Handmade Bologna Mortadella 2

This is the second Handmade Bologna Mortadella what do I do in first try I had some problems that resulted in a product with a not very good emulsion, with a brittle and not very smooth texture. Despite the frustration of obtaining a product well below expectations, there were lessons. I recommend you watch the first attempt so you don't make the same mistakes. In addition to reading the introduction in which I quickly describe some of the bologna bologna of controlled origin and national products.

This time I followed the recipe to the letter. Bologna mortadella from the book Charcuterie – The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing, I just eliminated the mace (nutmeg coating), which is a very difficult ingredient to find in Brazil, and the pistachio. I added a few drops of carmine and beetroot dye to achieve a more eye-catching color similar to national products.

Below is the recipe and the step-by-step preparation process, I hope you like it as these experiments were a lot of work! 😛

Ingredients

• 450 pork shank
• 30 ml of white wine
• 3 grams of garlic
• 20 grams of salt
• 3 grams of curing salt 1 (6.25% of nitrite and 93.75% of salt)
• 335 grams of rigid pork fat
• 280 grams of crushed ice
• 4 grams of ground white pepper
• 1 gram of ground nutmeg
• 2 grams of toasted and ground coriander seeds
• 0.5 grams of bay leaf powder
• 70 grams of powdered milk
• 120 grams of rigid pork fat in small cubes
• 4 drops of carmine and beetroot dye.

References

450 ham = 37%
335g of incorporated fat = 27.5%
120g of Fat in cubes = 9.9%
310g of Ice and wine =25.5

Total mass weight 1215g = 100%

20g of salt = 1.64%
3g of curing salt = 0.24%
70g of powdered milk = 5.76%

Preparation of Bologna Mortadella

The 335 grams of pork fat will be incorporated into the emulsion, while the 120 grams cut into cubes are separated and well refrigerated as they will be used at the end so that they remain as pieces in the middle of the mortadella.

1) Remove the leather and separate the fat. Part of the fat can be used in the emulsion and the other part cut into cubes to add at the end. If necessary, purchase a piece of pork belly or chin and use it as an additional source of fat.

2) Clean, separate the fat, remove the leather, cut the meat into cubes and mix well with the salt and curing salt. Leave in the refrigerator for 48 hours to solubilize the protein and cure it.

3) Separately grind the meat and the fat that will be incorporated using the fine disc and refrigerate again. Leave some in the freezer so that it is almost at freezing point. This helps keep the dough cold longer while processing.

4) Place the ground meat and all seasonings, except powdered milk, in the food processor and process for about 5 minutes or until the dough reaches 5ºC. Add crushed ice periodically to keep it cold. Add the chopped fat (to be incorporated into the dough) and continue processing until the dough reaches 8ºC. Add the powdered milk and process until the dough reaches between 12ºC and a maximum of 14ºC.

In the video below there is a demonstration of the extraction of fat from meat and leather and the beginning of processing (in the video I made sausage, but the process is the same).

5) Transfer the dough to a well-chilled container and mix in the cubed fat.

6) Embed in a bovine bottom, bovine bladder or other artificial casing between 80mm and 120mm. I recommend close to 80mm to facilitate handling and speed up cooking. Tie the ends tightly as cooking will puff up the dough. In this case I used fibrous casing, which is very resistant.

7) Cook the mortadella in hot water at 75ºC until the internal temperature reaches 65ºC. 40 minutes to an hour.

8) Remove from cooking and cool immediately in a cold water bath.

Final considerations

This time the emulsion was good! The flavor was already good in the previous version, so with the texture fix it became a much better product! I believe that Brazilian mortadella is stronger than this recipe, spicier and with some spices like cloves and cinnamon. So you still need to adjust the seasonings to make it more similar to the generally strong taste of national mortadella. But, in any case, it was an excellent product. It was a difficult experience, but worth learning a lot. For those who like challenges, this is a great base recipe to add your special touch.