Homemade Sausage Making

Looking for some insight from the experts. I've got a Lomo and Pancetta that have been in the drying/curing chamber for almost three months. Both of these cuts have significantly higher fat content than the Coppa that I did, and I took those to 35% and 42% weight loss respectively.

I think that I should be targeting a lower total weight loss due to the high fat content on these, but what is "reasonable"? As of yesterday, the pancetta was at 21%, and the Lomo was at 26%.

Thanks for any advice!

Rich

Meat contains approximately 75% water, fat only 15%, so the difference is huge. On many of the forums and FB pages, hobbyists calculate the weight loss after the curing stage, but the industry standard id to calculate from the weight of the green meat. You also have to take into account whether the meat was frozen, if so, you already had a weight loss of as much as 5%. So it's difficult to answer your question without knowing all the details. Pork belly could have as much 80% fat or as little as 40%. Usually most are ready at around 25% loss. The loin is probably safe to consume once you reach 30% loss but many leave it longer because they like the firmer texture or want to further develop the flavours. So it's something that's based on personal preference rather than safety or processing practices.

Thanks, Red. Neither of these was frozen, and my weight loss calcs are based on pre-cure weights. I'll probably trim a bit off the pancetta at 25% to see if I like where it's at, and just go by firmness of the lean portion of the Lomo for that one.

R