Salumi Questions...

[Erich vG]

Hey Y'all-

I've been very successful at making tesa (flat pancetta) and various fermented, moulded salamis for our restaurant, but have a couple of questions regarding whole-muscle cuts, (think culatello, lomo, speck, etc.)

1. For the coppa and lomo I have curing/hanging presently, I have used a 5% salt to raw weight ratio. If the initial cure is done in plastic bags, will this be about right? I know that prosciutti require 6%, but I figured that since they are allowed to "drip" and contain the bone, then 5% should be about right for boneless, "wet-cured" cuts.

2. The FDA requires 200 ppm nitrite in dry cured meat products. Cure #1 is 6.25% nitrite by weight, so the calculation for nitrite addition is easy, but the #2 cure I am using, (from Butcher & Packer), is 5.67% nitrite and 3.63% nitrate. Should I calculate for a nitrite value to equal 200 ppm, or should I just assume that over the hanging time the nitrate will be degraded into the appropriate level of nitrite?

3. Culatello is called the "heart of the prosciutto". Am I to assume that this is a single-muscle cut containing only the pork top round, or is it "harvested" including other muscles?

4. Which muscles/muscle groups are used to produce real Südtirol-style Speck?

5. Where the hell does one find hog bladders!!??

Thanks in advance for your input, you'll see a lot more of me around here....

Erich

[divina]

Ciao from Tuscany!

I am just doing my first Capocolla and blogging about it on my going whole hog blog.

I am using the "recipe" my local butchers have given me... salt, garlic, pepper, chili

no nitrites.

Am a little worried as it is a warm winter!

[jmolinari]

Erich let me see if i can help.

1) I use about 3.5%-5% salt when doing my bresaola and my coppa. How salty it becomes is dependant on both how much salt you use, and how long you leave it in the cure. My coppa i rub and cure for about 9-15 days in a plastic bag.

2)Over time, nitrate IS degraded to nitrite. I use 0.25% of the meat weight of cure #2

3) Speck is also from the ham..but i'm not sure what part exactly.

4)Culatello is a single chunk of muscle, and harvesting it ruins the prosciutto. I wish i knew where it was in the ham/rear.

5) yeah..no idea:)

I detail coppa and bresaola recipes in my blog- Cured meats.

Edited February 21, 2008 by jmolinari (log)

[cookingkid]

Maybe you can bug one of the posters from the Charcuterie thread for his description of his speck. From what I've understood, it is the top round of a leg of pork, skin off. I've never done it, but from the IGF description is a boneless ham that is seasoned with salt, black pepper, and juniper. Smoked and aged. Good luck.

It has been about three years and different cities, but I've found dried pig bladder in a Chinese grocery store in NYC. You can also get it if you buy a whole hog from a farmer and have it and it processed to your specifications. Smaller butcher houses don't want to mess with cleaning innards, so you might have to do it yourself if it is for a sausage casing.

Josh