17.01.2025
i've always been a really big charcuterie lover ever since i was a kid, but unfortunately these days it's just gotten so expensive. in november and december i spent hours salivating over big legs of serrano ham. i was considering bankrupting myself for a nice christmas present, but i remembered back to a few years ago when i bought one from lidl and it was... underwhelming. and so expensive! i got so pissed off about it that i started looking into dry curing meat, and i was blown away by just how easy it was.
why should you make your own charcuterie? for under £40, you can make your own homemade deli meat that only gets better with time. it's great and cheap way of preserving meat, so if you need to save money it's a reliable way to give yourself something nice to wake up for and turn your peasant foods into meals fit for a king.
as you might imagine, dry cured ham is really, really good with pasta. the first cut of meat i dry cured was a pork tenderloin. i didn't measure anything, just cured the meat in salt for 24 hours, then dried it for three weeks before eating it. for just £6 and a minifridge, i've been eating some of the best dried meat i've ever had for an entire month now. if i indulged in a deli slicer, i could probably make it last longer. i also made duck proscuitto, and i'm currently drying a pork loin covered in paprika and garlic.
i'm not an expert, so do your own research before you decide to do anything involving meat preservation! you take your health into your own hands when you do this kind of thing. but people have been dry curing meats for thousands of years, so it's relatively safe. you should really try it out! it's such a fulfilling hobby, and if you're anything like me you'll save so much money on ham because you'll never have to buy it again. for the price of one packet of parma ham, you could have an entire pork tenderloin, aged for as long as you want.