Did I make a mistake with my cure?

[jpaph]

I just put a coppa in the fridge with the cure mix I made up. Only thing is I didn't read the recipe correctly. It said to put half the cure on then in 7 days put the other half on.

Is that going to be a problem? What should I do?

 

[bregent]

Post the recipe you used. I've never put half on first.

 

[jpaph]

I've seen this half on now and half later across a few recipes.

The recipe I used is from Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages by Stanley Marianski so it should be a reliable recipe.

Recipe as follows (note that I scaled the recipe for my meat weight).

1000g - 2.2lb Coppa

30g - 2 3/4 tsp salt
6g - 1 tsp cure #2
25g - 2 tbs sugar

Then there's a bunch of spices which I've omitted.

Method is: mix the cure, rub half on the meat and place in fridge in zip lock bag for 7 days. After 7 days, rub remaining curing on and keep in fridge for another 10 days.

Remove, rinse, dry for 3 hrs in fridge, add spices, stuff into bung, hang @ 14c / 55f @ 70% humidity.

 

[bregent]

That's more cure than I use, but I've only done coppa with umai dry bag. That calls for #2 cure equal to 0.25% of meat weight, which would be 2.5 grams. I'll let others that have done charcuterie outside of the fridge take it from here :) Maybe higher temps require more cure?

 

[jpaph]

OK thanks. I just read online that although 150ppm is what may say, the amount of cure I used for this particular cut is still well within the guidelines.

 

[daveomak]

When doing dry cure, the rules change.... The nitrite is for instant protection... The nitrate, over time and with the help of natural bacteria in the meat, at the temp recommended for dry curing, 38F for the first 2 weeks, then ~50-55F for the duration, the good bacteria can grow while the bad bacteria is definitely slowed, and the nitrate is converted to nitrite by the good bacteria.... Meanwhile the nitrite is dissipating due to "time"..
THEREFORE, the USDA allows .............

FWIW...... I've got most of Marianski's books... In the new books, I haven't found any errors... yet....
If you ever have any questions, feel free to PM me..

Any Questions ?? I'm here....


....

 

[jpaph]

Thanks very much for that.