La Boccia al Finocchio

Boccia translates to “ball”, and the reason for this name should be obvious given its shape. This isn’t a salame that’s classic of anywhere, as far as I know.  The round shape is from the fact that it’s stuffed in a hog bladder. I’m guessing any salame paste can be put in it, I chose to use a fennel based one.










I read about this salame on an Italian cured meats blog called Salumi Casalinghi. The owner of the blog made it with chili pepper, calling it a “Boccia Piccante”,

	I used pork shoulder that I trimmed up a little bit. The fat was from a pasture raised pig from Caw Caw Creek.
	Meat and fat mixed up. Very exciting. This was put in the freezer to harden up before grinding.
	Meat and fat was ground with 8mm plate.
	The meat was well mixed with the spices, salt, cure and starter. It was mixed until a good bind was achieved. It took about 2 minutes on low speed on the Kitchenaid mixer.
	This was then stuffed into hog bladder. It was actually kind of a pain to get it really stuffed full, get any air pockets out and then tie up the open end.
	The boccia was tied up, and fermented at 70-72 deg. F for 48 hrs. After fermentation, it was off to the curing chamber, running at 55 F and 75% RH.

I’m guessing, given its size and the fact that a bladder is pretty thick and relatively moisture proof, this will take a good 2-3 months to be ready. My main fear is air pockets in the meat paste; stuffing these large diameter salami is tricky.