Question on cured meat, Coppa in particular?

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mneeley490

Master of the Pit
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Jun 23, 2011
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Everett, WA
LoydB has a great Coppa thread, and I didn't want to contaminate it with this question.

Last time I made a couple Coppa they turned out great, looked similar to his, with the beautiful mahogany coloring in the meat. But as soon as I thin sliced some pieces, they began to turn brown in color. And I mean within a couple minutes. I tried slicing a few pieces and vac packing them, but it did little to slow it down. It still tasted fine, but the brown color was off-putting to me. Is this just a form of oxidation? I can't think of anything I did differently this time.
Has this happened to anyone else?
 
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The gray is from the lack of nitric Oxcide linking with meat myoglobin. What cure did you use and how long in cure?
 
I think what he is saying is it changed color after the slices were exposed to air. The color was right upon slicing but darkened shortly thereafter.
 
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I have used Umai a couple times for capicola using cure #1.
Have not seen the color change at all.
Sliced up about 45 slices for meat bingo at my local watering hole. Good times!
 

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I just had it happen with a beef sirloin in a Umai bag . Must be some kind of oxidation , but I have no idea .
The brown edges in this pic is not case hardening . After slicing and a day in the fridge all the pieces were completely dark in color . Still soft and taste was great , but I did end up getting rid of the last of it .

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I just had it happen with a beef sirloin in a Umai bag . Must be some kind of oxidation , but I have no idea .
The brown edges in this pic is not case hardening . After slicing and a day in the fridge all the pieces were completely dark in color . Still soft and taste was great , but I did end up getting rid of the last of it .

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That is exactly what happened. I've used Umai bags to make Coppa many times, and never experienced this before. I was just too disgusted to take any pics, I guess. I cured exactly per their instructions each time.
 
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My question would be, where did the meat come from? If from a grocery store, they sometimes sell solutioned pork, and beef they sometimes apply some sort of preservative to keep the outside of the meat vibrant red. These chemicals could adversely effect the final cured and dried appearance. If the meat was fresh from the farm, then I’m just not sure.
 
That is exactly what happened.
Mike I knew by what you said , that that's what happened to you . Mine was beef , but properly handled . I broke it down myself from a beef knuckle . It had been in the freezer awhile , but it was vac packed with a tight seal . Maybe that played into it .
Mine was cured 14 days , and about a month in the Umai . Taste was fine , but like you said the look was off putting .
 
I always cure for a minimum four weeks, for what that's worth. Sorry it didn't work out.
 
My question would be, where did the meat come from? If from a grocery store, they sometimes sell solutioned pork, and beef they sometimes apply some sort of preservative to keep the outside of the meat vibrant red. These chemicals could adversely effect the final cured and dried appearance. If the meat was fresh from the farm, then I’m just not sure.
I don't think so, but I'm not positive. I cut the coppa muscles out of 2 cryovac'd pork butts. Always do that myself. Both were red, then turned brown upon slicing.

Mike I knew by what you said , that that's what happened to you . Mine was beef , but properly handled . I broke it down myself from a beef knuckle . It had been in the freezer awhile , but it was vac packed with a tight seal . Maybe that played into it .
Mine was cured 14 days , and about a month in the Umai . Taste was fine , but like you said the look was off putting .
Yep, applied cure and vac packed for two weeks. Then around 4-5 weeks or so in the Umai bags. Same as I have done before with no problems. Hopefully, it's just a one-off, but it's things like this that get me questioning my curing skills.

I always cure for a minimum four weeks, for what that's worth. Sorry it didn't work out.
I'll try that next time. Thanks!
 
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