Directions

Among many contributions, Catalonia has given us Antoni Gaudi, FC Barcelona, Dali, and Montserrat Caballe. As given for the descenders of ancient Goths, they had to fight with all and against all for their existence. No matter their considerable size, perpetual “borderlands” of civilizations and nations are doomed to produce the miracles of creative synthesis in culture that wiped out from time to time by the never-ending plethora of neighboring goliaths of all stripes. Yet, the language and culture survives. Moreover, it influences everything and everyone in the region. Yet, even if one disregards everything stated above and simply tries some humble fuet, the conclusion is inevitable: we should take the hat off to the people who are wise enough – or, as they say in Catalonia, practice seny — to create this simplicity of excellence.
As for this fuet…the sausages were done by – once more – Jeffrey Weiss’ instructions in his book “Charcuteria.” The process begun on May 6th,2016 ended on June 11th of the same year. Weight loss:44% .Weight of meats: 8628gr, 100%. I used shoulder, loin, and some backfat to stay as close as possible to Weiss’ proportions (40% -lean; 40% coppa\neck; 20% fat). Water – as needed by the “feel” (Weiss suggests 100ml on 1kg of meats); minced garlic – 1%; sea salt – 2.55% (Weiss gives 2.8%) ; Dextrose and sugar – each 0.3%; cure #2 – 0.25%; dry white wine – 650ml ( Weiss – 40ml per 1kg) white pepper –0.5%. Semi-fat and fat went through 8mm (garlic, “squashed” in salt, salt with cure#2, sugar with dextrose were added before the grind), lean (with the rest of salts and spices) – through 8mm and then 5mm. Mixed the meats together, made a slurry with wine and white pepper, mixed everything; added T-SPX. Stuffed into hog 32-35mm casings. Per unquenched demand of my daughter, added mold. Some sausages she eats just because of the mold…and says so: “The sausage was OK, but the mold was good.” Fermented fuet three full days, then – “curing chamber”.
Results…fuet is fuet. It’s a good sausage.Texture is soft; much softer than typical 44%.