Salumi talk

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What I've been up to

Long lag between posts.  Anyone following me on twitter and/or facebook has seen this picture.  This is some of the salumi I've produced with the mosefund mangalitsa I've been using.  The 2 larger salami were the result of laziness at the end of casing.  I decided to case what was left in the stuffer in a bung as opposed to cleaning more casings.  Turns out, stuffing salami in bungs is just as time consuming as it is in their normal casings.  After all the smacking and massaging, it may have even taken longer.  The 2 stuffed in bungs are finocchietto(originally, becomes finocchiona in the bung). and soppressata.  The smaller salame is ciauscolo.  I could probably do a post on it, if anyone's interested.  Pardon the appearance of the coppa, it appears to be a bit more firm than I would usually allow.  Finally, the star of the show, culatello.  Absolutely stunning to look at and even better to eat.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just figured I would post a Mosefund "money shot."

Mosefund Speck di spalla/schulterspeck

I just realized that I posted about this as a 'before' item as well as used it as the header pic for the blog without posting the results.  Sorry about that.  So, after a touch under 4 months, it was ready.  Really not much I can say about it, that the picture can't tell you.  It tastes just like it looks......amazing.  The recipe is different from my normal speck made from a ham.  This has just fresh rosemary, allspice and garlic.  Nice and austere.  It was smoked for the typical 5 days using beech dust.  I'm starting to believe that the wood used for smoking really does make a huge difference.  Everything I've smoked with beech tastes exactly like what I ate in Ortisei.  I don't suggest any other wood if you're doing this at home.  This is really quite simple(casing aside, read the original post to see why it was cased), start with top quality raw ingredients and anyone can produce the same results.

Mosefund Krauternschinken/Prosciutto alle erbe

Yes, I found yet another obscure salume from South Tyrol.  This one called prosciutto alle erbe or krauternschinken.  For this exercise, I used top rounds.  The top rounds were cast off as a result of speck butchery.  Just as fiocco is a result of culatello butchery, I decided to come up with something to do with the scraps created from cutting speck.  Turns out, this particular salume actually uses a leaner cut, which is exactly what the top round is.  I managed to find this while looking through a multitude of sources, mostly Italian language books and websites.  I happened upon a prosciutto disciplinary which listed every region in Italy and the prosciutti specific to each region.  Impossible to find any type of recipe, aside from "erbe," I made up my own.  This was dry cured(as opposed to brine) with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary and sage for 3 weeks as it was being pressed.  After the 3 weeks, it was smoked for 5 days with beechwood, and then cooked.  This was done sous vide to 155 farenheit.  However, it can be poached or steamed as well.  It tastes only gently smoked and nice and fragrantly herby.  Quite nice on a sandwich with crusty bread and a slice of emmentaler.

Mosefund speck di coppa/nackenspeck

Well, I found yet another way to turn something into speck.  In this case coppa/neck.  Going through all my literature, I came across this.  It is officially listed as nackenspeck in the South Tyrol and speck di coppa as it's secondary name.  Always up for something new(especially from South Tyrol) and an extra coppa lying around, it was a no brainer.  Aside from typical spices used for speck, this was no different than every other coppa I've cured.  You can look back at my other speck posts to see about the spicing.  Smoking was the same protocol as in previous speck projects.  I've been using beech wood dust exclusively to cold smoke all my speck recently.  One thing of note I failed to mention was pressing during curing.  The speck di coppa/nackenspeck I've seen from South Tyrol have been pressed and uncased.  Seeing as I don't care for uncased whole muscles that are skinless and/or unprotected by a thick fat layer, casing it was automatic.  Cured 3 weeks, rinsed, cased, smoked 5 days, hung to dry.  Roughly 8-10 weeks later(I can't recall exactly and I didn't write it down), 33% weight loss and it got cut down.  That's exactly what you're looking at.  That dark edge around the circumference of the coppa has given me cause for concern in the past, as it appears to be case hardening.  However, pictures I've seen of almost all speck varieties from South Tyrol have this.  Since it's not dry, it can logically be described as a smoke ring.  This thing is great, think luscious coppa meets smoky, delicious speck.

Mosefund Bauernschinken Südtirol

Also referred to as Prosciutto contadino in Italian, I stumbled across this salume while researching more sudtirol salumi.  The diversity of the salumi in that area is stunning.  I'm repeating myself at this point, but, damn, it really is amazing.  I was fortunate enough to have 2 mosefund speck hanging when I found this.  For all intents and purposes, this is speck cotto or cooked speck.  If you've made speck following techniques I've set forward, you should have no issue making this.  Here is my previous post on mosefund mangalitsa speck.  Same goes for this, cure 3 weeks, smoke 5 days using beech wood(in South Tyrol it's a more gentle smoke over the course of about 20 days), hang to age 2-3 weeks and steam, poach or sous vide to 155 degrees Fahrenheit.  I steamed it, took 3-4 hours to get up to temperature.  In corresponding with a gentleman from Val Pusteria in South Tyrol, I came to find out that their Bauernschinken recipe was a bit different than their typical speck recipe.  It seems they use quite a bit of fresh rosemary.  For my next effort, I will adjust accordingly.  As for this effort, once again, I am quite pleased. This particular leg weighed about 12lbs.  I quartered the finished product, leaving 4 pieces of roughly 3 lbs.  To show how good I thought it was, I demolished a quarter in a little over a week.  Additionally, I have 3 legs currently earmarked for this.  

Mosefund Coppa Piacetina

As I have stated many times, this is in the style of Piacenza, due to the fact that I'm not actually IN Piacenza. Of course, this is true, even in Italy of DOP items, which Coppa Piacenza is. Piacenza is a town in Emilia-Romagna in the Po river valley which also lays claim to another DOP salume, pancetta Piacentina.

I've wanted to make something in this style for quite some time, however, I have something of an aversion for several of the spices in this. I've used some of them before and I felt they were overwhelming and unpleasant, clove and cinnamon, in particular. But, I was eager to try something different, and I surmised that by using scant amounts of said spices, it would turn out palatable. I went with the usual sea salt, black pepper, sugar combo, along with the spices cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger and coriander. The coppa(again, provided by Michael at Mosefund) started at 2.41kg. After close to 3 months, I removed it at 33% total weight loss. I eagerly cut into it, hoping for the best. I was beyond pleasantly surprised, I was amazed. All those challenging spices together are actually very pleasant. Absolutely nothing overwhelming about any of them. No Christmas recollection at all, which most of these spices do for me. I can aver that this salume will be a mainstay in my repertoire.

Soppressata di Calabria results

Here is the result of my previous post. Just about 2 months after it was hung to dry, most of them are ready. Yes, they taste as good as they look. I don't think there's much to tweak here. The heat is subtle, yet apparent. It also lingers pleasantly for several minutes after eating. I may just bump the amount of hot pepper powder a touch, as I'd like perhaps a little more up front heat. The amount of hot pepper paste is perfect, I think. Just the right amount of salt as well. These were removed at between 44-45% weight loss, they felt pretty stiff, but proved to still be a good deal moist inside. Overall, very happy with this and it will remain a constant in the repertoire.

Mosefund Lonzardo

Another lovely cut provided to me by Michael Clampffer at Mosefund farm. This is simply a loin with the fat cap still attached. It is a loin(lonza) + backfat(lardo), hence the "lonzardo" designation. It is the same cut as in my previous Speck di carre' post. In fact, it's the other half of the same piece. This is the loin end. I was unsure about what to do with this. So, urged by Jason to just let the meat do all the talking, I obliged and took the path of austerity. I cured this only with sea salt, cure#2 and black pepper for 17 days. Rinsed it, and, again, contrary to tradition, cased it, same as the speck di carre'. One thing I haven't mentioned previously when dealing with cuts such as this. It is about 60/40 fat/meat percentage. Conventionally, you would consider any given whole muscle would be nearing readiness at the 30% weight loss plateau. However, since this cut contains a freakishly disproportionate amount of fat, you can throw convention out the window. Super high quality fat like this contains about ZERO moisture. That being the case, weight loss does not occur as it would normally. I believe this was removed after 9 weeks at only 25% loss. I had to go strictly by feel with these. Not the fat cap either, just the lean. Again, I am happy with the fact that I cased this. I really don't think this could have turned out any tastier.

Maccularu/Buccularu/Vuccularu

Which word you choose, depends on the dialect you speak. What dialect you speak is dependent upon where you live in Calabria. These are basically just 3 whimsical names for guanciale. Yes, guanciale has been beaten to death here, but, I enjoy the cute names. This is a jowl that was originally intended for 'nduja, but, I fell in love with it and rescued it. This is another monster jowl from Mosefund. It is as simple a cure as could be. Cured 7-10 days, depending on size, with just sicilian sea salt and cure #2. Then, it is rinsed, dried off and covered in freshly ground black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes, which is what you see in the picture. Now it sits for 4-6 weeks. Quick, easy, lovely.

Pancetta dei Monti Nebrodi

This wretched monstrosity is a Mosefund mangalitsa belly a day into it's curing process. This was a bit of a process. I really wanted to find an outlet for all this lovely, fragrant oregano I have. I've just never seen it used much in curing. I researched for a solid 2 weeks and came up with this.

Monti Nebrodi is a mountain range in northeast Sicily. So, there are 2 firsts for me here. Making a salume from Sicily and using oregano in a cure. This pancetta is traditionally rolled. However, this being a mangalitsa belly, it is impossible to roll. I like flat better anyway, I used a little norcino license. This is a 2 step process. The first step is Sicilian sea salt, fennel pollen, oregano, and cure #2 and/or vinegar, I say and/or because the vinegar can either be used at this point or the next in the rinse phase. This is left for about 1-2 weeks. It is then rinsed, again, with the vinegar if you didn't use it in the first step. Then, black pepper, peperoncino and more oregano are applied to the exposed flesh and let it dry for a month or 2. See you in April with the results.

Mosefund Speck di carre'

Yep, more speck...........deal with it. I was given a couple lovely loins still with the fatback attached by Michael. One became an obligatory Lonzardo(post forthcoming) and I wanted to do something special with the second. With Mangalitsa being an Austro-Hungarian breed, I knew there had to
be a preparation from Sudtirol. Sure enough, a couple hours of digging and I came across something from one small producer in Anterselva, about 15 miles from the Austrian border. We've been over the Germanic history of the region, no need to revisit. Suffice to say, this is true to it's namesake. I literally followed my speck procedure by the numbers and applied it to this cut. However, there is one caveat. Traditionally with this cut, not

just this particular salume, the skin is left on and it is not cased. Now, I'm as rigid as anyone when it comes to the rules. But, I'm of the opinion that the exposed flesh of uncased salumi is refuse. I always end up trimming it off. So, I decided to try an experiment. I removed the skin AND cased it. Cured 2 weeks, smoked 4 days, aged 9 weeks and this is what you have. As far as the results of the experiment, I can say that the casing provided protection for the exterior and there was no need to trim the outermost flesh. But, that was predictable. What I can't say is how the lack of said outside crust may have impacted the taste. Not having anything to which to compare it is the issue. It is still plenty smoky even with the casing. It tastes about exactly how I expected....wonderfully.

Mosefund Soppressata di Calabria

This is not "supersod," it is soppressata, and it is THE salame of Calabria. I've made soppressate before, but, that's just some generic name loosely applied to almost any salame. Throw a little hot pepper in it and you got, "supersod." It took me a quite awhile and a trip to Calabria filled with innumerable questions to get me to this point. Poring over Italian language books and email correspondence with family members in Calabria(they don't check email regularly in Italy) for several months, I felt I had an authentic recipe. Bear in mind that these recipes, like all recipes in Italy, vary from home to home. So, this became an amalgamation of several recipes.

I was given a good amount of meat again by Michael at Mosefund farm for this project(he also lent me his new meat grinder to make my life easier). The meat and fat were ground up through what I believe to be a 6mm plate. Where it gets interesting and little controversial is the addition of the peperoncini products. Really, only one ingredient is the issue, hot pepper paste or crema di peperoncino. It is hotly debated whether or not it gets used...........I used it. The rest is easy and predictable, hot pepper powder/peperoncino in polvere is a lock, salt, black pepper, cure #2, t-spx starter and dextrose and red wine.

Onto the next issue of import.......casings. Hog middles, without question. I've seen most made here using beef middles, which are fine. But, the DOP item assuredly uses hog middles, which you see pictured. After everything was ground up, mixed together and stuffed into the hog middles, it was time to press them. Not having a dedicated press, I had to get somewhat resourceful. I placed the soppressate on the bottom of my fermentation chamber. On top of which I placed several plastic cutting boards to cover them. On top of those, I placed a roasting pan, in which I placed a case of bottled water. I told you.....resourceful. They were pressed for the entire fermentation process which lasted a little under 72 hours. Now they hang, and I wait, for what I believe to be 12 weeks or so based on the drying time of the Salame Mugnano.

Speck d'alce(elk speck)

My cousin, whom I've mentioned here prior, stopped over for the 1st of 2 venison drop offs.(More on that at a later date) Among all the "roasts" was a little vacuum sealed frozen pearl, on which "elk" was scribbled in black marker. I was asked if I wanted it and/or if I could do anything with it. He didn't ask again. Being only one genome off from venison, I knew I could treat it the same. So, with that, I decided to "speck" it. The speck subject has been covered ad nauseum here, so, I'll spare you the banality. This was prepared exactly as pig speck. This was cured, cased, smoked and dried the exact same time as 3 other venison bresaole I just made. However, this took about 1.5 weeks longer to dry out. Tough to say why, the leanness is near the same, which is to say quite lean. Just pulled it down today and cut into it. Tastes no different than venison, honestly. Slightly gamey, nicely smoked. All around very tasty. Side by side, you wouldn't even know it was elk vs. venison. But, at least I've satisfied my desire to work with elk.........successfully.

Prosciutto Cotto

I made this back in October. I had to hold back on posting while waiting for Jason to post his. I won't drag this on because this is, for all intents and purposes, HIS recipe, which was developed by Alessandro Morreale. Jason was nice enough to draw it up for me to try. The only difference with mine is in the cooking process. I don't have access to sous vide equipment, so, I had to improvise. I placed the ham in a baking dish and weighed it down. I set the oven to 200 degrees F and brought it up to 155(about 5 hours) and removed it. I allowed it to sit in the fridge overnight for flavor development. I was pleased all the way around with the taste. The only thing I would do differently next time is attenuate the amount of allspice I used. I do admit to having something of an allspice aversion, however. If you have the patience to make brine, subsequently inject, then spend several hours cooking it, I recommend trying this.

Schulterspeck/Speck di Spalla/Shoulder speck

I was fortunate enough to be bequeathed some more Mangalitsa to cure by Michael. Among the several cuts I received was a shoulder. Prior to receiving said shoulder, I planned on making a Spalla Cotta, which is a cured, then cooked shoulder stuffed in a bladder. Well, plans have a funny way of changing. The shoulder I received was more akin to the cut used for leg speck. I was told that the coppa was removed and it was basically flattened, as pictured. In my suspension of disbelief, I skinned it, still thinking I could roll it and tie it and make the aforementioned salume. What a friggin mistake. I knew it, too,

even before I did it. I mean, it was abundantly apparent that Spalla Cotta was no longer a possibility. Oh well. So, here I am with a skinless piece of shoulder that is unsuitable for Spalla Cotta. Now, due to it's being skinned has become less suitable for anything for w

hich it would have been suitable had I left the skin ON. Make sense? It will. I went home and pored over all my books, researched German language Italian websites(odd, I know),

and consulted some Italian salumi forums, the best of which being this one. I knew that in Sudtirol, that they make speck with almost

every cut. I also knew that they did make speck with this actual cut. The problem is finding enough detail to actually make it. With some help over at the Italian forum, combined with my research, I found something concrete. I decided to go with rosemary, garlic, allspice and black pepper as my seasoning, as seen in this terribly non descriptive picture. Further research revealed that the smoke should be provided by beech wood, which I've subsequently purchased. In about 2 weeks, this will hit the smoke, along with s

ome other new salumi, like speck di carre or karreespeck and speck di coppa. I'll be writing about those in the near future.

For those of you interested..........

I have acquired several of the strange, obscure and hard to find casings. I will list them and then link where I used them. Among the casings are hog middles(Salame Mugnano and 'nduja recently), hog middle end caps('nduja), hog bladders(2 sizes, boccia al finocchio), hog bung ends(I haven't used, but they look really nice for salame), and beef bladders(culatello). Anyone interested, please email me: scott@sausagedebauchery.com, they are NOT listed at the store. Thanks.

Culatello results

Just a short 7 and a half months after I put it in to cure, it's ready. Typically, culatelli cure for a longer period of time. However, this felt pretty firm after the aforementioned time. Prompted by Jason to cut it open, I went for it. I was more than a little surprised, a bit dismayed, even. It was really firm, too firm. It was so lean, it overdried. Shame on me for not weighing it and tracking it's weight loss. I assumed that I would just remove it at it's 10 month birthday. I guess I won't be making that mistake again. It tastes just fine, quite mild and salty. It's just so excrutiatingly lean and very dry. Nowhere near the texture of culatelli I've tried int the past. So, somewhat disappointed by my ineptitude, I just left it in the chamber, slicing a bunch off to eat from time to time. Fast forward a month, and about midway through the culatello, it transformed. It became something better and exciting. It softened greatly and intensified in color and took on the appearance of a real culatello. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I had something to do with it, the middle just has a larger circumference. It is a completely different animal from the culatello into which I cut initially. While still a lean piece of meat, it does appear to have a bit more fat in the section pictured. So, it would seem a successful project. Definitely worthy of another go, no more commercial practice meat. I'll see if I can get my hands on a Mangalitsa leg.

Mosefund Mangalitsa Speck results

I got a couple of these mega speck back in April from Michael Clampffer. I cured and aged these exactly as I did these. Only difference is the quality of the meat. Totally different ballgame, as you can see by the marbling and the fat cap. As far as tasting is concerned, I am completely flabbergasted. I am delighted that I write everything down in my little notebook. Had I done this by the seat of my pants, I would be beside myself. This is awesome in every sense of the word. I'm sure 95% of it is the sheer quality of the product, but, I certainly didn't do anything to get in it's way. The smoke is perfect, not just in a smoky way, but, a tinge sweet, perhaps? Sliced thinly enough, the fat melts on your tongue, pretty amazing. Perfect smoky, hammy deliciousness.

There was a bit of concern during it's drying. My old chamber is so well inoculated with mold, the speck developed a really thick layer of white mold. I'm talking 1/8" worth. I left it due to it being mostly white, however, about 2 months in, some green spots moved in. No biggie, I just gave them a pretty thorough bathing in a vinegar bath. Then, I realized there was some standing water in the bottom of the chamber of which I was unaware. It was hiding under the Styrofoam on top which I place the humidifier. This contributed to a somewhat musty smell in the chamber. I removed all the salumi and cleaned out the chamber with a bleach and water solution. Smell taken care of, but, there goes all the mold I developed in there. I noticed a bit of the smell on the speck as well, and was a little apprehensive that I ruined them. So, after 4 months of drying I took it out to see where it was. I split it right down the middle and out poured the most incredible smoky, pork perfume I ever smelled. Unbelievable. This is most likely the best salume I have produced to date.

Mosefund Manga Salame Felino

This is a Salame Felino I made using both lean and fat from mangalitsa pork from Mosefund farm. Felino is a town in the hills near Parma in Emilia-Romagna. This salame is renowned for it's austerity, using just salt, black pepper, and garlic macerated white wine. Since it is also typically a salame made to be on the softer side, I chose to stuff these in somewhat larger beef middles.

I received some lean leg meat and some backfat from Michael Clampffer to make this salame. I used 85% lean and 15% backfat. They were both ground on the smallest die, which I believe to be 3/8". Along with the aforementioned salt, black pepper and garlic macerated white wine, I added t-spx lactic starter and cure #2. They were stuffed in beef middles which I soaked in mold solution. They were fermented for close to 80 hours and developed a really thorough mold coating. They were hung to dry in the curing chamber. Since some of them were needed after just the 3 month mark, they were removed and still very good. The salame pictured was aged for 4 months and is really quite lovely. Still a touch soft, perfect amount of black pepper and just enough garlic flavor to be pleasant. The one thing that really stands out is how tender the meat is, terrific for this application.