A great charcuterie for beginners, Bresaola is an Italian air-dried beef, commonly made from lean eye of round, loin or venison. The round is rubbed in a homemade curing seasoning, cured for 12 days, then dry aged for an additional 3-4 weeks.
A great charcuterie for beginners, Bresaola is an Italian air-dried beef, commonly made from lean eye of round, loin or venison. The round is rubbed in a homemade curing seasoning, cured for 12 days, then dry aged for an additional 3-4 weeks.
Ingredients
1 4-pound piece of eye round or loin
34 grams of kosher salt
40 grams of sugar
5 grams of Instacure No. 2
10 grams of maple sugar
15 grams of ground juniper
3 grams of dried marjoram
5 grams of dried sage
25 grams of ground black pepper
Directions
Make sure your meat has most of the fat and all of the sinew removed. Trim the ends to make a nice cylinder.
Mix all the spices together and massage them into the meat so it is well coated. Save any excess spices.
Put the meat and the excess spices into a plastic or other non-reactive container and put in the refrigerator. Cure this for 12 days, turning the meat over once a day. Pour off any liquid that accumulates, and redistribute the spices as needed. If the meat is 2 inches wide or less, cure for only 6 to 10 days. The meat is ready when it feels firm.
Rinse off the spices under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. It's okay if some spices stay stuck to the meat. You just don't want them all there for a bresaola. For a coarser crust and stronger flavor, you can also add additional ground spices to the outside of the loin (but omit the salt, curing salt and sugar)- this is optional!
Truss the meat, or fit into a sausage netting; hang in your curing chamber.
Set your humidity so it is between 85 and 90% for 1 week. Set your temperature in the curing chamber between 50°F and 55°F. Check your humidifier every couple days to make sure it has water in it. Reduce the humidity down 5 percent each week until you get to 70%. It's OK if it jumps higher from time to time, but under no circumstances should you let the humidity get lower than 50 percent. Your bresaola can survive a few of these humidity “accidents," but be vigilant.
Monitor mold. You actually want a layer of white mold on the bresaola: It protects the meat from nastier molds, and helps the meat to dry evenly. You can inoculate your bresaola with a special mold culture you can buy online. Remember: White mold is good. Green mold is not the end of the world, but wipe it away periodically with vinegar. Black mold is bad. If you get a serious growth of black mold, toss the meat. Vinegar is your friend here. Keep tabs on the bresaola and molds will not get out of hand.
After at least a month and as much as 6 months, when your bresaola is firm enough, take it out of the chamber and into the fridge. It will last there indefinitely. You can also keep it in your chamber, or you can seal and freeze it.
