Venison Alchemy - Sausages, Biltong & Charcuterie

[Yokel Matt 918]

A recent trip out stalking yielded a few deer, one of these was earmarked for the landowner but a couple of others were small follower culls that, frankly, it would be embarrassing to present to a game dealer so I was going to keep these for the freezer. My last effort at sausages needed a health warning as I completely bolloxed the measurements and used twice the amount of seasoning I should have so not only were they saltier than pork scratching's they also made all the dairy in the fridge, including the milk, taste of sausages! A mate in the trade (Martin) suggested I use a complete mix until I get the hang of things and, for the sake of simplicity and good results they produced i'll be sticking to them.

 

So for the landowner - two boned haunches, shanks, trimmed fillet, diced shoulder and a bag of snags.

 

 

It seemed a crime to stick the saddle fillets in the sausage mix so I had a go at a simple biltong method i've used before using strips of haunch. Two tablespoons of salt, two of toasted & crushed coriander seeds and one of cracked black pepper.

 

 

 

Mix the dry cure up and rub it into the meat making sure its well covered. Then pop it in a sealable plastic bag and add a slosh of white wine vinegar and leave it in the fridge overnight. Next morning pat it dry with kitchen roll and skewer it through the top with a cocktail stick, this can then be suspended off the oven rack at the top of the oven. With the temperature as low as it can go (ie nothing more than plate warming / defrost) leave it in there for a least 6 hours depending on how thick you cut the strips. I did mine at different thicknesses as I didn't want it too hard and dry.

 

 

Too damn tasty.... nom.. nom nom.. gone!

 

 

As with the fillets there were a couple of small but prime haunches I wanted to make the most of so I had a go at making charcuterie for the first time. They also went in the mincer on a corse plate 50/50 with 60/40 visual lean pork belly strips from a supermarket. To this I added exactly 3% curing salts (for the weight of the meat) along with crushed chillis, toasted & crushed coriander seeds, pepper, lemon zest & half a bottle of Malbec.

 

 

 

Apparently you're supposed to use ox bung for these but I still had yards and yards of hog casings left over so just used these instead. Again I couldn't make up my mind on the size of them so they are a bit of a mixed bag.

 

 

There is all sorts of bollox and disagreement about the right temperature and conditions to cure these at so, after a day at room temperature to ferment I've just put them in a cool outbuilding away from any flies to cure. The hard part now is waiting ten weeks for them to be ready!

 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Yokel Matt

[terryd 8,524]

wow that lot gets the old taste buds going I must say.

Going to get a vacum packer next time lidl or aldi have one too

jok will sniff this out a mile away

Edited February 23, 2016 by terryd

[jonnie bravo 572]

Just eaten my tea. Well hungry again now

 

I really need to have a go at this biltong business

[devon flighter 421]

+ 1 on that jb ive just saved this page !

[Tiercel 6,986]

I really look forward to your threads, they just go to prove what you can achieve, if you do not think that Manual labour is a Spanish dancer. All this "I cant be arsed nonsense" just shows the lazy barstewards up for what they are. Keep up the good work.

 

TC

[jok 3,273]

Oh matethis has got me going in a new direction. I've plenty venison and other bits and bobs so reckon it's a go. Not only terry but Gaz will be watching what happens. Good post and what a lovely result. Jok.

[Yokel Matt 918]

Thanks gents - A bit of guesswork going on with the charcuterie so hopefully they'll turn out ok. I'm rigging up a cold smoker using an old metal kitchen bin and a length of pipe to give half the batch a taste of hickory.

 

Even if I say so myself the biltong was amazing - with a jug of ale and the 6 nations on the TV it didn't last long!

[Born Hunter 17,783]

Good timing, I wanted to try Biltong next. I'm quite keen on jerkying my venison, been experimenting with that and loving the results. It's way too convenient a snack to last more than a month! LOL. I want to oak smoke the next lot of jerky. A mate did Biltong hare a few years ago which was decent.

 

Good stuff mate.

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Excellent stuff Matt, can't beat a bit of homemade charcuterie. Can be a bit hit and miss at times though, but when it comes right it's all worth it. When I used to make the biltong and salami's I used to let them age in a box I knocked up out of offcuts of wood and MDF, with a lightbulb at the bottom and airflow holes top and bottom and it worked a treat. I'll have a look and see if I can find a picture of it and post on this thread if you don't mind.

[3175darren 1,100]

That looks Bloody lovely,

[squab 2,875]

looks like you got it cracked looks bang on that

[Yokel Matt 918]

Excellent stuff Matt, can't beat a bit of homemade charcuterie. Can be a bit hit and miss at times though, but when it comes right it's all worth it. When I used to make the biltong and salami's I used to let them age in a box I knocked up out of offcuts of wood and MDF, with a lightbulb at the bottom and airflow holes top and bottom and it worked a treat. I'll have a look and see if I can find a picture of it and post on this thread if you don't mind.

Yes please mate - fill your boots and get the pics up. The charcuterie is smelling pretty damn good at the moment, shame it takes so long to mature.

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Filling a salami in a Hukka casing.

 

 

Salami's curing in the homemade box.

 

 

 

The final product.

 

 

A batch of biltong drying out.

 

 

Some bresaola. (not cured in the biltong box)

 

 

 

A small salami testing a recipe using hog casing.

 

 

Salami and chorizo curing, Got a nice white mould blooming.

 

 

 

Final result.

 

 

A couple of rounds of pork loin cured for Lonzino/Lomo, just like parma ham.

 

 

 

[Yokel Matt 918]

Awesome - I doff my cap to you sir!

 

I found a lot of conflicting info on the web about temperature and humidity for curing salami, what conditions do you find suits your mixes best?

[Mister Gain 1,764]

Matt, I stopped doing the charcuterie some years back as there's only me and the wife, and she's not keen on it, she thinks it's raw if it's not cooked

 

You are right, there is a lot of conflicting advice out there, hence the small practice salami in the hogs casing. It's beneficial to use a starter culture (LS25) to bring the ph down and give it between 12 and 24 hours of incubation time at about 85F/30C, this will grow lactic acid and stop any nasty bacteria (botulism) forming. Then aim for about 60F/15C and 60% to 70% relative humidity (RH). It's impossible to give exact times for curing because of all the variables, temp, RH, size of casing etc, so it is normally done by using an accurate set of scales and aiming for a weight loss of 30%. Small ones in hog casings are anywhere between 12 to 18 days, but if using protien lined artificial casing with a larger diameter it will be down to weight loss. If you dry it out too quickly it will be prone to case hardening with a nasty crumbly texture inside.

 

Rhulman and Polcyn do a pretty good book called Charcuterie, and there is a very knowledgeable man called Len Poli who has a site at http://lpoli.50webs.com/page0002.htm

 

It's a bit of faffing around as you are playing with nitrates/nitrites in saltpetre or cure#2, as you don't want to start chowing down on rotten flesh. I know some people make it just using salt but I personally wouldn't want to risk it.