Pancetta Steccata dei Monti Nebrodi

Sicily may not be the first place you think of when you think cured meats, but just like all the other regions, they too have their specialties. In fact, Sicily has an indigenous pig; the black pig of Nebrodi. Nebrodi is a mountain range in the northeast part of Sicily.
Theoretically this recipe would have to be made using one of those pigs, but try as I might, I was unable to find one in Atlanta. What I DID have was a belly from a Mangalitza hog which I was fortunate enough to have been given from  Mosefund Farm. Michael at Mosefund clearly knows his stuff as his pigs are sold all over high end New York City restaurants. This stuff really is something special.

Nice salame tying video

Thanks to blog reader Carl for pointing this video out to me. It's a great demonstration on how to tie larger caliber salami (for example in a beef bung).

Let's talk curing chambers

I've received many many emails asking about specifics of my curing chamber, and more specifically about using different types of refrigerators to use as a curing chamber, so I wanted to post some quick information on choosing a fridge.

Guanciale Affumicato

I’ve done guanciale many times before, so this really isn’t anyhing new. What’s IS new is the cold smoke I applied to it before putting it into the curing chamber.

Ribeye Roast Bresaola

I think i’ve previously said that bresaola is always made with lean pieces of meat. This is true traditionally in Italy, but some discussion with other home curers made me wonder why, and what if I were to make a bresaola using a fattier piece. Would it be tastier? Would the fat taste funky? I wasn’t really sure, so I had nothing left but to try it.

La Zia Ferrarese

Emilia Romagna might be the unofficial capital of salumi in Italy. It’s the home of Prosciutto and culatello. The variety of cured meats from this region alone is endless!

Part of what I like about this hobby is the research and study of all the different salumi, finding one that is little known and making it. My latest finding is the Zia Ferrarese. I’m not sure where the name comes from or why it’s “the aunt from Ferrara”, but the fact that it’s a salame that is little know even in Italy, and one that books claim is very challenging to make because of what it’s cased in, meant I had to go for it!

For those who care....sneak peeks

Just a heads up...for a couple months I've been using Twitter to post quick updates on what I'm making. I have to admit I post a lot more on Twitter (still not much...probably less than 2 tweets a week) than on here. It's much easier and quicker...but it's only a picture of what I've made/eaten.

If you want what might be called a "sneak peek" of what's to come on the blog when I get time, follow me on Twitter as @Cured_meats. https://twitter.com/#!/cured_meats

Culatello – Tasting Notes

It was a long journey, but the culatello is finally ready. Actually, it was ready about 4 months ago. We cut into it to celebrate the birth of my son as it just happened to have lost enough weight by then and felt hard enough to go for it. It lost a total of about 40% weight in about 7 or 8 months in the curing chamber. I guess I was so excited to taste it that I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing before cutting it!

Capocollo di Calabria

In the southern part of Italy what’s “coppa” in the north is called “capocollo”. That’s where the American term “capicola” or “gabagool” comes from. Most of the Italian immigrants to the US were from Southern Italy, bringing with them the term and product “capocollo”
I’ve already gone through the whole coppa making process in a previous post, but this one is slightly different. My buddy Scott at Sausage Debauchery, who’s family is original from Calabria, is a Calabrian FREAK. He’s so obsessed with the place that he opened a store to source and resell Calabrian chili pepper and other goodies. All I hear from him is how Calabrian cured meats are the best, tastiest, blah blah blah. Mostly in an effort to shut him up, I made a capocollo following the Calabrian DOP production methodology.