Salami 101

[indica86]

Anyone else making any?
I just made a batch of Salami Picante.
I also have some buffalo pepperoni curing at the moment.

 

[Aces High]

We just finished a whole pig last weekend. Shot, gutted and salami'd. We ended up with 240 salami's. The pig was free range organic and the meat looked beautiful

 

[indica86]

Nice. All one recipe or some different ones?

 

[Mercs Own]

The great thing about making salami is finally getting to eat it! Here is a pic of some of my produce from the 2016 season and still eating beautifully!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The great thing about making salami is finally getting to eat it! Here is a pic of some of my produce from the 2016 season and still eating beautifully!

What was your address again

 

[Truman42]

I can't believe no one has posted in this thread in almost 3 years.....On the weekend I tried Mercs recipe way back at the start of this thread. I doubt he or many of the other members of AHB are even on here anymore. (Copped some flak from FB users saying its dangerous and I should have used instacure etc...but they can eat a ****.) If its good enough for Paul and thousands of other Italians...its good enough for me. My casings were 50mm collagen so I only got 5 salamis but they are nice and big.

 

[roller997]

They look quite nice - Are you going to use any netting to keep them tight?

I got together with a mate and we did 37KG of Salami which we shared.
These were using 43mm casings and the recipes indicated by the pink post it notes from left to right were:
Caccitore Recipe as per Sara Grazia from Sausages made simple
Caccitore Recipe as above but with a fair bit of Fennel
Veneto Club Recipe (I did a course with them after doing a course some years ago with Sara)
Veneto Club Recipe with loads of Chilly flakes

The last 90 were German Landjaeger - Only 23mm thick and ready to eat in 2 weeks. These received 6 hours of cold smoking for 1/3 of them and then about 12-14 hours for the rest of them. These were by far the best type of Salami I have eaten in years and given how lean they were (70% pork without additional fat and 30% beef) I will be making more of those in the future. We didn't use the curing salt suggested in the recipe.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/landjager
This site is awesome for recipes for any sausage including dry fermented sausages BUT they have this habbit of adding Dextrose at a fairly low rate.
I don't know of a sausage type that they didn't have a recipe for.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes

All of the recipes had the T-SPX bacteria to encourage good fermentation.
Salt is the only preservation we used for these at around 3% of the meat / fat weight. We didn't use the cure in the Landjaegers given the bacteria and significant smoking.

I put my share of the Salami in my laundry and turned on a humidifier to get to 80% humidity for the first 5 days - Then I hung them high in the garage so the dog can't get to them and they started getting a lovely very light sprinkling of white mould.
As mentioned the Landjaeger were done in less than 2 weeks and I vacuum sealed them on Sunday after sampling a couple.

 

[Truman42]

They look quite nice - Are you going to use any netting to keep them tight?

I got together with a mate and we did 37KG of Salami which we shared.
These were using 43mm casings and the recipes indicated by the pink post it notes from left to right were:
Caccitore Recipe as per Sara Grazia from Sausages made simple
Caccitore Recipe as above but with a fair bit of Fennel
Veneto Club Recipe (I did a course with them after doing a course some years ago with Sara)
Veneto Club Recipe with loads of Chilly flakes

The last 90 were German Landjaeger - Only 23mm thick and ready to eat in 2 weeks. These received 6 hours of cold smoking for 1/3 of them and then about 12-14 hours for the rest of them. These were by far the best type of Salami I have eaten in years and given how lean they were (70% pork without additional fat and 30% beef) I will be making more of those in the future. We didn't use the curing salt suggested in the recipe.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/landjager
This site is awesome for recipes for any sausage including dry fermented sausages BUT they have this habbit of adding Dextrose at a fairly low rate.
I don't know of a sausage type that they didn't have a recipe for.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes

All of the recipes had the T-SPX bacteria to encourage good fermentation.
Salt is the only preservation we used for these at around 3% of the meat / fat weight. We didn't use the cure in the Landjaegers given the bacteria and significant smoking.

I put my share of the Salami in my laundry and turned on a humidifier to get to 80% humidity for the first 5 days - Then I hung them high in the garage so the dog can't get to them and they started getting a lovely very light sprinkling of white mould.
As mentioned the Landjaeger were done in less than 2 weeks and I vacuum sealed them on Sunday after sampling a couple.

View attachment 118552

hey mate they look awesome. Im going to try a few of those recipes. So you use the T-SPx bacteria to ferment them? I didn't use that or instacure with this lot as per Mercs recipe on the first page. And have copped a bit of flak from those saying its not safe and dangerous etc.

They are only 50mm casings so I wasn't going to use netting. Should I be??

EDIT:- Where did you get Saras recipe from? I can't find it on her website?

 

[roller997]

hey mate they look awesome. Im going to try a few of those recipes. So you use the T-SPx bacteria to ferment them? I didn't use that or instacure with this lot as per Mercs recipe on the first page. And have copped a bit of flak from those saying its not safe and dangerous etc.

They are only 50mm casings so I wasn't going to use netting. Should I be??

EDIT:- Where did you get Saras recipe from? I can't find it on her website?

Netting - I used it for 43mm but probably did not need to if they were packed well enough and there was enough humidity during the first couple of weeks. For 50mm I probably would but you might be fine if it stays reasonably humid for the first couple of weeks. Salami is one of those variable things that depend a lot on environmental factors - Some aspects just reduce your dependence on everything being in your favour.

The bacteria is something I would recommend to start the fermentation. Think of it as using a beer yeast rather than waiting for wild yeast to start your fermentation. The chances are quite high that it will work out as the bad bacteria does not like the salty environment with minimal oxygen but adding the right bacteria provides them a head start. They are not too expensive when you look that you can use it for up to100KG of meat.
The instacure I think is a bit like meat cure 1 - It has sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite in it which is used for cured / fermented sausages as opposed to sodium nitrite only which is used for bacons and cooked sausages.
It is definately safer to use than relying on just salt and the bacteria but ultimately some folks don't like additional chemicals in their food even if this is the same found as in green leafy vegetables and lettuces. I didn't have the cure and I did a similar amount of Salami last year (with two more recipies than above) and I didn't get a spoilt one.

I did the course with Sarah so we received some recipes from her and then I also bought 2 of her books.
I think her recipes are fairly standard and the website above would have a similar one as well I would think.

The Cacciatori was as follows:
7KG pork sholder
3KG pork fat
280g salt (I rounded that up to 300)
50g coarse black pepper
50g ground black pepper
45g crushed coriander
500ml red wine
Given I like a bit of spice 30-50g of chilly flakes would provide a mild to medium Salami. My Veneto recipe was 130g of chilly flakes.

Cheers

Roland

Edit - Forgot to address query about netting

 

[Truman42]

The bacteria is something I would recommend to start the fermentation. Think of it as using a beer yeast rather than waiting for wild yeast to start your fermentation. The chances are quite high that it will work out as the bad bacteria does not like the salty environment with minimal oxygen but adding the right bacteria provides them a head start. They are not too expensive when you look that you can use it for up to100KG of meat.
The instacure I think is a bit like meat cure 1 - It has sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite in it which is used for cured / fermented sausages as opposed to sodium nitrite only which is used for bacons and cooked sausages.
It is definately safer to use than relying on just salt and the bacteria but ultimately some folks don't like additional chemicals in their food even if this is the same found as in green leafy vegetables and lettuces. I didn't have the cure and I did a similar amount of Salami last year (with two more recipies than above) and I didn't get a spoilt one.

I did the course with Sarah so we received some recipes from her and then I also bought 2 of her books.
I think her recipes are fairly standard and the website above would have a similar one as well I would think.

The Cacciatori was as follows:
7KG pork sholder
3KG pork fat
280g salt (I rounded that up to 300)
50g coarse black pepper
50g ground black pepper
45g crushed coriander
500ml red wine
Given I like a bit of spice 30-50g of chilly flakes would provide a mild to medium Salami. My Veneto recipe was 130g of chilly flakes.

Cheers

Roland

Cheers for the recipe. Will try that next using the 43mm casings like you did. I ike chilli and make a curry every Sunday using my dads home made chilli flakes from his chilli plants so will certainly add a decent amount.

I used bacteria a few years ago when I made my first batch of salami but it didn't run out that good as I put too much fennel in and it over powered it so I didn't like the taste. I wanted to follow Mercs recipe and use only what he did which is why I didn't use the instacure or the bacteria.

But Ill use the starter culture no:1 from Sausages made simple for the cacciatore.

Do you know much about these meat slicers they sell. Im thinking of getting one?

https://sausagesmadesimple.com.au/p...icer-domestic-ausonia-red?variant=11137669637

 

[roller997]

Cheers for the recipe. Will try that next using the 43mm casings like you did. I ike chilli and make a curry every Sunday using my dads home made chilli flakes from his chilli plants so will certainly add a decent amount.

I used bacteria a few years ago when I made my first batch of salami but it didn't run out that good as I put too much fennel in and it over powered it so I didn't like the taste. I wanted to follow Mercs recipe and use only what he did which is why I didn't use the instacure or the bacteria.

But Ill use the starter culture no:1 from Sausages made simple for the cacciatore.

Do you know much about these meat slicers they sell. Im thinking of getting one?

https://sausagesmadesimple.com.au/p...icer-domestic-ausonia-red?variant=11137669637

Sorry, but I have not had much experience with meat slicers but I do know that Sara at Sausages made Simple import good quality items that are often made in Italy and at a higher grade than some of the chinese kit available.
Given the price and "parts made in Italy" I suspect that it will be quite good and it doesn't seem significantly more expensive than others I have seen. I am somewhat shy of buying food grade equipment from Ebay that comes from unknown sources with no local warranty since my grinder purchase and if I needed a slicer, I would have a look at this one.
I bought a 150KG per hour grinder from Ebay once and I suspect the drive shaft was just a touch short as the rear end of the screw ground against the back where the drive shaft comes out while I was grinding some pork shoulder and pork fat. Whe it was grinding the pork fat, we noticed it starting having these dark patches in the fat which turned out to be metal grindings. It ruined mostly pork fat so it wasn't that much of an issue but it does give you second thoughts about the suitability of these for food handling. The grinders she sells are quite good but at times quite a lot more than the cheap Chinese grinders that often have larger motors.

Cheers

Roller

 

[Truman42]

Sorry, but I have not had much experience with meat slicers but I do know that Sara at Sausages made Simple import good quality items that are often made in Italy and at a higher grade than some of the chinese kit available.
Given the price and "parts made in Italy" I suspect that it will be quite good and it doesn't seem significantly more expensive than others I have seen. I am somewhat shy of buying food grade equipment from Ebay that comes from unknown sources with no local warranty since my grinder purchase and if I needed a slicer, I would have a look at this one.
I bought a 150KG per hour grinder from Ebay once and I suspect the drive shaft was just a touch short as the rear end of the screw ground against the back where the drive shaft comes out while I was grinding some pork shoulder and pork fat. When it was grinding the pork fat, we noticed it starting having these dark patches in the fat which turned out to be metal grindings. It ruined mostly pork fat so it wasn't that much of an issue but it does give you second thoughts about the suitability of these for food handling. The grinders she sells are quite good but at times quite a lot more than the cheap Chinese grinders that often have larger motors.

Cheers

Roller

Cheers mate yeah her meat slicers do look good so might go over there and check em out.