Coppa - Smoking?

Started by Waltz, February 01, 2010, 02:39:22 AM

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Waltz

Hi,

I am looking for some advice or anyones experience in making coppa and smoking it.
I bought a piece of pork shoulder a few weeks ago and noticed it had a fair amount of the coppa muscle on it so cut it out and have cured it and it has now been drying for about ten days and is firming up nicely.  The thought has crossed my mind that it would be good to give it a mild smoke flavour.  I know that is not traditional coppa but I like experimenting :).

Does anyone have any ideas, opinions, experience, wild thoughts etc on when it would be best to apply smoke?  Would it be after the curing process is finished in a few weeks time or now before it is fully dried out or should I have done it before I started drying it?

Any feedback will be welcome.

Waltz

Habanero Smoker

It is best to smoke dry cure meats and sausages prior to hanging to dry. For solid muscle I generally will allow the pellicle to form then cold smoke, using a home built or the Bradley cold smoke adapter for 1:40 - 2:00 hours; keeping the temperature below 80°F. Then hang and dry cure as you usually would. The smoke also provides some protection from insects and surface mold.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

Waltz

Thanks Habs.
I will give it two hours of cold smoke now.  It is past the pellicle forming stage but still got quite a bit of drying to do, may not be ideal but I don't think it will spoil it.

Waltz.

Habanero Smoker

Quote from: Waltz on February 01, 2010, 10:58:52 PM
Thanks Habs.
I will give it two hours of cold smoke now.  It is past the pellicle forming stage but still got quite a bit of drying to do, may not be ideal but I don't think it will spoil it.

Waltz.

The meat will be alright. Let us know how it turns out.

I've never dry cured a cut that large. Now you got me thinking of making some. That cut is extremely hard to find. Some times I will notice it left on whole shoulders, but that is rare.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

Waltz

Smoked the Coppa yesterday with some cheese.



First time for me for both.  As you can see, the Coppa is a fairly small piece trimmed off a pork shoulder.  It is in an ox casing and still has a few weeks of drying to do before I can sample it.  I gave it and the cheese three hours of cold maple and oak smoke, probably about two thirds maple, one third oak.  The cheese is vac packed in the back of the fridge and I am going on vacation for two weeks now so it should be ready to be sampled when I come back, something to look forward to on my return ;D.

Waltz.

Habanero Smoker

Coppa cut seems larger when I look online, and it is hard to tell the size by looking at a whole shoulder that is cryovac.

Rereading your post you did say it had a fair amount of coppa muscle that was left on the shoulder. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.



     I
         don't
                   inhale.
  ::)

oakville smoker

This should be interesting
I dry cured mine but did not smoke it
Mine was large but maybe it was because of my kindergarten grade butcher skiils
I followed an instruction but maybe I got too much of the shoulder

I am thinking of starting another especially if pork shoulder is cheap again this week
All I wanted to do was slow smoke some ribs.  Another addiction created thanks to the Bradley that requires regular servicing...  But what an addiction to have.  Even better to share here with some of the best people on the planet.

Would you like smoke with that sir ?