Sunday, September 18, 2011

Boccia al Finocchio – Tasting

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The boccia al finocchio has been ready for a while, but I’m just not getting around to writing about it.
I apparently forgot to take notes on timing so I can’t say how long it stayed in the curing chamber, nor how much loss there was when I took it out! I’m assuming it was 2 or so months and about 35% loss.
Either way, I’ve been enjoying it quite a lot!
It’s got GREAT flavor, but the fennel is not strong enough, in fact, I can barely taste it. It could easily use twice as much next time.

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Fiocco – Ready to eat

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The poor brother of the Culatello is ready! As described in the Culatello post, the Fiocco is made from the small muscle of the hog leg. It’s cured in the exact same way as the Culatello is, but because its quite a bit smaller it takes a lot less to dry.
This piece was in the curing chamber for 4 months and lost about 40-42% of it’s weight.

Let's look at some interior pictures, shall we?

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Thursday, July 28, 2011

For anyone is still reading....

I've been busy, really busy. I acutally have a couple things I need to post about, I just have to find some time to do it. One of them is quite interesting, so stick around if you're still there!

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Sunday, May 15, 2011

Salame Gentile – Ready to Eat

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After a long 4+ months drying in the curing chamber, the salame Gentile is finally ready.
It took over 4 months for it to lose 40% of its weight; it’s still quite soft, as Gentile should be.
It’s normally hard to achieve such a long drying time with salami because they would tend to be way too hard by the end of 3-4 months unless they're huge in diameter. This one isn't that big in diameter and the reason it was possible this salame so long is because it was stuffed in a hog bung. The bung is a good 2-3mm thick with  tremendous amount of fat in it which slows the drying considerably, making the wait for a first tasty nearly unbearable.
It's finally done, so let's eat!

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Coppa – Tasting

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Well, that took a while. The whole coppa that I found at my local market just came out of the curing chamber.

 

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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Salame di Mugnano – Tasting

IMG_2663 The Salame di Mugnano is finally ready! It took longer than I thought it was going to, but sometimes these things have a mind of their own. This was hung Jan 1st after smoking, and it out April 4th, so 3 months. I kept it in the curing chamber this long because I wanted to achieve the same texture as the ones I ate in Italy last summer; pretty firm. It lost 42% of its weight over these 3 months.
This was "head to head" salame making between Scott at Sausage Debauchery and I. We thought through this together and decided to both make our salami then trade to see how interpretations could vary the results.

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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

La Boccia al Finocchio

IMG_2189Boccia 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.


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