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.

Wednesday 13.2   1616
Last week fires: this week snow.  Welcome to Tassie!
Ok, the snow didn't fall this low, but in the highlands where the fires had been severe, there was snow this morning, and we were down to 5 deg C last night.
I have mead, blackberry wine and ginger beer brewing.  I put the blackberry and mead into demijohns yesterday then had to wrap them to keep them warm last night.   The mead blew the water out of the airlock and overflowed.

 Blackberry wine.

Mead and ginger beer bug.

 The mead getting excited.

Tucked up for the night.

The pig is growing on nicely and due to be turned off in three weeks.

Wednesday 6.2.19   1930
Opened two beehives today to see if they are ready to rob.  They are both starting to cap honey in the supers, but not ready to go just yet.
Some of the commercial beekeepers in Tassie have lost a large percentage of their hives and significant stands of leatherwood trees have been destroyed.   Leatherwood is Tassie's best known honey and commands a premium price.  Production is going to be significantly reduced, not just this year, but for some time into the future.  Hobby, and small-scale, beekeepers like us are going to need to be careful as the value of colonies and honey increases.  The problem is likely to be opportunists who see hives in accessible places and knock them off under cover of darkness.  I have one which is visible and accessible from the highway, so I'll move it within the next few days.
We have no W&As for our fire at present, though there are some for other fires in the state.  Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow, with showers predicted for the next few days.