Homemade Sausage Making

I thought I had this posted someplace on here but darned if I can find it. So just to keep it all in one place I will start this thread and the powers to be can delete the old one if they find it

Original post and a few comments are on page 7 of this thread UMAi dry aging bags : http://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=6855
Bob

Any ways this is start till now. Almost there. End of the month I figure.

Took the recipe from Len poli http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/coppa.pdf
Also doing these in the UMAi dry bags. I have made these using the traditional curing chamber and it was very good so doing them in the bags this time will be interesting to see if there is a difference.

This after 14 days of curing in vac sealed bags. I seal them just before they pull up tight, this gives room for the liquid.


Out of the bags for a wash & a soak and to get the cure off.


Mixed up the rub to be put on before going into the bags.




The recipe calls for ground up fennel seeds, I had some wild fennel pollen that came from Tuscany so I used that. (expensive stuff)



All rounded up, cleaned up, tied up and netted


All rubbed down and into the bags, fold the bags over so the sealing edge stays clean.


Vac sealed and ready for the fridge.


You need to have air flow around the bags so a wire rack is a good idea.


In just one day they lost 30 grams


I,ll keep you posted from time to time. Should be around 8 weeks I'm thinking.


Small update. After sealing these into the dry bags I had noticed a film of liquid on the inside of the bags. I was a tad concerned about how the bags would get rid of it. Well today I can say it is all gone and the bags are bonding to the meat a lot more. So 7 days later they have lost 8% of their green weight. Seems to be going fairly well so far.





Update time. The one that started out at 1892 grams has lost 29.81% moisture
The one that started out at 1842 has lost 31.87% moisture. I figure the end of this month they will be ready. Which is about right for this type of drying...2 months usually works out to around 40%. That,s where we be heading.

See how dark they have turned. Love it. Firming up very nicely to.

Devo,
The Coppa's look great sofar. I always have put the stretch netting on the outside of the bag.
Due to my vacuum sealer playing up the first few times I used it, my thinking was that if I couldn't get a perfect vacuum I use the netting to bond it all together.
It worked flawlessly and saved me some grey hairs worrying about.
with netting on the outside you don't even need a vacuum according to UMAi.
Cheers Mate,
Jan.

The idea of the netting is good.........but, you might find that during the drying process the netting will embed itself into the outside of the meat and be difficult to remove. When I made my Coppa I found that happened even with string tied around the meat to keep it's shape, I like idea of crustyo44 to put the netting on the outside of the bag, hope it all works out.
This is a photo of my Coppa using the bags, it's somewhere else on this forum as well.

Devo wrote:I thought I had this posted someplace on here but darned if I can find it. So just to keep it all in one place I will start this thread and the powers to be can delete the old one if they find it

Original post and a few comments are on page 7 of this thread UMAi dry aging bags : http://www.wedlinydomowe....opic.php?t=6855
Bob

Don't want to hijack Devo but Bob you must have secrets for using the search feature that many of us don't know - please share some where in "Other Topics".

Shuswap wrote:

Devo wrote:I thought I had this posted someplace on here but darned if I can find it. So just to keep it all in one place I will start this thread and the powers to be can delete the old one if they find it

Original post and a few comments are on page 7 of this thread UMAi dry aging bags : http://www.wedlinydomowe....opic.php?t=6855
Bob

Don't want to hijack Devo but Bob you must have secrets for using the search feature that many of us don't know - please share some where in "Other Topics".

I have to agree about secrets for finding stuff on this forum. It seems so wide spread you get frustrated and give up as I did on this one. As many of you I have been on forums most of my internet life. Have moderated a few and I find this one the hardest to navigate.

And hopefully the netting will pull away just as nice as this one in the picture. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Those look as if the bags adhered well. Did you use a modified Food-saver to vac seal them?


Sorry Phil no secrets on the search feature. That post was still in the (semi) Hair covered computers memory. Mainly because I had asked Devo about the fennel pollen.

Really don't think I had the food saver modded for those. I believe I modded it after.

Its been pretty close to 61 days for those two coppa's
Weighed them today and one is at 37.57% and the other one is at 34.88%.
I'm getting a big time itch to cut into one but I will see what they are at this weekend. Going to give them 5 more days. Trouble with them being in my upstairs fridge is I see them everyday and think....ARE THEY READY YET??

So I finally broke down this morning, just could not wait another day as I gave Friday as my dead line to sample

I took the smaller one of the two and weighed it this morning and it was 39%. It was like unwrapping a Christmas present.

Before opening


No off smell to it and now to see if the netting will let go with no problems


Peeled back very easily


Cut and sliced a few, the edge is darker but the texture is about the same as the middle so I'm not sure what that was from. Maybe the coating I but on before bagging.


The test pieces where creamy/silky tasting. Perhaps not as dry as I would have liked. Sliced thin they just melt in you mouth. I vac sealed this one and going to try the equalisation thing for a couple of weeks. The other one I'm letting go to 45% before opening it.

Devo,

Those really do look good. So for these, did you actually order a Coppa cut from the butcher or what was used? What was put on the exterior of it before it was bagged?

rgauthier20420 wrote:Devo,

Those really do look good. So for these, did you actually order a Coppa cut from the butcher or what was used? What was put on the exterior of it before it was bagged?

Thanks
The coating is covered in the very first post. I followed Len Poli's recipe. Also looking back I maybe didn't dry them off enough as there was a pretty good amount of liquid in the beginning.

Finding real coppa around where I live can be done but you would be paying top dollar for one. I just buy large pork loins at a restaurant/food supply store and cut them to size. The ones I have purchased from them seem to have good marbling. Not knowing how these would turn out in the bags I did not want to spend extra dollars on the real thing.

That's what I was thinking they were. Aldi has them on sale right now for $1.99 a lb....maybe I'll have to pick a couple up and give this a go.

Cant you guys get pork butts? Just remove the Coppa muscle and use the rest for sausage.


http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/10/ ... t-one.html

Bob K wrote:Cant you guys get pork butts? Just remove the Coppa muscle and use the rest for sausage.

[url=http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b51 ... 2124a8.jpg]Image[/URL]

If you knew the price of pork around here you would choke. And don't even try to buy prime rib. I would have to sell my house

Bob K wrote:Cant you guys get pork butts? Just remove the Coppa muscle and use the rest for sausage.


http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/10/ ... t-one.html

[url=http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b51 ... 2124a8.jpg]Image[/URL]

I sure can, but I've never butchered out a Coppa before. Maybe I'll have to give it a try.