Bresaola

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wittdog

Master Chef
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
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Location
West Seneca NY
Bresaola

Servings: 30
Yield: 2 pounds

Notes: This air dried beef is common in the mountainous regions of northern Italy. A very lean, intensely flavored preparation, it's usually sliced paper thin and drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. You might also serve it with shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, some greens, and thin slices of toasted baguette.

Recipe from Charcuterie

2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon insta cure 2
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
5 berries juniper berries, crushed
3 pounds eye of round, no more then 3 in diam trimmed of fat sinew and silver skin

1. Combine all the spice cure ingredients in a spice or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.

2. Rub half the spice cure all over the meat, rubbing it in well. Place in a 2 gallon Ziploc bag or a non reactive container and refrigerate for 7 days, turning it every couple of days

3. Remove the beef from the liquid (discard it) and rub in the remaining spice cure Return to fridge for 7 more days

4. Rinse the beef thoroughly under cold water to remove any remaining spices and pat dry with paper towels. Set on a rack on a backing sheet uncovered at room temp for 2-3 hrs

5. Tie the beef with butchers twine. Hand the meat (ideally at 60F with 60-40% Humidity) for about 3 weeks. The meat should feel firm on the outside and silky smooth when sliced.


I’m going to rub this up and start curing it today
The spice rub

Trimming the Eye of Round



All Rubbed up



See ya in a week
 
That looks interesting. I may have to give this a try for the holidays. What is insta cure 2? Is it like tender quick?

Thanks
Chris
 
This is coming along nicely..The color is darkening and there is some moisture in the bag...I will take pics when I overhall the cure on Monday
 
Here is the recipe I have been using..
1 whole beef tenderloin, trimmed
2.5 T brown sugar
1 T black peppercorns, toasted and ground
0.5 t thyme
0.5 t ground ginger
0.5 t ground allspice
0.5 t mace
0.5 t corriander seeds, toasted and ground
0.25 t cumin seeds, toasted and ground
0.25 t ground cloves
3 cardamom seeds, crushed
6 dried tabasco chilies, toasted, seeded, and ground
4 t salt
Mix all ingredients except salt -- massage entire mixture into meat. Place tenderloin on a rack above a sheet pan in the refrigerator -- do not cover.

Age meat in refrigerator 7 or 8 days, then rub salt onto tenderloin. Return to refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Grill whole tenderloin only until very rare (125*F).

After grilling refrigerate till cold, carve thinly. Serve as sandwiches with yeast rolls, fresh horseradish sauce and red onion -- shave some Asiago, too, if you'd like.

NOTES:
1. You can use 3 dried cayenne chilies if you don't have tabascos, but the tabascos add a smokiness, depth of flavor, and searing heat that cayennes cannot match.
2. I sometimes add 0.25 t of toasted ground fenugreek seeds to the rub, but just because I like the way it smells a little butterscotchy when it grills.
3. If you don't like your meat rare, I would recommend a different recipe.
4. Obviously, since this is an expensive cut of meat that will sit in your refrigerator for over a week and then be eaten very rare, it is of the utmost importance that your beef be hyper-fresh, from a reputable source, and that your refrigerator be very cold.
 
Nick Prochilo said:
Okay, I'm confused (yeah, what else is new) Witt, your not cooking yours and Jim is?
I can't speak for Witt ... but yeah. Cured-and-dried on the one hand, seasoned-and-aged (and grilled) on the other.

--John
 
Bresaola is a cured solid muscle, the traditional way of doing it is what Whit is doing. He is using a cure and it will be aged.

What I have posted no cure (tenderQuick)is used so you have to smoke it (cook it) to finish it off. This product will not keep like the traditional salami style would but I have never been able to keep it around long enough too worry about it.

Either way you slice very thin and enjoy.
 
Jims way is faster and will come out with a similar result…kind of like the difference between cooked pepperoni and the dry cured stuff I made last year.

I can’t afford a tenderloin like Jim so I have to make do with an eye of round… :LOL:
The recipe I'm doing is the "classical" way of making it..its more rustic ;) and the recipe was in the book..I'll be giving Jims a shot one of these days as well.
 
After a week curing its time to overhaul the cure…..I got about a Tablespoon of liquid out of the bag for each piece of meat….the meat has gotten a lot darker…darker then the pics show..and it is firming up nicely it smells real good…so now its back in the fridge for another week and then it gets hung to dry for 3 weeks…
Out of the bag

The cure overhauled

Take a look at this :shock:
http://www.igourmet.com/shoppe/prodview ... s&prod=356
 
Its done curing..and all cleaned off….

All wrapped up and ready to hang

Hung and ready to dry

There was about 2TBLS of moisture in each bag…the meat was very firm to the touch…and smelled great..
Now it gets hung for at least 3 weeks
 
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