Bovicetta

What's a "Bovicetta" well you're not going to find this in any google search or any book. That's right I made it up. This is a play off Pancetta and my recipe Vealcetta. I would have made another Vealcetta but sourcing Veal Navel is hard. 

Unsheathed from its plastic wrap in all it's glory. Yes I find meat glorious.

For a lot of details go to the Vealcetta recipe.  The only change to the recipe is the addition of Orange Peel. It's important to get the ingredients measured out as you can see here.

Next step is easy. In order to roll this navel up I had to butterfly it open which gave it more flexibility. The meat is dense compared to the Pork or Veal. The width of the Beef Navel is somewhat narrow too. Spreading it open makes it much easier to to roll up. 

Here is a picture of the Navel spread open. This is a thing of beauty!!!!

I just had to roll this baby up to see what a 14 lb Bovicetta will look like. 

I placed the now butterflied Navel in a large Food grade plastic container. 

Just like the Vealcetta I used orange zest. 

The whole thing coated with orange zest.

After applying the orange zest I applied the cure. The Salt and Cure #2 were added together thoroughly and applied to every nook & cranny.  

Rub applied to every nook & cranny. Folded in half and vacuumed sealed. I will flip it everyday for 21 days then proceed to the next step. 

21 days complete










Ahhh... unsheathed from its temporary home. 

All rinsed off and ready for the next step....

Rolled up just to see what it looks like. The next step is to roll tight and apply Transglutaminase. 

First pic like the one above. I used a stiff hand and Transglutaminase to bind the meat. The last picture is the UMAI dry bag which I will use to dry the Bovicetta. 

This label is my reminder. I have my phone programmed to remind me to weigh the Cetta every week. Of course as the Cetta approaches the final % loss it will be weighed very often.

April 14, 2016- After months of waiting the Bovicetta finally made weight. Truth be told I had the darndest time getting it lose the last 70 grams of weight. Started coming of way to slow. Not sure why but it could have been the bag or the environment. 

Strings all removed and boy was it a pain in the ass to get them all off. 

Vacuumed sealed in normal foodsaver bag. The Bovicetta needs to equalize.  Vacuum sealing the Bovicetta will prevent it from losing and more weight and allow the remaining moisture to equalize and distribute. It takes about 4 weeks for this to happen. 

Four months later and it's all done. It came out great. The taste is out of this world and the citrus as predicted came through. The fat is silky good and I cannot wait to use this in other dishes. Eating the Bovicetta as a snack with wine is a treat. Mixed with cheese and wine creates a harmonious relationship that can only be described as heaven. You will see the pictures below but I cut off big hunks to use in other dishes. Amazing!!!!!

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