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I finally bought the correct cut of meat and after watching a lot of you tube vids managed to harvest a Coppa

Looked at a lot of recipes, decided on a mix of a few, Marianski method with just a few herb/spice changes

Today i did the following, please let me know if im going wrong somewhere

Tied the Coppa cut of pork and i also put a net on it.
Mixed the following (weight is 1.4KG)
Sea salt 41 g
Cure #2 8.2 g
Sugar 32 g

Halved the above mix, rubbed 1/2 onto the meat, vac packed it and into a container in ref.
Bagged the other 1/2 taped to container.
Going to wait 7 days, add the other 1/2 of mix and leave for another 10 days

Is this sounding right up to now?
Do i need to put in a beef middle for example or will it be ok to leave in the net when i get to the drying stage?

Could you share the recipe, the ingredients to me seem to be for a larger cut of meat. but it's been a while since I did anything like this.

DanMcG wrote:Could you share the recipe, the ingredients to me seem to be for a larger cut of meat. but it's been a while since I did anything like this.

Its from Marianski's book Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages the Coppa recipe at location 13556 in the downloaded copy. Not sure of the page no in the hard copy

Per 1kg of meat

Salt 30g
cure #2 6g
Sugar 25g

then on to the spices

Well I can't argue with the Marianski's methods. carry on.

Your calculations are fine for Marianski's recipe. I'm surprised at the level of nitrite/nitrate though.

The recipe equates to:
3.5% salt
2.5% sugar
375 PPM Nitrite
240 PPM Nitrate

I guess that I sometimes forget that we have far lower levels of permitted cure than you do in the USA.

Phil

Thanks guys

Last question (for now ) do i need to put it in a casing before i hang it? if so will beef middles be ok? its in netting right now, few of the vids i watched on Coppa just left it in the netting.

It's optional, but I find that it dries better when it is. You'd need to do a 'cut and patch' operation with beef middles I'd think. But it should be fine.

Phil

Still have 8 days to order some casings, what would you guys recommend?

Well, I'm a bit late to this thread...

I do my coppa in beef bungs and that works well. It would need to be a very skinny muscle to fit into a middle, although a small pig will yield a small muscle.

Like Phil, I'm surprised at the level of Cure #2 in the recipe. In fact, more than surprised, I'm astonished!

Sure, the US allow more nitrate/ite than the EU (EU = 150ppm) but the figure is 200ppm in the US, so not all that much more.

For sure we have to consider that some of the curing salt will not be taken up in the meat, but with a dry cure I find that almost all of the cure is re-absorbed into the meat.

We should also consider that (a) the 150 or 200ppm limits apply to the nitrate/ite levels in the finished product and that (b) some (most?) of the nitrite will break down into nitric oxide. But nevertheless, the typical recipes we see involve the addition of 150 or 200ppm to the product.

(also keep in mind that even though 150ppm at the start will translate into less at the end owing to nitrite breakdown, the total weight of the product will also be reduced by circa 30 to 50% depending on your target weight loss).

Can anyone add to what I've said or correct anything that I am misinformed on?


Best wishes
Steven

Steven_B wrote:Sure, the US allow more nitrate/ite than the EU (EU = 150ppm) but the figure is 200ppm in the US, so not all that much more.

For sure we have to consider that some of the curing salt will not be taken up in the meat, but with a dry cure I find that almost all of the cure is re-absorbed into the meat.

We should also consider that (a) the 150 or 200ppm limits apply to the nitrate/ite levels in the finished product and that (b) some (most?) of the nitrite will break down into nitric oxide. But nevertheless, the typical recipes we see involve the addition of 150 or 200ppm to the product.

(also keep in mind that even though 150ppm at the start will translate into less at the end owing to nitrite breakdown, the total weight of the product will also be reduced by circa 30 to 50% depending on your target weight loss).

Can anyone add to what I've said or correct anything that I am misinformed on?

Best wishes
Steven

You asked, so here goes!

In the US, for dry cured meats, the limits are 625PPM Nitrite and a whopping 2187PPM Nitrate. (Page 12 of the U S Department of Agriculture FSIS Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook refers) But that doesn't mean that those levels are appropriate to every product. There may be an argument for using them in Virginia, and other, hams with very long maturing times, although I'm not convinced. But, more progressive US curers are using levels more in keeping with the EU.

So, whilst you are 'technically' incorrect, I'm sure that most here share the sentiment.

Phil

Interesting.

Here's the table from p. 12 of that handbook




So we can see where the 200ppm comes from.

I guess the 625 and 2187 figures are very approximate since the mass of ingredients in a dry cure can vary wildly (e.g. a pork leg in a box of salt versus a pork cheek in a sealed bag with just enough salt to do the job).

You'd want a heck of a lot more nitrate in the box of salt than you would in the little bag.

As an aside, I notice that the publication date for that handbook is 1995; have the guidelines been superseded at all?

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... zknL-wk0yQ

Steven_B wrote:Interesting.

Here's the table from p. 12 of that handbook




So we can see where the 200ppm comes from.

I guess the 625 and 2187 figures are very approximate since the mass of ingredients in a dry cure can vary wildly (e.g. a pork leg in a box of salt versus a pork cheek in a sealed bag with just enough salt to do the job).

You'd want a heck of a lot more nitrate in the box of salt than you would in the little bag.

As an aside, I notice that the publication date for that handbook is 1995; have the guidelines been superseded at all?

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... zknL-wk0yQ

Apparently not. And you are correct, for virtually all curing, 200ppm is more than adequate.

Phil

So guys am i gonna die if i eat it

Seriously, could it be Marianski is using a lot because the recipe calls for putting the Rub 7 days apart? though there is no rinse or wash between.

I did order some 100mm collagen casings for it.

You'll be fine. It's not maybe something to do on a long term basis, but as a one off it should be OK.

Phil

Lol thanks Phil, im sure a lot of people have made this exact same Marianski recipe and been ok