Meats and Sausages
Coglioni di Mulo
Cogloni di Mulo translates into mule’s testicles because of the shape of this salami. This unique product also known as Mortadella Campotosto can be found in Norcia and has 500 years of tradition. A square garnish of back fat that runs down the center, and every round slice has a white square in the middle. In Umbria, coglioni di mulo are medium size oval sausages made of pork leg and shoulder meat, along with garnish of “lardo”-cured and seasoned pork fat.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean pork trimmings (butt, loin, ham part) | 900 g | 1.98 lb |
| Back fat | 100 g | 0.22 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Salt | 28 g | 5 tsp |
| Cure #2 | 2.5 g | ½ tsp |
| Dextrose (glucose) | 2.0 g | ½ tsp |
| Sugar | 2.0 g | ½ tsp |
| Pepper | 2.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Garlic powder | 3.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Cinnamon | 1.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Cloves, ground | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Red wine | 60 ml | 2 oz fl |
| T-SPX culture | 0.12 g | use scale |
Instructions
- Curing back fat. Sprinkle salt on the bottom of the curing container, then take a slab of pork fat and forcefully rub in salt into it on all sides. You could use a zip-lock plastic bag as food container. Sprinkle more salt on top. Hold in refrigerator for 3 weeks. Shake off the salt, rinse with cold water and pat dry. Place in freezer for 30 minutes.
- Grind pork through 1/8” plate (3 mm).
- Stir the culture in 1 tablespoon of cold de-chlorinated water 30 minutes before use.
- Mix/knead ground pork with salt and cure # 2 until sticky. Add all remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Cut back fat into strips 4’ (100 mm) x 3/4” (20 mm) square.
- Coglioni di Mulo has an oval shape and traditional weight of 330 g (12 oz).
- Divide meat paste into portions of about 330 g. Flatten the meat paste into a 1/2” (12 mm) patty making a heart-shaped form. Place a back fat stick on each end of the patty and fold it up into a tear drop shape (this is why the sausage is called “mule’s balls”).
- Cut a suitable casing such as beef middle or a large hog casings. The casing will overlap the tear drop shaped sausage. It is like wrapping up a gift. Fold the casing over, make loops across with butcher’s twine and tie it lengthwise making a hanging loop at one end..
- Ferment at 20º C (68º F) for 72 hours, 90-85% humidity.
- Dry at 16-12º C (60-54º F), 85-80% humidity for 4-6 weeks. The sausage is dried until around 30-35% in weight is lost.
- Store sausages at 10-15º C (50-59º F), 75% humidity.
