The recipe I used is pretty similar to the last one, with a few minor changes. The 2 coppe I made were just slightly different from each other with one of them have some crushed fennel seeds. I lowered the salt a touch in both of them since the last batch was just a touch too salty.
The biggest change was the HUGE reduction in clove since the last batch was incredible over-clovey.
| Ingredient | Quantity(g) | % of Meat |
| Pork Coppa | 1000 | 100% |
| Salt ( Kosher) | 35 | 3.50% |
| White Pepper | 10 | 1.00% |
| Cloves | 1 | 0.1% |
| Cinnamon | 0.75 | 0.075% |
| Cure #2 | 2.5 | 0.25% |
| Myrtle Berries | 2.0 | 0.20% |
| Fennel (in 1) | 3.5 | 0.35% |
Myrtle berries are unavailable here in the US, they can be substituted for juniper berries, they're quite close. I have a feeling the fennel I put in one of them wasn't enough, it smelled great in the spice mix, but then after the cure the fennel smell was overwhelmed by everything else. We'll see, I guess that's the point of documenting recipes...so next time I can adjust as necessary.
I rubbed the cure and massaged it into the meat chunks, and then put in the fridge for 9 days. I flipped and massaged the meat in the bag every 4 or 5 days.
I made a mold solution of 0.5g (1/8 teaspoon) of M-EK-4 mold mixed in 20g water, and let it sit for 12 hours. I then mixed that solution with 200ml of water, and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.
I cased them in 100mm collagen casings, and then sprayed with the mold solution and put in the fermentation box which was set at 69 deg. F.
36 hours later I put them into my curing chamber at 52 deg. F 72-75% RH.
They look great so far, and I think they'll be delicious!
Me again. Curing a coppa as we speak. Been curing since Thursday 1/22. Anyway, I put an entire pork butt in to cure. However, I realized after reading through this post and looking at the recipe in "Charcuterie" that the coppa should be chunked. I did that last night, one day after the initial cure. Now due to the new exposed meat, do I have to recure it, or is there enough residual cure and/or released moisture?
ReplyDeleteScott, coppa is NOT chunked. It is a solid muscle from the pork shoulder. Charcuterie is wrong about this recipe.
ReplyDeleteAs far as what to do now...i'm not exactly sure...sorry..cna't help with this one.
I know it's a whole muscle, but, based on the fact that I couldn't find a butcher to harvest that particular piece, I got a whole pork butt. Looked WAY too big to get in a casing. Anyway, it's chunked now. Guess I'll have to follow through with the "Chaarcuterie" recipe. So, no advice on whether or not to recure? Just concerned that the newly exposed meat won't get cured.
ReplyDeleteGiven that salt and cure is based on weight, and the weight of the meat us unchanged..i wouldn't recure..ti SHOULD be fine...but that's just an educated guess.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty miffed about it. Was thinking as I was cutting it that it didn't make sense, how can I keep the air pockets out of it if it isn't one, solid muscle. Oh well, definitely not the last mistake I'll make. Should I try stuffing it into smaller casings now, say 60mm, instead of the original 90? Grazie ancora per la tua pazienza.
ReplyDeleteI would stick with what Charcuterie recommends. I have to assume they've tried the recipes there, and they work...
ReplyDeleteNo specification as per casing, which is why I figured I would ask for a little expertise. On a lighter note, my bresaola looks perfect.
ReplyDeleteI would use a 90mm for the coppa if you have them. 60mm would be pretty small.
ReplyDeletegood news on the bresaola!
I bought the 90 for this purpose. I just figured maybe the 60 would offer less surface area and less chance for air pockets.
ReplyDeleteHad an idea(you tell me if it's silly) could I put the untied end of the casing in the vacuum sealer, prior to tying it off?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting idea, assuming you have a commercial chamber sealer.
ReplyDeleteHome vacuum packers need the special bags with the ribs in them to allow the air to come out..and have trouble dealing with wet stuff.
I knew being wet would be an issue. I only have a home sealer. What I thought I would try is cut a small piece of the special bags and thread the casing inside of that. I would then tie it offand remove the sealed portion end.
ReplyDeleteMight be worth a try..but i don't if it's going to work. I think the casing and wet meat isn't going to allow any air out from between the chunks...not sure though.
ReplyDeleteI thikn if you use a 90mm casing, and press the chunks in there as you go, there should be few if any air pockets.
Good enough...thank you again, sir. Sorry to be such a pain in the ass.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I had a lot of questions too when i started, and still do!
ReplyDeleteOK, got done with my deplorable chunked coppa. I wrestled with that thing for over an hour, tring to get every air pocket out. I tied it so tight, it looks like 10 lbs. of shit stuffed into a 5lb. bag. :) At worst, I learned something. Thanks.
ReplyDeletehah. Let me know how it turns out!
ReplyDeleteHi Jason. Some Coppa questions for you.
ReplyDeleteI notice that Len Poli's and Charcuterie's recipe has sugar or dextrose in it, but yours has none.
Also, I'm a little confused by Len Poli's recipe, which seems to be based on the whole shoulder weight rather than the coppa weight. If he gets a 1 kg coppa from his shoulder, he's going to be > 9% salt.
But if his percentages are right, it looks like he's got about 30% more salt than you do, and cites a USDA study to support it.
Anyway, I'm tempted to go off your recipe (without the clove and cinnamon, I didn't like that in the Lonzino and Braseola) but I was curious about your differing salt and sugar amts.
Thanks for any advice you can give me!
Jake
Jake, the USDA recommends 3.3% salt for trichinae destruction. You can also freeze meet at certain temperatures for certain amounts of time. Read here:http://foodsafety.unl.edu/haccp/usda/9cfr318-10trichinae.pdf
ReplyDeleteAs far as sugar goes, maybe Len likes it a little sweet?
Maybe Len uses a larger portion of the shoulder, or starts off with whole shoulders and mine are already portioned? Not sure. Maybe he likes it a little saltier than I do?
Salt and sugar differences, as long as both recipes are at safe levels (and that's up to you to research, read, and understand. For all you know i mistyped, or misread or am just plain wrong!), i thikn the differences are down to taste preferences.
Thanks Jason!
ReplyDeleteAll of Len's ratios are based on the 5lb. piece of meat. His percentages are a bit misleading as well. All ingredients in the recipe are amalgamated into 1 complete recipe. In other words, the meat is x percentage of the total weight of all ingredients. If you do the math, salt is actually used at about 4.8%. Just a little FYI.
ReplyDeleteHi Scott,
ReplyDeleteI see your point about his meat weight normalization.
So what you're saying is that once I trim my coppa, I just scale his recipe down to suit my coppa weight. I think that makes sense.
I just want to make sure I've got everything right since the cycle time for these is so long I want to minimize my mistakes!
Thanks guys,
Jake
p.s. Both of you need to update your blogs.
You definitely need to scale the ingredients based on your meat weight. That's why both he and I give %.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'm back.
ReplyDeleteI butchered (in both senses of the word) two coppas from Costco pork shoulders last week. Depending on how much I cut off, I got 1 lb and 2lbs of final weight, so I think I might be cutting too much and too little off. Your pictures were very helpful- are there any other principles I coule use in selecting what to cut off, like the muscles should all be parallel? With all of the fat pockets in there, there were a number of ways I could imagine the coppa separately. I ended up with a 1lb and a 1 3/4 lb piece.
Anyway, my real problem is this: I made two cures based on Len Poli recipes (scaled for weight of course) and after a week the larger piece feels firm like it is curing, but the smaller piece still feels pretty raw.
So my debate is whether the small piece feels less firm because it is small and more easily squished, or because somehow I screwed up something, like the amt of curing salt or it is not getting into the meat. I'm overhauling every other day.
I had planned to cure it for 2 weeks and I'm writing to ask if you have ever had a case in which you are curing some meat and it looks like it is going wrong- is there anything you can do to save it?
Sorry of the ramble and thanks for any help you can give.
Jake
Unfortunately it's hard to describe any further than the pictures show. The exact size isn't super critical, as long as it's a nice piece with muscle and a good amount of fat.
ReplyDeleteAs far as fixing a cure that's gone wrong, i've never done it. If you forgot something it's hard to know what you forgot. The smaller one may be softer just because it's smaller. The amount of curing salt wouldn't make it firmer or less firm, that would be based on the amount of salt and suger, and the water removal from the meat.
Sorry i can't help much. It's hard to know how to fix something if you're not sure what you did wrong!
Thanks Jason!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's really not much more work to hang it to dry after the cure has run its course and see what happens. (Is that what you would do?)
Thanks
Jake
Probably. The only fear i would have would be if i forgot the curign salts. But then again, some people say that in whole muscle meats the curing salts aren't strictly necessary.
ReplyDeleteI am fighting the same issue as Scott had. The Coppa is too big for the 90m casings. Did Scott ever mention how is turned out after he chunked it?
ReplyDeletegood day how long on average have you left it in the cure fridge ?
ReplyDeleteIn the cure? yo umean in the salt? usually about 15 days.
ReplyDeleteIf you mean in the drying fridge, usually about 30 days
Just opened my first Coppa and it turned out great. Did a 14 day cure followed by a 3 hour cold smoke. Was to big for a 90 mm casing so cut open casing and wrapped it tightly around meat. Hung in garage 40 to 50 degrees for 6 weeks. Would like to show you a picture, is there a way?
ReplyDeleteSounds great Jim, especially the cold smoking. I bet it's great!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see some pictures. You can email them to me directly, or you can post them up on a free picture hosting site like Picasa and post the link here in the comments.
I made a mistake on the hanging time. I was 12 weeks not 6. Going to try a Bresola next.
ReplyDeleteHey i really enjoy reading about your process.. I have made coppa from the charcuterie book and it didn't resemble coppa at all.. I decided to try again with some nice scraps of pork from a whole hog but this time I meat glued them together after the 18 days of cure. It looks great but time will tell.
ReplyDelete