Starter Culture for Salami

[rgauthier20420]

So I'm beginning to dive into the world of dried and cured meats. I've got a fermenting chamber setup for heating and cooling already. I'm going to set up a water basin with a towel and small fan for humidity and circulation also.

I've been reading about the starter cultures needed for the fermented meats and they seem overly expensive for the small amount I'm planning on making. I've read about using yogurt which seems like it would work just fine, but I can't find anything that gives the amount per lb or exactly what type of yogurt.

If someone here has any information on this I would be very grateful. Thanks!

 

[rgauthier20420]

It doesn't seem like there are many of us on HBT doing cured/fermented meats and reporting them here. So, I thought I'd update this thread on the progress. I stuff and began fermenting .91 kg of spanish chorizo on 5/15 with the recipe I'd used. I ended up using a probiotic to get the needed bacteria strains for fermenting the meat instead of using a yogurt culture. They fermented for 48 hours at about 80 degrees and 95% RH. The ending pH was in the area of 5.0 from what I could tell from the test strips.

They are now nicely drying 55 degrees and 70% RH in the chamber. Here are a couple photos. The 1st is after stuffing and hanging in the chamber on the 1st day. The 2nd is as of last night.

 

[passedpawn]

55F/70% is perfect. Are those hog casings?

I'm making salami this weekend. I'm using bactoferm for bacteria, which I just got from Butcher & Packer. Will be stuffing in hog casings myself, but I do have a midddle (~3") that I might stuff too. Depends on how well I think I can control humidity in my chamber. Probably skip the big guy until I get this under control.

 

[rgauthier20420]

55F/70% is perfect. Are those hog casings?

I'm making salami this weekend. I'm using bactoferm for bacteria, which I just got from Butcher & Packer. Will be stuffing in hog casings myself, but I do have a midddle (~3") that I might stuff too. Depends on how well I think I can control humidity in my chamber. Probably skip the big guy until I get this under control.

FINALLY A RESPONSE!!!

They are indeed hog casings. I had initially ordered the casings because I'd planned on making sausages (brats and what not), but then my love of cured meats took over and some got used for that. I used 6g of probiotic powder taken from the capsules that contained bacteria able to ferment in a salty environment, but I'm considering grabbing a culture from them for the next batch. As it seems the probiotic has done it's job, I might just finish them and then move on to commercial cultures.

How long you been doing it? What sort of chamber set up do you have?

 

[passedpawn]

FINALLY A RESPONSE!!!

They are indeed hog casings. I had initially ordered the casings because I'd planned on making sausages (brats and what not), but then my love of cured meats took over and some got used for that. I used 6g of probiotic powder taken from the capsules that contained bacteria able to ferment in a salty environment, but I'm considering grabbing a culture from them for the next batch. As it seems the probiotic has done it's job, I might just finish them and then move on to commercial cultures.

How long you been doing it? What sort of chamber set up do you have?

I've been making sausages (brats, etc) for several years. I just picked up the book Charcuterie and got interested in dry-curing. So, I have never done it before. This weekend is my inaugural event. I'll be making the Tuscan Salami recipe in there.

I am using a chest freezer that has a temperature regulator on it. It stays very humid in there, unlike the dry environment in a kitchen refrigerator/freezer. Chest freezers don't have an evaporator fan, so they don't remove the humidity. I've got a Eva-Dry and a hygrometer coming from amazon right now (should have tomorrow).

If the Eva-Dry makes the environment too dry, I'll splurge for the humidity controller.

The big question for me is can I ferment (lagers) in the same chest freezer at the same time. I'm going to find out, because I'm making german pilsner this weekend.

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[rgauthier20420]

I've got the same book and I made the Spanish Chorizo as my 1st attempt at it. I've got to get a better grinder, but the one I borrowed got the job done ok for this one.

As far as I know, if your fermenting the sausage, you'll need to do it at a higher temperature and humidity for the first day or two depending. You'll want to measure the pH drop also of the meat to confirm fermentation has done it thing before starting the drying stage. I good idea I found from researching was to keep a little of the unstuffed meat in a small container in the same environment as the sausages and test from that. This way you don't have to cut into a sausage.

Since the temperatures are lower for the drying stage, you'd definitely be able to dry and ferment lagers at the same time I think. It's the fermentation stage of the sausages that likes the higher temps. Your culture package should give you the best range.

Good luck and post pictures of how it goes. The meats area of HBT is sorely underutilized :rockin:

 

[passedpawn]

I've got the same book and I made the Spanish Chorizo as my 1st attempt at it. I've got to get a better grinder, but the one I borrowed got the job done ok for this one.

As far as I know, if your fermenting the sausage, you'll need to do it at a higher temperature and humidity for the first day or two depending. You'll want to measure the pH drop also of the meat to confirm fermentation has done it thing before starting the drying stage. I good idea I found from researching was to keep a little of the unstuffed meat in a small container in the same environment as the sausages and test from that. This way you don't have to cut into a sausage.

Since the temperatures are lower for the drying stage, you'd definitely be able to dry and ferment lagers at the same time I think. It's the fermentation stage of the sausages that likes the higher temps. Your culture package should give you the best range.

Good luck and post pictures of how it goes. The meats area of HBT is sorely underutilized :rockin:

Incubation period is a day at room temperature here. I'll just hang in my kitchen.

I've posted a lot in the meat forum here. Many pictures, even a video of my son stuff sausages. Lots in the smoking section, too. Dry-curing is my new frontier Don't worry, I take pics of everything.

 

[rgauthier20420]

Nice. I see your in FL, so right now is good for the temps I guess over there.

Yeah I noticed there is a good amount going on for the smoking and grilling sections. No curing though. It's definitely a new frontier!

Good luck.

 

[passedpawn]

Good luck.

Thanks, I think I'll need it.

 

[passedpawn]

I made my sausage last night. It's beginning to dry now in the chamber. I'll be measuring weight over the next 2 weeks.

 

[rgauthier20420]

I made my sausage last night. It's beginning to dry now in the chamber. I'll be measuring weight over the next 2 weeks.

Awesome! Pictures!

I just got back from out of town and haven't been able to take a peek at how mine is progressing. Looking forward to getting back to the house.

 

[passedpawn]

Awesome! Pictures!

I just got back from out of town and haven't been able to take a peek at how mine is progressing. Looking forward to getting back to the house.

I took a few pictures while stuffing I think. They are fermenting now. I'll be hanging them tonight in my chest freezer (with the pilsener and smokebeer I made yesterday). I'll get some pics and post then.

 

[rgauthier20420]

Well they are dried and out. As I expected, learning the quirks of my set up will take a couple tries. I had about 45% weight loss during drying, and they only dried for 9 days. RH during most of drying was 70% +/-2. Given the drying times, there is a little dry rim.

As far as the taste, well I had a couple last night....and I'm still here. Looks like the probiotic used was more than sufficient to promote a nice pH drop for safety. I say more than enough because there is an apparent twang to the taste which I don't mind. The salt level is nice and not over bearing. I feel it's a little too garlic forward, but this is likely because I used the packaged pre-cut garlic clove you get in the bulk cans and refrigerate. I'm darn positive this wouldn't be the case with fresh garlic, so this one's on me. It's got a nice smokey flavor with a spicy back end note too.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this being my first product into cured/fermented sausages...considering I skipped making regular brat type sausages.

Here's a picture of the final product:

 

[passedpawn]

Nice job! Looks like they dried very well. I've seen many pictures of case hardening that resulted in red soft insides and hard outsides. I've just started drying mine; see here.