Jonathon I’d love to see a video of preparing buckboard bacon…hint, hint!

Oh good, so many ppl gone will improve my odds

try putting a quiche in there

Jonathon said in Giveaway for registered Meatgistics Members only!:

How does a 50 dollar gift card a month sound? It can change occasionally but that would be sort of the standard?

Great idea!

HerbcoFood said in Giveaway for registered Meatgistics Members only!:

Have we been bamboozled!!!??!?!?!?!?!

Jonathon, Austin, or the new social person must really be cooking up a fantastic first members only April giveaway

Jonathon When were you planning to do the April Meatgistics giveaway?

Jonathon Meatgistics community only demo unit giveaway?

Maybe the community portion of meatgistics be registered users only? just a thought

Time to have a meatgistics users only giveaway?

fallis10 said in Easter Ham Brine:

Ridley Acres mustard seed or actual mustard?

I used actual mustard.

Jonathon said in Raw Meat:

Well, this Friday we are releasing an episode with Austin and I but next week I am gone but…keep an eye out for some raw meat content!

Good thing you gave us a heads up you will be gone before you binge eating raw meat!

Koops Arizona heat mustard

mrobisr I am calling this meat experimental as its already been dry aged for 2.5 months in my uninsulated/unheated Wisconsin garage. Due to the age it doesn’t have as much moisture as it would fresh so I am not thinking the traditional weigh method will be as reliable. I’ll follow the recipe and process to the “T” and very closely monitor my temp/humid levels in the chamber. I’ll hold for the prescribed duration, but perhaps I can connect with someone locally for testing the safety…otherwise I’ll do the old world method. Sample and wait a couple days before the rest of the family tried it.

I did end up just ordering some dextrose since it’ll be a few days before I can get started.

Dave in AZ & johnsbrewhouse Thanks for the tips! I’m still in disbelief in how nasty that meat tasted before hanging and now after letting it hang is actually quite good.

Deepwoodsbutcher I prefer jerky over snack sticks and summer sausage (mainly due to ingredients). If I were to have an animal processed by someone else I might order some sticks, but I’d be more likely to make jerky at home.

Ridley Acres said in What's your next Meat Project?:

Next meat project is to figure out what to do with the tainted 15 month old boar I have hanging in my garage “aging” since Christmas day. I pan fried a bit of the loin in a cast iron skillet and and he stunk up the whole house. I am leaning towards trying to marinate some whole muscle jerky in something like Braggs liquid aminos, a generous portion of garlic, likely something spicy, followed by a good long cold smoke till dry.

Ok so this carcass ended up aging in my very cold garage for about 2.5 months. It was skin on and the hair mostly scraped. The carcass was split in half. Once outside temps started nearing consistent 40’s I trimmed off the funky parts and was left with about 12lbs of belly and 4 - 2gal bags full of trimmed meat.

I salt cured and lightly cold smoked the belly portions in 1lb chunks. I used salt (2.5% of weight) only mainly because I didn’t want to waste good seasonings on suspect product. Then cold smoked for a few hours until the pellets (Hickory) swelled from rain in my diy smoke generator and choked itself out. Sliced and fried up a chunk…totally different flavor. The aging gave it a nice tang, and the wife actually really liked. Several times she said it was really, really good. There was a very faint taint smell, but only if you really get your face close up to the pan while cooking, and I would say only if you knew the smell could you identify it. Or maybe I was paranoid.

The plan for the trimmed meat is to give pepperoni a shot. But due to the aging, I will need to monitor ph and water activity.

The recipe I planned to use is here:
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
salt 28 g (5 tsp.)
Cure #2 2.5 g (½ tsp.)
dextrose (glucose), 0.2% 2.0 g (⅓ tsp.)
sugar 3.0 g (⅓ tsp.)
black pepper 3.0 g (1½ tsp.)
paprika 6.0 g (3 tsp.)
anise seeds, cracked, (or fennel seeds) 2.5 g (2 tsp.)
cayenne pepper 2.0 g (1 tsp.)
T-SPX culture 0.12 g use scale

I’m looking for a good alternative to dextrose that is locally obtainable.
Also, what are the most economical options for measure of ph and water activity for home sausage maker?

Jonathon How well does the Walton’s Fresh Vac handle maylar vac seal bags? I am referring to the ones typically used for freeze dried products. I have read that the mylar bags need a higher heat, but figured this little guy would work great.

Another perk of a mobile processing room is that mobile kitchens don’t usually apply to the same regulations as brick and mortar facilities. So instead of needing to dispose of liquid waste in a city sewer or septic you can compost as long as you are using biodegradable chemicals…of course check with local agencies before planning and building if you intend for commercial purposes.

This looks good Deepwoodsbutcher, I’ve been researching and accumulating gear for years so I can do similar.

Dave in AZ This was an American Guinea Hog that was about 18 months old.

processhead It was just in my garage from 12/25/21 until 3/15/22. Temps went well into negative at times, but never went over 40 until the day I finished cutting him up. The day I slaughtered I sprayed the whole carcass with 1:1 vinegar/water and repeated daily for 3 days so there wouldn’t be as much bad bacteria. Anything off colored was discarded.

Well the time has finally come in SE Wisconsin that my garage which I have been referring to as my walk in cooler is no longer safe temps for aging meat. That means its time to deal with the domestic boar I harvested around Christmas time. I didn’t take any pics because I was sure it was going to turn into dog food or varmint bait.

Cut the fat and funky bits off and mostly deboned. (The scraps are in a separate freezer and will be composted on farm when the ground is thawed enough. Hate to waste valuable nutrients.) Took a few chunks of meat and fried them up. A couple days later I’m still alive, no sickness as of yet.

After aging for a few months, the meat tasted like normal farm raised heritage pork. Back on day 1 when it was fresh, that was some nasty smelling stuff.

So we got about 20lb of belly that I put on salt to make some bacon, 1 picnic ham for smoking, and about 30-40 lb of everything else that I cut up to grind and make pepperoni.