Upgraded Control of a Meaty Environment

I am not a carpenter.

But I have managed to finally finish building my walk-in cooler. It is seemingly solid, definitely well insulated,  provides plenty of storage room for holding meat, and it keeps good control of the temperature and humidity in the box.  Below are a few picture of the 95% finished cooler.

There’s an insulated door, but no door handle yet. You can’t have everything on day #1.

Door removed.

The AC. Thanks Craigslist! The small black box on the bottom of the air conditioner is the humidity and temperature control, courtesy of the reptile department at the pet store.  Salami and lizards both need precise humidity and temp controls….or they can get ruined.

The humidifier and a light. I don’t have to work in a dark closet anymore!

The current collection of drying meat, including duck breast prosciutto (wild duck from Eastern Washington…Thanks Jay!), Duck salami (same source), cured pork loin (Tails & Trotters pig mentioned in my earlier blog post), “Herschel” (prosciutto #1 from Sea Breeze Farm in Vashon Island), “Hazel”, the newest prosciutto (from Tails & Trotters in Portland), and a few bunches of rosemary from my front yard.

A second picture of the two prosciutto legs. “Herschel” on the left is 5 months old. One full month of aging has occurred already, and the color and texture are obviously very different from “Hazel”, on the right. This picture was taken on the first day of drying after 30 days of salting were complete. Right after this photo, “Hazel” was wrapped in a bug tent, to prevent flies or other critters from exploring and/or declaring this fresh meat their new home. That would be very bad.