Sunday, September 7, 2008

Mustard Seeds and Bresaola


The first time i made horse breasaola i gott it in my head of introducing mustard seeds in the mix. Not during the cure, but actually during the hang and incorporating it into the finished product. I wasn't sure if the seeds would stick or what the consistency was going to be like, but i just had to see what would happen. Then one day i was playing around in the charcuterie fridge at my old restaurant and the horse felt ripe. I brought it back to the kitchen and cut off the butcher twine holding the cheesecloth in place. I knew right away there was some good mold cause i could smell it and the cheesecloth put up a fight. What appeared was a beautiful hunk of black meat speckled with bloomed yellow mustard seed intact with the rest of the gaps covered in healthy looking white mold. I sliced into it and the meat was purple outlined with yellow speckling. I let a piece come to room temp, splashed a bit of olive oil on it and down it went. It was great! It had that pungent air dried smell of red meat and the mustard seeds gave it a spicy finish. Unfortunately, i only did two small pieces. One was straight mustard seed cut with a bit of kosher salt, the other had a bit of chopped fresh rosemary in there as well. So this time i cured to large pieces almost 2 feet long. Pressed them as usual and dipped the cheesecloth in a red merlot littered with rasped garlic and salt. once it loses 35% of its original weight i'll post pictures and comments of the finished product. 

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