coppa

[andrej]

Hi All, Im new to this forum.

A quck question. I have just made some coppa according marianski and after the required 3 wweks drying it was great, but a still a bit moist (though perfect tasting. After 4 weeks the texture is brilliant but it is now a touch salty. Im not sure what to do next time really. Obviously i can try 3.5 weeks and it should be a good compromise. I dont dare use less salt. maybe the type of sea salt is the problerm?!?!

Im also worried that once packed, the copp will be even more salty as weeks go by.

Any thoughts?

Andrej

[BriCan]

This might be of some use I am doing something similar

http://www.youtube.com/user/ready4youca ... Zxbnc9UD5U

[andrej]

thanks for that

[Scotty2]

Mistake #1 was using that recipe from that book. Coppa is a whole muscle, not a bunch of chunks stuffed into a casing. That video will get you ill, I've cured coppa for as much as 3 weeks. Curing something like that for 12-15 hours is absurd. Go by weight and feel as opposed to just time. I've had to age a coppa as long as 5 months to get it to its necessary and/or preferred weight.

[andrej]

yes, i have just been told by expert huimself that if you want, you can reduce salt by half.

Do you have a dedicated drying chamber with humidity controls? 5 months is scarily long.

[Scotty2]

Yes, my chamber is controlled for temp and humidity. Jason Molinari has done a coppa for 5 months as well.

[andrej]

hmm thats odd. I took mine out after 3 weeks and it was perfect in taste but a touch moist. I waited that extra week and the etxture was perfect but the salt just slightly over, hence my query. Im maturing at 14c 65-70% Relative humidity. Just goes to show how tricky these things can be. Other than the salt thing, which is only a tiny bit much, im delighted. Im a perfectionist so that extra salt annoyed me. The coppa lost about 20% weight, whhich semed about right judging by the fact many prodcuer sell pieces at 800g. (they must have started with a kilo). Maybe by raising the humidity to a constant 70%, i can reduce weight loss a touch. The limit according to marianski is 70. Rulman states between 60-70.

[andrej]

by the way, like the blog. Great work!

[Wunderdave]

You need to control your salt by weight vis-a-vis the weight of the meat. It doesn't have a lot to do with how long you hang something to dry.

Flavors become more concentrated as something dries but I can't see how an extra week of drying would make something noticeably more salty. Not trying to argue with you on this but I'm not sure what happened with your coppa.

Finally, coppa is supposed to be salty. I'm not sure what your reference point is.

[andrej]

i followed the marianski recipe exactly but it definately got a touch saltier that week later. Stan wrote back to me witha quote from his book, which i missed;

"remember that it [salt] will keep on drying out (losing moisture). Salt will, however, remain inside and your sausage will now taste saltier and will be of a smaller diameter. The meat flavor will also be stronger now. In such a case you may use less salt than originally planned for, let’s say 15 g/kg. "

So i guess that extra 33%(1 week) made the difference. Maybe i had my humidity slightly off and that affected it. Maybe the brand of salt too. Its strange but ill try his advice on the next batch and see how that goes. I too thought that there must be some point whereby it doesnt get more salty, otherwise longer cured meats would be inedible. Its a touch confudsing especially as i took the recipe froma well known and great book.

[andrej]

i like saltyness. I did 2 coppas and took one after three weeks, 2nd after 4. I felt after three weerks coppa 1i was perfect to 'finger snack' on but a touch undersalted for bread. I left a piece from the coppa 1 i took out after three weeks and left it with the second coppa for that further week.(obviously with the ends exposed to the atmosphere) The texture of the coppa 1 'end' was obviously drier and also perfectly salted by the fourth week. However the second coppa that remained un touched for the full 4 weeks was that bit saltier. It could have been that the latter just got a higher salt does for sme reason.

[Scotty2]

I must admit an error on my part. I just realized you wrote Marianski. That book is fine, I thought you said "charcuterie.". So, Marianski certainly did not suggest cutting it up before stuffing. My apologies, sir.