Last week when my brother was in town I cooked up one of the cotechini. I left it in it's vacuum bag, put it in a large pot of water, and slowly brought the temperature of the water up to 190-195 deg.I then put the pot in the oven set at about 225, so that the heat would be even from all sides. The water stayed right around 200 deg. I let it cook about 2 hours, took the pot out of the oven, and then let it sit another 20-30 minutes.
The bag had blown up like a baloon, i assume from the air in the sausage expanding. It had quite of bit of fat in it that was released from the cotechino. I opened the bag, got rid of the fat, and removed the casing. The cotechino was served over lentils.
It was AWESOME. It was slightly salty, and slightly too cinnamony. I think this is likely because the salt and spices weren't diluted by direct contact with the water. Next time i'll reduce the salt by about 10-15%, and the cinnamon by about 10%.
The flavor was really good. The spices in it were pretty distinct and very tasty. The texture was great, with nice gelatin from the cooked skin, and a good quantity of fat.
Next year I may also try grinding the meat using the fine plate instead of the KA coarse one. I'm worried it might make it too much of a fine ground sausage paste, but i guess it's worth a try!
So..i'm sold. I'll be cooking my cotechini in vac bags from now on!
Very funny that the cotechino is what set you off. Same for me. Had a hard time finding it(I work in NYC) Got the kitchen aid meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for xmas. Found "Home Sausage Making" had a cotechino recipe, and I'm off. Sadly, my result was not quite as good. Very dry. My first attempt at any sausage, so, I call mulligan.
ReplyDeleteScott, sorry to hear about your so-so results. Give my recipe a try. And i'm sorry to say, the Kitchenaid tube stuffer is worthless. It just makes a mess of the meat paste. It's almost better to stuff the casings by hand!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that about the stuffer. Looked up your suggestion, it seems, beacuse of the plastic gears, there has been some complaints about it's durability. But, I guess if you can vouch for it, I'll give it a go. On a lighter note, I just got that sunpentown humidifier. I found out that it absolutely necessary to drill a hole in the frig. Mu guanciale got a little wet with the humidifier running with the door slightly askew for 20 minutes. BTW, the humidifier can be set all the way to 99%RH.
ReplyDeleteI've had no problems with the plastic gears. I'm not sure how people could break them, as long as you don't crank the hell out of it once it reaches the bottom...
ReplyDeleteGood to know the sunpentown humidifier works, but i don't see how the door open, and the humidifier going, would lead to a wet guanciale...what temperature was your chamber set at?
Set at 48. Humidifier nozzle was blowing near the guanciale. Wasn't wet prior to putting in the humidifier. Humidifier shut down for the time being.
ReplyDelete48 is a touch low, get it up to about 52-54 if you can.
ReplyDeleteDone, 53. Thanks. I just blotted it with paper towels. Also, there was a small puddle on the bottom of the frig, where the humidifier was. It is not leaking, however.
ReplyDeleteSounds like 48 or so was at or below the dewpoint and was causing the water to consense out of hte air.
ReplyDeleteat 52-56 deg,and about 60-70% humidity i never had anythign wet in the fridge.
Everything was fine until the humidifier was introduced. Seriously, no more than 20 minutes. Perfectly dry before that, so was the bottom of the frig.....humidifier turned off, so, humidity back to regular frig RH.
ReplyDeleteSure, everything was fine becauase the humidity in the fridge is about 20% normally..not much there to condense out!
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ReplyDeleteYou have to get your humidity up if you're going to put any sausage or meat (other than pancetta and guanciale) in there to dry. At regular fridge humidity you'll get case hardening.
ReplyDeletePancetta and guanciale can handle the low regular fridge humidity because they are thin.
I've read your blog quite thoroughly, along with L.Poli's site, and cross referenced them. The humidity issue is the reason I started with guanciale. All necessary equipment you've recommended has been purchased. When I return from vaction on 1/20, I will commence with the tough stuff.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteI made the Cotechino using the recipe containing pancetta. I wrapped it tightly in foil and paoched it in hotel pans in the oven. The results were fantastic! What a great sausage! I chilled a few links in the fridge. When I unwrapped them, they were encased in a dense gelatin. MMmmmmm.....
David
David, i'm glad to hear it came out well...you should make it a new year's tradition!
ReplyDeleteJason, I love your blog, thank you for the resource. You are basically correct about the air in the bag causing balooning. It is mostly due to the phase change of the water in the sausage turning to steam.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm in Tuscany (Pontassieve) doing a stage. I'll be going with my chef next week to slaughter, butcher and cure "large number of porks". I'd be happy to send you notes and pictures if you're interested.
paul, any pictures and more importantly recipes/methods or anything interesting would be GREATLY appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThe next cotechino will be cooked with an immersion circulator, so i can keep the water def. below 200 and try to reduce the amount of balooning...
Jason, If you don't already have an immersion circulator, check out these products http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13&zenid=1e60d6a3c6df8ada4b401513d3f6af7c
ReplyDeleteThey can definitely be cross utilized for charcuterie. Thought about making one with PID, but it's not worth the work. Just hook to a rice cooker (I'll use a restaurant steam well). Also planning to use to control fermentation temp and milk temps for ricotta and fresh mozzerella. They (mfr) also use it to control a bradley smoker.
I'll let you know what I learn. I'm also going to be on the look out for some Italian language books while I'm here. My chef knows of some. I'll let you know. I think I read that you speak/read Italian?
Thanks PAul, i already have an immersion circulator.
ReplyDeleteI do read/speak italian. If you find any books let me know. I have a few that are pretty decent.
Very interesting post! I'm fairly new here (and newer to the art of Charcuteries..2 years or so of home experience). Glad I found your blog! Looking forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Brian
Hey Brian, hope you enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteJason,
ReplyDeleteA bit off topic: I decided to attempt Saussison Sec out of "Charcuterie". I do not have a curing chamber, but I made a drying box out of window screen to hang in my well-venilated attic. The 10 day weather forecast call for a high of 68 and a low of 42 with humidity of 70-77%. Any chance I can pull this off?
David
David, i'd be concered about the temperature. 68 is a bit high, and 42 is a bit low..the humidity seems fine. Is there any way to insulate the box so the temperature swings aren't as big?
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