Soppressa

Post by **redzed** » Thu May 19, 2016 14:40

Very nice! Now those are sausages! I fermented mine in my cooler flat laying in the bottom. Then pressed it in my work area for 2 days. the temp was around 62F. During the pressing I brushed the exposed sides of the beef bung with distilled water to keep it from drying. I think pressing did make a huge difference in the texture and appearance and made it a better product. It also pressed out any air pockets that might have been created during the stuffing. Pressing after fermentation is a bit harder since it has firmed up considerably by then, so you just use more weight/pressure.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 03:08

I am at 1 month right now with a 31% weight loss. Any suggestions as to my target weight for these things?

Post by **redzed** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 06:47

Squeeze it, taste it. The % of weight loss is relative and does not always tell the whole story. It depends on how much water was in the meat in the first place. If the meat was first frozen there will be less water. If you added water or wine to the mixture, that will also make a difference. There will also be less weight loss when there is a high fat content. So once you lose 30-35% you can taste it and decide whether it suits you. As with wine, everyone has their personal preference.

BTW did you manage to keep the mould of the soppressa?

Post by **Bob K** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 12:28

I would also consider that in the original video it took 4-5 months and redzeds took 3.5 months. The flavors also take time to develop, another quality that sets us apart from the modern mass producers. But like Chris said to each his own.

Post by **redzed** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 16:24

OOPS! I thoght we were were talking about the latest batch of the small pressed links! So my reply is a bit off!

31% after a month does seem a bit a high for something of that diameter. And you do need more time for it to mellow out and develop flavour. Mould here will also help not only with the flavour developmwnt but reduce case drying. So just make sure your humidity stays around 80 and leave it.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 05:00

Yes, this is the soppressa. The chamber is reading 77% humidity toward the top area and 82% near the bottom at 55 degrees F. Like the coppa I made, I would imagine the last 12-15% will slow down big time. As far as the dried sausage, the white mold took over and I just let it go. I did not attempt to get rid of it. The coppa's and bresaola was also loaded. The soppressa's were the first ones I netted along with pressed them. The white coating is much less than anything else in the chamber. Maybe it was because of the pressing for the 1st 3 days? Who knows. They look great though.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:27

Well, I had one of these that felt pretty firm and it's at 39% right now. Not knowing whether I wanted it firmer, I decided to cut about 2" off the bottom heel to see how it's going and taste it. I noticed there is some slight brownish discoloration thru the whole 2" in some areas. It smells fine and it taste fine. What's with the color and should it be eaten?

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 12:50

Could be a lot of different reasons that would be hard to pinpoint, from incomplete mixing to fat smearing and many more.
Do you have a pic?

Is your new chamber up and running?

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 13:06

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 13:29

To me it look like air pockets caused oxidation. That grey/brown color is described in many trouble shooting guides. Probably best not to eat it. I would cut another section off and see if it just that one area.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 13:32

I will cut another area. I'm kinda disappointed being this was the first time I used netting and thought they were the greatest things, but I was wondering whether it was really as bound as stringing it up manually.

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 13:39

The netting had nothing to do with it, they are caused by improper stuffing and the larger the casing the harder they are to stuff properly. Also if you recall how long and with how much weight both Brican and Redzed pressed theirs at.....Proper pressing also helps to prevent air pockets, its not just cosmetic.

Wow nice unit, Any plans for controls etc. ?

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 13:50

I cut one whole unit into 2-3" sections. The top area looks pretty good. As I got toward the halfway mark, it was getting more apparent. I lost about half of it. Do you keep the good area?

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 14:00

That's a personal call, I would chuck the bad section and keep the front half as long as its clear

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Jul 23, 2016 14:11

As far as controls, I was hoping the warmest setting on the unit would go high enough and that's not the case. The lowest setting will only get the unit to 46 degrees F. I called the manufacture to see if there was a way to " offset the stat and trick the system or if they had any way in modifying or replacing the stat to go beyond the 46 degrees. The answer was NO. For now, I am running it thru an Auber controller and I ran the humidity and cooling sensors thru the gasket of one door, which is fine because the doors have key locks and I can keep the one door locked. The defrosting circuit is programmable to defrost every 3,6,9,or 12 hours. I was hoping for a workaround because I am convinced by using an outboard controller and cutting power, I really don't know whether the defrost circuit is electronic and resetting everytime there's a power loss from the controller or whether the timer continues where it left off when I lost power when the controller shuts down the unit. The warranty is incredible, so I'm trying to avoid any penetrations to the enclosure. For now, with limited meat in it at 55 degrees, the humidity is holding about 65% without any additional humidification. The recovery rate is very fast. When the Aubern tells the unit to turn on, it's normally not on for any longer than 2 minutes before it shuts down. When I first got the unit, the temp went from 82-41 degrees in 14 minutes.