"X" Sopressata

[wyogoob]

I've developed a way to make Sopressata shaped like an "X".

February 2014 - Stuffed 25 lbs of Sopressata in 45 mm casings:


Pressed the sausage with a heavily weighted board for a week in a cool dry Wyoming basement. This was a lot of weight. It squeezed quite a bit of moisture out of the sausage:


The flattened sausages were lightly smoked with 1/2 pan of oak sawdust and then hung in a cool basement to dry cure:


June 2014 - Fully cured (weighed after pressing and then while drying) with a unique dog-bone shape similar to a couple of high-end Italian Soppressata varieties I've seen:


August 2014 - Took the sausages down and stored them in a 2-gallon ziplok bag in the fridge at 45°.  I put a damp paper towel with the sausages.  The bag was not closed.  After the sopressata took on a nice white mold I hung them up to dry a little:


Happy Holidays 2014:






April 1 2015 - Removed the moldy casing and dusted the soppressata with cayenne. The soppressata is over 13 months old at this point:




This is some of the best-tasting Sopressata I've ever made.  The "X" shape was purely accidental.

[cobra6223]

my you have a lot of patience.. looks very interesting and makes me want to try it.

[MrSlick]

During the squish part of the process did you turn them?  I'm wondering why it is a X and not just flat? 

[wyogoob]

During the squish part of the process did you turn them?  I'm wondering why it is a X and not just flat?

No, I didn't turn them. 

I purposely stuffed the sausage loosely allowing for the flattening process and hopefully the pressing would take care of any voids and air pockets.  The sopressata came out of the press flat, oval.  There was really too much weight on the board and maybe too much pressure on the fibrous casings.  There was enough pressure the moisture was quickly squeezed out of the sausages and the casings may have been yielding. 

After hanging for 3 or 4 weeks they were back to a round shape but had shrunk some.  They took on the "X" shape from that point on as they dried.

Maybe the casings have a thicker section in each quarter...just a guess.  Whatever I did, I hope I can duplicate it again.