The prosciutto is ready(2012)

Well it’s been about a year since we started our first prosciutto and the time has come to cut it open.  It lost about 33% of its weight, which should indicate it has a low active water content making it safe to eat without cooking.   I am glad we decided to lard it. The lard keeps it from losing more water and allowed the meat to age and gain flavor. So, how does it taste. I was extremely happy on the outcome a great blend of salt and sweetness. The fat was buttery and melted in your month.  I enjoyed this homemade prosciutto more than anything I got from the store's.  We will be making several prosciutto’s this year coming up. 

Pancetta Tesa

Pancetta Tesa is pork belly or side that is salt cured. This pancetta is kept flat. It is cubed for rendering or adding directly to dishes for flavor and richness, sliced thin for serving on its own, or cut in lardons.

Lately I have been searching for local organic or hormone free pork. I have been talking to local farmers that raise heritage breeds of pigs. These are pigs that our grandparents got to eat but commercial pork produces don’t raise these types anymore because they will not do well in confined areas. These pigs are free roaming pigs they eat acorns, apples and anything else off the land. The pork I used for this was a Berkshire Tamworth mix. I encourage you to try some; you won’t find this at a local supermarket

The cure was made up of salt and I started using an Italian sea salt from the salt pans of of the Trapani coast and cure #2 since I was going to dry cure if fully.  I also added fresh garlic, black pepper, juniper berries, rosemary and thyme.  The meat cured in this mixture for 7 days. 

After 7 days it was cured and was pretty firm.  I washed the cure off and dusted with black pepper. I strung it up and placed it into the dry chamber at 55 degrees and 70% humidity.  I want to be able to eat it raw like prosciutto or cook with it, so it needs to lose at least 30% of its weight. In about a month or two I will update the site with its progress.

 

Coppa tasting Sept 2012

Well after about three months of drying the coppa has reached 40% weight loss and is now safe to eat.  This coppa  has a simple cure combined with imported peperoncino powder similar to Capocollo di Calabria.  The taste was simple, slight taste of the pepper but the cured meat flavor was more evident. Next time we will add some crush pepper flakes to add to the heat level. The pork we got from a local butcher shop had great marbling as you can see in the picture and it cured with a nice color.

Pancetta Arrotolata

Pancetta Arrotolata or rolled pancetta is pork belly meat that is salt cured. Pancetta can be rolled or straight. It is cubed for rendering or adding directly to dishes for flavor and richness, sliced thin for serving on its own, or cut in lardons.

Coppa (calabrese) May 2012

We found a local butcher shop that butchers pigs from farms around Pittsburgh. The pigs are hormone and steroid free. In addition, they are butchered every Friday and the meat is sold on Mondays, that’s as fresh as you can get. The butcher showed us how to harvest the coppa cut (pork collar) from the shoulder. Since we had a nice coppa from a shoulder butt we were using for hot sausage we decided to make a coppa.

Pepperoni Tasting

We experienced a few problems with the knew curing chamber we used to make the pepperoni.  We had a hard time at first controlling the humidity.  The humidity ran pretty high for awhile over 90%.  We added a Heat tube made for gun safes, which help cycle the refrigerator which lowered the humidity.  

As for the taste it was nothing close to the commercial pepperoni, there was no tangy taste and the spice was mild.  The chamber had a slight chemical smell, which did affect the pepperoni slightly.  We are unsure if it was because of the small area and the deep mold coverage we got from the Bactoferm.  So to conclude we probably would not use the same recipe and will probably look to make a more American version and cook the product. This was a small project to test the drying process. We feel the chamber did dry the pepperoni really good.

Update of other projects.

 

Here are some pictures of other items we have made but haven’t posted a full article on. This year I grew my own fennel seeds. It’s not the same fennel plant as the one that resembles celery. This plant is called a bronze fennel plant and it produces' seeds in late fall.




 

Dry cured Pepperoni

Pepperoni : is a spicy Italian-American variety of salami (a dry sausage) usually made from cured pork and beef.  Pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red in color. ^[4] It is a descendant of the spicy salamis of southern Italy, such as salsiccia Napoletana piccante, a spicy dry sausage from Naples. The term pepperoni is a corruption of peperoni, the plural of peperone, the Italian word for pepper (the vegetable, not the spice).

Prosciutto update 3/24/2012

Well it’s been about two months now and the prosciutto has cured in salt and sugar, was pressed and now ready for the long drying process.  We converted another refrigerator to hold a temperature between 53-60 degrees with the humidity around 70%. The prosciutto now weights 22lbs and lost about 12% of its weight. We are shooting for a 35% weight loss which should bring it down to 16.25lbs.   We will continue to track its progress.

Coppa tasting March 2012

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Prosciutto- 2012

Prosciutto is made from either a pig's or a wild boar's ham (hind leg or thigh). The process of making prosciutto can take anywhere from nine months to two years.  Prosciutto is the Italian word for “ham,” although most consumers outside of Italy associate prosciutto with a specific type of cure for ham. To make prosciutto, ham is salted and then air dried for a period of up to two years. Within Italy, the term is generic for a specific cut of meat. The food which non-Italians call prosciutto is formally called prosciutto crudo, or “raw ham,” because it is never actually cooked during the curing process. Prosciutto cotto, “cooked ham,” is similar to the dish which non-Italians think of as “ham.” Different prosciutto is also individually identified by processor and origin, and some regions of Italy have a Protected Designation of Origin, as is the case with Parma. In order to be labeled “Parma ham,” the meat must be processed in a certain way, using the flesh of pigs fed from the curds and whey left over after making Parma cheese, or Parmesan.

Soppressata-“ Supersud” 2012

Soppressata is an Italian cured dry salami. It can be made of fresh hams, as well as other cuts. Pork is the traditional meat used, though it is sometimes made using beef. The meat is either coarsely pressed or ground as with other salamis. Pressing gives it an uneven, rustic appearance when sliced. Soppressata is a specialty of southern Italy, and often includes hot pepper (though, as with all salami, seasonings vary).

Coppa -11/2012

Coppa, is a traditional Calabrian Italian cold cut (salume) made from pork shoulder or neck, and dry-cured whole. The name coppa is Italian for nape, while capocollo comes from capo—head—and collo—neck—of a pig. This was our first attempt of making coppa.

Parmesan style cheese 2012

Parmesan cheese is the name of a few kinds of Italian extra-hard cheeses. It is usually the cheese to go with Spaghetti and other typical Italian pasta, but it also has many other uses. Parmesan is a part of Italian national cuisine and is usually grated.Usually, Parmesan cheese is either Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese. Both cheeses are AOC. This means that the way they are made, and the region they come form are strictly regulated.Only these brands (Parmigiano Reggiano, Grana Padano) are protected. In many parts of the world, cheese is sold as Parmesan cheese that has nothing to do with the true (Italian) Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano. Parmesan is a hard, cured, dry-salted cheese with a distinctive piquant flavour.  The cheese is renowned for its uniformity and consistency. Characteristics of Parmesan are Sharp and piquant flavor, Can be finely grated and Granular texture.

Building a Curing Chamber.

Making cured meats at home can be difficult since you have to precisely control temperature, humidity and air speed.  We only are about to make them during the winter months when the cold cellar is at the ideal temperature.  I wanted to have an automated temperature and humidity rooms were the temperatures can be kept around 49-58 degrees and humidity at 60-95%.

*The project is now finished and we can start dry aging all year around.