Charcuterie

It's meat time again!

My first batch of cured coppa is finally ready. The pics below show the results (seriously, click to enlarge to get the full effect):


The casing has a very nice and very thick covering of mold. The mold has a quite mild, almost creamy milk-like taste (probably because it's a lactic bacteria). The meat was dry enough to cut, but probably could have used another couple of weeks. This particular cut is a pork butt taken from one of those pig!

Mmmmmmm!

A bresaola and the salami's were all ready as well. I got out the handy slicer and went to work, cutting it all up into thin deli slices, vacuum packed and put in the deep freeze for later consumption. The bresaola is very prosciutto-like, but nearly void of any fat because it's made from a well trimmed beef eye-of-round.

Since I now have room in the curing chamber, it's time for more. I've started two more pork butts to be made into coppa's. One is the usual dry rub cure, the other is a dry rub made from the same spices used to make Gallo Salami, which is a "San Francisco" style salami. I've also made another batch of salami using the gallo recipe. Still waiting for the delivery of a pork belly, pork loin and another pork butt from my friends at Black Sheep Farms.

More to come!