Quote:
Originally Posted by barefootgardener
Worth that is a cool story about the 3 oak trees. 
Your turkey turned out just lovely! What is insta cure#1, and what is it's purpose in the brine? I brined a turkey a few years ago in a water, salt and brown sugar solution. I did not notice a difference in the flavor or moistness compared to the traditional way of cooking it all these years.
This year I had a twenty pound turkey to cook, and after drying the skin off I just rubbed it all over with homemade mayonnaise, lightly salted the outside and inside the cavity, put in a few sprigs of thyme and a few sage leaves, tied the legs together with twine, put the turkey on the raised roasting pan breast side up, I poured a bit of water into the bottom of the roasting pan, and cooked it on low heat in the oven until the temperature reached 180 degrees in the thigh. It took almost seven hours on slow roast. The turkey skin was nice and brown, and had the best moist meat ever. I did not baste the turkey at all during the cooking time. I did have to add another cup of water too the bottom of the roasting pan. It was incredibly moist!
Your soup looks really good, and your homemade pasta gives it that extra special touch!
I have been wanting a pasta machine for years, but don't know if I will get one. I just keep rolling the dough out and cutting it by hand. Nothing wrong with that, but I love the different widths and pasta shapes and varieties you can make with the right tools.. I think a machine might make it easier on my arthritic hands.. LOl
Ginny |
Ginny Insta cure #1 is potassium nitrite.
Its purpose is to kill bacteria and preserve the meat while it is smoking or cooking.
Nitrites break down into noting in a matter of no time.
I think it may be 1/4 of what it used to be in about 2 weeks.
Insta cure #2 has nitrite and nitrate in it.
It the nitrite cures now and the nitrate breaks down over a period of time into nitrites.
It is used to make dry hams and sausages as the nitrates take longer to break down into nitrites allowing the meat to dry before it spoils.
You will know you got everything right when you have a beautiful white yeast mold all over the meat.
The humidity has to be right also or you will get what they call case hardening.
This means the outside dries too quick and traps the moisture inside.
This drying process can take months.
Now to the pasta maker.
It is a huge learning curve to use one.
I had the option of instructions from my friend from Sicily to help me out on the phone and trial and error.
The bread flour is far superior to all purpose flour, I cannot express how much.
To get the cutters to cut properly the sheets have to be pretty dry or the noodles will stick together and break.
To get the sheets to act right and be stretchy you need gluten and the bread flour has it.
This takes time and moisture.
I did not use any water in the mix all I used was olive oil and eggs but a little water wont hurt.
This extra oil came from my hands as I used it to keep the dough from sticking to may hands.
Last night was the last of the soup and the noodles held up great, some of the best I have ever made.
A 50% semolina and 50% bread flour from hard red winter wheat would be the bomb.
It would also make a fantastic pizza dough.
Worth