Made two new Coppas today.

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harleykids
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Made two new Coppas today.

Post by harleykids » Wed Feb 24, 2016 00:54

Decided to do two Coppas today! They are curing in the fridge as we speak.

Wanted to try my TEXEL culture, so I did one coppa with TEXEL, and the other without.

I plan to cure these for 4 days, then add second half of the cure, and then cure another 4 days (8 days total) Then will roll in spices and stuff into a beef bung for the long dry nap!

Wanted to try a different spice blend, so we did the following for the cure (put 1/2 on, will put 2nd 1/2 on four days from now):

Coppa #1
------------
1,026g pork muscle
31g (3%) sea salt
3.1g (0.30%) cure #2
5.2g fresh ground black pepper
10.3g sweet paprika
5.2g ground corriander
2.1g crushed red chilis
0.52g (0.050%) Texel culture

Coppa #2
------------
1,054g pork muscle
32g (3%) sea salt
3.2g (0.30%) cure #2
5.3g fresh ground white pepper
5.3g fresh ground Sumac (has a killer lemon-y taste and a cool deep red/purple color)
2.2g garlic powder
No TEXEL in this one.
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Post by LOUSANTELLO » Wed Feb 24, 2016 05:05

When you saturate the meat in salt, #1, what is the typical amount of time before you rinse them? At what temperature is the meat during this salt saturation period? Should you use a bactoferm? What about sugars? Any PH measurements?
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Post by Butterbean » Wed Feb 24, 2016 06:08

Very creative with the sumac. We use it in jellies. Also use it to make "pink lemonade". Good stuff. Good thinking.
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Post by harleykids » Wed Feb 24, 2016 06:11

Lou,

Curing whole muscle cuts like coppa, lonzino, bresoala, prosciutto, etc is different than curing salumi or sausage. It is a much simpler process.

You can use one of two methods, the older style "salt box" method where you simply roll the meat around in a box of salt, and whatever amount sticks to the meat that is the amount that of salt you use. Another salt box method is to pour a bed of salt in a box, add your whole meat muscle, and cover with a deep layer of salt so the meat is under the salt.

Or you can use the more math method of calculating the salt you need, based on the weight of the meat (like you do with sausage or salumi)
This is the method I use. Salt is added at a minimum total content of 2%, and up to whatever % your taste is. I used 3% sea salt for mine. If you use cure #2, be sure to add that to your overall salt total!

You do not have to add cure #2, and that subject is argued over quite a lot!
I add cure #2 just to be safe. But it is personal preference or risk tolerance...consumer beware basically. If added, it is usually added in the same amount as in a salumi, so 0.25% by meat weight. I use 0.30%, again, personal preference.

I take 1/2 of my dry cure mix (salt+#2+spices) and sprinkle it on the meat. Meat goes into a vacpak bag and into my normal food fridge. Time in fridge can vary depending on the weight/size of the meat. Typical time is 7-14 days for me. I do coppa for 7-10 days, and bresoala (usually bigger than a coppa) for 14 days.
You want the meat to firm up, just like you do when u make homemade cured bacon.

Halfway thru the cure time (so, say, 7 days in on a bresoala) you take the vacpak out of the fridge and add the second 1/2 of the cure that you put aside when you started. Some people drain off any liquid before adding the second 1/2, I usually don't. I just add it to the package, massage the meat, and pull a new vacuum and seal again. Back I to the fridge for the remainder of the time (another 7 dayd in the case of a bresoala)

At the end of the curing time (14 days in this example) you pull out the vacpak, open it, rise the meat with water, wine, etc to remove the old cure, and then you can roll in whatever spice you want (or not) and then stuff the muscle into a soaked and cleaned beef bung. Then I prick the casing all over a bunch of times to let any air out and help consistent drying, then net and hang in the chamber for normal 13C @ 82% RH drying.

At this time you can spray M600 mold onto the outside if you want, or let it colonize on its own, etc. Drying is the same as a saluminum from this point on.

You can use any spices you want, or add sugar to the cure, etc.
No PH to worry about, whole muscle is the easiest cured meat.

Also seems to take the longest to dry, as it is a solid muscle.
And very hard to mess up, as the muscle doesn't rot or turn rancid, unless you don't use the minimum salt of course. No air pockets to deal with either!

There is a culture called TEXEL that is for whole muscles, but it is completely optional. You don't need any culture with whole muscles. I just tried it to see if it makes any changes that I might like. And it's easy to use, you just dump it into the vacpak bag when you start. It's dry like yeast, and you add 0.050% by meat weight (so multiply meat weight in grams by 0.00050 to get TEXEL amount to add)

Hope this helps!

Guys, correct me if I am wrong anywhere above.

Good luck!
Jason
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Post by harleykids » Wed Feb 24, 2016 06:24

Thanks BB, glad to see someone else knows this spice!

It's one of my favorite lesser known spices, but very popular in Armenian food.

First time I had it was on top of very thinly sliced raw onions...a very simple and rustic dish but oh so good!

I am going to make some salumi using it as the main ingredient someday soon...maybe a Spanish Chorizo style but with Sumac instead of pimenton.

Would probably go well on a lonzino with oranges also, or a coppa rolled in cumin and sumac.
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Post by LOUSANTELLO » Wed Feb 24, 2016 14:41

Thanks Jason. I am taking the leap to trying one. I guess the timing issue is making sure you aren't using the curing chamber for fermentation at the time you're ready to place the coppa. Other than that, I guess it's just patience. What is the typical curing time approximately? I watched a video of these guys in Canada that makes Sopressa. As an Italian, I have never heard of it when I was young. Looking at the video, it's basically a sopressata in a much larger casing and curing time is months. It sounds pretty interesting being it can be sliced like lunchmeat instead of an appetizer on a plate. I will post some pics next week when I start up again. The chamber is still filled with half of the soppressata. I am waiting for them to hit 45%,,,,then I am ready to rock and roll again.
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Post by Bob K » Wed Feb 24, 2016 17:33

Nice post Jason!

Lou-
They are cured in your refrigerator at refrigerator temps, not fermentation temps like the soppressata. After curing they are hung in your chamber to dry.
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Post by LOUSANTELLO » Wed Feb 24, 2016 22:25

I understand that, but I have to time the chamber to not be fermenting anything else when the coppa needs to go in
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Post by LOUSANTELLO » Wed Feb 24, 2016 22:27

Evan frim Butchers Pantry just moved his shop to Illinois ,12 miles from my home. I had a discussion with him on the phone today. I am planning on meeting him this week to pick up bungs and test out a vacmaster 215
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Post by harleykids » Wed Feb 24, 2016 23:34

Lucky Lou!

I have talked to Evan via email, and I get everything from his shop (correct, now in IL as of late January of this year) except for my heavy stainless steel hooks ($1.60 each from Butcher Packer...cheaper than I can make them!)

I use his cut and tied beef middles pretty much exclusively, for all things salumi.
Tried the hog casings, no where near as nice a product. Not his fault at all, just didn't like the unevenness of the hog casings and they were way too small for much of anything dried IMHO.
Probably good for fresh sausage, but not for dried salumi. Each to his own!

The cut and tied beef middles are awesome and by far my favorite size and casing for all things salumi! I used them for my sopressatta and my pepperoni ala Bob K, and will use them for my salami Genoa as well, and all my salumi going forward.

I also get my beef bungs (for my whole muscle meats like coppa, bresoala, etc) from him, they are great! His beef bungs are also a great product!

I get all my starter cultures from him also, the B-LC-007, M600, and the Texel DCM, plus my netting.

I even ordered my Hanna Halo PH meter from him, and will be using it on my next salumi batch.

He also supplied me with my sausage pricker, all my Calabrian pepper powders, wild fennel, etc. Only thing I noticed he doesnt carry is Pimenton de la Vera.
He has cure #1, #2, etc as well.

Tell him I said "Hi!" when you see him! He'll know me as the guy from Olathe, Kansas.
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Post by harleykids » Wed Feb 24, 2016 23:43

Lou,

I used to be in the same situation as you...using my curing chamber for fermenting.
Not a good idea.

So for my last batch of pepperoni ala Bob K, I used my home oven as the fermenting chamber instead. MUCH BETTER!

Held a constant 90% humidity with NO humidifier needed (just a small bowl of salt water and the natural humidity of six 14" long beef middles hanging in the oven!) and kept about 3 degrees F warmer than my ambient house temp (ambient house temp was 69-70 F)

Basically it was a natural fermenting chamber without having to use a single monitoring tool (no humidifier, no heating pad, etc)

Only downside was that we couldnt use the oven for cooking for 48 hours. Not that my family minded that much.. they got to eat out 2 days in a row!

48 hours later we wiped the condensation out of the oven and we were good to go!

Until I can get a dedicated fermentation chamber built, I will continue to use my oven. It's really just about perfect! I had to get creative with my heavy "S" hooks and hang them from the burners on top, but they worked well. Salumis hung horizontally, as there was not room to hang them vertically...they didn't seem to mind at all!

And my oven is an electric oven, so no pilot light buring 24/7. If your oven is pilot light lit, you may need to leave the door open slightly to control your top end high temp, if you use a low fermenting temp culture like -007 (low fermenting temp from 68-75F)

But for a different higher temp culture, a pilot light lit oven may be ideal!

I won't ferment in my curing chamber again...that's for sure!
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