Homemade Sausage Making

Decided to also do two Bresoala today! They are curing in the fridge as we speak.

Wanted to try my TEXEL culture, so I did one bresoala with TEXEL, and the other without.

I plan to cure these for 7 days, then add second half of the cure, and then cure another 7 days (14 days total) Then will stuff into a beef bung for the long dry nap!

Wanted to try a different spice blend, so we did the following for the cure (put 1/2 on, will put 2nd 1/2 on seven days from now):

Bresoala #1
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1,535g lean eye of round beef muscle
46g (3%) sea salt
4.6g (0.30%) cure #2
6.2g fresh ground black pepper
1.5g ground bay leaf
3.4g ground thyme
7.7g pimenton de la Vera dulce (sweet)
0.77g (0.050%) Texel culture

Bresoala #2
------------
1,335g lean eye of round beef muscle
40g (3%) sea salt
4g (0.30%) cure #2
1.3g 55K cayenne pepper
6.7g ground corriander
2.7g ground rosemary
6.7g Calabrian sweet pepper powder
No TEXEL in this one.

Curious ... typo or is there a reason that you are using 0.30% cure #2

0.25% is the norm -- but again I am still learning ....

BriCan,

No specific reason. I use 0.25% cure #2 in all my salumi.

However, I used 0.30% in these whole muscle cuts because I thought I would try it and see if there was a discernable difference in color and texture/flavor, over the typical 0.25%.

0.25% is the norm, 0.30% is fine as well for whole muscle cuts.

To quote the Bob K reply from Cure #2 thread:

"The 0.25% or 156 ppm only applies to commuted meats.

Go here : http://www.fsis.usda.gov/...ives/7620-3.pdf and scroll down to page 12 for the guidelines"

"On DRY CURED whole muscle cuts you are allowed up to 625 ppm nitrite and 2187 ppm nitrate"

If I can't tell a difference then I will just go back to using the 0.25% cure #2 in my whole muscle cuts.

I also tried the TEXEL on one of each, just to see if it makes a difference in color/texture/flavor.

I like to experiment and see what makes a real world difference, within reason!

I think Brican pointed out that 2.5% #2 has become the unofficial standard among hobbyists and small charcuterie producers. The USDA limits are sky high and most of us would rather work with the minimum requirement rather than with the maximum. Based on the USDA, Stan Marianski's recipe for coppa calls for .5% #2 and .6% for breasola. The USDA tells us that those are safe amounts, but at the same time they don't tell us that we have to use those amounts. When I first started making dry cured products I tended to use more salt and more curing salts. Now I use .25% #2 in all of my dry cured sausages and meat and .2% (120ppm) in my smoked creations.

And Jason you have a good point there in recognizing the relationship of nitrate and the cocci strains in the Texel DCM-1 culture. The bacteria are nitrate reductases which will transform the nitrate to nitrite and in the process assist in colour formation and flavour development. At least that is what the salumi scientists tell us.