Guanciale

Ok this stuff IS all it's cracked up to be. Unbelievable flavor. Recipe to follow. Wasn't sure whether to use skin on or off jowl. used skin on then removed skin after drying.

Copa Copa Cabana

Here are 2 batches of Copa, one for hot, one for sweet, a couple of days apart.  The top one is already on it's second 9 day curing process. A little concerned about color. Hardest part right now is finding the correct casing for it.

Lamb Prosciutto

This year I bought a nice little lamb from a local farmer. Mild flavor, should be perfecet for Prosciutto as it concentrates it. This picture is on day 3. Here is the recipe I used.

This leg 4.75 lbs
1/2 cup Kosher salt
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 TBSP Fresh ground pepper
2 t. Chopped fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove crushed
2/3 t. Instacure #2

So far just trimmed up the leg mixed it with 1/2 cure and will let sit 3 weeks. Then I do it again with remaining for 2 weeks before hanging and drying.

Lonzino

This is 1/3 of a pork loin from the locally grown market hog I bought in early October. I cut it off the bone for this recipe. Here is the recipe I am using for this Lonzino. Got it on a blog here, looks good. These picture are on day 4.

Pork loin - 1082g
Salt - 36g (3.3%)
Black Pepper 10.8g (1%)
Cure #2 2.7g (0.25%)
Juniper Berry 1.6g (0.15%)
Fennel Seed 3g (.27%)
Dried Bay Leaf - 0.4g - about 2 leaves
casing - beef or pork 3.5″ diameter
Trim away any nasty looking stuff from the meat - blood spots and so on. Wash gently, dry well.
Grind up all the cure ingredients in a spice grinder until finely ground. Put the meat in a large zip lock bag, and rub the cure all over. Seal the bag, and put in the fridge for 10 days. Every couple of days rub the meat through the back, helping to distribute the cure well.
Soak the casing in room temperature water with a splash of white vinegar in for at least 1 hour - you can leave it for 6 hours or so no problem.  Rinse the casing through a couple of times with clean water. Squeeze as much water as possible from the casing.

Salami Toscana

It is only a few days before this Salami is ready. This was made from pork butt from a locally grown market hog I bought in early October. This is the recipe straight from Charcuterie (Rubelman/Polcyn). Here is what it looked like at 24 hours and today (day 14 hanging).