new guy/intoduction

[caruso]

I have been making dry cured meats for about 20 years on my own, most of my recipies are family recipies that we can conservetly trace back about 150 years. My grand father came from Naples Italy in 1892 died in the states in 1972 he was approximately 16 years old when he came here( some estimates have him as old as 22)he did sign his name in the books at ellis island so lets just say he was 10 that would have made him 90 yrs old in 72. when I asked my dad where he learned to make the sausages my dad told me from his father who learned from his father. Now I have no proof of this so even if he got the recipies and techniques from someone else off the boat when he came over that person had them for a while. none of my recipies call for lactic starter or cultures and my family has considered any mold "bad" so in keeping with tradition I have not introduced them to the recipies. keeping with tradition last year I started training my 10 year old son in sausage making.

[aris]

Feel free to post some of your recipes & techniques for curing!

[Sandy]

Yes please!

I would love to hear more!

Sandy.

[caruso]

aris & Sandy
I am a little hesitant about posting my recipes not because they family secrets but because besides not containing lactic starters or cultures they also don't contain any nitrite/nitrate, and from what I can tell by the concensus on this site that is a big NO-NO. Like I said before the recipes and techniques are easily over 150 years old and know one that I know ever got sick or God forbid died. As far as the method of drying/curring goes I feel it is suitable for a refrigarator, we don't worry about humidity as much as we do teperature. The reason for this is the last step of the process. Which is we put them in a container a cover them with oil, and store them in our basements for about 2 months before eating. The oil has two benefits one it stops the drying process and two the moisture will redistribute and equalize which takes care of the outer being drier than the center.
I(my 4 brothers and I) make 1000 pepperoni, salami, and soupie(sopreseseta) every year for the past 15 years. 20 years ago when I was entrusted with the recipes and tradition my brothers were too busy to be bothered by it. I was only making about 40 a year. Than it happened we were sitting and the youngest brother said "remember when we were kids and dad would cut up a soupie late at night and give us all a piece and when he wasn't looking we would all take sips of his wine' and then I said "hold that thought" and I cut up a soupie and poured everyone a glass of wine and thats when it started they all wanted me to make some so they could have some at home so I said lets get together and crank some out. the first year it was 250 than 500 and finally 1000. This years batch will be ready to eat in July and I only have 4 left from last year my brothers are in the same shape as me...it seems like our childhood friends were too busy to keep the tradition going to so they come and bother us. so this coming year we are talking about making 2000.
sorry about getting off topic if you are interested I will post the sopressetta recipe and drying technique in detail

[aris]

Yes, I think we'd be interested - particulalry in the drying and curing technique in oil.

[Wohoki]

Sausages have been around for a lot longer than refined nitrate/nitrite cures and lactic starters, so if you're happy to post your recipes I'd love to see them.

[Oddley]

Hi caruso
I've read your post with fascination. I would love to see any recipe and technique you would share with us...

[Sandy]

I agree - sounds interesting!

[caruso]

DRYING PROCEDURE

Make sure all meat is removed from tails and tails are spread flat on main body of soupie.
Use a needle to prick to remove any air pockets.
Lay soupies out on blankets 1 night per side.
Remove blankets and wash immediately.
Place soupies in press for 5 days, and add weight gradually everyday.
Wipe down soupies with a 1 to 1 ratio of lemon juice water mix.
Hang soupies for 1 week.
Re-press soupies for 5 days .
Re-hang soupies until done.

Notes:
When soupies are considered done they should be hard on outer edges with center sucked in and firm not hard.
Maintain temperature between 34 and 44 degrees.
Maintain constant air movement with 20 inch box fan especially under press.

For pressing use non varnished and stained boards to help enable wicking of moisture.

First signs of mold wipe ALL soupies down.
If a �butcher shop� smell is present open window for fresh air.

[caruso]

7 OUNCES SALT
2 OUNCES CAYENNE PEPPER
2 OUNCES PAPRIKA
2 CUPS MERLOT WINE
20 POUNDS FRESH PORK

MIX ALL INGREDIENTS UNTIL WELL BLENDED.
STUFF INTO BEEF MIDDLES. APPROXIMATELY 8 INCH lengths WITH AT LEAST 1 � INCH TAIL.

[caruso]

this is the most basic recipe for soppresseta in fact we consider it our base recipeand we build on this for other recipes. this recipe makes a medium "heat" product. You can feel free to change it to your liking of flavor BUT DO NOT TAMPER WITH THE SALT CONTENT I think if you try these you will be pleasantly surprised how not salty they are don't get me wrong you will taste salt but it will be very palatable.
we usually grind the meat through a 1/4 inch plate.
We use pork sirloins with no added fat.
we use regular "mortons" brand table salt.
we soak our middles for 4 hours than we turn them inside(so the smooth side is in and fat veins are on outside) and soak for another 4 hours or over night adding lemon juice to final soaking.
when we say "tails" we are referring to the amount of middle left after the knot.
we use the middle size beef middles.
Pressing is a very simple process we use a regular board lay out the soupies put a board on top more soupies etc. top off with a board and we use cement building blocks and bricks as weight some people use buckets filled with stone.
we hang and press them in my them in my garage.
when they are done you place some vegtable oil in the bottom of the container put a layer of soupies in more oil another layer etc. last layer you want to cover the soupies by about 2 inches of oil. I HAVE HAD SOUPIES FOR 5 YEARS IN OIL WITHOUT REFRIGARATION. if you tied your knots properly no oil should ever get into the meat. and i have never had a problem with rancid oil. I have had my oil get cloudy I found out that is because the oil got cold and the oil started to solidify nothing to worry about but if it bothers you strain through cheese cloth.
I have tried to answer as many questions before they are asked as possible but I am sure I missed a lot of things that I just know to do that others don't so don't be afraid to ask.
one last thing I almost forgot after mixing the meat fry a patty of it this will help you adjust the pepper content make it hotter or milder BUT it is not a true flavor comparrison of the end product.

[caruso]

well guys I will let you digest that for a while. I am not real current with metric conversions so I can't help there

[caruso]

I forgot I have pictures of my handi work but I am not sure how to post them any help would be appreciated

[caruso]

-conv-

[caruso]

I messed around trying to post some pictures this might be easier

http://dantepicarelli.tripod.com/soupies