Chicken Liver and Green Olive Pate

This is a very simple and most delicious recipe.

Ingredients

1 Large Onion
500g free range cleaned chicken livers
25 to 30 green olives stoned
250g farm butter
2 plump cloves of garlic crushed
30ml Brandy
Salt (Fleur de sel is my preference for this)
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Finely chop and fry the onion and garlic in half the butter over a medium heat until soft not browned. Add the chicken livers and fry approximately 5 minutes per side until fully cooked but still slightly pink inside.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the olives, the brandy and balance of the butter. Season well then when the butter has melted, liquidise in a blender until smooth. transfer to your pate dished, smooth off and pour melted butter over to cover.
Refrigerate over night and serve with bread, melba toast, crostini or as you wish.

Ingredients

Fried liver off the heat with olives and butter

Temperature and Humidity Control Problems

This post came about when using a pretty standard curing chamber setup, I found I was having some interesting temperature and humidity control issues. Below describes these issues and how I solved them.

Setup

As a curing chamber I modified a fridge following the general guidelines readily available on the web. My specs are as follows:

• ·      Free standing full fridge unit (no freezer compartment): 360 litre
• ·     Humidifier: ultrasonic
• ·     Fan 150mm 220V electrical case fan (big brother to a standard computer    casing fan)
• ·    Hanging rack – wooden. I will later change this material or paint it.
• ·   Controller: Lilytech^® ZL-7801A. This controller has some nice features in that it can control temperature based on heating (connect it to a heat source) or cooling (connect to fridge power) it also has two other timer switched outputs. One is NC (Normally closed) and the other NO (normally open) on the same circuit so the power effectively toggles between them according to how you set the time. I’ll get to this more later. Setpoint adjustment is also really simple with this unit.Out of interest, this controller seems to be used typically in the chicken egg incubation industry where the additional timers are used to turn the eggs over.

Chamber overview

Control Panel Mount

Components

Controller

Ambient Weather

Some further input to understanding my initial temperature control problem. I live in Johannesburg South Africa. It is mid July (middle of winter) typical temperatures are as follows:

Time of day	Outside temps °C	Inside my garage
Daytime high	Varies 14 to 18	10 to 14
Typical overnight	Around 8 to 10	8 to 10
Morning low (the dip as frost melts)	0 to 3	Slight dip to about 6

Humidity is low averaging around 35%RH

When hanging my first batch of Chorizo and Salami together I put them in the chamber with a heater to control around 20°C with humidity set point 90% for fermentation then connected the controller to the fridge and dropped the humidity set point to 80%.

At this time I noticed significant swings in the humidity and with a little help I added an Arduino based temperature and humidity monitor with a history trend into the fridge. For the history trend this is connected to www.blynk.cc and trends live on the web so I can check what’s happening any time from anywhere on a phone app (really cool).

 

Arduino Temp Humid Monitoring Unit connected through wifi

Problem

Adding the trend I found I hit 100% humidity and even adjusting the set point I could not get it down. I was also getting a significant discrepancy between the Arduino temperature probe (even after upgrading to a DH22 probe) and the controllers probe. I did not have the Arduino probe in an enclosure so may have had dewing on the probe itself adding to this problem.

This led me to digging out dew point charts and I found that for the humidity we are running at and the temperatures we control to, we are typically within a few degrees of dew point. The problem I was experiencing was with the dip in temperatures in the early morning along with my humidifier over shooting the set point due to controller lag I was dropping below my dew point and had no control over this as I am only controlling on cooling. I also did not have a fan in the fridge at this point. Fridge was off however temperature was steadily dropping. Here is a trend of that data:

Solution

Firstly I added a fan to the same power circuit as the humidifier so this will run with the humidifier. I also turned down the humidifier to very low. This made little difference but was necessary for bad mold control anyway (airflow).

Secondly I realised I needed to add a heat source into the fridge to consistently pull the temperature above the set point. This way my controller was in charge and not the ambient temperature. I googled around for ideas on this and the easiest inexpensive solution I found was an incandescent light bulb in a tin (you don’t want too much light in the fridge – so I believe; although I am still trying to verify that). For information, a tin with a 100W light bulb, tin foil top and plastic lid will get so hot that within 5 minutes the lamp fitting and lid will have melted. So, back to the drawing board.

After some more fiddling, I have settled on a 60Watt light bulb mounted on a block of wood, wrapped in tin foil and connected to a dimmer unit to turn this down as low as possible. This has solved my problem and I am now controlling perfectly with great correlation between the two units. Less heat would be preferred but this works (maybe a reptile heating pad is the next option)

 

Foil wrapped light heater (foil top helps to dissipate heat)

Resulting control:

 

6 hour trend

Dip when adding heater on 24 hour trend

A further change I then made to increase the amount of air circulating inside the chamber was to connect the fan to the controller timer and run on a 15 minute on, 15 minute off repeating cycle. I also dropped the temperature and humidity set points. This had the following trend effect:

Temp Set Point Drop and Fan Change

Below is a longer term trend of the chamber with a few tweaks to settings. Note, the spikes can be ignored. These are when opening the door and making other mods to hardware (I also put the Arduino DH22 sensor in a pill box with lots of holes drilled in it to prevent the risk of dewing on the electronics – I figure this is like parking your car under a tree to prevent dew on your windscreen in the morning).

1 Week Trend

Chorizo 1

Chorizo number one

This first attempt went as follows:

Ingredients:

2,0 kg Lean pork (ground 3mm plate)

400g Back fat (ground 3mm plate)

67g salt (3% accounting for Prague Powder) – Himalayan rock salt slightly coarse

9g Prague powder

5g Glucose powder

5g light brown sugar

50g Smoked Paprika (Cape Herb Company)

5g Oregano
5g garlic powder
14.4g cracked black pepper
0.6g Bactoferm TD-66CHR Hansen Mold-600 sprayed on after stuffing, linking and ready to hang (Optional)

Method:

The meat and fat must be kept close to frozen while grinding and mixing. To maintain this, put your mincing attachment in the freezer before use and keep returning your ground product to the freezer to chill. After grinding, mix all the ingredients thoroughly kneading them together then, stuff into Hog casings and tie them into loops. There are a few different tying methods. I used the "Bubble knot method" 

I mixed the Bactoferm TD-66 powder with the spice mix to help blend this through the meat. You can also mix in with distilled water then blend through. Rather mix more than you need as it cant do any harm. I have also read you should use a minimum of a quarter packet (i.e. enough for 25kg meat) to guarantee you have enough bacteria blended through the meat. 

If going with the mold, when ready to hang spray with the MOLD-600. This was made up of 1 gram of CHR Hansen MOLD-600 in a quarter cup of luke warm distilled water left to stand for a couple of hours then diluted into a cup of distilled water. Put this in a clean spray bottle to apply. The benefit of the mold is it takes hold quickly and prevents bad mold from getting the opportunity to set in. any mold that is fluffy or a colour other than white is BAD; wipe it off with a cloth and vinegar.

Hang your links in your curing chamber set up as a fermenting chamber (temp set-point 20°C, controlling between 18 and 21°C) and (Humidity set-point 87%RH to target control between 85% and 90% relative humidity)

Leave it there for 72 hours at this setting then dry at 12 to 16°C 80 to 85% humidity until you get 35% weight loss. This is expected to be a couple of months. To monitor this I labelled each Chorizo then weighed and logged their starting weight.

A daily PH check confirmed an acidic environment. PH should be around 5 after 30 hours. you need an acidic environment to prevent bad bacteria from taking hold and growing. These will spoil your meat.

PH test method: When you hang your meat, keep some separate for testing. This can be left in a bowl or just a hanging open link. Keep this inside your fermentation chamber with your Chorizo. I kept a short stuffed casing open one end and just squeeze out a meat sample as required. Mix this sample into a clean ramekin with distilled water. To test PH I am using a universal indicator paper (form of Litmus paper). The paper I have is to measure a range 0 to 14. If buying, rather go for a smaller range like 4,5 to 7. This will be much easier to read. Dip the paper in the sample and compare the colour to the scale supplied with the paper.

Side note: Keep your environment and equipment extremely clean. During fermentation and curing you are creating an optimal environment for bacterial growth. do your best to keep the bad bugs out. When mixing the meat by hand, wear disposable latex type gloves.

The above mix gave a yield of 9 links averaging 275g each from this batch:

Chorizo entering the fermentation chamber

Chorizo marked. Salami in for company

The Mold started to show noticeable cover within 24 hours and excellent coverage a few days later.

Mold 48 hours

Mold 1 week

Equipment used:

01 August 2016 - Update

21 days after hanging and diligently controlling the temperature and humidity (refer to the temperature and humidity control problems found and solved here)

I cut open and sampled my first Chorizo last night. 

First things first. Here is the drying profile for my 9 Chorizo's:

Here is how it looks after wiping mold off with vinegar rinsing, drying and slicing:

First impressions:

Flavour: Superb. I made this batch without the hot side of the spices. A little Cayenne or hot paprika would add nicely to this. The flavour however is fantastic.

Texture: A little difficult to tell. I believe it needs to dry a bit more. I have re-hung this, will sample again at 50% moisture loss. Currently the texture is a little too close to a "raw meat" texture - too close for my wife to enjoy. Update  6 weeks later effectively at the end - I say the end as I seem to have reached a drying equilibrium for the humidity and temp. Texture hasn't improved. I'm not impressed. I am now wondering if the paprika etc has an influence on this. I say this as I tried my Salami made at the same time yesterday and this does not have the texture problem.

Size: I would like to get hold of a larger casing for this. something in between the hog casings I used and the small salami size casings. I haven't managed to source anything yet.

General: The Chorizo is drying nice and evenly. There are no indications of "case hardening" around the outside. The residual mold has no negative flavour effect. The hog casing peels off easily although a little meat sticks to it. This would also improve with some more drying time. The Chorizo I have had travelling in Spain is definitely dryer than this. They also don't appear to have the shrinkage and wrinkling I find. I need to figure that out, maybe stuff the casings fuller. The wrinkling of the casing makes wiping off the mold challenging.

Dry Cured Bacon - Various flavours

INGREDIENTS

• Pork Belly (skin off unless you prefer it on, bone out). use the best quality ethically reared pork you can find

Flavour 1: Black pepper, thyme and fennel

                 This is a family favourite

• 22,5g/kg Sea salt*
• 8g/kg light brown sugar
• 3,75g/kg Prague powder (this is as per the manufacturer dosage rate from my supplier)
• Generous amount of coarse crushed black pepper, dried thyme and lightly crushed fennel seeds.

Flavour 2: Maple Syrup

• 22,5g/kg Sea salt*
• 30g/kg Demerara sugar
• 80ml/kg genuine Canadian maple syrup
• 3,75g/kg Prague powder (this is as per the manufacturer dosage rate from my supplier)

Flavour 3: Jalapeno

• 22,5g/kg Sea Salt*
• 8g/kg light brown sugar
• 3,75g/kg Prague powder (this is as per the manufacturer dosage rate from my supplier)
• pickled jalapeno chillies chopped and crushed, black pepper.

Flavour 4: Use your imagination on herbs, flavours and combinations: 

• Szechuan pepper
• Marjoram
• Origanum
• Paprika
• Juniper berry
• white pepper
• Cajun spice blends (compensate for salt)

*see blog page on salt selection

METHOD

Wash and dry your pork belly then place into a vacuum bag or zip lock bag and add your dry rub ingredients making sure you rub this mix into the entire surface area of the belly. Vacuum seal or simply squeeze out as much air as possible and close your bag and pop it in the fridge. Leave for 7 to 10 days (I started at 7 days however prefer a 10 day cure) turning daily.

After 10 days, remove the belly, wash off the rub with plenty of cold water. if too many herbs are washed away you can add more now but no salt or prague powder. Dry and hang in the fridge for around 24 hours to dry slightly.

After drying a pellicle on the cured bacon it is time to smoke.

Put into a cold smoker and smoke using your choice of wood. I use European beech for this recipe and cold smoke for around 3 hours. After smoking, put in a plastic bag and back int the fridge over night before slicing up to freeze or fry. thick cut (1cm) rashers are also awesome on the braai.

To make back bacon, substitute the belly for a deboned pork loin. For curing this, work on a minimum of 7 days or 1 day per 13mm thickness (thickest part), whichever is the greater.

you can ignore the criss-cross cuts in the belly fat below, these bellies got diverted from belly roasts to bacon.

Some additional side notes for the various flavours:

Black pepper, thyme and fennel - if you are not fond of fennel, leave this out. Just black pepper and thyme alone is wonderful. Origanum or Marjoram work really well in this mix too.
Maple syrup makes a lovely sweet bacon. the sugars penetrate so well that you get a caramelisation when frying.
Jalapeno: Add additional chopped jalapeno after smoking to fry up with the bacon. this is a very subtle flavour with almost no chilli burn noticeable.

bagged and ready to start 10 days of curing
Maple syrup Left, Thyme and black pepper right

Jalapeno chilli flavour 

All sides well covered

Hanging to dry the pellicle ahead of smoking

Time for some cold smoke

Smoke getting a little carried away. you don't need this much.

Ready to slice

A job well done

Streaky and back bacon

Time to test some of the thick cut slices

Breakfast out camping

Biltong Drying Cabinet

When deciding that biltong was the order of the day, the need for a drying chamber came to the fore.

Fortunately Some of my other hobbies complement my creative desires in the kitchen; hence the biltong drying cabinet.

Although one can simply hang biltong from the rafters in a well ventilated garage away from pets and other undesirables or modify a cardboard box, I decided a wooden cabinet would be something I would get enough use from to justify a little more effort:

Biltong dryer

Side view with switch panel

The unit is built from a pine frame with plywood side panels and a glass door.

On top of the box are three forced ventilation holes each with a 100mm computer case fan fitted. These along with the three incandescent 100 Watt light bulbs at the bottom can all be individually switched to both direct air flow through the unit and also to control the temperature.

Heat source and AC to DC rectifier and transformer

Vent holes at the base of the unit allow air to flow in while keeping bugs out. Using 12VDC computer fans with a 220VAC power supply meant adding a transformer and rectifier into the cabinet (I had some help with this). A diffuser board is also added above the globes to assist the warm air in being dispersed through all the meat and not short circuiting up the back.

Diffuser board and vent fans

The switch bank below allows for the following control:

• Main power isolator
• Run individual fans
• select 1, 2 or 3 globes (one switch is for the center light and the other for the outer two lights)

Switch bank

I can hold approximately 10kg of biltong in this unit and dry this in under a week. Should a smaller unit be preferred then the option below which I made for a friend at the same time is the answer. This works just as well and only required one fan and one incandescent globe:

Small dryer cabinet

Below is a charge of 8kg (wet weight) of Cabanossi sausage in  for drying. note the available height; don't cut back on this. you need to be able to hold the full width of a beef silverside slice in here + the hook. The temperature and humidity gauge below is reading 10% humidity and 30°C ( 86°F )

Where it started

I guess there is no defined moment I can recall when my passion for creating in the kitchen started. It has however evolved over the last twenty something years. I have moved through many phases and styles in the kitchen and find as long as I am creating something I am passionate about, stretching boundaries into new areas of discovery and enjoying myself there is no real reason to stop.

Living in South Africa certainly has its challenges when delving into new culinary areas. Simple online sourcing of specialised (and even not so specialised) ingredients is borderline impossible and makes finding these necessities an ongoing challenge. That said, when digging deep enough into the realms of the commercial supply world I have managed to source almost everything I need.

Moving into the Charcuterie side of meat started with the basics of biltong and has moved forward from there with a vengeance. Dry cured cold smoked bacon is now a staple in the house. Sausages more often than not are a flavour adventure and Salami and Chorizo are about to open as the next chapter.