My first shot at Bresaola

I started with a 2.5 pound cut of bottom Round. After trimming thoroughly, it was right at 2 pounds. Cut in half I had two 1 pound pieces. It probably wasn't the best cut for the purpose but I am purely experimenting and wanted to keep cost down.


With cost in mind I just used spices I had on hand Kosher Salt, Penzeys Bicentennial Rub, Smoked Paprika, Red pepper flake, Coarse ground black pepper, and Dark Brown Sugar and Insta Cure #2:





Salted and wrapped individually they will sit for 7 days at 46 degrees in my curing chamber:


100 dollar Craigslist Dual climate controlled Wine Fridge. It has built in fans which I hope are adequate to keep the air circulating around the meat.


If satisfied with the results I plan to cure some Deer tenderloins this Fall/Winter. I'll think more about spice and seasoning when that time comes. If the airflow is inadequate, I have a 14 cubic foot Fermenting Chamber I use for brewing that I could easily rig up a fan in. It could also be used for large cuts of meat if I ever want to go big.

Its something I have always wanted to try. I found this reference useful in getting started http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/may/11/how-to-make-bresaola

I will post my progress/results over he next few weeks.

Meat is hanging. Need to work on my knots/tying ...but it'll-doo.







I put a 22oz Autumn Ale homebrew in there to keep it company for the next 7 weeks.

This is awesome! I'm going to give this a shot as soon as my chamber is finished. I plan on using a humidistat and a humidifier to keep the humidity controlled. How will you handle that or are you not concerned?

I am not real concerned, A cool moist environment is optimal for curing. If the humidity drops significantly (as weather changes) I might put a bowl of water in the chamber. I am no expert, but from what I read, you can properly cure in a large range of humidity.

Extremely dry air can cause the outside of the meat to harden/dry too quickly preventing the middle from properly drying. Moist air allows the meat to dry evenly throughout.

After just 2 weeks, they have lost about 23% of their weight.

Pics please!

Still looks like this picture...wrapped up and hanging. ...except I drank the Ale



Unless I smell something bad, I'm not touching them until they lose 30% of their original weight.

Any updates?
I hope you've had more than just the one beer since you started this thing!

The Bresaola was done late last week. I broke one out for the LSU/Bama game in the company of our LSU neighbors. It was very edible, tender with a nice texture, but nothing fantastic.
Served it with a little olive oil and lemon juice.

After a bit of research I think I used twice the amount of salt I should have. I will give it another try when I get my hands on some fresh deer meat in a couple weeks.

No pics?