First taste of N'duja

So with valentine's day this past week and everything being so busy I haven't really had a chance to blog much, but there are a few things that I've been able to do that I want to share. With the shoulder prosciutto, it is still in the first stage of curing. I took it out yesterday just to get a good look at it and it seems to be doing good. At this stage I like to take a good look at the muscle. As the salt starts to cure, and the color starts to change, you can really get a good look and make sure that the cure was spread out evenly over the product. If you see some spots that are still a little pink, I like to just sprinkle a little of the salt mix, just to make sure it gets cured because another week from now, when you pull it out to apply your second stage cure, it might be too late.
Yesterday wasn't a very busy day at work so I was able to mess around with the N'duja a little bit. I have 2 links in a warmer room and 2 links in a cooler room. I want to see if the warmer room (70 F) ferments a little better and effect the texture than the one in the cooler room (60 F). Its not scheduled to come out for about another 10 days, but I was a little eager to try some out. I was able to cut a little off a link in the cooler room and taste some. Just as I expected, it was pretty darn spicy! Everywhere you try to get info on n'duja over the internet stresses how spicy it is, and this one was no different. But what really stood out to me was also how flavorful it was! After a few seconds the spice tends to dissipate, and your left with just a delicious, smooth, pork taste coating your mouth. On a "spreadable" scale from 1-10, 1 being like a rock and 10 being like butter, I would give it about a 6. It wasn't completely soft, but you were able to put it on toast (which really helps with the heat!). I also put a little in a saucepan with some butter and tossed it in some pasta, and it was delicious! The recipe I used reduced the heat down from 25% to 15%, but I think maybe on a future batch, I would take it down just a little bit more.