Homemade Sausage Making

Have been curing a 3 lb. coppa in my fridge for the past 9 days.

Coppa was done with spices, salt, and cure #2. Rubbed 1/2 of the cure and spices mixture on the coppa, vacpak'd and into the fridge for 4 days.

After 4 days, drained liquid and re-rubbed with remaing 1/2 cure and spice mixture.
Vacpak'd again and back into fridge for another 5 days.

Took it out of the fridge today, firmed up fairly well, so I went ahead and cased it in a beef bung and netting.

Washed the spices and cure off of the coppa, then gave it a nice dry white wine bath, then rubbed 50/50 mix of hot and sweet pimenton de la Vera all over it.

Soaked a nice beef bung in water and two quartered oranges for about 30 mins, rinsing inside and out until nice and clean and soft.

Stuffed coppa into the bung, tied and netted it. Pricked all over to ensure no air bubbles were trapped. Hung it in the curing chamber at 13 deg C @ 82% RH to cure.

My starting wet weight is 1,384g and my target finish weight is 830g (40% WL)

What weight loss do you all normally target for coppa? 40%? or is that too high?

Would 35% be better?

With the coppa protected by the beef bung, and with it curing at 13 deg C @ 82% RH, I don't think I will have any issues with case hardening, so I think the flavor and texture may be better at 40% WL?

I also have a bresoala in the fridge, started curing it at the same time as the coppa, but it is another pound larger and I will cure it for 14 days (7 days, then re-rub, another 7 days) so I will be casing it up this Friday.

Thanks
Jason






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35% weight loss is a good starting point. But in the end it depends on the amount of fat in the coppa. If it is from a larger, fatter pork, then it might be good at a 30% loss. And then there is the matter of personal preference, some guys dry it to 45-50%. Because there is a lot of muscle tissue that is not covered by fat in a coppa, you could tell whether there is any case hardening by squeezing it when it reaches 35% loss. With the humidity, beef bung and mould cover yours should have minimal case hardening. And if there is a bit of dryness around the edges a couple of weeks vac pac and fridge will take care of it.

Thanks RedZed, I think I will do the squeeze test at 35% and see how it feels.
Hopefully it will be nice and firm.

I didn't spray this one with any M600 mold, and I didn't ferment it either. Just took it from curing in the fridge, rinsed, wine bath, dusted heavily with 50/50 mix of picante/dulce pimenton de la Vera, and then cased in a beef bung and netted.

I want to see if some of my M600 from my sopressatta and chorizo will jump to the coppa naturally. I am guessing it will, although probably at a slower rate than if I had sprayed it with M600.

Update on my Coppa de la Vera!

I have been recording the weight loss, so I can compare that with the super scientific "squeeze test" and figure out when my Coppa feels good.

Well, yesterday was the day! It was nice and firm but still had a nice give if I squeezed really hard.

Starting weight was 1,384g and I pulled it yesterday at 945g, so weight loss was 31.7%
This one was started on 1/8/16 with 50% dry cure, then second half of dry cure was added on 1/12/16, then out of cure, rinsed, spiced, and stuffed/netted on 1/17/16 and into drying chamber.

Pulled on 2/29/16 at 31.7% WL at around 6 weeks drying.

I pulled the casing and net off, and wrapped it in dry wax paper and put it in the fridge to get cold and harden up a bit for slicing. 4 hours later I pulled it out and sliced some on my Hobart 410.

All I can say is WOW! Absolutely wonderful! Color was great, pimenton de la Vera spices that I rolled it in before casing it in the beef bung gave the outside a dark red color, and the inside was a beautiful deep red!

This was the one that my oldest son had been waiting for, as coppa is his favorite cured meat, hands down. He said it was fantastic and better than store bought by 1000%.
As a matter of fact, he said we need to get at least four more ready and hung in the chamber!

I reminded him we already have two in cure now, and he said the four more are in addition to those two. At least he is thinking ahead!

Very happy with the Coppa, one of the best cured meats my chamber has put out to date.

Obligatory pic of the Coppa slices.

Jason
Olathe, KS

That's beautiful

Jason that is a first class coppa. And the the fact that there is no case hardening that I can see, is testimony to your chamber set-up. Looks downright delicious and would probably be even better if you dry to 40% loss.

Thanks guys!

The results with the coppa and the bresoala almost make me want to give up on the extra work of making salumi....almost! Just kidding, actually the salumi is much more work and more of a challenge, so it has it's own merits!

But these whole muscle cuts are so easy to do, and so delicious, that it's almost a shame that every family doesn't have these hanging in their home!

Chris,

I agree, I would like to take this one to about 35-40% as suggested.

So should I just leave it wrapped in butcher paper in my regular fridge, and weight it once in a while?

I figure my plan is when its gets to 35% WL I can vacpak it and let it equalize moisture for a few weeks, then slice and try.

Then wrap it in paper again until 40% WL, then vacpak for a few weeks to equalize moisture again, and slice and try. Repeat as necessary, or until all is eaten (more likely!)

I would leave it in the chamber until you reach 40% loss, allowing the enzymes to work their magic in developing the flavour. Then vac seal and store in the fridge until needed. The coppa will keep that way for a year or even longer, and even improve in flavour.

I am a bit nervous about putting it back in the chamber, as I have stripped the casing off it and it has an exposed end now that I have sliced some off of it.

I am assuming you are suggesting putting it back into the chamber vs. the fridge, since the chamber would have a higher humidity level vs. the dehumidifying (edge hardening) affect that the fridge would cause?

I would hate to have mold grow on it now the casing is off, or have an issue with the exposed end. Plus I like to have it nice and cold when I slice for eating. The fridge allows this, the chamber doesn't as it runs around 55F versus 33F for the fridge.

What is done is done. My suggestion is for future endeavours.

oh, now I see what you meant! Duh! :-0

Understood...take my future coppas to 40% before I mess with them!

Thanks Chris,
Jason

Looks phenominal. I have two in the refrigerator curing right now. I hope mine end up half as good as that picture. I am meeting Evan from Butchers Pantry this week. He ordered a vacmaster 215 for me. I inquired about the aqualab water activity meter. I am looking forward to a demo of this little beast. He's working with Hanna to making one, but it may still be a year away.

A reasonably priced Aw meter would be great! Most are out of my budget at $1.5K+!

The Hanna Halo PH meter at $185 is a great product, IMHO.
Their 9963 PH meter is $400, so the $185 is within reach for most hobbyists.

Even a basic no frills Aw meter at $200 would sell well I am guessing.

Maybe a stupid question but...
As a home producer, not having to "prove" a shelf stable product, why do you really need one?

I got the impression that its the only way of truly knowing where you are. Weight alone is still a guess and a "good rule of thumb"