Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Bentley]

Had never had Sopprasota until I saw some at RD a couple of years ago and bought it, that is it on the left.  Can't tell from photo and I simply don't remember name brand.  Boy Howdy was it good!  I think it was about $7.99/lb.  A little steep for me, but after eating it, well worth it.  I just like to eat slices of it, forget the sandwich.  I have not really looked for it in local market or Wal-mart, maybe they have it.  I was in a Wegmans the other day, a higher end supermarket, but not outrageous, just lots of departments, cheese, deli, bread, etc.  They had some, $19.99/lb.  I had to pass.  Right!

So The Cheap Screws mind says I have to find a way to beat this.  I have stayed away from Charcutier because I was under the impression you need curing and dying chambers.  According to UMAi Dry (the Dry Aging Bag folks) you do not.  I guess we will see.  So I got the meat, I bought a kit from UMAi with the bags, the Bactoferm T-SPX starter culture, some #2 Cure and some dextrose powder.  Followed instructions to the T!  72 hours of Fermentation, then about 2-3 months of drying in the fridge at about 38°.  That is the step I am most concerned about as I have been told they should cure at about 55° and 75% RH.  The 5 chubs are each about 32oz.  They will lose 30-40%, so we will see.  Should be ready about Christmas.

If it works and I lose 40%, I would still have 6lbs. of Sopprasota.  At Wegmans pricing that is $119.94, not bad for a $66 investment that will make much more IF it works!

I hate waiting 2 months to see if I failed!

[Bentley]

This was my 1st attempt at Salami about 13 years ago in Pasadena!  It did not end well!

[BigDave83]

I have wanted to try this or something like it, I have dry cured beef and different cuts of pork. Using Umai bags. The closest I have come to what you are doing is I will make up some snack sticks, beef and or pork with Cure 1 cased in 19mm cases and then just hung in the garage fridge for maybe 10 days or until I get them as dry as i want.

Can't wait to see your results.

Will you press them? I thought they were usually pressed, but maybe I have them mixed up with something else.

[Bar-B-Lew]

In which city did you visit a Wegmans?

You may be able to find soppressata at Weis, Safeway, and Walmart for the Deitz & Watson brand.  It is a fattier salami to me.  Maybe a cross between salami and pepperoni.  Some places around here and/or in Philly put it in their Italian hoagies.

Sam's Club has this sometimes too - https://www.samsclub.com/p/charcuterie-sampler-prosc-sprsta-coppa/prod22014431

[Bentley]

They usually are.  I think that is the meaning of the word in Italian.  Just cant figure out a way to do it with the space I have.

Will you press them? I thought they were usually pressed, but maybe I have them mixed up with something else.

[Bentley]

They call it the Lake Manassas store.  It is in Gainesville, VA.  About 30 minutes from us and from D.C.

In which city did you visit a Wegmans?

[02ebz06]

I'm interested to see how it comes out as well.
I have the curing and drying chambers.  Have only made pepperoni so far. Only a few weeks for that.
Haven't done anything with it in a few months with all the hassle of the move.
Eventually I will get back to it and try other than pepperoni.

[Bentley]

I have learned as the Salami ferments, it should start to take on that red color, for lack of correct terminology.  I believe that is happening.  So you take the small victories as they come.

Then.



Now.

[Bentley]

I guess if changing color means it is going smoothly I am Golden!  It is even starting to smell like Salami!

Start.



24 Hours.





36 Hours.

[yorkdude]

Very nice.

[02ebz06]

Looking forward to seeing the end product.

[Bentley]

You start to realize that you need equipment you do not have.  Like a Ph meter, and an aw (water activity) meter.  But you are told if you do X & Y you will get Z and you hope that is accurate info.  These were fermented for 60 hours.  They will now go in the 38° fridge and we just keep checking weight loss for "doneness".  The temp and RH gauge is off a tad due to the fridge being open 3 times getting the Salami in there.  It was reading 37.8° and 75% RH the 1st time I opened it.

Since they are 70mm casings and UMAi was using 50 for their video, I am gonna assume that my drying time will be about 25% longer then theirs.  I am figuring 1st of the year, although with my internet research, it appears that the UMAi bags seem to dry faster then a collagen or similar casing using a curing chamber.  I will have no date for the chamber curing, but maybe i can compare notes with O2 about his chamber curing!

[Bentley]

This post is purely for my records.  Weigh in 2 weeks.

Starting weights.
#1 33.2oz
#2 32.5oz
#3 33.8oz
#4 36.2oz
#5 34.8oz

[02ebz06]

This is the process I used when I made pepperoni.
Only done it twice, so no expert here.
Different sausages will be different.
 
After stuffing into casings, save leftover for testing PH
Test the PH and write it down
Place in Curing chamber at 85F with 85% humidity
Check every 12 hours - Want PH to get down to 4.6 to 4.8 - Lower is tangier

Once target PH is reached, weigh the pepperoni and label each with start & target weights (20% loss will be the target)
Put in drying chamber (55F and 75% humidity)
Check daily until a 20% weight loss has been reached

Smoke at lowest temp and work up to 180F until IT reached 145F
Chill in ice water immediately to stop the cooking

[Bentley]

I don't have Ph or water moisture meter.  The Ph I am just going by the time of fermentation.  My research for soppressata calls for 5.0-5.2.  They said that might happen at about 48 hours, but I went another 12 hours, so it might be even lower. 38-40% weight loss for soppressata.  At this point, no way of knowing where my Ph was when it started to dry.  At least I can control moisture loss.  If this turns out well, I might look into both of those instruments, and start doing more research on starter cultures for different flavors.  The RH% is staying in the 55-60% range.  Not ideal, but nothing I can do without buying equipment.