My first Coppa...

[MeatCharter]

I'm trying my hand at some charcuterie. I've had some experience with bacon (currently have a maple espresso batch going), pastrami, corned beef, ect... even some cheesemaking, but this is my first go at dried meats for charcuterie.

First on my to-do list is a Coppa, then I'll move on to some salami. Expensive hobby as it sounds like I'll need some cultures, molds, PH meter, sausage stuffer, casings, ect...

For the Coppa, I had a butcher cut it out of the shoulder of Duroc pork breed. A little pricey at $8.99/lb but I figure if I have to wait ~3 months for something, I rather know it's quality meat. Maybe hoping to find a cheaper way moving forward.

My curing fridge setup is a PRO 40 Steakager. I also put a pan of Potassium Chloride slurry to help keep humidity up, and so far it has helped going on the readings this past week. I chose Potassium Chloride because it's obviously food safe, and some on those list weren't, and also it seems to be in the 80% range which is where I'd like to be.

I'm following pretty much the recipe here:

Make Spicy Capocollo in your home refrigerator – 2 Guys & A Cooler

twoguysandacooler.com

I included some ground fennel. Also, instead of the Calabrian powder, I'm using a Aleppo Ground powder which I really like. Not as spicy, and a bit fruity.

I'm flipping every day. It's been in there for a couple days, and I'll probably go another 8 days (?), then wrap in a Dry Aging Sheet, net, and then hang. Hopefully I don't poison anyone with my new hobby, and hope I can learn from all of you!

 

[jcam222]

This has been on my to do list forever. Looks like a great start

 

[Dave in AZ]

I'm trying my hand at some charcuterie. I've had some experience with bacon (currently have a maple espresso batch going), pastrami, corned beef, ect... even some cheesemaking, but this is my first go at dried meats for charcuterie.

First on my to-do list is a Coppa, then I'll move on to some salami. Expensive hobby as it sounds like I'll need some cultures, molds, PH meter, sausage stuffer, casings, ect...

For the Coppa, I had a butcher cut it out of the shoulder of Duroc pork breed. A little pricey at $8.99/lb but I figure if I have to wait ~3 months for something, I rather know it's quality meat. Maybe hoping to find a cheaper way moving forward.

My curing fridge setup is a PRO 40 Steakager. I also put a pan of Potassium Chloride slurry to help keep humidity up, and so far it has helped going on the readings this past week. I chose Potassium Chloride because it's obviously food safe, and some on those list weren't, and also it seems to be in the 80% range which is where I'd like to be.

View attachment 698670

I'm following pretty much the recipe here:

Make Spicy Capocollo in your home refrigerator – 2 Guys & A Cooler

twoguysandacooler.com

I included some ground fennel. Also, instead of the Calabrian powder, I'm using a Aleppo Ground powder which I really like. Not as spicy, and a bit fruity.

View attachment 698671

I'm flipping every day. It's been in there for a couple days, and I'll probably go another 8 days (?), then wrap in a Dry Aging Sheet, net, and then hang. Hopefully I don't poison anyone with my new hobby, and hope I can learn from all of you!

Great item to start with, I did the exact same recipe, bless that Eric!
I also did his calabrian pepper tenderloin, love that one.

I do like the dried coppa. But I will admit... on like my 3rd one, I got tired of waiting, and just tossed it into smoker for 15 hrs at 160 or such to 145 IT. Cherrywood smoke for 7 hrs or so. Mmmmmm... so good. We decided we like the results about as much as we liked the long dried coppa, and it makes a great bacon too. So I stopped doing the looong dry cure on coppa. But I do still do it for tenderloins. Here is some smoked coppa from 2 weeks ago.

 

[Dave in AZ]

M MeatCharter
P.s., I didn't mention, but your chart for humidity over saturated solutions is very interesting. I hadn't seen this method before, only over sodium acetate or something. The KCl looks good at 80%.
What's funny there though, is the "Natrium Chloride" silliness, otherwise known as SALT, sodium chloride. At 75% RH, it also seems optimal and cheap. Wonder why they didn't run salt up to 60f like others? Clearly salt is the easiest and cheapest logistically, and 75% RH is solidly in correct region...

My chamber was built per Eric at 2guysandaCooler specs also. But originally a side by side, and the freezer cooling mech of a freezer fridge, with fridge only cooled via high flow air fan from freezer, doesn't play well with on/off single parameter temperature controllers. Currently apart, looking for a beverage fridge to replace.

 

[MeatCharter]

M MeatCharter
P.s., I didn't mention, but your chart for humidity over saturated solutions is very interesting. I hadn't seen this method before, only over sodium acetate or something. The KCl looks good at 80%.
What's funny there though, is the "Natrium Chloride" silliness, otherwise known as SALT, sodium chloride. At 75% RH, it also seems optimal and cheap. Wonder why they didn't run salt up to 60f like others? Clearly salt is the easiest and cheapest logistically, and 75% RH is solidly in correct region...

My chamber was built per Eric at 2guysandaCooler specs also. But originally a side by side, and the freezer cooling mech of a freezer fridge, with fridge only cooled via high flow air fan from freezer, doesn't play well with on/off single parameter temperature controllers. Currently apart, looking for a beverage fridge to replace.

Yeah, I went with the KCI because it was a bit higher humidity. At ~55 degrees it should be about 86 degrees humidity which ~10 degrees higher than normal sodium chloride, and KCI is also food safe as it's used in a product called Nu-Salt which is a salt substitute. I wasn't sure how well any of the salt slurries would help, but I figure at like $10 bucks it was worth the shot, and based on my graphs for the last week, it's been useful.

 

[LoydB]

I've done that recipe three times, it's my favorite whole muscle cure. Good luck!

 

[MeatCharter]

Well she's in the curing fridge now after wrapping with collagen sheets and then netted.

Problems:
1. The netting was a bit of a struggle. I think I need a plastic bottle that I can pass the Coppa through. Not sure what size bottle I'd need.
2. The scale I had maxed out. So I couldn't do a pre-weight. Have a new scale coming tomorrow, and will do it then. Hope it doesn't lose a lot of weight in a day.
3. When wrapping I noticed a bit of a divot in the meat. Slightly worried that's going to create a problem as it ages with the collagen sheet, creating a bit of an air pocket. Tried to get it as flat as possible but that's a concern. I can't really trim out the divot without removing a lot of meat.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I'll follow along!

Ryan

 

[LoydB]

3. When wrapping I noticed a bit of a divot in the meat. Slightly worried that's going to create a problem as it ages with the collagen sheet, creating a bit of an air pocket. Tried to get it as flat as possible but that's a concern. I can't really trim out the divot without removing a lot of meat.

Do you have a vacuum sealer? If so, poke a few holes in the casing where there's a bubble, stick it in a bag and vac seal it. Leave in fridge overnight, remove from bag, it should be nicely adhered.

 

[MeatCharter]

Do you have a vacuum sealer? If so, poke a few holes in the casing where there's a bubble, stick it in a bag and vac seal it. Leave in fridge overnight, remove from bag, it should be nicely adhered.

I do. I'll give that a try when I take it out to weigh today. Thanks for the tip! Would have never thought of that.

 

[LoydB]

No prob. I generally do that with all whole that I'm collagen wrapping, particularly if I'm using collagen sheets.

 

[MeatCharter]

When I first took it out of the curing fridge, it smelled amazing. So I guess nothing has gone bad yet!

I poked holes which was definitely necessary because there were some bubbles, vacuum sealed overnight, took it out this morning, weighed it (1172g), and then back in the curing fridge.

 

[MeatCharter]

I weighed today, and it was 941 grams. It was 1172 grams 13 days ago. That's close to 20% loss in about 2 weeks. Is that fast?

I think I got my humidity closer to where I want it to be with a new DIY humidity setup, but had a couple problems with temperature drops I'm working with manufacturer on.

 

[MeatCharter]

Another Coppa going in. I trimmed this out of a Boston butt. Curious to see how it is compared to the more expensive Duroc pork from butcher. I also added 1% of MSG.

I have mold 600 now. I wrapped with the collagen wraps. Poked any holes with a toothpick (don't know where I put the damn sausage pricker I just bought lol), and then vacuum sealed to make sure it adheres well (thanks LoydB ), and then put in fridge. Plan on taking it out in a few hours., brushing with mold, netting, and then hanging in my curing fridge.

 

[MeatCharter]

She's in now. I netted but forgot to brush with mold 600! So I brushed pretty liberally over the netting. Hope all goes OK there.

 

[MeatCharter]

I weighed today, and it was 941 grams. It was 1172 grams 13 days ago. That's close to 20% loss in about 2 weeks. Is that fast?

I think I got my humidity closer to where I want it to be with a new DIY humidity setup, but had a couple problems with temperature drops I'm working with manufacturer on.

It's been 25 days now. Weighed today. It's 862g. So I've lost 26%. That doesn't seem too bad. As I get closer to my 40% target I'm guessing the loss will slow down.

I think I've got this fridge dialed in more. It was dipping into the upper 40s/lower 50s, and now I'm definitely closer to 55f average with 75-80% humidity. I had to set the fridge to 60f, so it's off by quite a bit.

 

[mneeley490]

How's that mold 600 coming along?

 

[MeatCharter]

How's that mold 600 coming along?

Good question. It doesn't appear to have taken all that well. Maybe there's a little white mold there. Not sure. Definitely not covered. It's been about 8 days since that one went in.

 

[MeatCharter]

Well it's been 37 days since I put her in. She's weighing 812.4 grams. She went in at 1172 grams, which is a 30.68% weight loss. Trying to hit 40%. The weight loss has certainly slowed down.

Not seeing much mold development....

 

[indaswamp]

Well it's been 37 days since I put her in. She's weighing 812.4 grams. She went in at 1172 grams, which is a 30.68% weight loss. Trying to hit 40%. The weight loss has certainly slowed down.

Not seeing much mold development....

View attachment 701058

31% in 37 days on a coppa......seems a little fast to me. Probably going to have slight dry rim which explains the lack of mold growth. If weight loss stops, go ahead and pull it, vac seal, then put it back in the chamber to let it equalize for at least a month or so.