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Wędzonki

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 19:31
by redzed
Wędzonki is a Polish word encompassing smoked meats other than sausage. And that is what I made yesterday: ham, back bacon (aka in the US as Canadian bacon), St. Louis cut ribs, and ham bones. Todays menu will feature ham sandwiches for lunch and a rich thick bean soup on a ham bone for dinner. To quote ole' Sawhorse, "Life is good!"

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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 20:33
by crustyo44
Red,
Gosh, what a selection of smoked goodies. Looking at the Canadian bacon it must have been a decent size pig/sow?
Any special instructions for making these St.Louis cut ribs?
I have never ever made anything similar.
A whole or half pig coming up this winter, just to be able to get some ribs.
Thanks for posting such a beautiful photo.
Cheers,
Jan.

Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 23:09
by unclebuck
Looks like when I was a kid on the farm in Saskatchewan!!! My father would do the same thing. The house smelled of smoked meat and when we got "company", the knife came out and there was an abundance of ham, sausage, and whatever anyone who was there wanted to accompany their choice of drink, including homemake vodka!!! I do the same, but smoke cheese, where my son, daughter in law, daughter, along with the grandkids get "first dibs" as they say, on anything that comes out of the smoker.

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 06:05
by redzed
You are right unclebuck. Those aromas and home made meats bring back memories. And what better way is there than make our own again! The smell of smoked meat last evening was intoxicating! I cooled it my in the garage and it smelled so inviting that had the temperature been a bit warmer, I would have slept in my truck!

And Crusty the size of what I made is an optical illusion! That loin is actually half of a loin off a market size hog. (75kg. probably). The ham is only a piece off the legs that I boned out a couple of months ago and the ribs are one slab cut in half. The St. Louis cut is simply a nicely squared off rack of side ribs (or spare ribs) without the gristly riblets. I occasionally throw a slab into a brine, smoke it and eat the ribs with stewed sauerkraut. With a good piece of rye bread it's a meal fit for a king!

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 09:41
by crustyo44
People with European ancestry remember this smell very well. It was the same where I came from, only it was "Old Pop" that was doing all the curing and smoking.
RED, one question, the wet curing times for these racks of ribs, is 2 or 3 days sufficient?
Cheers, Jan.

Re: Wędzonki

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 17:31
by sawhorseray
redzed wrote: "Life is good!"
Boy howdy, I'd say it sure is! That is a beautiful selection of some real tasty stuff and is inspiring me to get off my lazy butt and do some smoking. I'm out of Canadian bacon and smoked chicken, and this is the perfect time of year for me to be using my large coolers in the garage as brining refrigerators. Wow, my wife just walked in and told me Safeway is for sale! I usually wait till pork loin hits a sale price of $1.99lb and the only place that ever happens is at the Way. I'll just have to lump the extra 16-18 bucks for a load at $2.99lb and get things going, I've been last ever since we got back from Mexico. RAY

Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 18:30
by alhunter63
Wow Chris that stuff looks great!! :grin: I wished you lived closer, I'd be coming over for lessons.

Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 03:58
by redzed
crustyo44 wrote:People with European ancestry remember this smell very well. It was the same where I came from, only it was "Old Pop" that was doing all the curing and smoking.
RED, one question, the wet curing times for these racks of ribs, is 2 or 3 days sufficient?
Cheers, Jan.
Exactly Crusty, the other stuff was in the brine (flavoured with juniper, garlic and rosemary) for a week and two days before it was finished I threw the ribs into the mix.
alhunter63 wrote:Wow Chris that stuff looks great!! :grin: I wished you lived closer, I'd be coming over for lessons.
Al, just wait for a seat sale and come over. No snow here, the daffodils have been out for a while and I have a lot of goodies in in the curing chamber!

And Ray, doesn't costco have loins for less than 2.99 all the time. They also sell meat by the case, so it's worthwhile to ask at the meat dept.

Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 21:02
by redzed
Garlic and rosemary get along fabulously, especially when married into smoked pork. Yesterday I smoked a rosemary and garlic back bacon. Today I had some for lunch. With fresh rye bread, home made sour pickles and some German mustard, handsdown it was the best lunch in geezerville! :lol:

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Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 23:31
by cogboy
Redzed, your lunch looks like it's ready for a 5 star restaurant !

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 00:40
by Bob K
That look great Chris. That netting kept the loin in a nice round shape. I had been using
120 mm casings to do that.

Did you add the garlic and rosemary to a brine?

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 05:29
by redzed
cogboy wrote:Redzed, your lunch looks like it's ready for a 5 star restaurant !
Thanks cogboy, the back bacon (aka Canadian bacon in the US), was very good, and I even drove a distance in the morning to get that fresh rye bread from a European bakery! What I was really happy about was that it turned out super moist, and that is not always accomplished with a cured and smoked loin.
Bob K wrote:That look great Chris. That netting kept the loin in a nice round shape. I had been using
120 mm casings to do that.

Did you add the garlic and rosemary to a brine?
Geez Bob how do you manage to stuff a loin into a 120mm casing? Or are you talking about a beef bung?

Here is the recipe:

The two cuts of loin came from different loins and weighed around 3kg.

The brine:

2l water
200g salt
100g sugar
3 tbs. cure 1
3 good sized smashed garlic cloves
about 6 sprigs of rosemary
small handful of whole peppercorns
about 15 crushed uniper berries

Bring all the ingredients, except the nitrite, to a boil and turn off heat. Let cool to room temp, strain and place clear brine in fridge to cool. When brine cools to 40F, add the cure and dissolve thoroughly, pump the loins to 10% of weight. (I really did not weigh the meat just gave each about 4 shots :grin:) Cover meat with brine, cover and cure in fridge for 5 days, turning it a couple of times. When finished curing, rinse and let loins stand in cold water for one hour. Remove from water, allowing it to drain off the meat and place into the fridge overnight. The next day net or tie the loins, dry at room temp for a couple of hours (a low speed fan helps). Hang in preheated smoke house (to 150F), turn heat down to 120 for one hour (no smoke), dampers fully open. Smoke for a couple of hours at 135, then for a couple of hours more at 155. Finish by poaching to an IT of 152. I don't fry my back bacon, prefer it as cold cut. But if you want to fry it, you can take finish it at 140-145.

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 10:41
by cogboy
Redzed, thanks for the recipe I'm adding it to my "do list ". Dave

Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 12:07
by Bob K
redzed wrote:Geez Bob how do you manage to stuff a loin into a 120mm casing? Or are you talking about a beef bung?
They are actually 124mm (4 7/8") fibrous casing and still have room to spare on a 10 lb loin. So I still tie them for a rounder shape.

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I used to cut them in half lenthwise and stuff into 2 1/2" casings...that was a chore but nice round smaller medalions

Bacon, cottage ham, back bacon, ribs

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 21:45
by redzed
Yesterday's smoking foray: Bacon, cottage ham, back bacon, ribs. Smoked at 130-145F for six hours with hickory, finished by poaching. Absolutely delish!

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