TentHunter
Moderator
Holiday Ham, Sausage & Cheese Spread
I'm getting a late start this year on my holiday sausage & cheese spread. Although I did get our Christmas ham going on time.
Wednesday we went to the butcher & picked up a 14.5 lb whole pork shoulder. We had him cut the shoulder in half to separate the Picnic & Butt cuts which gave us a nice 8 lb. fresh Picnic shoulder. Perfect size for curing into a nice bone-in holiday ham!
Note: Sometimes this cut is called a "Picnic Ham" because it resemble a shank end of a ham.
I made a simple brown sugar brine cure, generously injected that into the shoulder before submerging it in the brine and into the fridge for the 3 - 4 day cure. I'll take it out Christmas morning to go on the smoker.
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While at the butcher we also picked up 20 lbs. of ground beef for some holiday Summer Sausage & Peperoni.
I prefer to make my own spice mixes for sausage. Here's my mix for Summer Sausage (left) and Pepperoni (right). The yellow stuff is powdered Buttermilk which I like using as a lactic acid starter culture. It also acts as a binder.
If the meat is already ground, then mixing some filtered (or distilled) cold water with the spices helps in the mixing. The meat easily absorbs the water.
10 lbs. each: Summer Sausage & Pepperoni mixed, tightly covered with plastic wrap (to keep air out) covered and into the fridge for the 2 - 3 day minimum cure. This allows the curing salt to cure the sausage & the lactic acid to develop and give it that classic tang.
More to come...
I'm getting a late start this year on my holiday sausage & cheese spread. Although I did get our Christmas ham going on time.
Wednesday we went to the butcher & picked up a 14.5 lb whole pork shoulder. We had him cut the shoulder in half to separate the Picnic & Butt cuts which gave us a nice 8 lb. fresh Picnic shoulder. Perfect size for curing into a nice bone-in holiday ham!
Note: Sometimes this cut is called a "Picnic Ham" because it resemble a shank end of a ham.
I made a simple brown sugar brine cure, generously injected that into the shoulder before submerging it in the brine and into the fridge for the 3 - 4 day cure. I'll take it out Christmas morning to go on the smoker.
===================================================================
While at the butcher we also picked up 20 lbs. of ground beef for some holiday Summer Sausage & Peperoni.
I prefer to make my own spice mixes for sausage. Here's my mix for Summer Sausage (left) and Pepperoni (right). The yellow stuff is powdered Buttermilk which I like using as a lactic acid starter culture. It also acts as a binder.
If the meat is already ground, then mixing some filtered (or distilled) cold water with the spices helps in the mixing. The meat easily absorbs the water.
10 lbs. each: Summer Sausage & Pepperoni mixed, tightly covered with plastic wrap (to keep air out) covered and into the fridge for the 2 - 3 day minimum cure. This allows the curing salt to cure the sausage & the lactic acid to develop and give it that classic tang.
More to come...
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