- We're here in Brooklyn
to talk about Jersey pork roll.
So we imported Jersey's finest,
(uptempo music)
Brad Leone.
Brad's got a show called "It's Alive"
talking about fermented things.
Turns out this meat is also fermented
and is also from Jersey.
So that makes you the master of Taylor Ham.
- And I grew up on it.
So I mean, I means a lot to me.
- Let's get into figuring out
what the heck goes into Taylor Ham.
- Yeah, let's make it.
- Why do some people call it Taylor Ham,
some people call it pork roll?
- From what I've observed, it's just a matter
of how far north in the state you go.
I grew up in pretty much the northernmost part
of New Jersey, and I swear no one,
no one would call it pork roll.
- That's Taylor Ham country.
It's Taylor Ham country big time.
My first job was at a deli in New Jersey,
and one of the jobs was slicing Taylor Ham every day.
What's really specific about Taylor Ham
is that it is, it has a tanginess to it,
and it has to be there.
- I think this is an underrated meat product.
- It's delicious.
- Firmly underrated because you don't have enough
breakfast meat items that are fermented.
- I don't really care about it.
- At all?
You've had it?
- I've had it.
I've had it.
I'm just trying to blow up our comments section.
I think it's good, but I feel like it's a nostalgic thing.
- 100%, you shouldn't care about it that much.
And if you didn't grow up with it,
I don't know why anyone would care about it.
(upbeat music)
You can't go slicing this like mortadella,
and when it's done nice, it's kinda special.
Nah, look at that.
I look like a goddamned kid cut it.
(Brent laughing)
It's very important.
You gotta cut the slits in it, four, four slits.
- This is so it doesn't roll up, right?
- So I don't cup on ya
like if you were frying bologna.
All right, boom.
Just, oh, that's it.
- That's it, that's the stuff.
- If it don't look like that, someone f***** up.
Yeah, see look, that's good, nice,
but you wanna get it all in here, right?
Yeah, oh, there you go, there you go.
Little nibbles, I'm excited.
I'm starting to get, my mouth's a little tingly already
in anticipating the tang.
- [Brent] It knows what's coming.
- Oh, my God, it's so good!
- So salty.
- It's too salty.
- Oh, it's horrible for you.
That's you need it a little thinner.
Otherwise, it's like (grunting) I'm gonna die,
but in the moment, oh.
- I don't there is much spice going on.
- There's tang and salt.
I almost wish it was a little less salt.
- It's a little intense.
- It's a little much.
Let's make it a little less salty.
- We gotta figure out this recipe,
go to the drawing board.
We're f****** shooting in the dark here.
- Good.
- [Ben] All right, you're writing.
- I'm writing.
I think number one, pork.
- Yeah, I'd say that's a safe bet, salt.
- Safe bet.
Oh, yeah, really number 1-1/2 is salt.
- It's very confusing (laughing), and tang.
So it's pork, salt, tang.
- Tang, not the powdered drink mix.
- That's an interesting proposal.
- But.
Pepper.
- Pepper, what kinda pepper?
- Do we want white and black?
- And a little flick of cayenne we thought.
- I think we can do a flick.
I think for a tang, you can put an equals sugar
- [Brent] Equals, so we need some sugar.
- Are cultures gonna, we have a fast acting one,
a fast fermentation one,
which I think is probably what they use.
- For sure.
Now, as far as pork, what kinda pork you thinking cut-wise?
- [Ben] We gotta do shoulder, right?
- Shoulder.
- But we're gonna go 60/40, right?
Anything else?
- I think a little bit of mace would be good.
I think just like a. - A hint.
- Just a whisper.
- Oh, garlic.
- Oh, yeah.
- We're in New Jersey.
- There's gotta be a little garlic.
- Let's do fresh garlic.
Fresh garlic, onion powder,
I think we got everything we need.
- We wanna make it a little better in a way, right?
But kinda also not too much
because then we're going away from...
- Then it's not Taylor Ham.
- from what it is. - Yeah.
So you guys wanna start cutting some meat?
- Yeah, let's get into the pork.
- We're going to de-bone a pork shoulder.
I didn't come to work today to work,
so you're gonna do it.
- Fine, I'll do it.
Carve right down in here?
- Exactly, take the skin off.
Keep as much fat on there as possible.
- It's easier to take the skin off
while the bones are still in.
You get a little bit more structure.
The shoulder is the ideal cut just because,
well, for several reasons.
You can see the amount of fat that was on it.
It's a really, really nice fat cap.
Normally that's 30% fat, 70% lean.
For what we're doing,
we're gonna need a little bit of extra fat.
In this cut, you have a lot of muscles
that are starting from the neck, which is this end,
and as they move their way down,
they're all connected by these thin layers,
thin ribbons of fat,
which gives it a really, really great texture, as well.
- This looks great.
- Not that great.
- No, you're doing a great job, bud.
- This is a tough one.
Taking out the shoulder blade,
it's a tough cookie to crack.
- Woo!
- [Brad] Oh, it's right there.
Oh, that felt good. - Right?
Woo!
- [Ben] Yeah.
- Next up, we're gonna need to grind this.
So would you?
- [Brad] Cut it into pieces.
- Cut it into pieces.
- We're really just not working today?
- No, I'll do whatever. - Watching this guy do it.
- I'll do it all.
- [Brent] So we'll take a look at this, eye it up,
see our fat contents.
- Oh, nice scale, boys.
- We got 12 pounds.
We're gonna go total of 24 pounds, correct?
- Total 24 pounds.
- [Brent] We're fattenin' her up here.
- Goddamn, guys, we like are f***** right on the money here.
- It's no mistake.
All right, so what's next, boys?
We just grind this up?
- To get that particle definition we were seeing
in the pork roll, I think we should throw it in the,
we have a blast chiller, just so when it goes
through the grinder, it doesn't get kinda mushy.
- So it grinds nicer.
- Yeah, that would be the way to say it.
(Brad laughing)
- [Brad] All right, flash chill that s***.
- So we have our spice list.
We're gonna do the tinted cure,
which is gonna keep it that nice pink that we like.
- [Brad] It's in Taylor Ham.
- Yeah, it's on the ingredient list.
What's not but we're gonna add it,
- What the hell is that?
- that is a super binder.
No flavor, has no effect whatsoever other than just binding.
So since we're gonna have that 40% fat,
I kinda just want a little - Security blanket?
- [Ben] Just a little security blanket.
- I'm into that.
We got a little black peppercorn.
- [Ben] A little black pepper, we got some white pepper.
We got some onion powder.
We got cayenne, good spotting,
seeing a little red, little bits.
- [Brad] Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's always been there.
- Mace that we're just gonna whisper.
We got our fresh garlic.
So there's a bunch of different kind of
starter cultures we could use.
Us boys, we got places to be, things to do.
So we're gonna use the fast-fermenting style.
Only 42 grams is all you need for 225 kilos, so.
- Little dab'll do ya.
- So we're gonna do like one gram.
- [Brad] Oh, that's a gram.
- You think that's a gram?
I'm gonna do a little bit more.
- Hey, it's gotta be tangy anyway.
- [Ben] Get that distilled water.
- [Brad] Oh, why distilled water, bud?
- Because tap water normally has chlorine in it,
so it's supposed to kill bacteria.
We don't wanna kill this bacteria.
So we used distilled water,
so it'll just kinda like wake it up.
And then we're just gonna let that hang out
for like 10 or 15 minutes.
- Ready to grind?
- Ready to grind? - All right.
Grind it and grind it again.
- Same dye, what kinda dye we use?
- [Brent] Same dye, we got a fine dye.
- [Brad] Oh, baby!
- Oh, baby.
- All right, you catch.
Yeah, there we go. - There you go, there you go.
- [Brad] Yeah, this thing's no joke, huh?
- Beautiful.
Just like Mr. Taylor used to do.
- Yep, just like him.
Our mixture of the fat and the meat
all mixed up nice, grinded.
Almost looks like pork roll.
I'm not even kidding.
- [Brent] We're almost there.
- [Brad] We're almost there.
Smells good.
- Smells like pork.
I'm just gonna load this puppy up.
- [Brad] Want me to bring the spice kit?
- Let's do it.
Go ahead and throw it in.
- Yeah, just dump it?
- Yeah, just get it in there.
- Sprinkle?
- [Ben] Yeah, like liberally, yeah.
I think we're good.
- [Brad] It looks great!
- [Ben] Oh, yeah, baby.
- [Brad] Looks Taylor Hammy.
- Yeah.
- So what's next, we just gotta,
we gotta put it in the casing?
- Yeah, we just gotta put in a casing
and then take a few days off.
- Take a few days, not a problem.
- Brent, you look like you have muscles.
Do you wanna grab that really heavy thing over there?
- [Brent] Yeah (growling).
- That big, big, big bowl of meat.
- Yeah, outta the way!
- Pack it down, good to go?
All right, you wanna be on the pumping end of this
or the receiving end of that?
- I'll pump, bud.
- All right.
- What, oh oh, first of all,
I don't know what this seaweed looking casing is you got.
- This ain't no ham bag.
- This ain't no Taylor Ham bag.
They use the cloth one.
I'm assuming it was a difficult thing to find.
- We were not able to procure it.
Plus, we also already had these guys.
These are our big bologna, mortadella ones.
- Oh, it's gonna work just fine.
- You're doing this thing.
So first thing you're gonna do.
- Oh, it's knee activated.
- Knee activated.
Put your hand straight out.
You wanna feel the air coming out
until you don't feel any air.
- Oh, we're pushing air. - And then stop.
- [Brad] Oh, oh!
- Got it. - Got it.
Just pull that baby all the way on, all the way on,
all the way on.
- Like scrunch it, like a normal sausage casing?
- Yeah, get it in there.
Okay, I'll hold.
Stop, stop. - Yeah, bud, nice!
Look at that shit!
(Ben groaning excitedly)
- Goddamn, I wanna make all the stuffing.
Look at that.
- [Ben] Look at that.
- I take back all the bad I said about the casing.
It'll work just fine.
This is legit as f***, boys.
Is it gonna shrink a bit, no?
- No, it's actually going to expand as it ferments.
Yeah, this is like fairly tight.
It'll be like you could bounce a quarter
off that thing.
- Really? - Yeah.
Let's do a couple more.
- Okay.
- [Ben] So boys, we got these babies here.
We got two big boys and a little pudge.
- [Brad] Yeah, a little pudge.
- I think three days is probably what we're gonna need.
Guys, what a whirlwind three days we've had.
We've learned, we've loved.
- High highs. - We fermented meat together.
- Low lows.
- I didn't remember any lows.
Do you remember any lows?
- Couple lows.
- Blacked out there for a while.
- Okay, apparently that's on me.
Let's get this guy going.
Oh, that is very warm and nice.
I am jealous of you, pork roll.
- [Brad] Beautiful.
- At 160 to get it to like 148,
which is where we wanna be, probably like five hours.
- [Brad] Cool.
I'm excited to try this.
- All right, that's our three day.
Three days right there.
Do you wanna do the honors?
- No, you should.
- Okay. - You should.
Oh, oh, oh, you're gonna cut it right in the middle.
- I mean I was thinking about it, yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I mean we're gonna eat this whole thing.
(Brad laughing)
- [Ben] Where we cut it.
- Nice slice with confidence.
Whoa!
- [All] Oh!
- Goddamned Taylor Ham, bud!
- [Brent] Yeah.
- Oh, yeah, lemme smell.
That looks great.
Yeah!
Nice bindage. - I feel pretty good
about that.
- Throw that on the deli slicer, kah-tai kah-tai.
- That is a very good deli slicer sound.
- Kah-tai, kah-tai.
Yeah, look at this!
Look at this!
Nailed even though it almost looks identical,
the little speckle, the little subtle cayenne
or whatever it is speckle.
- Oh, it feels pretty good.
Yeah, I feel like we did the Lord's work here today.
- Yes, you're right.
This is fantastic.
It does look a little bit more,
it looks more like Genoa.
- Yeah, I think you're right.
There's a little bit more air in mine.
- Probably from the fermentation.
- In the one we made, there's a little bit more air in it.
- Oh, the casing peels off real nice.
- Ooh. - Oh, look at that, bud, huh?
We're gonna see how it needs to crisp up.
I don't think that'll be a problem,
but let's see if we achieved the proper tangage.
No, I'm slicing like hell.
This is critical.
This looks great, guys.
- [Ben] I'm proud of us.
- Look at that.
This is not an easy task either,
recreate something that's almost impossible.
Oh, yeah, oh, it's there, boys.
It smells just like Taylor Ham.
- [Ben] Really, you're not just blowing smoke?
- No, no, no.
Feels right.
Looks right.
- Wow, cheers.
- Cling, boom.
- Let's hope we got that tang.
- I think the flavor's real nice.
It's not like super overpowering by any means.
Everything is subtle and balanced,
but afterwards it lingers, and you do get,
the tang is there.
I would go like another day. - Another day?
- Four day. - Maybe five.
- What do you think New Jersey would think about this?
- Oh, to hell with 'em.
No (laughing).
I think we'd get a lotta criticism,
but that's New Jersey in a nutshell, I guess, right?
They're a real proud people.
If it the more of emulsified texture,
(clicking) home run, boys.
- A finder grind.
I don't think we need to change the flavors.
- The flavor's perfect.
- Yeah, the flavoring's fantastic.
- The salt level's perfect. - Yeah.
- We can't let you leave without actually making
the real deal sandwich, so.
- Okay, so the real deal or my preferred?
- [Brent] Your preferred!
- If I'm going to Leone & Sons Sandwich Shop.
- This is on the menu.
This is the one?
- Yeah. - Done, let's do it.
- Yeah, yeah. - All right.
- [Brad] You guys are in for a real frickin' treat,
I'll tell ya.
- [Ben] Oh, I'm excited.
- [Brent] What's your sandwich?
What's your move?
- [Brad] Taylor Ham, mustard, toasted everything bagel.
- [Ben] You're f****** wild, man, you're wild.
- [Brad] Oh, it's good!
And that's how you stack 'em.
That's how it goes.
- [Ben] Nothing else?
- No.
Yeah, cut it up.
Yeah, that's it.
- Let's eat it.
You're right.
- That is a great ham sandwich.
If this were not presented as something
that came from a fancy butcher shop, what do you think?
- I sat down and this came wrapped in tin foil
in the bagel already, sandwich is done.
- Oh, we're going fishin'.
Hey, Brad, have a sandwich.
- And I'd be like oh, oh, dude, you got me
Taylor Ham and mustard on an everything bagel?
- Would it pass?
- Visually I would say yes.
All right, boom, it definitely Taylor Ham.
I would bite and say what brand is this?
- Wow.
- So we made pork roll not Taylor Ham?
- No, no, no. - God damn it!
- No, that's not the point.
Nailed it.
I mean you nailed it.
(all laughing)
- [Brent] We're perfect, guys.
- [Ben] We're perfect.
Oh, my gosh. - It's a wrap.
- Oh, God, I love us, I love us.
- Wow. - Yeah.
(upbeat music)