Beef bladder | for “en vessie” cooking or culatello | XL and XXL

The earliest description of the use of the bladder in cooking comes from Greece in Aristophanes’ The Clouds (Νεφέλαι- 423 B.C.E.) in which is described how food placed inside a sheep’s bladder for roasting spilled out when the bladder ruptured. Most likely this happened because the ancient Greeks used a bladder that was too small. No risk of this happening with this huge beef bladder!

What is a beef bladder?

A beef bladder is a cleaned and dried cow’s bladder.

So you want to be a chef? What do you use a beef bladder for?

En vessie – refers to a cooking method in which meat or other dish is cooked in a  bladder. The most famous application is the Bresse chicken: Poularde de Bresse en vessie; a chicken that is stuffed with e.g. foie gras and truffles then enclosed in the bladder and poached in chicken broth for 60 minutes. The advantage of the method is that the meat does not come into contact with the cooking liquid and the juices from the chicken all stay in the chicken. The famous French chef Paul Bocuse held 3 Michelin stars for 40 years, and this was one of his most famous inventions. You can still enjoy this most famous chicken at his Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or near Lyon for  €500 serving 2, but if you don’t have the time…why not make it yourself at home??? The huge size of this bladder makes it suitable for the largest of chickens.

Culatello – This beef bladder is large enough to hold a culatello, the famous Italian ham.

Content

• one dried cow bladder, choose your size: XL or XXL
• origin: France
• Size: 6 liters (XL) and 6-10L (XXL)

• not for sale for the US and Canada

Note: a dried bladder stretches less than a fresh bladder.

Instruction

1. Soak the bladder in water overnight in the refrigerator
2. If necessary, make the opening wider with a knife
3. Repeatedly fill the bladder with lukewarm water to stretch it further and further
4. Turn the bladder inside out before use
5. Use this recipe by Chef Gilles Reinhardt

We also have smaller sizes for beginning chefs: the hog’s blatter and the sow’s blatter.

Buying a beef bladder?

Order your beef bladder at startercultures.eu, the European webshop for all your fermentation, sausage, and charcuterie needs. By Meneer Wateetons, renowned Dutch fermentation and meat expert and author. Order on weekdays before  3 pm and we’ll ship the same day.  Questions on the usage? Ask them in our chat, we’ll here to help!

Online English spoken sausage making workshop

In this English spoken online workshop you will learn the theory and practice of making fresh sausages. What types of meat work best, where can you find your ingredients, what are the main pitfalls and what funny things can you do with casings. Foodwriter ‘Meneer Wateetons’, author of several books on fermentation and alternative food preparation techniques,  will teach you all about fermentation, curing salts, food safety, pH, starter cultures, molds and drying conditions. Click here for more info.