Twine and Netting

Almost every whole-muscle cure and every hanging sausage needs something to hold it. Twine and netting do two jobs at once, and they are worth separating. The first is shaping: a coppa, a culatello, a lonza or a rolled pancetta is tied so that the muscle is compressed into an even cylinder with no air pockets and no loose folds. Air trapped in a fold is where spoilage starts, and an uneven cylinder dries unevenly, so the tying is a food-safety operation as much as a cosmetic one. The second job is simply suspension, taking the weight of a leg or a chub for months without cutting into it or giving way.

Material is the decision most people get wrong once. Butcher's twine for curing should be natural fibre, normally cotton or linen, undyed and food-grade. Polypropylene and nylon twines are strong and cheap and they will not survive a warm smokehouse: they soften, stretch and in a hot smoke they melt onto the product. Cotton handles smoke and heat without complaint. On the other side, a loosely spun or bleached cotton in a humid chamber over several months can weaken and grow its own mould, so a tightly twisted, good-quality twine earns its cost on a long cure.

Netting is the industrial answer to the same problem and is entirely legitimate at home. Elastic netting compresses evenly, applies pressure over the whole surface rather than in bands, and is far quicker than hand-tying. Its drawback on a long dry cure is that it leaves a pronounced diamond pattern pressed into the surface and it can grip a shrinking muscle tightly enough to cut in as the product loses a third of its weight. Traditional tying tolerates shrinkage better because the knots can be run loose or the piece re-tied partway through, which is common practice on a long culatello.

The practical craft points are few and they matter. Tie tight at the start, because the piece will only get smaller. Leave a proper loop for hanging that will not slip along the piece under load. Sterilise or at least scald twine that has been sitting in a workshop drawer. And check a long-hanging piece periodically: a twine that has weakened or a netting that has bitten into the surface both announce themselves well before the product falls on the floor.