Salami 101

[keezawitch]

Ok, so here's some pictures of my dry curing chamber, and a bit of a step by step on what I used. First off, please excuse the state of my shed - it's due for a tidy this weekend! <_<

So here's my fridge, kindly donated by my mother-in-law. It's not huge, but it's certainly big enough for dry curing, and it doesn't have a freezer section which is a bonus.

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On top of the fridge are an old style temp controller (bought on gumtree for $10) and a hygrostat from ebay. The hygrostat was around $40 from memory. It came with a really bad wiring diagram that was different to what was shown on the device itself, but if you've ever wired a STC-1000, you'd be familiar with the concepts. It's essentially a single relay, normally closed to dehumidify, but when the sensor goes below a set point it changes to humidify. Simple really. Still, I had the wiring checked by a sparky friend before I plugged it in.

If anyone does want to wire one up, I'm happy to pull mine apart to show you my wiring and setup.

Similar to the STC-1000, it has 2 extension leads coming out of it, one for the humidifier and one for the dehumidifier. It also has a humidity probe that hangs in the fridge.

View attachment 52102

Inside the fridge, I have a PC fan for circulation (as yet I'm still to add speed control to the fan, so it currently goes flat out), an ultrasonic humidifier and a dehumidifier.

The ultrasonic humidifier was from DealsDirect and was delivered for around $30. It really is tiny, and it takes a PET bottle, which means that you can tailor how big it is. Currently I use a 750ml brown beer PET and it lasts about 2 days, but is space wasn't an issue, you could use a large 2L coke bottle and it'd last a lot longer. If space was tight, you could get away with a poptop juice container.

The dehumidifier was donated from my brother. Dehumidifiers aren't cheap, they're generally around $100, so I was lucky to have one donated to the project. Still, sometimes I wonder whether you even need one. Hanging wet meat in a fridge does tend to increase humidity, but in summer, the fridge turning on automatically drops the humidity anyway. In winter, it might be better to simply put a dehumidifying sachet in the fridge if required, or just a bowl of salt? It'd take a bit more trial and error.

Note that the black bits on the floor are pepper and chilli from the pancetta hanging above!

View attachment 52103

And finally a shot of some pancetta dry curing in the fridge. It's coated in pepper and chilli to keep the flies away (if they were somehow able to get into my fridge). These two have been hanging for just over a week now. A third one dried out quicker and has been taken down - tasting delicious!!

View attachment 52104

absolutely fantastic, do you think this type of set-up would work for curing cheese, I have been trying to work out how to make a "cave" so i can progress onto hard cheeses

 

[ledgenko]

Ben .. wow .. a sweet deal ... I free in concept with the use of plastic for heating ... my store room where I do most of my fermenting is normally around the 20 degree mark and it takes about 5 - 7 days to dry the beef rump right out.. although I start tasting it around day 3 or 4 ... I love it !!! I am thinking you are correct in as far as the dehumidifier goes and I will give a few chorizos a go in the biltong machine first as well as a few csabi just to see how they go... I love salami ... soft or firm ... but I do love a bit of meat you can sink your teeth into !!!! mmmmm ... Meat !!!


Looks like I might just have to keep an eye out for a working fridge ... I don't think this is something the Boss has considered just yet ...


Cheers

Matt

 

[ledgenko]

Oh ... I think instead of using a bowl of salt .. there is a product called Thirsty camel which captures any moisture in the air that is designed to be used in your wardrobe ... might be a solution for the dehumidifier ??


Cheers

 

[benno1973]

absolutely fantastic, do you think this type of set-up would work for curing cheese, I have been trying to work out how to make a "cave" so i can progress onto hard cheeses

I'd say definitely. I have considered using it as a cheese cave, but I don't produce that much at a time. At the moment only soft cheeses that don't require aging like feta and haloumi. However I am trying to do a cheddar this weekend, and I have a small wine fridge that holds good temps. I'll have to fudge the humidity thing with a bowl of water I think. But yes, this setup would work perfectly, if it wasn't full of drying meat!!

Oh ... I think instead of using a bowl of salt .. there is a product called Thirsty camel which captures any moisture in the air that is designed to be used in your wardrobe ... might be a solution for the dehumidifier ??


Cheers

I like the look of these silica gel units. Pretty cheap, and you can re-dry them in the oven!

 

[keezawitch]

I'd say definitely. I have considered using it as a cheese cave, but I don't produce that much at a time. At the moment only soft cheeses that don't require aging like feta and haloumi. However I am trying to do a cheddar this weekend, and I have a small wine fridge that holds good temps. I'll have to fudge the humidity thing with a bowl of water I think. But yes, this setup would work perfectly, if it wasn't full of drying meat!!



I like the look of these silica gel units. Pretty cheap, and you can re-dry them in the oven!

on the cheesemaking forum they just use a spray bottle and give a light mist, it seems most of them use an esky set up, but i have a small bar fridge i want to use unless I can score a lger free one. I try to make a few cheeses a week to use up the excess milk from my goat, mainly a variation of maltese, soft, cottage and quark but they arent getting eaten fast enough that is why i want to have a go at hard cheese. A wine fridge might also be better for me and you can pick them up at a good price thanks for the ideas

 

[benno1973]

on the cheesemaking forum they just use a spray bottle and give a light mist, it seems most of them use an esky set up, but i have a small bar fridge i want to use unless I can score a lger free one. I try to make a few cheeses a week to use up the excess milk from my goat, mainly a variation of maltese, soft, cottage and quark but they arent getting eaten fast enough that is why i want to have a go at hard cheese. A wine fridge might also be better for me and you can pick them up at a good price thanks for the ideas

Well you're very lucky to have fresh goats milk, and cheesemaking is the perfect way to use it up! If you do decide to go down the route of wiring up the humidity controller, let me know and I'll happily take a photo of my wiring so you can compare. In the meantime, make sure you have a read of the cheese thread, and post some pictures of your results!!

 

[keezawitch]

Well you're very lucky to have fresh goats milk, and cheesemaking is the perfect way to use it up! If you do decide to go down the route of wiring up the humidity controller, let me know and I'll happily take a photo of my wiring so you can compare. In the meantime, make sure you have a read of the cheese thread, and post some pictures of your results!!

yeh i am lucky to have a nice dairy goat, slowly working on a small herd, got my full blood saanen girl i am milking and a nice little boy also a xbreed girl so hope to have the start of herd in 6-7 mths, looking for another girl in milk, i find milking them relaxing, and fresh milk is nice. back to cheese there is a thread on here? i will have to look, i also check out a cheeseforum and it is informative. As for posting pics i am hopeless at that but will try when i am happy with the look of cheeses, My son is interested in the salami/smoking thing and bow hunts so hopefully we will have some venison to play with this season. I plan to show him your set up, he is in the air-con trade so I think he will understand it and fingers crossed may help out.

 

[Ces]

hey sausage friends,

great thread! i've been making fresh sausages for awhile but want to get int fermented/dry cured sausages. My only option for a curing room is a converted fridge due to space/pet/partner issues.

However i am not confident at all in wiring up anything and wondered if anyone had managed to find a releativley cheap hygrometer/humidity controller that will just plug in to a humidifier and will not require plug converters etc because they are shipped from overseas?


appreciate the help guys.

 

[benno1973]

I had a decent look around when I was looking to wire mine up, but humidity controllers are insanely expensive. There's this one for $130, but it's a bit unclear as to whether it powers the humidifier based on the humidity reading or a timer. Otherwise you're looking at $330 for this unit, but again I don't think you can control a dehumidifier at the same time.

Ultimately, it might be cheaper to buy one of the $30 units and arrange a sparky to wire it up for you. Where are you located BTW?

 

[Ces]

I had a decent look around when I was looking to wire mine up, but humidity controllers are insanely expensive. There's this one for $130, but it's a bit unclear as to whether it powers the humidifier based on the humidity reading or a timer. Otherwise you're looking at $330 for this unit, but again I don't think you can control a dehumidifier at the same time.

Ultimately, it might be cheaper to buy one of the $30 units and arrange a sparky to wire it up for you. Where are you located BTW?

thanks for the links. you're right its not clear about the type of control the unit provides. sparky may be the way to go.
i'm in the mascot area of sydney. all the way across the desert mate.

 

[Tommu-Hiid]

I have no idea if this is a good price or not but just came across this:

Aroma Diffuser & Humidifier $35

 

[Mercs Own]

It's that time of year again - yep salami time!!!! I am sure you guys are either making or planning on making your salami pretty soon. I am planning on doing mine in a week or two but did start the season out by making my first pancetta and am currently curing a pork neck for my first go at Coppa. Thought I would post a couple of pics

 

[bradsbrew]

Timely post Paul. I am just reading up on cured meats and will be having a crack at Salami in the next few weeks, would like to make my own mettwurst. This thread is a cracker and thanks for sharing.

Cheers

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Salamis and chorizos already up and drying - meat in the fridge for a try at a traditional christmas style ham, a few small experimental air dried hams, pancetta and breasola. I'll be putting them on to cure as soon as i buy a new pack of bags for my vac sealer on monday. Probably going to do a few all beef pepperoni as well.

Merc - you'll love the homemade pancetta. Easy peasy and they taste fantastic

This years sausage crop 8 chorizo and 18 Salami - i'm giving them a daily mist with a sprayer filled with red wine plus a teaspoon of good quality liquid smoke. Should stop em drying out too fast, minimise the white surface mould and make em taste of smoke and red wine..... that cant be a bad thing.

I'm still too cautious to do the "just salt" thing - so mine have both a lactic culture and nitrites in em.

 

[BigDaddy]

I'm doing 30kg salsici calabrese next W/E - do it every year. Done so for practically 30yrs. (we r of Italian extraction)

@Thirsty Boy - you will be fine with 'just salt' - the key is to make sure u hang them in the right place at the right time. The time of year is right now.....just make sure there is no air movement/drafts and they will dry slowly which is what you want.

We always give them a light wash/rub down by hand once a week with red wine vinegar - that stops any probs with mould on the outside.

It is great to see people doing this - keep it up. It's a good day's work/fun for the whole family!

 

[benno1973]

We're running late this year, haven't even set up a date. It's heading into the perfect time here in Perth, temps nearing 1C overnight, so we really should get our fingers out.

We also do no nitrates (just salt), but I find it important to make sure that there's a small amount of circulation of air, no huge draft. I have a computer fan just turning over in my curing fridge to make sure that the air is circulated.

 

[manticle]

Merc - you'll love the homemade pancetta. Easy peasy and they taste fantastic

I've done the pancetta thing a few times and getting ready to chuck a couple up in the next few weeks. Did a few 'traditional' carbonaras using eggs from hens we know (not ours), homemade pancetta, home grown parsley and home made fettucine.

Problem with this stuff is you spend a bit on large good cuts of pork and eat the lot within about a week. Lucky I'm skinny.

Aiming to knock out my first batch of salamis this year. Really keen to do the just salt thing but until I've got a handle on the process, I will use some nitrate/nitrite cures. Pancetta, bacon and cooked sausage don't need anything of the sort but I want to be confident that the salami can be given to friends and family without incident.

Very interested to hear about methods and recipes for salt only from people that do it this way though - PMs are fine if you want to avoid the occasional controversy that seems to go with no added nitrite homemade botulism suggestions.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

@Thirsty Boy - you will be fine with 'just salt' - the key is to make sure u hang them in the right place at the right time. The time of year is right now.....just make sure there is no air movement/drafts and they will dry slowly which is what you want.

yeah - people keep telling me that. "people have been making salami with just salt for thousands of years...." etc etc. But then again, Botulism translates as "sausage disease"(or something like that) - so I'm guessing that people have been poisoning each other with incorrectly made salami for thousands of years too.

I think I'll stick with a couple of teaspons of safety until I am much much more experienced and sure of what I am doing. Better safe, than killing my whole family with a dodgey charcuterie platter at christmas (although if they dont up the ante on the presents sometime soon........)

I wish i had a family tradition of this sort of stuff - i love it and it would have been great to grow up in a house where it was just a normal thing to do. I'm only discovering the joys in my 40's - so little time left and so many different sorts of salami to eat

 

[Fents]

First 10KG batch went down a week ago, maybe a little bit early as there was one 18c day there with sun! have checked them though and they are looking fine. Just salt no cure (you will be fine thirsty!)

Also laid down some duck breast's to cure, worked good last year, duck pancetta of sorts!

Pork necks for coppa this weekend!

 

[benno1973]

I think I'll stick with a couple of teaspons of safety until I am much much more experienced and sure of what I am doing. Better safe, than killing my whole family with a dodgey charcuterie platter at christmas (although if they dont up the ante on the presents sometime soon........)

You're absolutely right. Nothing wrong with a bit of nitrate/nitrite in my opinion, and until you understand the process and why you're doing what you're doing, it's a safer way as long as you are certain about the correct amounts of pink salt etc. They do affect flavour and colour of the finished product however, so it's interesting to try the difference. Certainly whole cuts of meat (pancetta, bacon, etc) don't need nitrates, but the nitrates can make bacon taste a bit more like bacon!

 

[Mercs Own]

I have only done the salt way and never had a problem. If I cut a salami and I am not sure about it I bin it. If that happens it is normally because there was an airpocket and a rancid smell etc. The accepted safe version is 28 g of sea salt per kilo of meat ( never use iodised salt) Every one talks about safety etc but the last salami that killed someone was commercialy made and full of nitrites and nitrates....Just saying - each to there own.

Manticle whats your pancetta recipe? I rubbed mine with all the usual stuff but flavoured it up with Tasmanian pepper berries instead of juniper. Also how long do you normally hang yours?

I did a 15 kilo batch of salami last year and still have quite a few left over so this year I reckon I will do two 7 kilo batches one pork and fennel the other a pork red wine and garlic. Cant wait.

 

[BigDaddy]

yeah - people keep telling me that. "people have been making salami with just salt for thousands of years...." etc etc. But then again, Botulism translates as "sausage disease"(or something like that) - so I'm guessing that people have been poisoning each other with incorrectly made salami for thousands of years too.

I think I'll stick with a couple of teaspons of safety until I am much much more experienced and sure of what I am doing. Better safe, than killing my whole family with a dodgey charcuterie platter at christmas (although if they dont up the ante on the presents sometime soon........)

I wish i had a family tradition of this sort of stuff - i love it and it would have been great to grow up in a house where it was just a normal thing to do. I'm only discovering the joys in my 40's - so little time left and so many different sorts of salami to eat

Good on ya - you cant start your own tradition now!

FWIW - I go with 25gms salt (not iodised) per kilo of meat mix it thru - I then taste it and go from there. I've gone as high as 30gms per kilo depending on the pork and how it tastes. U must taste it and add make any changes from there - I taste it raw & also fry a small piece

For our style of salami (Calabrian) we also add fennel seeds (~1.5gm/kg) & plenty of paprika (25gm/kg). U also add chilli at the rate of 1-2gm/kg depending on how hot u want them. You mix everything up and knead the hell out of it until it becomes sticky. Then leave it for 2-3hrs for the flavours to amalgamate and fill the bungs from there.

These are Calabrian style that my family who came to Australia in 1951 have been doing for years. I have only just returned to making them again after a 10yr break following the death of my grandparents - i have many fantastic memories of whole process (including the wonderful smells) especially as a kid & I want my son to have the same experience. Back then we would kill the pig and have it hanging from railway irons built into the shed walls. We'd make everything from prociutto, lardo, pancetta, cappocollo and then the salamis - they'd also make soap from the left over fat by mixing it with caustic soda. That is a smell u wont forget!

I have all the gear we used way back then including my nonno's (grandpa) knives, mincers etc so they will continue to be used for a long time still. If u get everone into it, its a great day.

We are doing ours this Saturday (30kg).

 

[manticle]

Manticle whats your pancetta recipe? I rubbed mine with all the usual stuff but flavoured it up with Tasmanian pepper berries instead of juniper. Also how long do you normally hang yours?

It's a bit like my beer recipes - Slightly tweaked each time. I write down my beer recipes but not yet my smallgoods recipes.

However it is based on the pancetta in the Ruhlman charcuterie book but a bit simpler from memory.

Essentially coat a good hunk of fatty pork belly completely in salt using decent quality salt for about a week, covered with glad and placed in the fridge. Loads of black pepper, garlic and a portion of Tasmanian pepperberry. I used juniper too though. Quite probably some fresh herbs (thyme and oregano) but I can't remember exactly as it's last year I did it.

Check the salt level/cure level by rinsing first then slicing 2 small portions and eating 1 raw and cooking the other (own risk with eating raw - I'm happy to take it but not happy to get sued if somehow a bug makes its way through 7-8 days of salt and into your tummy). Cooked will always be more salty than raw so use that to find preferred balance. If too salty, soak in cold water for thirty minutes and repeat. If not salty or cured enough, whack more salt on and give a couple of days extra, covered in fridge and repeat.

Once the meat is cured and at the right salt level, rinse, dry it off very well, rub with whole garlic and coat in black pepper (and juniper and/or pepperberry) on the inside, then cover in muslin and hang for around 3 weeks in low humidity, cool temps (as per all the other bits - mine just hangs from a washing line under shelter during winter.

Skin will harden and become rind like and whole thing will toughen. Amazing and well easy to do (realise you've probably done loads more than me Merc - the 'tutorial/recipe is as much for anyone else interested as to answer your QU but hopefully it does that also.

 

[Mercs Own]

It's a bit like my beer recipes - Slightly tweaked each time. I write down my beer recipes but not yet my smallgoods recipes.

However it is based on the pancetta in the Ruhlman charcuterie book but a bit simpler from memory.

Essentially coat a good hunk of fatty pork belly completely in salt using decent quality salt for about a week, covered with glad and placed in the fridge. Loads of black pepper, garlic and a portion of Tasmanian pepperberry. I used juniper too though. Quite probably some fresh herbs (thyme and oregano) but I can't remember exactly as it's last year I did it.

Check the salt level/cure level by rinsing first then slicing 2 small portions and eating 1 raw and cooking the other (own risk with eating raw - I'm happy to take it but not happy to get sued if somehow a bug makes its way through 7-8 days of salt and into your tummy). Cooked will always be more salty than raw so use that to find preferred balance. If too salty, soak in cold water for thirty minutes and repeat. If not salty or cured enough, whack more salt on and give a couple of days extra, covered in fridge and repeat.

Once the meat is cured and at the right salt level, rinse, dry it off very well, rub with whole garlic and coat in black pepper (and juniper and/or pepperberry) on the inside, then cover in muslin and hang for around 3 weeks in low humidity, cool temps (as per all the other bits - mine just hangs from a washing line under shelter during winter.

Skin will harden and become rind like and whole thing will toughen. Amazing and well easy to do (realise you've probably done loads more than me Merc - the 'tutorial/recipe is as much for anyone else interested as to answer your QU but hopefully it does that also.

Heres the thing I am concerned about with my pancetta - I only used 1/4 cup of salt (along with all the other flavourings) - in all the literature I found that was the oft recommended amount, Ruhlman included. Is this enough to cure it?? My copacola used 1/2 cup of salt.

The pancetta is still hanging - almost four weeks now - I will be cutting it down and having a taste tomorow or Sat but must admit to being a little concerned.

 

[manticle]

Ruhlman's recipe works. More recent times I've made it, I've just coated the surfaces in salt, laid in a bed of salt, covered and in the fridge so less accurate (but likely more rather than less salt) I also tried wet curing which worked OK.

Did you try the taste test after rinsing the salt off? That should give you an idea if the meat is cured enough and if the salt level is too high/too low.

 

[benno1973]

I use salt as a percentage of meat+fat weight, same as for salamis, generally around 2-3%. So for a 1kg piece of belly, that's only around 25g of salt, which sounds like way less than 1/4 cup. I leave it to cure around a week or just over and then hang for a few weeks. I've used recipes from Vince gareffa (Mondo di Carne here in Perth) and Jason Molinari (check out his Cured Meats page), and both recommend salt by weight of meat.

Again, I'd suggest that I'm using less than 1/4 cup. From memory, a tblsp of my salt was around 20g or just under. That's from memory though, so I could be way off...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Almost all my salamis (except the big ones) are ready or aout to be ready to eat.

I made some more, all beef pepperonis (the brown ones) and some saucisson sec.

I also cured a bunch of small shoulder peices for dry cured/air dried hams, a bresaola (red wine brine cure), a pancetta and a regular old ham ham for sandwiches (wet cure and hot smoking)

now the salamis are nearly dry, I'll have room to hang the hams etc.

Pics of finished salamis in a week or so.

TB

 

[benno1973]

Wow, you're prolific TB! They look fantastic, I'm sure that your kitchen smells awesome with all those salamis drying (if that's where they dry)...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

They hang in a storage cupboard out the back door of our unit - my first year of salami hung in our front hallway... but unfortunately swmbo does not share your opinion of drying salamis smelling 'awesome'. She did not officially complain, however I decided it would be prudent to come up with another solution before she did.

All salamis but the big pepperioni are down, delicious and vac sealed. Hams up to dry when I get home form work.

 

[scon]

Do people have a source locally for Sodium Nitrate/Pink Salt? I got some Kwik Urit from the local butcher but it's not labelled with how much to use etc so i'd rather just buy a full pack myself.

I want to hang and cure some salamis is why I'm asking.