Bresaola


 
Dave from Denver

Dave from Denver

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Last weekend I started a couple 1.5 lb choice tri tips for bresaola.

I have two books with recipes for it: Primal Cuts and Charcuterie. The recipes are essentially the same except for the seasoning: berbere spice or thyme garlic and pepper, respectively.

Dry cure + seasoning, wait 7 days, pour off liquid and discard, reapply dry cure + seasoning, cure 7 more days, and wrap/hang to dry.

It's not going to be possible to use animal casings due to the irregular tri tip shape so I figure I'll wrap it up in cheesecloth.

Here's one of the tips, and both in their bags.
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I'll post some updates as I go along. One day it's gonna have to be a full round roast instead of a tri tip, since that's the way it's supposed to be.
 
Excellent! so you're trying both recipes?

what kind of drying conditions are they going to be experiencing?
 
Yeah, both recipes are effectively the same (and where could you ever find a 3-5 lb tri tip?). I would bet cash money that the butcher in Primal Cuts lifted Ruhlman's recipe directly with a little creative tinkering.

As to drying spot - It's still up in the air. I ran some humidity checks in potential hanging spots around my house (cellar, stairwell) and RH came back in the 30s so that's a nonstarter.

I just spotted a wine cooler for sale locally on Craigslist and I might need to go snag it... I have 14 days to solve this problem though.
 
I took mine down today. It ended up at about 68% of its original weight, which took 12 days at 50% RH. It seemed like the outside was hardening up, so I wanted to get it into a vac pack. This is exactly what happened with my duck breast , and they corrected themselves in their vac packs. Not sure if this is kosher, but overall the meat lost 30% of its weight and it does even up over time.

After wiping off the cat fur with vinegar, I developed a bit of white mold on one side, but I doubt this was the bactoferm. I seem to develop this on other meat that has not been inoculated. I guess its just part of my terrior
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I sliced the whole piece in two, withe the grain so I can pack them separately. You can see how the middle is much brighter and is a bit softer:
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I look forward to seeing how this changes overtime. The flavor is great, and suspect it will be prefect with some more aging. Hopefully, it won't be too "raw." I notice with the duck that I probably would have like the texture if I took it to 65% instead of the 70%. I only took this tri to 68%.
 
Looks great, I can hardly wait a month for mine to dry.
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I got it packed now, but I think I might try drying it a bit more. I'm watching to see if the outside softens a bit first before I hang it again. I gotta stop thinking I can operate at 50% RH and build a chamber already.
 
Hanging inside a very loose and open on top, plastic bag (or container) over water. I get humidity readings of @65% versus 48-50% without. Still too low, but better.
 
Hanging inside a very loose and open on top, plastic bag (or container) over water. I get humidity readings of @65% versus 48-50% without. Still too low, but better.
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that how I ended up with the cat fur. I think it cuts too much down on your air flow.
 
Did I forget to mention the computer fan at the bottom?
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Last couple of times I didn't bother... still no fur.
Excessive airflow can be more of a problem with rapid surface drying despite the higher humidity level.
 
As I suspected, it was still pretty soft at the thickest part. One half is still packed in the fridge. I've been working on the other half. I slice off the dry end and keep drying as I go. I should probably put it away at this point and start working on the other piece.

I'm really happy I was able to pull this off without adjusting my environment. I'm not sure when I'll get around to building a chamber, and knowing I can make my favorite form of cured meats without a chamber makes me happy.

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I'm really impressed with the marbling of this tri. I'm glad I didn't screw it up because it would have been awesome on the grill.
 
knowing I can make my favorite form of cured meats without a chamber makes me happy.
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Having only used EOR (that were virtually devoid of ANY fat) I'll have to give (if I can find one) a tri-tip a go. Unfortunately the basement is gonna be getting a bit too warm before long.
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Unfortunately the basement is gonna be getting a bit too warm before long. Frowner
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My thoughts exactly. I want to get another batch of pork tenderloins hanging before things warm up too much.
 
The bresaola is still coming along, at about 20% weight loss right now. You can see some nice white mold developing, mostly on the one on the right which is the one with the herbs and garlic. The yellow fat on the one on the left is from the berbere spice. Also pictured are some beef & pork salamis I made recently.

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No sign of case hardening as far as I can tell, they're starting to firm up nicely.
 
J, I'm using a 32-bottle kitchenaid wine cooler I grabbed off Craigslist for $100. It runs about 49-54F at its warmest setting. I've been humidifying it with a damp towel, which keeps it around 71-75% RH. Jason molinari rec'd in another thread that I try to get that RH up to 75-80% for those low temperatures and I've read elsewhere that is ideal, but without buying myself an ultrasonic humidifer and hygrostat controller I don't see how to do it. It's crazy dry here in Colorado and anyway the 70% RH level seems to be working OK. I'll have more info on exactly how well or poorly it works in a couple weeks, hopefully.
 
Bresaola is finally ready. I pulled them both down at about 36-37% weight loss, which took 2 months for one and 2.5 months for the other. Then I vacuum-sealed them for a couple weeks in the fridge to let the moisture even out internally.

Tucked in to them both for lunch today with some baguette, parmesean reggiano and manchego cheese. The herbs and garlic one is on the right and the berbere spice one is on the left. I sliced them nearly paper thin with an electric deli slicer I have.

The herbs and garlic recipe from Charcuterie is just amazing. Pungent, "hammy" but beefy, and chock full of flavor. The berbere spice one is also good but the main flavor is salt. That one rested in the fridge for jut under a week so maybe it needs more time to mature. Anyway, great success!

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DAVE what make deli slicer dit you use....I'm wanting one for prosciutto, pastromi, porchetta de testa as well as for raw pork loin to about 2 mm. Would very much appreciate your comment. Just great stuff on your plate....WOW Dave
 
Thanks David, I use a $100 Waring Pro slicer. I think the "Pro" in this title is misleading but it works ok, even though it's too small to fit a whole slab of bacon or a whole brisket flat for pastrami etc. I am able as you can see to get smaller cuts of meat very thin. It's similar to this one:

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It's easy to clean, not TOO loud, and is perfectly adequate for the home user. If I had more money and more space I would definitely get a Global or Hobart commercial quality slicer with a nice 12" blade.
 
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