Bresaola Take 2

Air dried cured Meat Techniques

Bresaola Take 2

Postby anedand » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:29 am

Just pulled my second ever Bresaola out of the curing cabinet. I got crazy mold activity on this one and it cured very quickly compared to everything else I'm curing. This muscle went from 912g to 512g (43.86%) in 34 days. Looks beautiful, smells perfect, no off odors, but the texture is softer than expected. Spongy almost. It's super soft - I was expecting it to be firmer. The texture is fine when sliced - like a coppa, just not what I was expecting - any feedback on this? Hopefully the video below shows what I mean.

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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby Swing Swang » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:20 pm

No feedback, but it is a thing of true beauty.
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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby johngaltsmotor » Tue Mar 10, 2015 3:56 pm

I've got no experience with curing whole muscle, but that seems REALLY soft and flexible for 40% weight loss. The dark exterior would make me think it dried too fast and case hardened, but that doesn't jive with how flexible it is...
I'm sure one of the local guru's will be down off the mountain shortly to provide insight :-D
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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby NCPaul » Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:56 pm

That is really squishy and the drying is a bit on the quick side. How much salt did you use? It looks like the protein structure has been completely denatured. The two pieces next to that one seem larger but have lower weights on the tags; mix up? (no offense meant). I'll wait for the guru's with you. :D
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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby anedand » Tue Mar 10, 2015 11:49 pm

NCPaul wrote: How much salt did you use?


2.75% salt and 0.25% Cure #2:
Here is the recipe I used:

BRESAOLA CURE CALCULATOR (BATCH 2)
TOTAL:
BEEF 860.00 100.000%
SALT 23.65 2.750%
SUGAR 8.60 1.000%
BLACK PEPPER 4.30 0.500%
FRESH ROSEMARY 2.15 0.250%
JUNIPER BERRIES 0.86 0.100%
DRY THYME 0.86 0.100%
CINNAMON 0.43 0.050%
CLOVE 0.22 0.025%
CURE #2 2.15 0.250%

NCPaul wrote: The two pieces next to that one seem larger but have lower weights on the tags; mix up? (no offense meant).


None taken - :) The numbers you see in the top corners of those nearby coppa tags represent target weights of 35% and 40% loss so I can track when they are getting close without doing the math on the spot.

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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby wheels » Wed Mar 11, 2015 12:16 am

Hi anedand,

From the video it looks very dark around the edges. If it was like that, rather than just a trick of the light, it looks like it maybe got a bit case hardened and the inside couldn't dry properly.

Do you have a vacuum packer? If so, I'd vac-pac it for a couple of weeks to see if it evens out. You can always dry it further afterwards.

HTH

Phil
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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby fandtm666 » Tue May 19, 2015 2:09 am

Looks great im about to try my first one next week.

i also like the spread sheet you showed, did you get that somewhere or you
do it yourself, i tried byt my computer skills are non existent
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Re: Bresaola Take 2

Postby anedand » Tue May 19, 2015 3:48 am

Good luck - I'm still tinkering with the bresaola, but I've had great luck with coppa. I made that spreadsheet myself - PM me your email address if you want a copy, I'd be happy to send it over.
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