Mortadella

[aris]

Anyone made Mortadella? I'm thinking of making some, but instead of smoking I may poach it in a bain-marie in the oven. Not sure what casings to use either - mortadella tends to be quite fat. Might use an ox-bung or something.

[jasonmolinari]

Hey Aris, i've made great mortadella using PAul Bertolli's recipe, and using artificial fibrous casings...i think traditional uses a pig bladder.
I cooked mine in the oven...

[aris]

Where do I get that recipe, and how do you emulsify the mix? A food processor?

[jasonmolinari]

Yes, i have the recipe at home, i'll have to post it up, with teh changes i've made to it.
Basically there are 2 or 3 steps. First the ground pork shoulder gets turned to a paste with some crushed ice with the spice mixture. This is processed to 42 deg F, then the ground fat is added to this, and more crushed ice, and processed to 62 deg. F. This paste is then stuffed into casings and cooked.

IT is outstanding, everyone who has tried it thinks it is better than anything you can buy here in the US, by far..including the imported stuff.

I'll try my best to remember to send you the recipe, if you don't hear from me by monday (i'll be gone till sunday night, email me at: jasonmolinariREMOVEME@REMOVETHISFORSPAMyahoo.com


jason

[kajady]

Just recently I found a recipe that called for the use of mozzarella in it. I was wondering if this is the traditional recipe or if its just a pile of crock. I haven't personally tried it yet but I was just curious if it would work instead of using pork fat.
peace out

[jasonmolinari]

It isn't traditional. I've never seen mozzarella in mortadella..

[Franco]

jason,
did you manage to find the mortadella recipe? If so could you post it here?

Thanks


Franco

[jasonmolinari]

Ahhh, i completely forgot Franco..and no one emailed me:) I'll try and remember tonight, but i'm at work right now...
i'm terrible with remembering stuff!

jason

[jasonmolinari]

Ok, here is my mortadella recipe...finally:) You can thank aris for staying on top of me!

2lbs pork shoulder (trimmed)
1.5lbs pork fat
4.5g cure #1
468g crushed ice
2.5g garlic powder
22.5g dextrose
3g mace
1.5g coriander
1.5g cinnamon
1.5g cayenne
115g cubed fat, cooked for 3 mins in water and cooled in ice water
50g pistachio
3g black pepper, crushed

Grind the pork and the fat separately. Put the meat into a food processor with the spices (except pepper) and 1/2 the ice, and emulsify until the paste reaches a temperature of 42-45 deg F.
Add the ground fat and the remaining ice, and process until the paste is about 62 deg.
Transfer to a bowl, and fold in the pistachios, cubed fat and black pepper.

I then stuff it into 3.5" fibrous casings and bake it at 180 degF till the meat reaches about 155 deg.F (it'll take about 5 or 6 hours!).

Let it cool overnight in the fridge.

jason

[Oddley]

Hi jasonmolinari, thanks for the recipe I am putting it on my to make list. Just one or two questions.

The amount of cure #1 you are using will give you 292 ppm. As you are cooking it immediately therefore slowing the chemical reactions of the nitrite, so that after storage the nitrite level is unlikely to go below 50%. Also if eaten immediately, you would be consuming nitrite, at nearly 300 ppm. Considering these facts do you think the nitrite level is too high.

[aris]

As it is being cooked, I suspect the cure is just there to give the nice pink colour. If that is the case, what is the minimum one could put in to retain the pink colour?

[jasonmolinari]

I don't know enough about chemistry to figure that out...i got this from a another recipe. I was told to use about 28g for 25 lbs of meat. This would be 3.92g, so my amount might be a little high.
I will lower it next time, just for safety.

jason

[jasonmolinari]

I also just foudn this...i guess the cooking makes it safe..

"Also called Insta-Cure and Modern Cure. This cure is sodium nitrite ( 6.25% ) mixed with salt ( 93.75 % ) As the meat temperate rises during processing, the sodium nitrite changes to nitric oxide and starts to 'gas out' at about 130 � F. After the smoking /cooking process is complete only about 10-20 % of the original nitrite remains. As the product is stored and later reheated for consumption, the decline of nitrite continues. Use 1 oz. for 25 lb. of meat or 1 level teaspoon of cure for 5lb. of meat. Mix cure with cold water."

[Oddley]

aris I would like to see a residual of 50 ppm as is recommended. Therefore I personally would use an ingoing amount of 100 ppm leave the mix overnight. I would then expect the mix to contain about 50 ppm after a number of weeks this would perhaps reduce down a little more.

When I make this recipe that is what I will be doing.

For the 2lb meat in the above recipe. I would use 1.54 gm cure #1. This gives 99.85 ppm.

[jasonmolinari]

Oddley, i read that cooking speeds the breakdown, leaving only 10-20%, therefore if it starts at 292ppm, it would be down to about 30ppm after cooking..

jason