Culatello
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Hi nuynai, nice to hear from you. And yeah, a nice sugna paste (rice flour and lard) would have most definitely balanced out the drying and allowed me to let the hams hang in the curing chamber for at least another two or three months. The problem is that I followed standard culatello instructions and cased the hams. The proper way is to use hog bladders, but since I did not have any I used pasted hog sheets and then tied them in a stockinette. But I doubt that the bladders would have made a difference. Perhaps next time I won't case them and use sugna on the exposed parts. But I did taste a slice or three after I cut them open and the flavour is great as is the silky smooth texture.
Oh well, live and learn! Maybe Brican will pipe in here and offer some sound advice.
Oh well, live and learn! Maybe Brican will pipe in here and offer some sound advice.
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Philip o'le boy that is looking good! Such nice clean mould and it looks like it will be ready soon. How much weight has it lost?
Below is a pic of my fiochetto, which I made way back in March but pulled it only two weeks ago! It hung in my curing chamber for about 5 months and then another 5 months vacced in the fridge. Wonderful rich flavour, the meat having a softer texture than big brother culatello. And paired with some Brunello, it just doesn't get any better!
Below is a pic of my fiochetto, which I made way back in March but pulled it only two weeks ago! It hung in my curing chamber for about 5 months and then another 5 months vacced in the fridge. Wonderful rich flavour, the meat having a softer texture than big brother culatello. And paired with some Brunello, it just doesn't get any better!
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- Location: Olathe, KS
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Beef bungs usually won't work for something that large.
For the US residents pork bladers (traditionally used) are available from Butcher & Packer. Not sure of a Can. supplier. More info on casings on the first page of this thread.
http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php ... cts_id=970
For the US residents pork bladers (traditionally used) are available from Butcher & Packer. Not sure of a Can. supplier. More info on casings on the first page of this thread.
http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php ... cts_id=970
The fiocchetto is not that big, so it could have been cased in piece of beef bung. I would prefer beef bungs when casing whole muscle cuts such as coppa and lonzino, but they are kind of pricey these days, especially with the Canadian peso. The pasted hog sheets are more economical, easy to use and do the job. I have a good sized culatello curing in the fridge at the moment and since I don't have any beef bladders, I will be casing it in a stitched beef bung. Might have to ask for help since I'm not really good with needle and thread.
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I cased my coppa on Wenesday in a beef bung, and cased my bresoala this morning in a beef bung as well.
Coppa was 2.4lb and the bresoala was 3.9lb
Both fit in the beef bungs perfectly, then I netted them.
The beef bungs I used were from Evan at Craft Butcher Pantry. Very nice bungs, clean and both roughly the same exact size. I bought a 2 pack for $8.50 if I remember correctly.
I probably could have cased both coppa and bresoala using just one bung, but I liked having the closed sock toe end so much that I used a separate bung for each. Ended up only using half the length of each bung, they were about 24" long each!
I would like to try out the pasted hog sheets someday, they seem easy to use with no soaking, etc.
After doing the sopressatta in cut and tied beef middles, the coppa and bresoala in 4.5-5"beef bungs, and the chorizo in 30mm hog casings, I can tell you I sure like working with the various beef casings MUCH better than the hog casings!
The beef casings are silky smooth and stretch great without tearing. Very sturdy casings and easy to prepare.
Coppa was 2.4lb and the bresoala was 3.9lb
Both fit in the beef bungs perfectly, then I netted them.
The beef bungs I used were from Evan at Craft Butcher Pantry. Very nice bungs, clean and both roughly the same exact size. I bought a 2 pack for $8.50 if I remember correctly.
I probably could have cased both coppa and bresoala using just one bung, but I liked having the closed sock toe end so much that I used a separate bung for each. Ended up only using half the length of each bung, they were about 24" long each!
I would like to try out the pasted hog sheets someday, they seem easy to use with no soaking, etc.
After doing the sopressatta in cut and tied beef middles, the coppa and bresoala in 4.5-5"beef bungs, and the chorizo in 30mm hog casings, I can tell you I sure like working with the various beef casings MUCH better than the hog casings!
The beef casings are silky smooth and stretch great without tearing. Very sturdy casings and easy to prepare.
You can get Sail needles (triangular tip) large enough for butchers twine...various uses around the kitchen. Work great on thick casings like bungs.redzed wrote:I have a good sized culatello curing in the fridge at the moment and since I don't have any beef bladders, I will be casing it in a stitched beef bung. Might have to ask for help since I'm not really good with needle and thread.