Prosciutto Cotto / Spalla Cotta

Prosciutto cotto is just an Italian cooked ham. Not really all that different from good American cooked hams, except maybe for the spicing. Technically, what I made here wasn’t a prosciutto cotto, as I didn’t use a prosciutto, I used a “spalla” or shoulder. No matter, this same method applies to both. I used a shoulder because that’s what was available at the market, and because a whole cooked deboned ham would have been a little unwieldy.
The method I used was developed by a fellow on Sausagemaking.org which involved pumping the meat with 10% of its weight with a brine and also adding a surface rub. The spices I used came from another fellow with a bed and breakfast in Italy. I modified the quantities I used to more suit my tastes.

The reason I chose to both inject and rub was to make sure that the whole muscle reached salt and cure equilibrium quickly. It’s also a way to make sure that there are no uncured spots where the meat might be touching the bag or other surfaces as it floats in a brine.
If you run the numbers I've listed above, using the brine at 10% of the meat weight, and the amount of rub listed above for each kilo of meat, you end up with a product with 155PPM of nitrites (Thanks to reader Yeo for catching my error, previously listing the PPM at 175), 3% salt and 1.6% sugar.

The formula for calculating the PPM of added product in a pumped item is:

((grams of ingredient) * % pump * 1000000) / grams of pickle = PPM

Using that formula correctly the PPM of nitrite added to the ham is in fact about 72.

((14.53g cure #1 * 6.25% nitrite in cure)) * 10% pump * 1000000) / 1250 (pickle weight including water, salt, sugar, cure) = 72

The calculation for the PPM added by the dry rub is as follows:

((grams of cure mix)*(% nitrite in mix)*1000000 / weight of meat) = PPM

I would not include the additional 10% pumped in the weight of the meat, so the PPM added by the dry cure would be (1.34*6.25%*1000000)/1000 = 84PPM

That would give a total of 84+72 = 155PPM nitrite.

	Here is the brine “tea” I made. I heated 1 liter of water, added the salt, sugar and cure, then the spices, brought it to a simmer, turned it off and left it covered for the spices to steep. It was then filtered and used for injection.
	I started with a whole picnic shoulder. You can see I like to lay out my cutting path with toothpicks. I poke toothpicks following the bone, so I know the general area where to cut.
	The leg split open and bone removed.
	The leg flipped over. I cut off the ankle piece to give it a more even thickness and width.
	Front side of the deboned leg. Leave the skin on there!
	I injected 10% of the deboned leg weight with the brine tea from above. I did this on a plate so I could collect any brine that squirted out and put it in the bag with the leg. I then rubbed the dry rub all over the meat surface as well as a little on the skin. I then put it in a vacuum bag and took out most of the air and sealed.
	14 days later the product was opened and rinsed. It’s now ready to be cooked
	Traditionally prosciutto cotto is cooked in metal pots which have spring loaded tops to keep the ham compressed as they’re cooked in the oven, taking on a nice “hamly” shape. Since I didn’t have one of those pans, I tied the leg up super tight instead……..
	And vacuum packed it so it could be cooked in a water bath for 9 hours at 155 deg. F.
	9 hours later, and an overnight stay in the fridge to let everything set up and the product is ready!
	Here’s the spalla cotta! It’s quite a bit fattier than a prosciutto cotto as there is more fat in the shoulder than the ham. It’s nice to see no uncured areas.
	Slice it thin (or thick) and you’ll have some of the best “ham” you’ve ever tasted. Fantastic stuff!

This is a definite winner. I’d make this again in a minute, and in fact I will for sure. I’ll vary up the spices a little even though it’s pretty perfect as it is!