Making a Calabrian Sopressata

How about a Mama Teresa’s Mild Soppressata ? it's for sale online.

Mama Teresa’s Mild Soppressata by Inizio Italian Specialty Meats | Soppressata | Here Here Market
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Mama Teresa’s Mild Soppressata

Mama Teresa’s Mild Soppressata from Inizio Italian Specialty Meats is great on a charcuterie board or on it's own! It is made without any added nitrates or chemicals. The product is 100% natural.
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OK.... I'm going to start in the deep south and work my way up. Unfortunately the auto translate doesn't work well on our southern accents but as we go north it'll get better.

In old, rustic places... this would have been the few days immediately after a pig was slaughtered. It's not a process... it's a festa.... a time where families and villages get together to celebrate and preserve the harvest to feed their families for the coming year. This is (in many ways) the way it has been done for a very, very long time. Every local will have its own subtle differences... but the basics are the same... That I'll share at the end.

Scenes like this are becoming increasingly rare. They warm my heart.


A tiny bit further north, still in Calabria in Scalea is Gianluca. He's partial old-school but he dos own a store there. He makes many of the products he sells or has them curated locally.

He still mixes by hand


Way further north in Toscana is Luis. He does his videos our of his home but he is a real Norcino by profession. This is where your YouTube translate should work best as it's this dialect from which the standardized Italian is derived.


Now we have Davide.... He works for a large food chain. I'm trying to figure it out but best I can tell is that he has run of the place overnight afterhours and does these videos of how it's done by butchers... and not manufacturers.

This is not Soppressata, but he's a Jedi and brings in his Yoda, the wise and all-knowing Giorgino. They do it right.


There are some more but these come to mind as a good cross-section that illustrates my philosophy around doing this sort of thing

You will never see a crafted salumi in Italy made from factory meat or use synthesized ingredients.

The first... and I eluded to it earlier... the thing that's different is that this is not a factory process. The animals that keep us fed and for whom we have great respect were raised well and were walking very, VERY recently. Couple of days max. This is of highest importance. The meat is fresh, and it is clean! It is rare for an artisan to make batches more than around 100kg. It needs to be manageable... .so that you can watch and care for each until they mature.

Because of the last, you will (in my humble opinion) use synthetic nitrates/nitrates or starter cultures, and the sugars that must be used to feed them. This is or old, factory farmed meat that is made in factories from thousands of animals mixed together. Unfortunately, most of the English language text on this will recite industrial procedures as necessary as people don't know any better. Rarely do people know about this and don't truly understand the health regulations, or have read them.

They do this as a form of art, and they are artists. None of their works are exactly the same every time. Batches are "alive" and no two will ever be 100% alike. The methods that artisans use are very much acceptable in the scope of health and safety rules... but they are slow and employ the use of things like to manage PH levels... and fermentation to encourage good bacteria, stead of fast and cheap.

I could rant about this stuff all day but perhaps this isn't the correct place. maybe I need to start an artisanal meat curing forum. I don't know of a good one that has not adopted industrial methods.

The work doesn't stop after the casing is stuffed. Every piece takes care and patience and they need to be watched.

Honorable mention to Michele in Catanzaro. This guy is an auto mechanic by profession and posts some awesome videos about his work, his farm and his food


 
TorontoJoe said:
OK.... I'm going to start in the deep south and work my way up. Unfortunately the auto translate doesn't work well on our southern accents but as we go north it'll get better.

In old, rustic places... this would have been the few days immediately after a pig was slaughtered. It's not a process... it's a festa.... a time where families and villages get together to celebrate and preserve the harvest to feed their families for the coming year. This is (in many ways) the way it has been done for a very, very long time. Every local will have its own subtle differences... but the basics are the same... That I'll share at the end.

Scenes like this are becoming increasingly rare. They warm my heart.


A tiny bit further north, still in Calabria in Scalea is Gianluca. He's partial old-school but he dos own a store there. He makes many of the products he sells or has them curated locally.

He still mixes by hand


Way further north in Toscana is Luis. He does his videos our of his home but he is a real Norcino by profession. This is where your YouTube translate should work best as it's this dialect from which the standardized Italian is derived.


Now we have Davide.... He works for a large food chain. I'm trying to figure it out but best I can tell is that he has run of the place overnight afterhours and does these videos of how it's done by butchers... and not manufacturers.

This is not Soppressata, but he's a Jedi and brings in his Yoda, the wise and all-knowing Giorgino. They do it right.


There are some more but these come to mind as a good cross-section that illustrates my philosophy around doing this sort of thing

You will never see a crafted salumi in Italy made from factory meat or use synthesized ingredients.

The first... and I eluded to it earlier... the thing that's different is that this is not a factory process. The animals that keep us fed and for whom we have great respect were raised well and were walking very, VERY recently. Couple of days max. This is of highest importance. The meat is fresh, and it is clean! It is rare for an artisan to make batches more than around 100kg. It needs to be manageable... .so that you can watch and care for each until they mature.

Because of the last, you will (in my humble opinion) use synthetic nitrates/nitrates or starter cultures, and the sugars that must be used to feed them. This is or old, factory farmed meat that is made in factories from thousands of animals mixed together. Unfortunately, most of the English language text on this will recite industrial procedures as necessary as people don't know any better. Rarely do people know about this and don't truly understand the health regulations, or have read them.

They do this as a form of art, and they are artists. None of their works are exactly the same every time. Batches are "alive" and no two will ever be 100% alike. The methods that artisans use are very much acceptable in the scope of health and safety rules... but they are slow and employ the use of things like to manage PH levels... and fermentation to encourage good bacteria, stead of fast and cheap.

I could rant about this stuff all day but perhaps this isn't the correct place. maybe I need to start an artisanal meat curing forum. I don't know of a good one that has not adopted industrial methods.

The work doesn't stop after the casing is stuffed. Every piece takes care and patience and they need to be watched.

Honorable mention to Michele in Catanzaro. This guy is an auto mechanic by profession and posts some awesome videos about his work, his farm and his food


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Thanks for posting this 😃
 
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