folks today's video is going to be an
awesome video we're gonna be working
with some pork there are a lot of people
here standing around everybody's
watching we're all learning together
from these guys and we're gonna have
some fun but just so you know it's not
just me in these guys
mrs. Stoney Ridge is here I've got some
family friends and guests there's all
sorts of stuff going on in the
background we'll kind of take you around
and show you all this stuff that's going
on so stay tuned to the end of the video
there's something really special there
at the end when we roll this the skins
movie on the inside the only reason we
really want the skin on there is a
protective barrier
[Music]
as this is Josh Danny rich farmer and we
are in Ohio in the heart of Amish
country of Fresno Ohio with Doug and
Andy from hand-hewn farm and today we're
going to be working with a piece of pork
and we're gonna teach you how we make
pancetta is okay to touch it do it
please this is pancetta and it's
basically a rolled Italian style bacon
so we're gonna have some fun today we're
gonna learn something together from some
guys that do this stuff for a living
come along on the farm block it's worth
noting that this was from a pig that was
butchered at the home centers of America
conference by workshop attendees this
piece of meat right here is from this
area of the hog set right the belly tell
me that's correct
technically it's the lower part of the
belly no all right okay you have a top
part appear with a loin would be is
where the baby back ribs were and this
would be the spare ribs and then then
down here would be the bottom of the
animal that's right now the spare ribs
are those like a floating rib on the on
the hog is there a bone here that was
removed or spare ribs are are so called
because they are what's left over after
the baby back ribs are cut off okay so
the baby back ribs are attached to the
spine and they go all the way down to
the bottom of the belly and when you cut
off the baby backs to remove them for
commercial value you're left with the
spare ribs gotcha and so there is no
bone in this at all
nothing like that underneath here I you
guys said that this has a skin on it
still you guys are gonna remove the
section of meat roll this up really
tightly and wrap it in butcher string
yep right now I noticed some mold
growing on and we'll get some close-ups
of this but there's mold growing on this
kind of meat that's already been cured
tell me about that mold because that's
something special
well the mold is special but
historically especially because its
regional different mold strands grow in
different regions that but all of that
mold contributes to a a funkiness to the
flavor of the meat that would not be
present
the mold rabbit funkiness so good
you so what I'm kind of getting that
here is guys we cured hams on our farm
we cured meat on our farm and what we
hang in our smokehouse is gonna have a
different flavor than what these guys
hang in there smokehouse up here in Ohio
it's just a total different world a
different flavor
and a different you know the curing
process is different in different areas
so the mold that grows on your ham and
the mold that grows on your prosciutto
on the outside of the meat is gonna give
it a totally different flavor depending
on the area of the world that you're in
so stuff in Italy it's gonna taste
different than stuff in Ohio and even
different parts of Italy
yeah in Italy is different than southern
Italy yeah and that's into the fancy
name for that is pear wah which all that
really is is your own sensibility and
flavor to your specific region and that
should be celebrated terroir should be
something that even if you make pancetta
or prosciutto from pigs in Appalachia
that are very much distinct from pigs
raised in Italy for example and turned
into prosciutto that doesn't make them
lesser it just makes them yours
and that's that's a good thing so what
we lose a lot of in America is the
essence of where food comes from because
everything gets milked out of some
factory basically and slopped ever into
a bin in the grocery store and you just
get pork and that's the flavor report so
eight pork chops on a tray at the
grocery store could come from eight
different paint you know so what you
lose here in the commercial food
industry here in our country is that
flavor and the essence of where
something comes from that you guys
celebrate right and the time that it
takes yeah this doesn't happen in the
United States because that pancetta is
two years old right now I'm willing to
wait why do you like that yeah course
story the commercial value would be
astronomical yeah so like with country
hams and stuff like I get asked a lot
about our country hams if you can buy a
country ham from us and the answer is no
this it's not sellable unless you're an
inspected us
a facility however this has more value
this piece of meat or this piece of meat
has more value to you guys than money I
mean really the goal is to teach people
and that's what they do it hand here and
farm is they can come out to your farm
or you can come to their farm and they
give classes on how to butcher hogs d-do
cows you know chickens yeah rabbits
sheep sheep okay it's built to find
sheep or find beef calcifying the reason
that we do we love pigs are our sweet
spot is because you can cure every
single kind of the animal and take it in
a myriad of different directions whether
it's a whole lotta pure or a salami
sausage every single one of those can
can change dramatically and it's hard to
do that with another animal the fat
content of these animals is what makes
them so curable is that right that fat
gives the salts and the flavors a vessel
to travel through the meat is that
writer and the texture of the fat after
its cure
you know pork fat becomes silky and will
melt in your mouth where other fats
don't necessarily do that this is your
love this is the labor of love here on
the farm it's a sweet spot yeah and
anybody that has enjoyed a slice of
culatello or catch on our prosciutto or
capicola will understand why it is worth
every every painstaking minute to get
here what did you put on here so this
was salted and then there was sweet
pepper like a Franchini and I think some
type of sweet brown pepper and nutmeg
and lemon peel so the people that came
to the workshop made up this recipe
we've never done this after they
butchered it this was part of half of a
pig and attendees butchered the pig and
then cured it and we we gave them some
guidance that a lot of the recipes they
determine themselves we don't want to
eat the skin to be rolled into the
interior so we're kind of doing a
preliminary rolling to see where we want
to take the skin off because this skin
will protect it as its drying and aging
so we want to keep the skin but we don't
want it to be on the interior of the
roll we're trying not to take off too
much fat it's mainly just the skin
the finished product looks like guys you
may have to adjust this but it's gonna
be somewhere in here and just for fun
this was the breed of this pig was a
glove Shire old spot
mostly a white pig with black spots what
you see right here is the residual
pigmentation from one of the black spots
so that's not mold or a stain or
anything that was a spotty Pig okay
so you're holding that tight as you just
kind of fillet off the skin I'm getting
a little bit of the really soft fat here
on the edge yeah we're just coming right
underneath to take off the nipple line
as they say and like I said we might
have to go back through depending on how
this rolls up we may have to take off a
little bit more here in a minute
okay what do you think does look pretty
good it's pretty close I may take off
that a little bit more there but I think
we're good I may take off a little
corner and pack it in here though yeah
so to make sure it rolls up nice and
smooth we're gonna take like a little
triangle of meat off of here and
actually lay it inside on the interior
where it's rolled up while you're
trimming that off let's talk about your
apron you something is really intriguing
to me you guys have these aprons
handmade is that right today there's a
local blacksmith down the road Aunt
Linda Smith and leather Smith there's a
blacksmith - but yes leather Smith they
made them for us yeah so we kind of had
them made our specifications we like
having a spot for a knife and then we
also have a leather pad to strop our
knives to sharpen them we have a place
for a towel place for a pen and a pocket
that we use for thermometers when we're
scalding and scraping or any other
utensil we might need when we're working
it's really nice you can wipe them off
they're protective they keep us warm in
the wintertime a number of people have
requested that we furnish them with
aprons and so I recently left my leather
apron with the leather Smith which is
why I don't have it this morning because
he is using it as a template for the
other canoe quincies everywhere we wear
them people love them and they're it's a
great gift opportunity as well so we we
just told him to go ahead and make us
ten because that many people have
already requested them as soon as we get
an established rapport with him we'll
probably just continue to crank him out
where can we sold for $150 which is a a
reasonable amount we think in particular
because it is multi-use you could use
this in the kitchen or you could also
use it in the woodshop or really but
your
during animals got a stream do we have
here this is a 100% hemp twine okay so
this is it's nice because it holds knots
pretty well
this knot that I'm putting on here is
just just to start it this is actually
going to get cut off later okay this is
just to start the process because we
want this to get real tight this is just
gonna hold it in place for a little bit
while we get some other string in that
we can really bear down on and make
really tight so we're gonna put on a few
of these just to hold the shape or a
little bit this one was done with cotton
yeah that was just because that's what
we had at the time we've since moved on
to this hemp stuff okay
it's supposed to hold a little bit
better and that's just a slip knot that
I'm doing with a little I'll put a
little safety on it here at the end so
it doesn't slip off and hopefully as we
do this this guy will extend and get
tighter and tighter we want these two
seams to match up so that it's skin seam
all the way the entire goal is to match
this skin with this skin right here
right I haven't fully surrounding in
encase this piece of meat yep and then
we'll set it aside and let it cure for
how long with a little age probably for
your teeth yeah this one's about two
years old now you sliced a piece of this
off yeah and we have a nut into that one
yet yeah we have been we're looking for
the right opportunity
nice this one we're going to do slightly
different than this one we're gonna
actually put a bladder or part of a
bladder on each end to seal at the ends
now this is hugg bladder so in saltwater
Brian and still they were they were in
saltwater but they're in regular tap
breaker they're freshwater now to leech
out the the salt because we don't need
any more salt
on this well how do you know what amount
of salt put in this is there a
scientific formula for for what you like
or we're talking about this earlier you
guys and this is stored in a vacuum
sealed bag and the vacuum sealed bag has
a certain percentage of salt per the
weight of the meat right correct yeah we
usually fall somewhere between 2% and 3%
of the total weight guys this one
actually is right in the middle we're at
two and a half percent salt so we
weighed this at the home stairs of
America conference and the people at the
conference we taught them how to do this
but basic math we've figured out the
weight in grams because it's a base-10
system it's a lot easier to figure out
the numbers and we just figured out two
and half percent and we weighed out that
amount of salt and rubbed it all over
the belly and then along with the other
stuff that we put in it and then we
vacuum-sealed it and it was it's been in
there since this morning so it's been in
there over a month so after this step
one of the things we'll do is weigh it
and the way the reason we weigh it at
this point after it would be tied is we
want to lose between 35 and 40 percent
of its weight and that gives us a pretty
good benchmark to know when it's
shelf-stable most of the water is being
bound by salt that we put in it the
other amount of water is gonna dry out
over time and through science people
have figured out that one hunk of meat
like this loses between 35 and 40
percent depending on the fat content and
is shelf stable and there's not enough
available water for any bacteria to grow
hence shelf stay what you just put on a
shelf and it would be good to get
perfectly fine yeah I wouldn't need to
be refrigerated any more if you didn't
want to be
there
what do you think of this delicious meat
it's pretty cool does it make you hungry
yeah did you eat breakfast yet now is it
too late for breakfast it's never too
late for breakfast it's too late for
breakfast oh no I'm just tucking and
rolling it should be able to get them
there some guys I'm Italian guys will
sew this seam and with a stitch nice
we're not that fancy yet though with
your hemp string here you're just tying
it up as tight as you can and then you
put a knot in the end of it is that
right to hold it in place for now yeah
it's just a basic slip knot I mean
there's not much to it all this is in
place to hold this and then you're gonna
go around with one single piece of
string you guys are gonna team up and
wrap it tightly is that one well so I
did these initial ones and now I'm going
beside the initial one so that this gets
loosened up and I'll just cut that one
off and then the final round will go
kind of between all the ones that are
left over so guys what you need to know
is this is like an hour long process
slowly wrapping this tighter and tighter
and tighter this isn't going to Walmart
and buying pork chops you know what I
mean this is making something an artisan
product something that you you will
never ever taste another one like this
and you'll never ever taste another one
like the other one they have here so
something really truly special and just
something that it's hard to explain to
most Americans how food can actually
taste the culinary value of this piece
of meat is not a piece of bacon from
from McDonald's this is something so
different I mean if you had a place of
value on this what would your value be
if you had to place a value on this two
years from now like a monetary value a
monetary value 30 to 40 dollars a pound
I think would be
thirty to forty dollars a pound so you'd
probably be looking at $250 piece of
meat right here
yeah a slab of bacon that's worth 250
bucks champion if this were bacon it
would be a phenomenal bacon no one would
think otherwise oh yeah we like all be
gone in two or three days whereas once
this is a pancetta it might last a
family for five six months right just
enjoying thin slices at a time that they
could either enjoy on a platter with
other charcuterie or to accentuate other
dishes yeah so folks we stopped in on
these guys this is like a family affair
so over here what are you guys cooking
in the big pot over there some fossum
vietnamese bah and there are two places
that I want Doug here to take us and
show us real quick so is that what do
you call it a curing room yeah let's go
around check it out real quick well he's
getting everything wrapped up take you
guys show you something cool this is
beautiful we have a walk-in cooler that
we got off of Craigslist if I'm not
mistaken it was 85 bucks some guy bought
a beer drive-through and he and he
wanted to use the drive-through space
for storage and he just got rid of all
the coolers in it he had three of them
one was stainless one was aluminum than
one was wood and for us it was a it was
a no-brainer this is from the 40s all
the original hardware and there's three
windows on the inside as well that it
open to the out on the side wall but we
bought it and didn't have a place for it
this building that we're currently in is
a milk parlor it was a milk parlor the
Candy's uncle ran and this where I'm
standing now was an elevated platform
where the cows came in and were milk so
we bought the walk-in cooler in his
staff under the barn for a solid year
until I was able to demo out the
platform's pour a new slab and then
reassemble the walk-in cooler
so inside here we have
here's some salami hanging up yeah yeah
so we have some salami xand a couple we
got a prosciutto and a Spalla
than kind of style came here and some of
these things like these these are still
in their preliminary phase of initial
hangings before we take them over again
to a walk-in cooler it's far more humid
in here so we keep it here for now and
then SB as we go through our curing what
we'll do is we'll take a fresh cut wolf
will fly our cure and our seasonings to
it and then vacuum seal it and just
forget about it so every everything in
here will have a label and the label we
keep with the cut of meat that's
regrettable but that's a culatello
that's another one and then here we've
got a large pinch at up and a couple
Copeland's down here the point of course
is these are not aging yet they're still
in there curing stage once they are
cured and ready we hang them over in the
aging chamber we call the curing chamber
but that's where things are aged for
weeks months or years I'll walk over
there next this is where we age our
cured products or anywhere between days
weeks months and sometimes the ears of
the larger the optimal wall
it's going to be very humid in here put
in the entrance here we've got our Salah
bees these are pretty much ready to be
enjoyed now I look forward to enjoying
good later does that Canadian fact the
further back you go the hearing chamber
the over the meat typically is the
larger larger the cuts as well and like
I said everything is labeled accordingly
so this is a going video type of Cola
and then we've got some guanciale or
jowl bacon large-format salami x' lots
of prosciutto is back here and more
pancetta isn't bullet ellos couple
swallows but the one neat thing back
here in this bladder out of the way yeah
well we are big fans of bladders we they
have multi-purpose uses for us so this
is super clever inc bird go to inc bird
sight check them out they're fantastic
same thing we have another cool bot and
an air conditioning unit up there the
the benefit here is i want to keep this
room at 50 degrees all the time and the
only way for me to do that because we're
in different times of the year this this
pink bird will let me plug in a heater
and a air conditioning unit into it and
i set the thermostat on me then this
particular one happens to be from the
hydrostatic are our temperature right
now is just what we love it to be so we
don't need a need
right now this is for the the
temperature high high low hot cold so
we've got the air conditioning unit and
a space heater plugged into it this one
has the a humidifier and a dehumidifier
plugged in the hip and that way we can
measure engage the amount of humidity in
this space nice so where are we with our
pancetta I'm still in the same place all
right now we're getting to tie it up
it's getting tighter we're almost ready
for our initial or our final push should
get it sealed up well square up the ends
add the bladders cinch those on and then
give it one more go around still can get
a little bit tighter in a few places
so these bladders are soaked in your
water will go on the in caps and
basically seal the end off just as we're
using the skin to seal off the meat
we're using the bladders also on the ins
our American traditions right now have
led to what you find in Walmart and
Costco but that's not a rich tradition I
mean one exception are the Virginian
style hands yeah
a thin one it's good so they're marking
good southern barbecue but that's
a--that's a little bit more on the
prepared food side and that's what
America has that they've done well yeah
you know I mean like the country hams
and barbecue like with pork everything
else is kind of and so the leftover from
other stuff the answer is there are
these rich traditions elsewhere they've
been doing it for centuries really well
for a reason right well we are married
to them so we we borrow from the French
and the German the English in the
Italian but this the curing stuff the
Italians just nail I mean they just nail
it so if it's if it's a sausage we don't
necessarily look to Italy and if it's a
Pepe certainly don't look to
but if it's a whole muscle man they just
know what they're doing you're trimming
the end off here to square it off yeah
and we'll put the bladder on there in
just a minute and then we'll eat this
later right up it'll be so that'll be
just like baking right without the smoke
pretty much but yeah just like bacon a
lot of American bacon has sugar in it
this didn't have any sugar in the Cure
but it will still be delicious yeah I
took one bladder cut it in half and it's
gonna be on the ends and now I'll put a
little strap on there to keep it in
place and then we'll we'll do our final
tie up so we can hang it in put in the
curing chamber
so this is hip strain your hip rope I
see you soaking it in water
why don't you soak it in water it it
keeps the not better it doesn't slip out
of its not and as it dries it'll
actually tighten up so it keeps pressure
on the meat as it's right now so you're
in a stream across the side similar to
what we have here yes you can hang it up
long ways yeah yep and he'll this will
help tighten it up a little bit too this
is prosciutto yeah this is an Italian
style prosciutto yeah okay so this is
just how is this made tell me a little
bit just the liner notes flyff nuts lime
notes this pig was killed two and a half
almost three years ago and now in fact
yes we're just shy of three years this
was done in the method by which we cure
almost all of our prosciutto switch is
just salt and thyme
there are another ingredients added and
if we get we gave it a full two years
before touching it with a knife and then
we started at the beginning of this year
so it's been most of a year already of
us just slowly shaving and enjoying
slices of it all filled with any kind of
a cured meat but particularly prosciutto
you want even that is almost too much
you want it to be nearly transparent you
don't want to be able to do it you want
it to be able to hit your tongue and
come to a warm temperature if it's
especially if it's already cool or cold
and then it begins just melt on your
tongue it's not food that you want to
chew up it's it is to save her it's
really hard to put words to it so after
about 18 months I don't know if you've
ever had an aged cheese particularly
cheddar but there are aged cheese's or
when you're biting into them there's a
crystal look out you actually it's a
crystal experience with your with the
bite that triazines is also present and
a prosciutto at least 18 months
all their older so these little white
crystalline dots right here are in fact
the crystals that form within the meat
after a certain age and they are a treat
so you're all finished up wrapping it
yep
and over the next couple of days you'll
come back in and wrap it some more so
see where it loosens up and we'll
probably tighten it add some more string
to it just to make sure it stays really
compressed gotcha you have a label there
with every piece of meat you guys
process you have a label here tell me
what's on this label real quickly so
it's got a name and pancetta its initial
weight in grams it was three thousand
five hundred fourteen grams and so two
and a half percent salt all that stuff
things we added to it and then today the
date said what we did weight it again
and then put our target weight so the
next time we wait to see if it's lost
enough weight that's the number we're
shooting for okay and you're shooting
for forty percent moisture losses there
okay so that will lose 40 percent of its
moisture and that's when you'll know
it's ready to go like just a piece like
that you can embed in your kitchen
gotcha good deal so here's the treat at
the end well it's more our treatment
this is a coot Otello when the capicola
and they're gonna cut and we're gonna
try it this how old is this piece of
meat right here this piece of me right
here with the with the red pepper on it
these are all salt cured in a different
manner is that right tell me a whole
muscle so this one just had garlic red
wine salt and pepper yeah and then it
was stuffed into a bladder and then this
guy down here this one salt pepper but
then there's a lot of hot pepper paprika
so it's a little bit spicier you can see
some of the red pepper flake that's
still on it and it's stuffed into a beef
Boggan okay and this is a like a ham the
rump run and this
peace is off-the-shoulder it's like the
neck muscle okay so we're getting ready
to try some of this delicious cured meat
guys thanks a lot for visiting the
channel today I hope you learned a
little something I hope you had fun I'd
like to take you on a small journey
everywhere we go we're on vacation we're
visiting family in Ohio for Thanksgiving
and with always share something awesome
with you
check out hand-hewn farm calm and we'll
catch you guys next time on the Stoney
Ridge farm
all right everybody two three
[Music]
here it's we've had some ways opposed to
me stone Tyrion
guys words don't explain this SuperDuper
special to come to a place like this
hand-hewn farm
we'll probably end up taking the nipples
off okay we'll talk nipples cuz people
like this yeah you could be twist one if
you want it together you know you say
you know these things normally just
twist right off you can see the thing
moving
oh yes I do yeah I see it oh that's all
you yeah okay now how many nipples does
a cow have I mean oh now how many
nipples does a have you guys ever been
camping and you have the brush your
teeth with baby wipes
no I highly recommend it groups now you
guys are just friends you're not real a
there's a method call that you'd be like
we really like each other that much from
the best style curing yeah yeah guys I
was asking these guys guys guys
I was asking these folks so let's call
these fellas there we go
I was asking these here boys no more got
any gas behind the scenes there's a fly
in here that's the size of a normal baby
turkey go on the hand here