Salami 101

[benno1973]

i have decided I want to do this stuff all year round, with small 1-2 item batches - what do people think of using my temp controlled fermentation fridge as the drying chamber... And every time i brew a lager and its set to 9-13C for a month, I simultaneously cure a small batch of salami? I think that the active fermentation should provide enough humidity, especially if i run the CO2 through a blow off tube and it bubbles out through a jar of water.

Hi TB, just saw this.

Despite my dismal failure with the fridge, I think it would be fine. My sausages were in the fridge before I went away, with a small PC fan circulating the air. The moisture from the sausages was enough to provide a fairly high initial humidity in there, and they took a few days for the skins to start to feel as though they were drying. It was only when the fan stopped circulating that things went horribly wrong.

My suggestions?...

1. Hook up a fan as Fents suggested.
2. Buy a cheap remote wether station with humidity display so you know the humidity in your fridge (without having to open the fridge).
3. Based on the above, you can increase humidity by sitting a bowl of water in the fridge, or by buying a cheap ultrasonic humidifier. Alternatively, you can reduce humidity by sitting a bowl of salt in the fridge, or by buying a cheap dehumidifier
4. Test this in winter with a small batch. If you need to take the sausages out of the fridge to dry, you'd rather do it in winter than the heat of summer.

 

[AUHEAMIC]

Mould has been mentioned recently so I thought I would give you my 2 bobs worth.

From all the research I have done and my limited experience I would say if its white its all right. It adds a subtle but distinctive flavour and aroma which Im sure is different depending on the particular local strain.

In my local environment the white mould is the first one to appear as very small spots. I have found the best way to promote its growth, thereby making it the dominant strain, is to wipe down each one with a cloth dampened with white vinegar. Make sure you dont rinse the cloth and go back over the first few you started on. This may need to be done 2-3 times over the drying stage.


When I pack them I wipe most of the mould off with vinegar. The only reason for this is cosmetic. Next year I will pack a couple with the mould on as an experiment.

And so the journey continues.

Thanks again Merc for the inspiration

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Thanks Fents/KS - your suggestions mesh pretty closely with my plans, so i am happy that I'm on roughly the right track. I'm OK with a bit of trial and error too - one of the reasons I want to be able to make all year round in small batches is so that I can try new techniques and recipes, but only have 1 or 2 items per batch, then if it all goes horribly wrong, its just a matter of chuck em in the bin and have another go rather than losing a whole season's production.

Speaking of a whole seasons production - this is all the stuff I have made thhis year, the last just got stuffed and hung to dry today, so hopefully things dont warm up too much before they are ready. My Salamis are startingto get the nice white mould too and i have been encourgaing it to transfer to both the less mouldy salamis and the other small goods by the simple act of fondling them with clean hands and repeating with the target meat.

L to R we have Hungarian Salamis, Lonzino, Pancetta, Coppa, Breasola.

Salamis look like they will be ready in a week or so, still just the tiniest bit of squish to them. The Pancetta is probably ready to go any day now.

And its all your bloody fault Merc. You made it look so easy I had to have a go and now I have a cupboard full of hanging meat... Thanks

TB

 

[Mercs Own]

Thanks Fents/KS - your suggestions mesh pretty closely with my plans, so i am happy that I'm on roughly the right track. I'm OK with a bit of trial and error too - one of the reasons I want to be able to make all year round in small batches is so that I can try new techniques and recipes, but only have 1 or 2 items per batch, then if it all goes horribly wrong, its just a matter of chuck em in the bin and have another go rather than losing a whole season's production.

Speaking of a whole seasons production - this is all the stuff I have made thhis year, the last just got stuffed and hung to dry today, so hopefully things dont warm up too much before they are ready. My Salamis are startingto get the nice white mould too and i have been encourgaing it to transfer to both the less mouldy salamis and the other small goods by the simple act of fondling them with clean hands and repeating with the target meat.

L to R we have Hungarian Salamis, Lonzino, Pancetta, Coppa, Breasola.

Salamis look like they will be ready in a week or so, still just the tiniest bit of squish to them. The Pancetta is probably ready to go any day now.

And its all your bloody fault Merc. You made it look so easy I had to have a go and now I have a cupboard full of hanging meat... Thanks

TB

sorry about that guys - I have three daughters who are very happy that I make salami and I love the idea that either they or their husbands on pain of death or withheld .....things... like dishes or vacuuming maybe they better bloody well make salami. It is addictive, fun, nourishing and some how completes one in an esoteric kinda way.

May we all find the wog within.

 

[ledgenko]

Hi Matt,

If that's the Mondo's air dried salami course, then it's great - I've done it twice now, and the tasters alone are worth the course fee!

Kaiser ... i tought it sounded pretty good but now more excited ... saw your posts and would love to join the fun next time you decide to crack out a couple of hundred salami's ... i am on the north side but i will get to where ever it is u make the sausage .. wife will pick me up and i will def bring a keg of my finest !!!!!!!


matt
:icon_chickcheers: :icon_chickcheers: :icon_chickcheers: :icon_chickcheers:

 

[ledgenko]

Hi Matt,

If that's the Mondo's air dried salami course, then it's great - I've done it twice now, and the tasters alone are worth the course fee!

Kaiser ... i tought it sounded pretty good but now more excited ... saw your posts and would love to join the fun next time you decide to crack out a couple of hundred salami's ... i am on the north side but i will get to where ever it is u make the sausage .. wife will pick me up and i will def bring a keg of my finest !!!!!!!


matt

:icon_chickcheers: :icon_chickcheers: :icon_chickcheers:

 

[benno1973]

Kaiser ... i tought it sounded pretty good but now more excited ... saw your posts and would love to join the fun next time you decide to crack out a couple of hundred salami's ... i am on the north side but i will get to where ever it is u make the sausage .. wife will pick me up and i will def bring a keg of my finest !!!!!!!

G'day Matt! Enthusiastic participants are always welcome. We do Salami day in Bayswater, but unfortunately only once a year, which is why we tend to churn out about 200 of them, so it lasts us through the 12 months. Having said that, the experiment with the fridge was so we could do some small batches year round.

I'll keep you in the loop if we do something...

Cheers, Ben

 

[ledgenko]

Ben ,

Cheers ... that would be awesome ...

Matt

 

[kirem]

capicola went into the bung and netting tonight.

The bungs stink to high heaven

 

[Mercs Own]

capicola went into the bung and netting tonight.

The bungs stink to high heaven

Seems a little late in the season?? Any pics

 

[kirem]

Seems a little late in the season?? Any pics

yeah I know, events conspired. I am very keen to make temperature and humidity controlled cool room, so I can do this all year round.

but for this one, I'll hang it in the laundry until the missus finds it.

I'll take a picture of it tonight. I'll also take a picture of the prosciutto, although it won't be much more than black box with a large mound of salt in it

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Been finding with my "chunks of muscle" curing, that i am getting a little blue fuzzy mould growing at the points where string/netting meets meat. More so towards the bottom of the hanging piece of meat. i am assuming that this is because directly at the string meat interface is a moister micro climate, same with the bottom of the chunk being a little bit wetter than the top.
s
i suspect its because there's not enough airflow in the space where I am drying them, something i will rectify for future efforts. I also thought that it might be an idea to dampen the string/net in some vinegar before applying it, that way the pH in the small area where they touch would be a bit lower, discouraging mould growth.

What do you more experienced makers think - Will it be enough just to make sure of the airflow and humidity? Will the vinegar help? Will it hurt?

Cheers TB

 

[kirem]

Seems a little late in the season?? Any pics

View attachment 47844

 

[Mercs Own]

Been finding with my "chunks of muscle" curing, that i am getting a little blue fuzzy mould growing at the points where string/netting meets meat. More so towards the bottom of the hanging piece of meat. i am assuming that this is because directly at the string meat interface is a moister micro climate, same with the bottom of the chunk being a little bit wetter than the top.
s
i suspect its because there's not enough airflow in the space where I am drying them, something i will rectify for future efforts. I also thought that it might be an idea to dampen the string/net in some vinegar before applying it, that way the pH in the small area where they touch would be a bit lower, discouraging mould growth.

What do you more experienced makers think - Will it be enough just to make sure of the airflow and humidity? Will the vinegar help? Will it hurt?

Cheers TB

Blue fuzzy mould not good - vinegar wont hurt. Spray and wipe and repeat as necessary - if mould persists start to worry. I had lots of white mould on my salamis and wiped them down with a spray of red wine and water. I had some slightly darker mould on "the big one" sprayed and scrubbed that but it was all surface mould on the skin.

I would be calling the shop where you got the netting and ask the question re the skin/meat meeting of the moulds.

Let us know what you find out.

 

[Mercs Own]

Sad to inform anyone that remembers or may share in my dissapointment the bigun or the big salami I made this year - about 1 1/2 kilos didnt make it!! It had an air pocket through the centre so the meat didnt dry properly etc. I had it hanging in my local DOCS deli for the last month at a steady 14 degrees hoping that the last of it would dry up but it didnt. I knew something was wrong with it as you could feel the give in it like it was slightly hollow in the middle - oh well, there is always next year! Vince from DOCS reckons it wasnt packed tight enough which it obviously wasnt although when I stuffed it I thought it was. Cant wait till next year as I will try again and this time stuff the little mother like I have never stuffed before.

At least I have 75 of my smaller salami's in the fridge! Soon to be 74.

 

[MaestroMatt]

How is it I have only today discovered this gift of a topic?!?!?!?!? I think my wog sense has diminished since moving to the country.

Genius!

Merc - looking back over the thread, I actually had a good chuckle when I saw the 'big boy' that you made. It's looked like the Godzilla of all salami. Sad to hear it didn't pull through. Definitely have another go - will be following with interest!


Now if you'll excuse me......I have the biggest craving for a Salami sanga right now....

 

[Mercs Own]

Have a read of this - it is about setting up your own curing chamber.

http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2007/07/key...ng-chamber.html

 

[benno1973]

I find this article interesting. For a while now, I've been getting bits and pieces together to set up a curing chamber. All the literature that I read seems to suggest that the air will be too dry in a frost-free fridge, and I guess there's definitely circumstances where that will be the case. However, every year when I've hung my suasages in the curing fridge, the RH shoots up to 95%, mostly from the moisture coming out of the sausages. So much so that I have to crack the fridge a bit to release some of the humidity and drop it down.

This high humidity lasts for some time, much longer than I would want it to if I'm drying/curing the sausages. Admittedly, I generally have 20-30 sausages hanging in there, which probably counteracts the dryness quite considerably.

When I finally pull my finger out, I'm going to hook up a dry side (dehumidifier) and a wet side (humidifier) to my hygrostat. I just recently bought one of these on ebay, so the price for hygrastats is definitely coming down these days...

 

[Mercs Own]

Just a catch up re my salamis - they are bloody delicious! Had one for lunch today on fresh crusty bread!!!

The big one I made unfortunately didnt make it. I hung it in the garage for about a month and a half and then gave it to a friend of mine who hang it in his salami fridge at Doc's Mornington for two months. I was always worried about the big boy as it felt like it was a little soft in the middle (still talking about salami here) so after all that time hanging in a controlled environment we cut it open to find that it had a bit of an air pocket running right through the centre! It was dead and it was binned! Bummer!! Next time I will make sure it is really well stuffed.

 

[Margrethe]

i've made friends with our butcher, who makes his own stuff at home, so I am wanting to give some salami a go. With HWMBO working at jaycar, getting the elements to create a great salami/meat cupboard are at hand, so all going well I'll be giving some a go once we've got it made.

I love that on a beer forum I can learn about meat curing and a plethora of other awesome food ideas!