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Yesterday I got started on making my own bresaola. Bresaola is kind of a beef equivalent of prosciutto. It's a spiced, cured hunk of beef left to air dry, much like the great hams and other Italian charcuterie. I might have tried my hand at Pork - maybe capocollo (pork shoulder/neck) - but pork is not really my medium.
As it's going to be a while before I can slice a sliver of the red/purple flesh to sample it is a slow process. Yesterday I bought a bg knot of beef - in this case just over 4 kilos of knuckle. misnamed in a way because it's the cut at the front of the rear leg. It's generally lean and of top quality - the best you'll get in the leg. I trimmed it, removing sinew and fat and in so doing divided into several smaller nuts of beef.
I had previously prepared the marinade - a bottle of red, a bottle of white, a heap of peppercorns, some cloves, dried garlic, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic and so on - to some degree you can use your imagination. I like it spicy so I probably put more in than most. The key ingredient is salt, which is what effectively cures and preserves the meat. I put in a whole 750ml container of salt.
The meat is now sitting in the marinade, covered in the back of my fridge, where it'll sit for about a fortnight. After that I'll pat dry the meat, wrap in muslin and hang in a cool, dry place for a month at least. Then...well, we'll see what it's like.
