Re: Lardo

[Guest guest]

>Okay, Ms. Glutenator, your description of lardo caught my attention

>and after doing a little google research, I think I'm going to have to

>try a batch out of curiosity more than anything else. I could find

>several places that sell it, but either they were really high or out

>of stock. I couldn't find a recipe or a hint about the

>salt:water:fat:spices ratio. Can you post a suggestion, even if you

>don't have it perfected? Thanks mucho!!

>

>Katy

Well, I just packed a piece of fatty beef in a bunch of salt.

I mean, put some salt down on the bottom of the container, then

the beef, then pour salt all around it and over the top. The

salt filled the entire container (tupperware, in this case) so

I just snapped on the lid. The recipes call for stone weights,

but as long as the entire thing is covered it seems to work.

The salt gets full of moisture and turns into a kind of mush.

Some recipes for salt beef call for holes in the container

so the extra moisture gets out, but I can't see the point in it.

The same " recipe " is how they make anchovies, so I tried

another container with some smelt in it.

I also did one with half salt and half brown sugar, with

nutmeg, allspice, and cayenne in it.

Another experiment was to take a beef roast, coat it

with molasses, then rub salt all over the molasses. Set

it up on lids or something so the moisture

can drain. Do this for about 2 weeks, rubbing it with

molasses and covering it with salt. This turns into

something like prosciutto when thinly sliced. Good stuff!

In terms of bacteria ... bacteria don't grow in a solution

with more than 30% salt (and 10% inhibits most of the

bad ones) so anything IMMERSED in salt isn't going to

putrefy. The thing to watch out for is " air holes " ... but

since the salt " melts " and pretty much soaks into the

whole piece of meat, I think it's safe enough. Or at

least, I've survived so far!

Given how easy all this stuff is, you wonder why

it's so expensive ... of course, I haven't tried the " real "

stuff yet, I should ...

Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

>

> Well, I just packed a piece of fatty beef in a bunch of salt.

> I mean, put some salt down on the bottom of the container, then

> the beef, then pour salt all around it and over the top. The

> salt filled the entire container (tupperware, in this case) so

> I just snapped on the lid.

Great! One last question, does the final product taste anything like

the meat? I'm asking because I was thinking about combining pork fat

and ghee to make something that's spreadable and taste sorta like

butter, but is very low casein.

THanks!

Katy