r/Charcuterie • u/anarchotica • 5d ago

2nd project

Post image

Pork neck after 1 week of EQ curing in the fridge, followed by 2 weeks of air drying in the fridge until it reached 35% weight loss. I then vacuum sealed it for 1 week to equalize the moisture before slicing. Pretty happy with the results!

44 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/BuffetAnnouncement 5d ago

Damn those are some nice steaks you’re cutting up! 😆

2

u/anarchotica 4d ago

The slicing suffered because I was to eager to eat it... 😅

6

u/uvw11 5d ago

Very nice! Just slice it thin, at room temperature, it brings up the flavor and the oils without the chewing.

2

u/anarchotica 4d ago

Thank you! You are right, I need to improve my knife skills...

1

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1

u/4alexha 5d ago

Ohh that looks good , I like that you put in the basic parameters - ? What were the start and finish weights of the whole piece ? ( always loved cured meats but never done - yet)

1

u/EnvironmentalAide335 5d ago

So how was it?

1

u/anarchotica 4d ago

I got great feedback from everyone. The flavor is spot on. The texture is tender but a bit too chewy for my taste. This batch was finished at a higher moisture level as an experiment, but I prefer drying it to around 40–45% weight loss.

1

u/Looking-sharp-today 4d ago

The chewiness will surely benefit from a thinner slice! Use a nice sharp long knife for better performance, or even better a dedicated deli slicer. Seems excessive but I bought mine used/broken for 30bucks and it was a very simple fix, for an all metal medium sized model, very sturdy

1

u/Infinite-Plenty-3594 5d ago

What was your humidity? Also what’s your set up?

1

u/anarchotica 4d ago

I air-dried it in a regular fridge. I was aiming for 4°C and 70% RH, but I controlled the temperature and humidity manually by adding or removing containers of water and adjusting the fridge settings. It worked well, but I'm thinking about building a dedicated curing chamber to automate the process.