Some months ago, I proudly disclosed my latest eBay purchase:

http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/view...meatpress1.jpg
http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/view...meatpress2.jpg
http://imagehost.vendio.com/bin/view...meatpress3.jpg

However, I was busy with work back then and only recently
have started my first experiment.

I want to make an uncured, boiled, pressed (obviously),
boneless, highly spiced (like pancetta) ham. I've gathered
bits and pieces of several recipes and come up with this:

Brine: shoot for 70 degree salinity, which is 13.28 oz
of salt for half a gallon. Ratio of salt to sugar is 4:1,
so that's 3.32 oz of sugar. (My cheap plastic kitchen scale
is a modified postal scale design, so I'm lucky if it's
accurate to within half an ounce.)

Spices: allspice, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cumin,
and fenugreek, in the ratio 3:2:1:2:2:3. I knocked down
the cloves because they're so strong -- I don't want any
one spice to dominate. For the same reason I kept
cardamom and cumin at 2, even though those are the flavors
(if any) that would be acceptable if they were identifiable.
Allspice and fenugreek are rather weak, so I bumped them
up to 3. This experiment is sort of a ranging shot, so
that's how I set up my initial ratios. Spices which
were considered but not used a black pepper, caraway,
cinnamon, and garlic.

Procedu

1. Grind all of the spices in my whirling blade
coffee grinder. This turns out to have been a mistake,
for reasons that will be explained later. I used
1 to 3 tablespoons of each spice, which is rather
a lot.

2. Boil some water. I didn't measure it, probably
about 2 cups.

3. Take the water off the heat and add the ground
spices, stirring until all lumps are broken up.

4. Steep for 5 minutes (as it turned out, the spices
would be in the water considerably longer than that).

5. Filter out the spices through a coffee filter.
Here's where my first mistake became obvious.
Only a small amount of liquid would pass freely
through the filter paper before it became all
clogged up. I changed filter paper many times
and only got a little less than a cup of flavored
liquid. The whirling blade grinder cut the spices
into dust. The small amount of flavored liquid
I obtained sort of compensates for the huge amount
of spices I used. Next time, I'll run them through
my grain crusher instead, so there won't be any
powder.

6. To the cooled liquid, add cold water to make
1/2 gallon. Add the sugar and salt, and stir until
(mostly) dissolved. Refrigerate until completely
cold.

7. Submerge meat in brine. I bought an Anchor
Hocking gallon-size glass cookie jar for brining
the meat. I originally was looking around for
a cylindrical plastic container, but the prices
at Target for plastic were actually higher than
glass. And glass looks so much more cool.
This actually worked out better than a container
with straight sides, because instead of weighting
the meat down (meat floats in brine), I took two
bamboo skewers, cut them to slightly longer than
the inside diameter of the jar, and wedged them
at the maximum diameter of the jar, perpendicular
to each other. The jar has a bluging shape, and
the maximum diameter is about halfway down the
side. (Oddly, a Google images search shows many
Anchor Hocking glass cookie jars, but none of them
are like mine.)

That's where the experiment is right now. The
meat has been submerged for about 16 hours.

The plan is:

8. Put the meat in the meat press, clamp it
down, and simmer in water for 1.5 hours at
160 degrees F. The meat is a 2-pound slab
of pork leg, so I'm figuring 30 minutes per
pound, plus another 30 minutes. This may be
too short, because the recipes I reviewed
were intended for much larger pieces of
meat. I may revise this time before actually
cooking the ham. It doesn't seem long enough
to kill all of the worms. Does anyone know
what is the minimum time for cooking pork?

9. Remove from the water bath and cool
for an hour at room temperature before
refrigerating. (I've seen 2 hours recommended,
but that seems a wee bit risky to me.)

10. When completely cold, remove from press.

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message

> 8. Put the meat in the meat press, clamp it
> down, and simmer in water for 1.5 hours at
> 160 degrees F. The meat is a 2-pound slab
> of pork leg, so I'm figuring 30 minutes per
> pound, plus another 30 minutes. This may be
> too short, because the recipes I reviewed
> were intended for much larger pieces of
> meat. I may revise this time before actually
> cooking the ham. It doesn't seem long enough
> to kill all of the worms. Does anyone know
> what is the minimum time for cooking pork?
>

Minimum time it to get the temperature up to 154 minimum. I'd say 160 is
better. Unless this was a feral pig or raised at some unknown locations,
there will be no worms to kill. Commecial pork is trichinossis free.

With no cure, you probably realize it will be gray, not pink.


> 9. Remove from the water bath and cool
> for an hour at room temperature before
> refrigerating. (I've seen 2 hours recommended,
> but that seems a wee bit risky to me.)

You have quite a bit of mass and the temperature will stay high for quite a
while. I don't think it would be a problem to cool it sooner, of course,
just a little more work for the refrigerator.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>
> Minimum time it to get the temperature up to 154 minimum. I'd say 160 is
> better. Unless this was a feral pig or raised at some unknown locations,
> there will be no worms to kill. Commecial pork is trichinossis free.

No, it's not. The incidence is low, but not zero.
Wherever you have commercial feedlot operations,
you have spilled feed. Wherever you have spilled
feed, you have rats. Pigs are omnivores and rather
intelligent. They will catch, kill, and eat rats.
That's where the worms come from.

"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>> Minimum time it to get the temperature up to 154 minimum. I'd say 160
>> is
>> better. Unless this was a feral pig or raised at some unknown
>> locations,
>> there will be no worms to kill. Commecial pork is trichinossis free.
>
> No, it's not. The incidence is low, but not zero.
> Wherever you have commercial feedlot operations,
> you have spilled feed. Wherever you have spilled
> feed, you have rats. Pigs are omnivores and rather
> intelligent. They will catch, kill, and eat rats.
> That's where the worms come from.

Sorry, not true. See
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001752.htm

"The continuing decrease in the annual incidence of trichinosis in the
United States is related to the decline of commercial pork products as a
cause of trichinosis (Figure 3). In 1986, commercial pork products were
implicated in only three isolated cases of trichinosis."

ya gotta stay away from wild boar or bear meat. Especially raw.

Del Cecchi wrote:
>
> "Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > >
> > No, it's not. The incidence is low, but not zero.
> > Wherever you have commercial feedlot operations,
> > you have spilled feed. Wherever you have spilled
> > feed, you have rats. Pigs are omnivores and rather
> > intelligent. They will catch, kill, and eat rats.
> > That's where the worms come from.
>
> Sorry, not true. See
> http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001752.htm
>
> "The continuing decrease in the annual incidence of trichinosis in the
> United States is related to the decline of commercial pork products as a
> cause of trichinosis (Figure 3). In 1986, commercial pork products were
> implicated in only three isolated cases of trichinosis."
>
> ya gotta stay away from wild boar or bear meat. Especially raw.

But according to this, 10-20% of the adult
population of the U.S. suffers from the
effects of trichinosis at some time.

http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/trichinosis

Not to mention subclinical infestations,
in which the symptoms are insufficient
to cause the victim to seek medical
treatment, or if medical treatment is
sought the diagnosis does not attribute
the symptoms to trichinosis.

Where is it coming from, if not from pork?
The high incidence of trichinosis is
certainly not attributeable to eating
bear or wild boar.

Eating raw or undercooked pork is like
running Internet Explorer or accepting
cookies.

On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:54:38 -0700, Mark Thorson >
wrote:

>Del Cecchi wrote:
>>
>> "Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > >
>> > No, it's not. The incidence is low, but not zero.
>> > Wherever you have commercial feedlot operations,
>> > you have spilled feed. Wherever you have spilled
>> > feed, you have rats. Pigs are omnivores and rather
>> > intelligent. They will catch, kill, and eat rats.
>> > That's where the worms come from.
>>
>> Sorry, not true. See
>> http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001752.htm
>>
>> "The continuing decrease in the annual incidence of trichinosis in the
>> United States is related to the decline of commercial pork products as a
>> cause of trichinosis (Figure 3). In 1986, commercial pork products were
>> implicated in only three isolated cases of trichinosis."
>>
>> ya gotta stay away from wild boar or bear meat. Especially raw.
>
>But according to this, 10-20% of the adult
>population of the U.S. suffers from the
>effects of trichinosis at some time.
>
>http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/trichinosis
>
>Not to mention subclinical infestations,
>in which the symptoms are insufficient
>to cause the victim to seek medical
>treatment, or if medical treatment is
>sought the diagnosis does not attribute
>the symptoms to trichinosis.
>
>Where is it coming from, if not from pork?
>The high incidence of trichinosis is
>certainly not attributeable to eating
>bear or wild boar.
>
>Eating raw or undercooked pork is like
>running Internet Explorer or accepting
>cookies.


Then stop using such sources for medical facts. That is one behavior
that'll immediately lower your chances of infection with trichinella

Try the CDC instead.

Boron

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasi...sis.htm#common

Infection was once very common and usually caused by ingestion of
undercooked pork. However, infection is now relatively rare. During
1997-2001, an average of 12 cases per year were reported. The number
of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding
of raw-meat garbage to hogs, commercial and home freezing of pork, and
the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork
products. Cases are less commonly associated with pork products and
more often associated with eating raw or undercooked wild game meats.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> But according to this, 10-20% of the adult
> population of the U.S. suffers from the
> effects of trichinosis at some time.
>
> http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/trichinosis
>

From commercially produced pork? That's wildly incorrect.
It's more like about 12 cases per year.

Don't look to dictionaries for scientific information. You
need to consult some actual data.

See:

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
Surveillance Summaries
July 25, 2003 / Vol. 52 / No. SS-6

Consult page 4, Table 3:
<http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/ss/ss5206.pdf>

also summarized he

<http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/trichinosis/factsht_trichinosis.htm#common>

Infection was once very common and usually caused by ingestion of
undercooked pork. However, infection is now relatively rare. During
1997-2001, an average of 12 cases per year were reported. The number
of cases has decreased because of legislation prohibiting the feeding
of raw-meat garbage to hogs, commercial and home freezing of pork, and
the public awareness of the danger of eating raw or undercooked pork
products. Cases are less commonly associated with pork products and
more often associated with eating raw or undercooked wild game meats."

12 cases per year from commerically produced pork. That in a
country of 300 million people.

> Where is it coming from, if not from pork?
> The high incidence of trichinosis is
> certainly not attributeable to eating
> bear or wild boar.
>
> Eating raw or undercooked pork is like
> running Internet Explorer or accepting
> cookies.

What high incidence? More of your usual scare mongering and
paranoia.

--
Reg

Reg wrote:
>
> Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> > But according to this, 10-20% of the adult
> > population of the U.S. suffers from the
> > effects of trichinosis at some time.
> >
> > http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/trichinosis
>
> From commercially produced pork? That's wildly incorrect.
> It's more like about 12 cases per year.
>
> Don't look to dictionaries for scientific information. You
> need to consult some actual data.
>
> See:
>
> Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Morbidity is near-death, and mortality is death.

The 10-20% figure refers to symptomatic effects,
which is a MUCH larger number.

Either you don't understand this difference,
or you're being delibrately obtuse.

I'd be concerned about being eaten up
from the inside by worms (and resulting
symptoms), even if it were not fatal or
near-fatal.

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:53:43 GMT, Steve Wertz
> wrote:

>On Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:54:38 -0700, Mark Thorson wrote:
>
>> But according to this, 10-20% of the adult
>> population of the U.S. suffers from the
>> effects of trichinosis at some time.
>
>Of the US? That's bullshit. There were 12 cases reported in a
>5 year span back in the 90's. Even if you quadruple that number,
>that's only .00008 of the population of the US.
>
>Your site also said there is no treatment, which there is.

Depends on the stage of the parasitic infection.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/000631.htm
There is no specific treatment for trichinosis once the larvae have
invaded the muscles. Albendazole can work on the intestinal forms, but
not on the muscle forms.

Boron

Mark Thorson wrote:

> Morbidity is near-death, and mortality is death.
>
> The 10-20% figure refers to symptomatic effects,
> which is a MUCH larger number.
>
> Either you don't understand this difference,
> or you're being delibrately obtuse.
>
> I'd be concerned about being eaten up
> from the inside by worms (and resulting
> symptoms), even if it were not fatal or
> near-fatal.

Morbidity and mortality (M&M) reports follow *disease* and death. The
disease doesn't have to be fatal, but often is one that is monitored.
For example, a state's syphilis cases are reported on the CDC M&M report.
M&M conferences at hospitals review cases to see what learning can be
gleaned from the facts presented.

Pictures have been posted to alt.binaries.food.

More pictures tomorrow, after the ham is removed
from the press.