Great marbling, but it tastes like the bottom of a pretzel bag.

November 17, 2011 12:56 PM

Charcuterie Rescue: Too dry on the edges and too salty. Anything I can do?

I cured a pork shoulder in spices and salt, wrapped it in cheesecloth, and dried it in my closet for a week. Halfway through, I sprayed water on the bundle to keep it from drying too much.

The end result is a slightly tough exterior & a too salty taste.

I'm interested in possible blanching the salt and redrying the piece.

Is this possible? Any tips?

posted by Apollo's Favorite Mistake to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

What you've got is called "Case Hardening" I bet. Shove a probe into the middle of your meat - I bet it comes out wet. It that's the case its garbage. You could also just weigh it and compare that to its pre-drying weight, and then figure out what the moisture content should be.

My guess is that a week for a shoulder isn't remotely long enough, and your closet was too dry.

Toss.
posted by JPD at 1:05 PM on November 17, 2011

Response by poster: I did cut it in half. The center in firm and not too dry. It's the exterior and the salt-taste that trouble me.

Copious internet searching found one message board missive where the chef put his case hardened pieces under a warm, damp towel for a few hours to up the humidity.

Still hoping someone comes to the rescue.
posted by Apollo's Favorite Mistake at 1:13 PM on November 17, 2011

well you can't blanch it and re-dry it because you will have messed up the texture. You could probably boil it and eat it as a super funky boiled ham and be ok.

You will need to come up with a better curing chamber solution. lots of guys on the interwebs with ideas there.
posted by JPD at 1:17 PM on November 17, 2011 [1 favorite]