The Bresaola Experiment

[devo]

Started this on May the 15th. Bresaola
Bresaola is just simply cured and then air dried lean beef. For this one I used the eye of round. The recipe I follow for my bresaola is that from Ruhlman's Charcuterie book.


I stuffed the meat into a beef bung casing after curing and before air drying. This helps slow down the drying process, and helps prevent case hardening (where the outside of the meat dries out too fast, becomes hard and stops the inside drying out properly). If I had someone video taping this part you guys would have split a gut laughing at me fighting that thing to get inside the casing.  ;D



After the curing stage you have to rinse it off and air dry for a few hours.


All stuffed inside the bung. Make sure you prick any air bubbles, you don't want air bubbles.


Got the netting around it and off to be hung for 3-4 weeks. This weighed in at 1561g green weight. Hang at 55F and 80% humidity for at least a month – until it has lost 40% of its original weight. This will also get a good spray of Bactoferm Mold-600 tomorrow. The spray is composed of a bacterial culture that's sole purpose is to ensure the beneficial surface mold wins the battle over the pathogenic bacteria and will also slow down drying so not to get case hardening.


Should end up with a nice little plate like this


Now I was going to smoke the other half of the eye of round but the weather is not co-operating. Major thunder storms and rain. Actually under a flood watch for most of the region.  :o


So off the the slow cooker it went


Thanks for reading. Update in a month  ;)

[SamuelG]

You are going to love the results!  Looking forward to the money shot.

[Keymaster]

Very cool, That should be excellent!!

[slowpoke]

Be watching and waiting,This is quite interesting.

[devo]

Well I'm safe, dry and at home but the shopping center in town is under water and more to come so they say

[NePaSmoKer]

Freaking awesome Don.

Did your beef bung have a slight stank to it  :o

The few i got did, but after some soaking and vinegar it was gone.


YIKES

Flood water big time.

[devo]

Yup there was a slight stank to it as you say  :)  but did just what you suggested and it was gone. They sure are slimmeeee guys thats for sure. I ended up cutting holes near the top part to help hold onto it so I could slide the meat inside. It was a tight fit.

[3rensho]

Drizzle the thinly sliced bresaola with a a bit of EVOO and a little freshly squeezed lemon juice and it is heaven.  Had it several places in Milano dressed like that.  Delicious.

[Smoker John]

That looks great devo, look forward to the update

[devo]

Small update, still a long way to go but today the color got darker so I took some pictures. I never took so many pictures of food before in my life.  ;D

[slowpoke]

Keep those pictures coming,we're learning here.lol

[devo]

White Mold starting to show up

[NorthShoreMN]

Devo, I stuffed an eye of round into a beef bung on May 11th.  You are right they are slippery and not the easiest to
use.  I also used the bactoform 600.  Your bresaola looks like it is a lot larger than the eye of round I used. It ended
up 3lb 11oz.  As of yesterday it had lost 30% of its weight but is still somewhat soft so will leave it in for a couple
more weeks. 

On 5-21-2012 I stuffed another bung with pork for Coppa and started drying it.  Didn't have to spray that one as
the mold on the bresaola transferred. 


Coppa was put into net , bresaola was tied. 

[devo]

Looks good Paul. I like this dry cure stuff just as much as smoking meat. I had some coppa going but it was chunks of pork so I trashed that idea and got a whole muscle to try. It needs to cure till the 15th at least before it goes in the chamber.

[NorthShoreMN]

My coppa is also chunks but after talking with a friend in Italy I decided to go ahead and try it.  He told me there
are as many ways to make coppa as bacon.  True coppa is a specific muscle but many times people he knows make
it out of leftover pieces from other projects. 
So I went ahead and used the chunks and tried to pack it very tightly. I will let you know how it turns out.