Mortadella

[Jim]

Glad your Mort came out good. Actually, you may want to be a bit careful with raising that temp to 200. The key in cooking this big slug of meat is to get the most even temp distribution inside and that can only be done with low temp. We found that even 170 is a bit on the high side. If the initial temp is too high it may overcook the outside, render the fat and break the emulsion, which in the worst case scenario can rupture the casing and make a big mess in the oven. There is a lot of moisture inside that bag while its cooking and you never really want to bring it any part of it close to boiling point.
Cure #1 is used to give it a tasty color, if you didn’t use cure #1 the meat would turn grayish color. Also, the shelf life of the sausage would be 36-48 hours max without the cure. After that it may get (pardon the unappetizing expression) “slimy” on the surface.
You can adjust salt amount, but keep in mind it does affect shelf life, so it depends how long you plan to keep the product.
You are right on about skinning the pistachios, it would make them stay in there a lot better that in our video.
Do you have any pics of your Mort?