The view out the kitchen window this morning as I made breakfast.

11.5.19

 The 12kg prosciutto hanging in the homemade meatsafe.

Only a year or two to go

and then - yummo!

I've also hung a 2.2kg copacolla today.

Will upload a photo shortly.

Spectacular double rainbow from a few days ago.

Poppy, the heifer, went out to a nearby farm on Thursday to spend some time with a little Dexter bull.  He was immediately very interested in her and she seems rather appreciative of the attention, so we hope they get down to business so we can have a fresh supply of dairy products in about 10 months, and another beast for the freezer in about 2 years.

We have been told that we only have 2 years to have the house completed, so the pressure is on now to get everything done and dusted.  Plumbing, electrics, rendering and roadworks to be done.  Most of the rest is either completed or almost so.

2.4.19

The prosciutto after 2 weeks in salt.
Looking, smelling and feeling good.

2.4.19
I've just returned from another sojourn to hospital.  10mm of kidney stone on the move and then stuck in the pipes.  A stent went in, and I'm back to hospital in 2 weeks to have the rock lasered.  Oh joy!

My home-made meat safe for air-drying. It's on the south side
of the (unfinished) house, out of direct sun and open to
the breeze to help with the drying process.

The first of the bacon hung out to dry. The 

mesh is seriously heavy duty, stainless steel.

The same bacon sliced and vacuum sealed.

A little fatty and salty, but delicious.  It's

in the freezer now.

We just ate the first few rashers of the bacon for breakfast.  A little salty, as I was a bit heavy-handed during the curing process, but still delicious.  I'm going to leave the second flitch to hang for a few more days before slicing and sealing so it can firm up some more.

It was nice to see news reports last week about nitrites being unnecessary for curing meat.  I've gone the traditional approach and only used salt and time to do the cure on the first two flitches.  The next one, I'll try some spices as well but don't want to overdo it.

Time to turn the prosciutto in its salt this morning, so it will be interesting to get a feel for how it's progressing.  It'll be more than a month before it can hang, but it will fit in the meat safe when the time comes.  

I'm focused on catching up on marking Extended Essays at the moment, as I lost 3 or 4 days with the rock.  Once I get back on target with the marking, I want to have a go at making either chorizo or salami or both.  I'll post once the process is started.

26.3.19

Rasher was on her way in the mobile butcher's chiller trailer to become Rashers - 85kg dressed weight. The butcher did a great job.  Rasher died with a happy mouth full of apple, and did not suffer stress or pain at all. We gave the head to a friend to make brawn, but next time I might make some for us.  Eight days later we had the first two pork chops and we started curing a prosciutto and two flitches of bacon.  Looking good.

85 kg of Rasher

The first pork chops for dinner

The first bacon flitch ready for salting

The prosciutto goes intro the salt

Seven days later, the first flitch is out of the cure and air-drying in the fridge.  It'll then air dry for a week or so outdoors.  Can't wait till we get our first crack at home-cured bacon next week.  And only another year or two before we have a crack at the prosciutto.

The flitch rinsed and starting to air dry

The prosciutto needs nearly 2 months in the cure before it hangs outdoors.

I've built an industrial-strength meat safe to hang under the eaves of the verandah on the south side of the house for the air-drying, to keep wasps, flies and other nasties at bay.

I've done bresaola several times, with our beef, but this is the first attempt at curing pork.

I've also bought casings so we can have a go at salami, and a giant casing for copacola.

In a little while I'm going to fire up the barbie and smoke the hocks and two cutlets.  The hocks will be vacuum sealed and refrozen for winter soups and the chops will be cooked for dinner.

On the booze front:  I've been doing home-made ginger beer and decided to give it a bit of a kick along.  It's about 7% apv but needed a taste boost, so I upped the ginger content and added 2 tsp of chilli flakes per 4 litres to the next batch as it was brewing.  Very palatable.  But it does sneak up on one.  

I started the mead and chilli mead before I realised that the honey season was going to be pretty much a write-off for the year, so there'll be no more until next season.

Blackberry and black currant wine are bottled.  Not the greatest, but they should improve with more time in the bottle.