Cure#1 or Cure #2

[Gweeto]

To cure or not to cure that is the question? I have red when you make coppa you use Cure#1 and I have also read that you use Cure#2. I made a Lanza several years ago and did not use a cure other than salt and herbs for about a week in the fridge. I then washed in wine, trussed it, wrapped it in brown paper bag and then hung it till it lost 30% weight. It was kept in the wine cellar at approx 50-55degs. Other than the hard outer layer it was good. I am now taking it a little more serious and making a curing chamber with all the necessary equip. I did my coppa and lanza first step last night and used Cure#1 What do you think? 3.75lb coppa and added approx
4 grams cure#1.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Cure#1 is for use in products that will eventually go thru a cooking process - with little or no drying prior.

Cure#2 is for use in air dried products that typically would be consumed "raw" after losing at least 30% of weight. The conversion of nitrate to nitrite overtime is not well documented for the amateur charcutiere.

Old world air curing/drying only involves salt but depending on what you dry and drying conditions you could end up with an unapetizing appearance of the meat (brown instead of bright red), hard rim.

It's up to you - but my advice is if you have to ask the question follow the official formulations. Once you are very comfortable you can try different approaches.

 

[daveomak]

Cure#2 for meats that are not under continuous refrigeration... 50-55 deg. F is a temperature that can promote pathogen growth.... cure#2 has nitrite and nitrate... nitrite for the immediate bacterial control while the nitrate converts to nitrite at warmer temps as the bacteria multiplies and makes the conversion possible..
Those that recommend nitrite for the complete curing process are uninformed about the chemistry... In the "Old World", as atomic knows, some salt deposits were infused with nitrates.. Not knowing the why, salumeries that were fortunate enough to use salt from those nitrate salt deposits, they had return customers.. The others, soon had no return customers...
May I suggest you find other sources for your curing methods...

 

[Gweeto]

Thank you both for the info. I have read a lot about this but was wondering if anyone on this site had played around with both methods. My Coppa and Lanza (Lanzino) have been in the refrigerator for several days now with the herbs, kosher salt and cure1. After the initial cure it will be washed in wine, patted dry and rested for a couple hrs then into a beef bung then bathed in some Bactoferm600. At that point it will go in my curing chamber at approx 70-80degs at 75-80%RH for 12 hrs to start the culture taking effect then lowered to 50-55degs with a RH of about 75%. Once I see a 30% weight loss it will be time to see if all this has paid off. OH I was going to take the rest of the pork butt that was left after the removal of the coppa and make sausage but how would that do in my smoker as a pulled pork?
Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my original question.

 

[daveomak]

You don't "play around" with cures... there are specific rules for meats and temperatures..
Refrigerated meats that are cured and then smoked and cooked... Cure#1....
Non refrigerated meat that "may be" or not smoked, and are not cooked.... Cure#2...
Those rules are not flexible... you "might be" subjecting yourself, and participants in food tasting, to some pretty mean pathogens..

 

[Gweeto]

Too late to add cure2 plus would be too much. Because the meat will be in the refrige monitored through the whole process and encased in the mold 600 I feel pretty confident that all will be ok. I of course will throw out if there is any sign of other molds or undesireable molds. The whole process should take no more than 8 weeks or so. Of course I can always smoke it or fry it up.

 

[daveomak]

It's not the mold.... It's the botulism... It's not too late to add the cure#2...
When dry aging meats, cure#1 can be added up to 625 Ppm.....

625 Ppm nitrite maximum in going ....
So, if you add cure#2 at 1 tsp. per 5#'s to the existing meat,
The nitrite will be at ~ 300-325 Ppm... The nitrate will be at ~ 100 Ppm....
You will be WELL within the USDA acceptable levels for nitrite and nitrate AND you will have the added benefit of LONG TERM protection from botulism from the nitrate...