Salami 101

[Truman42]

Tonight on Vasilli's garden he had a guy making salami. He used cable ties on the salami, then tied off that. Cable ties look nice and efficient and no cut hands from tying.....

Beercus

i considered cable ties and was going to experiment with them. Wasnt sure if they would pull up tight enough on themselves to stay in place. I suppose tiny ones would do the trick.

 

[Truman42]

My salamis have been hanging for 10 days now and have lost an average of around 23% in weight. My smallest lost 28% and largest lost only 19%. I'm worried this might be too much.
They were in my chamber at 90% RH for the first week then I've tried to drop the RH to around 80% for this 2nd week.

I've noticed during the day when the fridge kicks in more the RH will stay around 76-80% but at night when the ambient drops the RH climbs to 90-92% because the fridge doesn't run at all. I was spritzing them with water but I dont anymore to try and get the RH down.

I used 38-42mm hog casings. They don't feel too dry, still sort of tacky and greasy but the amount of weight loss concerns me as I have read you want around 10% per week.

I dont know how you salami makers in Melbourne are doing it in your garages as my RH is only around 50% lately in the garage which surely is too dry especially for the first few weeks.

 

[shaunous]

I haven't made Salami yet, still setting my fridge/humidifier up, but 90% seems way to high from what ive read. Does your set up have a water boiler/warmer and fridge to cool all working together with the controller Truman??

 

[Truman42]

90% is good whilst fermenting for the first few days if your using culture and 80-90% is good for the first week. But then you want to drop it to 70-80% for a week and 60-70% the week after that (according to the recipe Im following)

Im not using anything to keep the humidity that high, Its just the moisture in the salamis coming out I guess.

 

[benno1973]

It sounds a bit counter intuitive, but you could add a heat belt / heat pad / aquarium heater in there so that the fridge kicks in and drops the humidity? I haven't tried this, just speculating...

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I think you also need air movement, which is why hanging them in a room work better then in a sealed fridge.


Someone on the internet mentioned it

 

[benno1973]

Yep, but you can make use of a PC fan and ensure air exchange by opening the fridge morning and evening. Some people drill a big hole in the door of the fridge and mount the PC fan there (behind some flywire) to ensure air exchange, but I doubt, if I did that, that my curing fridge would hold 12C in summer months when the temp was 45C in the shed.

 

[benno1973]

Im not using anything to keep the humidity that high, Its just the moisture in the salamis coming out I guess.

You can build your own dehumidifier with some rock salt and a false bottomed container.

Alternatively, I have used these dehumidifiers, but they crap out after 12 months and it's an expensive option if you have to replace them yearly...

 

[Truman42]

i have a fan in the bottom of the fridge (See my picture posted on the previous page of this thread) I also used a heat lamp under the fan to raise the temp so the fridge kicked in more and my humidity lowered.

Humidity isnt really my issue. During the day it will drop to 77-82% as the fridge cuts in more. At night it climbs to around 88-90% but thats when I can use my heat lamp to keep the fridge cutting in more. I even have the heat lamp connected to my voltage regulator so I can control how much heat it outputs so it doesnt climb too quickly.

My main issue is that despite my high humidity Ive still lost an average of 22% in weight after only 10 days. Is this too much?

 

[beercus]

you want to keep the salami below 15oC and around 65% Humidity.

I do not use a chamber just the shed. At the start of the cure we put out 3 or 4 eskies full of salt water to increase humidity and then take them away as we go, just as insurance against case hardening. The Melbourne weather is absolutely perfect at the moment. Our curing shed is sitting pretty..... Maybe a bit to cold over the last week at night time, but plenty of rain has been good.

We leave the door open during some days to get air movement. This aids drying.

I like the idea of a curing chamber but it would have to be big to hold 30kg of salami or i would have to make a little throughout the year.

Beercus

 

[benno1973]

Truman - Not necessarily. Sometimes it's a good indication that things are working well. If you get case hardening, you will find that the outside is hard but the moisture loss stops because the inside can't lose water. If you have a few salami, cut one open and taste test to see how it's tracking. If the case is slightly hard, don't be too concerned - some people vacuum seal their salami to allow the inside/case to equalise for a few days before they eat them.

 

[Truman42]

Truman - Not necessarily. Sometimes it's a good indication that things are working well. If you get case hardening, you will find that the outside is hard but the moisture loss stops because the inside can't lose water. If you have a few salami, cut one open and taste test to see how it's tracking. If the case is slightly hard, don't be too concerned - some people vacuum seal their salami to allow the inside/case to equalise for a few days before they eat them.

Well they aren't case hardened and most still feel sticky to touch on the main body of the salami. Its only up near the tops where they are thinner that the casing is drier and somewhat harder. I had read that you don't want more than 10% weight loss per week but have since found out that it depends on how thick your salamis are. I used 38-42 hog casings so can expect to lose moisture quicker and therefore mine will be ready a lot sooner.



Here's a pic of how they look now.

 

[benno1973]

Well they aren't case hardened and most still feel sticky to touch on the main body of the salami. Its only up near the tops where they are thinner that the casing is drier and somewhat harder. I had read that you don't want more than 10% weight loss per week but have since found out that it depends on how thick your salamis are. I used 38-42 hog casings so can expect to lose moisture quicker and therefore mine will be ready a lot sooner.

They are looking pretty good! Firstly, the sticky/tacky skins can be a few things, however given that your humidity isn't too high/low, I'd say it's probably yeast on the skins. That's not a bad thing, it's a precusrsor to the mould that will follow.

You have some nice white spots of mould there, keep an eye on them to ensure that the white mould spreads. You can 'spread' it manually over the salami if you like by washing/sanitising your hands and literally wiping the mould around the salami with your fingers. It'll look and feel obscene, so do it in private. It's a little like making camembert - when you see the first tufts of white mould, you rub it over the surface of the cheese with clean hands.

Speaking of mould, if you want to encourage some good white mould, you can take some camembert or brie rind, or the casing of a mouldy salami and add it in to a spray bottle with some water, then mist this over your salamis. I use a bit of the p. Candidum powder that I have for cheese making. If you get any black mould on your salami, wipe it off with a cloth dipped in vinegar. Blue and green moulds can be bad, but... the fruiting bodies of some white moulds can be blue/green so they aren't necessarily a sure sign that you need to bin them.

You mention that the tops are thinner - it's possible that the salamis weren't stuffed fully? When you hang them, the meat falls to the bottom of the casing which makes the tops look thinner. The tops will then dry out quicker, leaving the sausage with a varying consistency from end to end. Or maybe it's something else.

And yes, with hog casings which are slightly smaller than ox runners, you'll dry faster and be able to eat them sooner!!

 

[benno1973]

Sausage making day yesterday -125kg of pork and we ended up with 275 salami, half pepper and half chilli. Was a great day, plenty of beer drunk, and pork parts consumed along the way.

 

[Truman42]

I cut a small one of mine open and it had case hardened. The rest feel hard on the outside too but still soft and squishy on the inside. The middle was more like a sausage. I don't know why when my RH was always at the higher end of the required range.

Could possibly be due to the fan although I eisnt have it running all the time and had it on low speed. The recipe said to spritz them twice a day but I was worried they wouldn't dry out so only did that every now and again. I've soaked them in red wine for ten minutes to soften the casings and will leave them another week to see how they go. Then vac seal them and hopefully they will equalise.

After 15 days I've lost around 32-33% for the larger ones and 37-39% for the smaller ones.

 

[Mercs Own]

First of my salami's to be tasted and cryovaced along with the first sample of this years pancetta!

 

[QldKev]

Good timing, I've just packaged up the smaller of my cured meats too. The bits 2kg etc need a bit longer to finish drying.

A coppa

Mixed Coppa, pancetta, prosciutto

 

[Mercs Own]

OldKev - looks absolutely awesome!!

 

[QldKev]

OldKev - looks absolutely awesome!!

Thanks for the compliment. Thank you to you for the motivation to give it a go! Another couple or so weeks the bigger cuts should be ready. Then to save up and get another 1/2 a pig. Have you ever done a boconer? I'm thinking the flavors should be that next level.

 

[Truman42]

Looks bloody awesome kevvo. My pancetta is still curing but hopefully will turn out good.

It has some nice white mould growing on it.