Text 11088, 40 rader
Skriven 2007-01-29 06:52:54 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: Cappy Update
====================
I check the capicola every couple of days to see if they need
tightening.  Today - finally - they did!  They've lost about
a quarter inch (not too much) in girth due to the water slowly
evaporating out.  The casings are getting harder and there are
a few white marks developing on the casings.  I was afraid this
might have been mold (in which case a wine or vinegar wipedown
would take care of it) but no, it's just a natural characteristic
of the casing's texture as it dries.

ML> If it were you, wouldn't you sacrifice the additional 5 minutes
ML> of effort so as to be able to enjoy the aroma and company of the
ML> curing hams for that much more time?

I might, but I also acknowledge the difficulty of keeping a heavy
pressure on the hams as they are curing.  With the splints and the
wire wraps, the cappy is being constantly squeezed, and it looks 
now that the final texture of the meat is going to be rather
prociutto-like.  Would I be able to achieve the same effect by
hand-tying with twine?

The hams don't have any smell from a distance.  I was a little
trepedatious at first about spoiling; we used only a 48-hour
"cure" in a coating of sea salt only, quite a bit different
from the web chatter that demands salt, saltpeter, and a couple
weeks of soaking in the salt.  I feared that I'd open the door
to the attic and get slapped in the face by a corpselike stench
creeping down the stairs.  But no.

Up close, the aroma is even a little tantalizing.  A meaty sort of
pork smell, and not in that "smells a little rank" way that cryovac
fed-on-fishmeal pork sometimes has.  Deep and earthy and red, if 
you know what I mean.  The meat is darkening as well.  Indications
are (so far) that they will be delicious.



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Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, 
minutus carborata descendum pantorum
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