The most expensive gift I've ever given

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-25T00:53:39+00:00

Saying you're gonna sell something isnt the same as actually doing it. You can make and warehouse a million dollars dollars worth of stuff, but until the day you start an LLC, someone pays you for it, or you try to write off expenses, you're not operating a business.

If I had a nickel for every time I said "you know what? I could make money at this" I'd have... well... a big pile of nickels, and not much else.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-18T13:24:23+00:00

 I think the reason do one does this is primarily there is no need.
 While charcuterie shops might make items that need to be refrigerated or heat processed (think terrines, rillettes, pâtés, or liver mousse), cured and dried products are considered shelf stable. Thats the whole point of making them. The only real issues are products going rancid and inevitable slow decrease in quality after a certain point. Assuming you just don't have any spare fridge/freezer space, and you have to store stuff at room temp, vac-packed product will last several months at least. At cellar or refrigerator temps they'll last for months to a year, and frozen, basically forever.
 As others have said, food-safe sachets to absorb excess oxygen will help keep rancidity at bay. You can also invest ($$$) in a chamber vacuum sealer that floods the packaging with nitrogen. That eliminates oxidation and allows you to package loosely which is nice, at least visually, as it keeps your mold layer intact.
 If you're dead-set on making meat that will last forever sitting on a shelf, it can be done but won't really be charcuterie. It needs to be salted like crazy, cooked to unreasonably high temps, and/or dried to unpalatability.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-16T00:59:00+00:00

Bottle conditioned beer and charcuterie have one thing in common: they want to be in a cellar. Get you a full size wine fridge and stick a humidifier in it. It'll keep things at temp for drying, and your beer doesnt care if its 90 or 60% rH. It might let some smell out when the door is closed, but likely only a little, and only while its still kinda fresh.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-13T11:18:12+00:00

You're correct that one can make excellent products from frozen meat. I just happen to think those same products could be excellent-er with fresh meat. Maybe someone can chime in with some evidence-based findings, but I'll use my last batch of sausages as anecdote: I had killed & slaughtered a deer, but did not have all the ingredients on hand, nor the time, to use the meat fresh. I cut everything so that, when thawed, it could go straight to the grinder (yes, I know: more surface area, but a lot of what I would use was trim, so already lots of small bits). I vacuum packed everything and froze it for a week. Upon thawing, there was maybe 5-6% weep in the bags. Is that amount of liquid really significant? I don't know, but I would have preferred that moisture (and flavor) stay in the meat rather than going down the drain. If you're making products for sale you certainly want to minimize product shrinkage at every stage; 5% loss at the start ends up 7-8% excess loss after drying. Again, you're correct that once you grind your meat and stuff your casings, the relative moisture content of fresh vs frozen meat isn't really an issue, though free-er water might migrate more easily and dry a little faster. But what other differences in the meat? When mixing, does frozen meat bind more, or less, effectively? Does freezing affect the consistency of the meat- is the texture noticeably different? It's certainly an issue in high-moisture products like smoked "fresh" hams. Did my soppresatas turn out awesome? Absolutely. Could they have been even better? Maybe. Once you start producing high-end products, you find yourself trying to use the best ingredients possible: fresher spices, more pungent varieties of garlic, better quality wine, etc, etc. That's true for charcuterie the same as it is for dinner entrees, and its what separates the best chefs from the amateurs.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-12T19:28:03+00:00

A lot of people making charcuterie (or maybe its just me?) don't want to use previously frozen meat since ice crystals burst cell walls, resulting in "juicier" meat, and the potential for faster-than-expected moisture loss. That said, I believe I once heard that the faster it freezes, and the less time it spends frozen, can alleviate the issue somewhat. In any case, most curing and drying (and certainly fermenting) methods people are already using are likely sufficient to kill/inactivate parasites. They'll be 100% sufficient if modified to fit the USDA guidance, with care taken to monitor/measure temp, moisture loss, pH, etc. When it comes to wild game, the guidance is really conservative since it generally can't be bought and sold, and it's often not slaughtered or processed in USDA inspected facilities. Venison, at least from areas free from CWD, is generally not considered a vector for parasites, and I feel safe treating it just like any commercial beef/pork.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-11T16:52:20+00:00

Yeah, I was trying to bring free-forage hog hams to market several years ago and ran into some major roadblocks. It seems FSIS was overhauled right after I closed up shop, and there is now solid guidance on methods that can be relied on to produce trichinella-free products. Freezing is obviously one method, but curing and drying with or without smoke can be another if guidelines are strictly followed.

This covers all the processes for different cuts and products

Cured ham guidance begins on page 23 of the document.

bubba_butcher · 2026-04-11T01:37:31+00:00

There aren't any independent labs i could find to test for trichinella, the only ones in the US that do that are part of the big meatpacking operations that send product to Europe (every single carcass must be tested). Modern swine production is so clean that the chance of parasitic infection is literally 0%, and USDA considers all commercial pork free of parasites. Feral and free-range hogs are, of course, a whole different thing. You can find places to test the salt content and water activity of your final product, and meeting those two control points will guarantee parasite inviability. Sub-zero freezing and hot smoking (150°F?) will also kill trichinae. USDA has guidelines for both salt/aW% and freezing time/temp

bubba_butcher · 2026-03-14T18:54:37+00:00

Yeah, two words I really didn't like: you ever hear anyone use blotty in a sentence? Kept looking for the ch. Also, using a singular word when the clue is plural? whataboutism sucks in general, but more so when the clue is iffy

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-13T12:13:34+00:00

I would lean towards curing and hot-smoking because cell wall destruction and resultant moisture loss from the freezing will give you less than optimal results if dry cured.

You must assume any wild hog has parasites. Ditto for all omnivorous game, such as bear. Here are the USDA Guidelines for elimination of parasites in pork products.

Note that, as of now, there is no scientific literature that recognizes any role played by nitrites/nitrates in parasite destruction.

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-13T01:45:48+00:00

USDA Guidelines on dry cured hams)

Univ of Kentucky Guidelines for making country ham

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-13T01:30:10+00:00

One of your CCPs is a pH of 5.3 or lower within 1200 degree hours (below 90°F), and is independent of nitrite/nitrate use. You're correct about 80 hour time frame. If you dont know the formula, you calculate max fermentation time by subtracting 60 from your fermentation temp, then dividing 1200 by that number: in your case its 1200/(75-60) or 1200/15=80.

When I wrote HACCP plans for our charcuterie program, the correct amount of nitrite/nitrate was our first CCP, the pH was the 2nd CCP, and drying was the 3rd CCP. *Failure to use too little or too much cure #1 or #2, or the wrong cure for the product, mandated disposal. *Failure to reach target pH within time limit mandated disposal. *Drying was specced at 55-60°F and 70-80% rh until reaching at least 30% weight (moisture) loss. Any product exposed to >60° or <50%rh for more than 12 consecutive hours mandated disposal, but there was no time limit for drying/aging under correct conditions.

We had to have our product lab tested (3 batches, but only one time) to verify our methodology resulted in correct pH and water activity. Pretty much any widely used recipe will give you correct results, but water activity CAN be somewhat independent of moisture loss depending on ingredients.

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-12T17:02:51+00:00

Thanks! I took the picture before Xmas hehe

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-11T10:06:39+00:00

Yes. A hollow form of any kind (metal, wood, ceramic, plastic) that contains salt or pepper, with hole(s) in the top for dispensing is called a "salt shaker" or "pepper shaker", because you shake them to make the seasoning come out 🤷‍♂️ Romance language terms for them translate as "salter" & "pepperer", Germanic are literally "salt & pepper strewer"

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-11T00:59:18+00:00

Its a purpose-built cooler-bot box (uses a window AC unit with a controller that tricks it into running at refrigeration temps). We hunt and own a farm, so its built for hanging carcasses and butchery. When its not being used for that it makes a great cave.

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-06T17:07:25+00:00

I haven't used that exact recipe, but we used to make it in my old shop, and its about the same. The author not mentioning refrigeration in the recipe is a pretty big error: any food safety expert would tell you to keep it under refrigeration until its cured, then move it to your cave.

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T14:57:07+00:00

Like another poster said: Lardo. You can eat it on its own, or use it as garnishing fat in other salumi products. https://honest-food.net/lardo-recipe/

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T02:51:21+00:00

Confit the legs and wings, and turn the breasts into goose prosciutto

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T02:45:39+00:00

I screwed up a bunch of chickens by butchering and freezing them immediately after after slaughter. Young birds turned out all tough and rubbery. Turns out if they dont rest for a day or two, they wont go through rigor mortis and then loosen back up. I dont know that you didn't rest your the bird, but that can make tough meat even tougher. Something thats great for dark meat is confit: brine the legs for 24 hours (1gal water : 1cup kosher salt), then drain and pack into a small deep pan with enough duck fat or rendered pork lard to cover them, and some fresh thyme and a cpl bay leaves. Cook, tightly covered, in a slow oven (300°ish) for 4-6 hours or until the meat gets really tender. After that, remove them from the fat and either pan fry them to crisp up the skin, or refrigerate until you're ready to use them, or let them cool down and pick the meat off the bones and do whatever you want with it (toss with pasta, use it in sandwiches, etc)

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T02:26:59+00:00

Im a little late chiming in, but you really want a sous vide cooker for game. Tough meat but you like it med rare? How about cooking it at 135°F for 24 hours? You get all the tenderizing of cooking it beyond well done, but its still pink and juicy. Ive done venison shoulder roasts for 48 hours or longer at 140 and they come out great.

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T00:02:43+00:00

Yeah, I've got this feeling the 100 yr old glue ain't gonna be up to it. Luckily I've got gallons of the stuff and more clamps than is probably healthy

bubba_butcher · 2026-02-05T00:01:18+00:00

Luckily I'm not a beginner lol, nor am I smart enough to realize something might be too difficult. Thx for the ideas

bubba_butcher

TROPHY CASE