Well it has been 6 days since we received our 209kg of butchered pork and boy have we been busy.
Sorting, vac packing, freezing, brining, mincing.....the list goes on.
One of the best parts of this whole process is the fact that we do it with our very good friends. One of the traditions that has established is that we get both families together to make sausages. On Sunday we made over 6kg of sausages and had a lovely bbq to celebrate and taste some of our creations. All delicious and not much left over on anyone's plate.
We have also used one of our loins to make bacon. This has been curing for the past 4 days and is currently wrapped in muslin and hanging to dry. Tomorrow we will take it over to our local smokehouse www.thesmokehouselewes.co.uk, where David, our friendly oak chip smoker will give our bacon it's mildly smokey flavour.
Two of the hams are now brining in a mixture of molasses. bitter, juniper berries, peppercorns and of course salt! This will remain in our fridge for the next 3 weeks or so and then it will be smoked too.
We are also attempting a Spanish style Parma ham. We did try this last time, but unfortunately the maggots got to it when the weather warmed up. Hopefully, because it is coming into the cooler months, we will have more success. It is currently packed in 7kg of salt inside a wooden wine box, with two bricks on top of it and will remain so for about 28 days. We will take it out, wash down with white wine vinegar, wrap in muslin and then chicken wire and hang in the barn for about 4 months! Fingers crossed for our 2nd attempt x
I actually really enjoy this part of the process and can't wait to taste some of our efforts in the coming weeks and months.
Sorting, vac packing, freezing, brining, mincing.....the list goes on.
One of the best parts of this whole process is the fact that we do it with our very good friends. One of the traditions that has established is that we get both families together to make sausages. On Sunday we made over 6kg of sausages and had a lovely bbq to celebrate and taste some of our creations. All delicious and not much left over on anyone's plate.
We have also used one of our loins to make bacon. This has been curing for the past 4 days and is currently wrapped in muslin and hanging to dry. Tomorrow we will take it over to our local smokehouse www.thesmokehouselewes.co.uk, where David, our friendly oak chip smoker will give our bacon it's mildly smokey flavour.
Two of the hams are now brining in a mixture of molasses. bitter, juniper berries, peppercorns and of course salt! This will remain in our fridge for the next 3 weeks or so and then it will be smoked too.
We are also attempting a Spanish style Parma ham. We did try this last time, but unfortunately the maggots got to it when the weather warmed up. Hopefully, because it is coming into the cooler months, we will have more success. It is currently packed in 7kg of salt inside a wooden wine box, with two bricks on top of it and will remain so for about 28 days. We will take it out, wash down with white wine vinegar, wrap in muslin and then chicken wire and hang in the barn for about 4 months! Fingers crossed for our 2nd attempt x
I actually really enjoy this part of the process and can't wait to taste some of our efforts in the coming weeks and months.
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