# Berkshire Culatello 2022 First Winter Fog



## indaswamp (Oct 18, 2022)

Well, I am actually doing 2 of them this year. It is 3rd week of October so that means it is Culatello time! Big front rolled through and it'll be 35* for the low tonight. Called my butcher-yep, they have fresh legs...butchered pigs Saturday so super fresh!






Got home and got to work extracting the Culatello out of both hams. The Culatello is the muscle group off the back portion of the thigh, and trimmed in a natural pear shape.





















I weighed out the coarse Trapani Sea Salt and coarse half peppercorns. I am doing a traditional cure on these, not an eqilibrium cure. I am using 3.25% sea salt and 0.5% half peppercorns.





 Will massage with garlic infused wine every day for the next 4-5 days, then case in pig bladder and truss. Hang in my old chamber 0-5*C for 23 days. Then adjust the temp. according to the drying schedule. As the salt migrates in, it will push moisture out along with 0.3-0.5% of the salt. The Culatello will lose 4-5% or more water just from the salt driving into the meat. This will help speed the drying of the Culatello so that by June\July 2023 it will have lost 30-35% weight and be ready for the summer phase.

The traditional wine used is a semi dry Lambrusco. That proved very difficult to source locally so I went with this one as a substitute. It's 60% Barbara 40% Bonarda grapes...a dry fizz wine. I tasted it and it is a good wine for a fizz wine.





Here is the first one rubbed with garlic infused wine then rubbed down with the salt and Black Pepper...










Will case, then truss in 4-5 days...See y'all then....thanks for looking...


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## tbern (Oct 18, 2022)

Fun to follow along!


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## indaswamp (Oct 18, 2022)

One of the good things about my old chamber is that it is both a freezer and a refrigerator. It is set to hold 0-5*C so perfect!


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## indaswamp (Oct 18, 2022)

So, one of the hams had a 2" long, 2" deep poke from a knife right in the middle of the Culatello section. It was not from me or my knives, bought it like that from the butcher. With the new people at the butcher shop, I should have closely inspected both hams so it is on me. A deep gash like that is not good when doing a whole muscle, but I watched an Italian Norcini prepare a proscuitto that had a deep gash and what he did was clean the cut with wine and then pack it with coarse sea salt....so that is what I did before I tied the muscle group up. The cut ran so that the pressure from the twine will keep it closed. Once in the bladder and trussed tightly, the meat should fuse back together and with the salt, I should be OK....


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## indaswamp (Oct 18, 2022)

Will be making Modenese, and strolghino Salami tomorrow with all the trim from the Hams and the recent pancetta I put to cure.


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## indaswamp (Oct 18, 2022)

I ordered 4Kg. of coarse Trapani Sea Salt from the salt flats off the Sicilian coast of Italy...This is what is used in Culatello and Prosciutto.










I also sourced some Larger bladders for this years Culatello....dried 10kilo bladders from Craft Butchers Pantry. I rehydrated those last night in water with a little vinegar. Will let those hydrate for a week and they should be supple and ready to go when it is time to case.


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## indaswamp (Oct 22, 2022)

Well after 4.5 days on salt, it was time to truss the smaller of the two Culatello I am drying this year. The other one is exactly 500 grams heavier so will let it go on salt another 12 hours, will case and truss in the morning.





I really like how this one turned out! I impressed myself! The large bladder made the difference! I was able to shape it as I stitched the bladder up. And after watching the Maestro; Mossimo Spigaroli many, many, many, times- I picked up on all the subtle nuances on tying Culatello..


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## indaswamp (Oct 22, 2022)

More pics...
The bladder next to a sharpie pen for reference...






The 10kilo bladder next to the Culatello. This one weighed in at 4,3 kilos. The Culatello they make in Italy are 2-3X that size....






Culatello in the bladder...it'll fit for sure!






Bladder sewn up tight and shaped where I could...















Couple more pics. of the Culatello trussed...










Hanging in my old chamber @ 32-41*F; 80%RH for the next 21 days....


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## indaswamp (Oct 22, 2022)

I've heard horror stories from people trying to work with dried bladders. But knowing how to handle hog sausage casings, I got these soaking in water with just a touch of vinegar as soon as they arrived at my door. LEt them soak for 7 days, changing the water twice. I had no problems at all...they even stretched a little. Very pleased with how they worked out. Will continue to use them in the future. I will be making Culatello every October from now on until my body just won't let me do it any more! LOL!! The complex aroma coming off the one I have in summer fermentation now is intoxicating! So intense!!!!


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## Dave in AZ (Oct 23, 2022)

indaswamp
 really amazing thread, great photos!  Thanks for bringing us along on this process!


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## indaswamp (Oct 23, 2022)

Dave in AZ said:


> indaswamp
> really amazing thread, great photos!  Thanks for bringing us along on this process!


Thanks 
D
 Dave in AZ
 ... It took me 2 years of digging around on the Internet to find enough information on Culatello to feel confident I can replicate it. Drying in natural open air, there is a reason for everything they do. And I pieced it all together. Eurika moment happend though about 2 months ago when I stumbled upon an obscure paper from 1963 on the microbiota population on the Culatello during the drying phases. That one little gem was a gold mine!

These will be ready April 2024 at the earliest......


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## tbern (Oct 23, 2022)

fun to follow your work, you make it look very good!


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## DRKsmoking (Oct 23, 2022)

Wow Keith, great thread, and like I have said before . You have a great skill and a lot of patience.
I am tagging in to follow, hope I am still here to see the final product

To be honest , I had to look up Culatello. Now I know and want to have some 
_Culatello_ is one of Italy's best known and most prized salumi. It comes from the province of Parma and is made by curing only the rear muscle of the haunch ..

David


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## indaswamp (Oct 23, 2022)

tbern said:


> fun to follow your work, you make it look very good!


Thanks tbern! Check back in....this will be a long one.



DRKsmoking said:


> Wow Keith, great thread, and like I have said before . You have a great skill and a lot of patience.
> I am tagging in to follow, hope I am still here to see the final product
> 
> To be honest , I had to look up Culatello. Now I know and want to have some
> ...


Thanks David! Culatello is Italy's most prized Salumi. Take the best proscuitto and dial that up to 11 then you might come close to the flavor bomb that is Culatello.....dried correctly that is. The process and the place is what makes it; humid cold fall and winter, brutally hot and stifling humid summer.

I'm not just trying to dry it successfully....I'm trying to recreate the conditions for the intense flavor to develop.


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## indaswamp (Oct 23, 2022)

OK people.....that's a wrap (pun intended..LOL!!) on the first phase of Culatello 2022 production. Here is the second one I cased and trussed this morning.











What a fun way to spend a Sunday morning!!


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## tbern (Oct 23, 2022)

Yep, going to keep following to watch how they come out!


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## indaswamp (Oct 23, 2022)




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## DRKsmoking (Oct 23, 2022)

indaswamp said:


> I'm not just trying to dry it successfully....I'm trying to recreate the conditions for the intense flavor to develop.


Like I said amazing and patient. Just wow



indaswamp said:


> The process and the place is what makes it; humid cold fall and winter, brutally hot and stifling humid summer.




David


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## indaswamp (Oct 25, 2022)




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## indaswamp (Oct 25, 2022)

2 years of looking....finally found the DOP regulations for Culatello di Zibello...
http://www.mangiosano.org/mangiosano/Disciplinari DOP/Disciplinare Culatello di Zibello.htm


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## indaswamp (Oct 26, 2022)

I'll add this here. Good read:


> The Po and the fog: the location of culatello di zibello
> 
> The environment that is the background to the production of the " Culatello di Zibello” is painted in the confines of a unique landscape that sees the flow of the Po river as the protagonist and that is drawn with the soft, impalpable, velvety tones of an atmosphere made even more suggestive by the fog: a natural phenomenon that, as we will see, highlights the importance of the climate of these areas, an absolutely indispensable element for the creation of a delicacy today appreciated and famous all over the world and whose origins go very far in time, since culatello is already told from 1322.
> 
> ...



https://www.salumificiopevericarlo.com/culatello-di-zibello/


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## indaswamp (Oct 26, 2022)

I'll add this as well...From Fidel Toldra:
When using the excess salt method, 1.1Kg. per day on salt.


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## indaswamp (Oct 26, 2022)

DRKsmoking said:


> Like I said amazing and patient. Just wow


Being a super taster is both a blessing......and a curse........


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## tx smoker (Oct 26, 2022)

WOW!! You never cease to amaze me with the outstanding stuff you've been turning out the past several years. What an artistic way to cure what must be some of the best meat on the planet. Nothing short of outstanding Keith!!

Robert


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## indaswamp (Oct 26, 2022)

tx smoker said:


> WOW!! You never cease to amaze me with the outstanding stuff you've been turning out the past several years. What an artistic way to cure what must be some of the best meat on the planet. Nothing short of outstanding Keith!!
> 
> Robert


You are too kind Robert. It's a borderline obsession for me. As I've said, being a super taster is both a blessing and a curse. I've spent countless hours reading online (having to use Italian to English translators; Yandex is the best BTW...LOL! At least for Italian to English!), watching youtubes, and reading meat science research papers. I pick up things as I go on this journey....but more doors open up to me and off I go!!! LOL!! It's the subtle things....things you would not think matter make a huge difference.

For me-it's like golf....man against himself. I just keep striving for flavor nirvana.....every once in a while I'll achieve it......


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## indaswamp (Oct 29, 2022)

Well, the culatelli have both stopped dripping. That was the main reason I kept the SS pans under them when I hung them in the refrigerator. I took one pan and did some rough math. First I dried the fluid that remained in the pan the pan in a 250*F oven for about 4-5 hours. Then I weighed the pan, cleaned the pan out, filtered the black pepper corns and weighed those. Only thing I had to estimate was the dry organic matter from the fluid of the meat. I guestimate 30g of salt in the pan.
157g - 30g. = 127g uptake salt into the culatello.
127g./4.833kg. = 26.28g/kg. salt uptake......cool....2.628% salt uptake.

And now, figuring that the Culatello has lost weight, 
127g./4.750kg. = 26.74g./kg......2.67%.

The meat is still under refrigeration and will continue to lose water. Will weigh in about a week...should be close to 2.75% at that point.....awesome! Fidel's calculations work! The Culatello will have enough salt to dry properly and will not be overly salty.


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## indaswamp (Oct 29, 2022)

^^^^I am including the weight of the bladder and the string here. If you subtract that out (bladder and string easily weigh 75g.) the salt concentration is around 2.72% in the meat.....even better......that'll work.


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## indaswamp (Oct 30, 2022)

It has been 1 week since trussing the Culatello- hanging @0-5*C; 75%RH. They have lost 6-6.5% weigh already from the salt pushing moisture to the surface as it penetrates and equalizes; as well as the pressure from the binding. The casing is still moist having been kept supple from the escaping moisture pushed by the salt. Awesome! The mold is really starting to get a foothold and I expect strong growth in the next week or so. Lookin good.... I am somewhere between 2.6-2.8% salt...enough salt to preserve the meat... that will become more concentrated with more weight loss in the next week before I slowly raise the temperature... might even approach 3%... Awesome! I like this traditional method for large whole pieces.


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## Dave in AZ (Oct 31, 2022)

indaswamp
 good play by play!  I can't believe I read that whole long quote you posted lol... it was kinda like meat poetry.

This all got me thinking, I don't believe I've ever had a taste of any meat that will be as hmmm.. expensive? Or maybe involved-effort?  Something like that thought anyways.  I've had prosciutto but that's about it I guess.  Now I really want to taste a slice of this stuff!


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## indaswamp (Oct 31, 2022)

Dave in AZ said:


> indaswamp
> good play by play!  I can't believe I read that whole long quote you posted lol... it was kinda like meat poetry.
> 
> This all got me thinking, I don't believe I've ever had a taste of any meat that will be as hmmm.. expensive? Or maybe involved-effort?  Something like that thought anyways.  I've had prosciutto but that's about it I guess.  Now I really want to taste a slice of this stuff!


For Italians, Salumi *IS* Poetry for the palate!!! The level of artistry and craftsmanship that goes into making Italian salumi blows me away. If Salumi were cars, Culatello is the Ferarri of Italian Salumi.


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## indaswamp (Nov 2, 2022)

Well, it has been a little over 1 week since trussing the Culatello. They have lost between 6.75~7% weight and this has concentrated the salt further to around 2.8-2.9% so this is good for the safety profile. The casing has dried tacky and mold is starting good coverage. I can see the hyphea threads spreading out on the surface...


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## indaswamp (Nov 2, 2022)

DRKsmoking said:


> Like I said amazing and patient. Just wow
> 
> 
> 
> ...


patience.....this guy has it! 12 YEARS to make REAL Balsamic Vinegar!!!

I stand corrected.....25 YEARS for the BEST Balsamic!!!!


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## tbern (Nov 2, 2022)

25 years??!!  boy a guy better DO it correctly right from the start or what a disappointment after all of that amount of time!


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## indaswamp (Nov 3, 2022)

*GOLD MINE!!!!*

https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/it...ulatello-zibello-original-born-bassa-parmense



> Hot salting​
> No matter whether it’s industrial or artisan, the salting process of culatello must be done hot, that is to say on freshly slaughtered meat, using 3.3% salt in relation to the weight of the meat, which in about ten days absorbs a very low amount, equal to 2.5-2.6% of the weight. After the first 2-3 days of salting, then the culatello is massaged and possibly resalted, but generally the salt absorption is less than 2.8% of its weight.



I did not hot salt these pieces, though the meat was super fresh; within 4 days of the kill date-but when I procure a salumi hog, it will be done.


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## indaswamp (Nov 10, 2022)

Well the Culatello have been hanging @ refrigeration temps. drying and allowing the salt to equalize. Now it is time to bump the temp. up to 53*F for a few day, then 56*F for 2 weeks. This will allow the mold coverage to complete and get it going breaking down proteins for flavor formation. I actually WANT the smell of ammonia in my chamber which signals protein and fatty acid breakdown by the mold....

The Culatello have each lost around 9% weight and the salt has concentrated to around 2.9~3% so that is ideal...

BTW, mold coverage has exploded inside my chamber...mold on the walls, on the humidifier...everywhere!


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## Dave in AZ (Nov 12, 2022)

indaswamp

Cajuneric just posted this culatello vid today, 18 months aging.  He didn't do near as traditional as you, he did dry aging wrap for 6mo then the rice lard paste for a year.  But his tasting flavor comments are good, and there isn't mutch culatello content out there!
I love his content, super honest always.  He mentions the traditional culatello has more complex flavor and smell notes, great video.


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## indaswamp (Nov 17, 2022)

D
 Dave in AZ
 ;

Thanks for posting that video. I consider Cajuneric a friend. He is correct that the flavor profile will not be as deep as a traditional culatello that has had 2 fermentations and lots of winter fog. And me being a super taster- that is what I am going for to try and replicate.


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## indaswamp (Nov 17, 2022)

Well it has been 30 days since first day of salting. The Culatelli have lost 12.5~13% weight as of today. Had I gone with the equalization method, the salt in the Culatelli would be higher by now and it would have not started losing any weight yet.





After 1 week of fermentation, the mold coverage is complete and going CRAZY! Ammonia smell is strong in my old chamber so this is good; flavor formation is going strong! Salt concentration is around 3.2% right now so good there too.


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## indaswamp (Nov 23, 2022)

I harvested some deer recently and upon processing the meat and packaging, I had some fluid left in the tub. I am assuming that the biochemical make-up of the fluid is similar between a deer and a pig since they are both mammals. This would be the same fluid that salt would pull out of a muscle upon salting, so...I poured it into a small SS chaffing pan and weighed the fluid. 235grams. Put that in the oven @250 for 5 hours to dry, then shut the oven off until the net day. The solids left were dry as a bone the next day.

I weighed the pan- 900grams. Then cleaned the pan and weighed the dry pan-876grams. So..doing some math...

24grams solids left after evaporating off water.
235g.-24g. = 211g. water in fluid.

Ratio of water in fluid= 211g. water evap./ 235g. fluid = 0.898% water in fluid. This is the ratio I needed to calculate how much solids was left in the pan from the Culatello.

I had 174g. water evaporate out of the pan from one of the culatelli after drying in the oven. So....174g water evap. / 0.898% = 193.79g fluid in pan. So...

193.79g. - 174g. = (~)20g. solids in the pan.

43 grams solids and salt in the pan - 3grams black peppercorns= 40g. solids and salt.

40g. solids and salt- 20 grams solids = 20 grams of salt in the pan.

Now to figure the salt..
I started with 157g. of salt on the Culatello...and the salt is either in the pan or in the meat. So...

157g. salt total - 20g salt in the pan = 137g. salt uptake into the meat. Cool.

137g. / 4833g. initial weight of the culatello = 2.83g. initial salt uptake. 0.42% loss of salt from initial salting of 3.25%. That is right inline with Fidel Toldra's calculations of 0.3-0.5% loss of salt. Cool.

Totally not necessary to do this, but now I know....and have a baseline number to work off of. I will probably do this again when I get some pork fluid leftover in a tub one day...just to satisfy my curiosity.


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## indaswamp (Nov 30, 2022)

You can see the white dots of Tyrosine crystals here in this picture of culatello from the internet...







right click the pic. to view in a new window for up close viewing.


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## indaswamp (Dec 15, 2022)

Both Culatello have lost between 21-21.5% weigh as of today.






The first mold fermentation period is complete and now the first winter fog starts.. Lower the chamber temp. to 38-44*F; 80-85%RH for 4 months.


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## Dave in AZ (Dec 15, 2022)

Looking good!


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## tbern (Dec 15, 2022)




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## indaswamp (Dec 17, 2022)

Culatello Cover 2.0


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## indaswamp (Dec 25, 2022)

GOLD MINE of Information! Select the captions and then auto translate for English...very good translation.


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## GonnaSmoke (Dec 25, 2022)

I'll bet that cellar smells amazing...


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## indaswamp (Dec 26, 2022)

Awesome knife work videos deboning a ham and extracting the Fiocco and Culatello!

No sound though...


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Dec 27, 2022)

Keith my friend, that is beyond phenomenal! 

Here I am thinking that making a few batches of elk jerky on my week off is an accomplishment!  

Damn brother, you got it going on!

Well done and so awesome!


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## indaswamp (Dec 29, 2022)

Thanks WaterinHoleBrew! Long wait time on this one so stay tuned!


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## indaswamp (Yesterday at 12:13 PM)

Use the caption function and select auto translate then english...


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## negolien (Yesterday at 6:44 PM)

damn bro ty 4 sharing


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