Sopressata, Whole Chub

Description

Our sopressata is coarse ground so you can see the individual squares of back fat against the lean, which is the whole character of the style. It is shoulder and back fat from our whole hogs, salt, cracked black pepper, garlic, a little red wine and a starter culture. We stuff into natural beef middle, ferment it warm for three days, then hang it in the curing room for eight weeks until it has lost about thirty-five percent of its weight and carried a fine white bloom on the outside.

That white powder on the casing is the mold we want and it is harmless, but peel the casing back as you go rather than eating it. Slice by hand on a slight bias, about the thickness of a nickel, and let it warm up on the board for a quarter hour. A whole chub holds well, so buy one and cut from it over two weeks instead of buying sliced.

Specification

• Made from: pork shoulder and back fat, coarse ground
• Cure: fermented 3 days, hung 8 weeks to 35 percent weight loss
• Casing: natural beef middle with white mold bloom
• Weight: whole chub, approximately 1.3 lb
• Contains: pork, salt, black pepper, garlic, red wine, curing salt (nitrite)

Storage

A whole chub keeps at cellar temperature or in the fridge for a month or more and will simply get firmer and more concentrated as it goes. Once you cut into it, wrap the cut face in paper rather than plastic so it can breathe, and do not freeze it.