, dryer .. After smoking, meat and meat products are put to drying and ripening. The room should be dark and airy, and the temperature in it from 12 to 16 ° C. Most sausages are dried for up to 2 months, and the drying speed depends on the thickness of the sausage and the external climatic conditions. Kulen is dried for up to 4 months. Ham and other meats remain dried for up to 7 months. Maturation (not drying) can still take more, a year or more, such as (ham, prosciutto, culatello, buđola (tucked into the intestine, tied, or a woman's sock, not an elastic net, because it cuts deep into the meat)
• Products ....
• Homemade handicrafts, small dryers, firebox
• Barrel ...
• Fireplace in the smokehouse ..
• Inside with them! ...
• Wow, here they are outside, sister ..
• 12/5/2015 In "Visiliste" near "Altar", my "Den" .....