Salami (Finocchiona) - curing in the Chamber of Meatiness

[passedpawn]

My home made salami previously worked out great. Thread here: Dry Curing Sausage

I made this a week ago. Ground the meat and fat, added pink salt, bacterial culture, and wine and fennel and peppercorns etc, stuffed into 47mm 2# casings.

Surface of the sausages were sprayed with a beneficial white mold that will (hopefully) protect the sausages from other growths.

The first two days I kept the temperature at 95F (lava lamp!) and 95% relative humidity (RH). That lets the culture ferment the meat and get the pH way down. I measured 4.7pH after 2 days. That's plenty. Then I lowered the temperature down to 50F and the RH down to 70. That's where it's at now.

I'll be measuring the weight weekly to watch for about a 40% decrease. That should take about a month. Then we determine mess or success.

 

[passedpawn]

I ground the protein with the small die, but used the larger die for the fat to try to make sure the fat chunks were distinct. Next time I might just hand-cut the fat chunks. Here is where I'm mixing it all together before stuffing.

 

[passedpawn]

Stuffing into casings.

 

[passedpawn]

My ultrasonic humidifier (left) for incredible clouds of vapor, and heat lamp for heat (and some romantic ambience).

 

[passedpawn]

pH has dropped!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Pure awesomeness! Q: Once cured, will that salami be OK stored at room temp & if so, approx how long?
Regards, GF.

 

[passedpawn]

Pure awesomeness! Q: Once cured, will that salami be OK stored at room temp & if so, approx how long?
Regards, GF.

Not really sure. I buy it at the store and it's on the shelf wrapped in paper, so I guess it's good for months to a year at least.

Of course, it'll keep dehydrating, so I guess it should be wrapped in something to stop that.

 

[passedpawn]

Checking the weight loss. I was going to measure just the little chub, but I don't trust that measurement. This one in the picture is the next smallest and better represents a whole salami. Target is 60%.

 

[passedpawn]

The water content is dropping more slowly than the least time I did this. But these are a little thicker. Also, I added a few days of very high humidity (and heat) during which the weight would not have decreased.

I am looking for a steady decrease. The thing to avoid here is case hardening, where the humidity is reduced too much too fast: the outside of the salami gets hard, leaving the inside soft and nasty. The key is to do occasional measurements and make sure the graph isn't decreasing too slow or (especially) too fast. The slope can be controlled by controlling the humidity.

 

[passedpawn]

Temperature: 50F
RH: 72% (dehumidifier on)

 

[Yooper]

I wish I could 1000000000000 like this thread! This is awesome, and so very interesting to me.

 

[passedpawn]

Getting there. Shooting for 60% of original weight. Another week-ish.

 

[passedpawn]

Nice coating of beneficial mold growing on them now. Some odd fat deposits that formed near the lower ends of them is inhibiting mold growth for some reason though.

 

[passedpawn]

Temperature = 50F
RH = 72% steady.

It's down 31.3% of original weight. Starting to level out here. The dehumifier reservoir was full and the float switch had turned it off, but I don't think it's affecting the drying since the RH is steady, but anyway I emptied it and got it going again.

I opened up the little chub and measured the pH - still around 4.7.

 

[passedpawn]

And it's a wrap - 60% of original weight. 100% success. Salami made with pepper and fennel and garlic and red wine.

 

[passedpawn]

Peppered Salami!

I made all of this up, it worked great, but if any one tries this, let me know of improvements.

Remove any casing from salami. My casing peeled right off without any issue at all.

1. In a bowl, add 1 pkt unflavored gelatin to about 1/3 cup of water. I don't know if this ratio is good, it's just what I did.
2. Stir, and let bloom for a minute or two.
3. Heat for 30 seconds, until gelatin has melted.
4. Add enough pepper to this until it has the consistency of peanut butter - it should be thick and sticky, and NOT runny. It'll be about 1/3 cup. This might take more pepper than you think, so start with a bulk container of pepper and not whatever you have in the shaker.
5. Put on flat surface and roll salami into the pepper. It will stick great. Do the ends too. Seal in plastic wrap, or better, in a vacuum bags.
6. Refrigerate overnight, slice and eat!

 

[applescrap]

What a beautiful art!

 

[D.Freeman]

I made this a week ago. Ground the meat and fat, added pink salt, bacterial culture, and wine and fennel and peppercorns etc, stuffed into 47mm 2# casings.

Surface of the sausages were sprayed with a beneficial white mold that will (hopefully) protect the sausages from other growths.



I love what you are doing! I make a lot of sausage from wild game, mostly smoked and cooked through. I’ve never done the fermented/straight cured thing but would like to try.

I read through the other thread but never found a recipe. Are you willing to share your approach?

What kind and where do you source your bacteria culture/protective mold?

This all sounds amazing and I have a freezer full of elk that needs ground up into deliciousness.

Thanks for sharing

Here is some of my smoked/cured salami:

 

[passedpawn]

Thought I'd follow up with a picture of tonight's snack, sliced peppered fennel salami. Believe me, you want this.

 

[passedpawn]

I’ve never done the fermented/straight cured thing but would like to try. I read through the other thread but never found a recipe. Are you willing to share your approach?

What kind and where do you source your bacteria culture/protective mold?

Yours look great!

I use the Tuscan Salami recipe from Ruhlman's book Charcuterie. It's got a distinctive fennel flavor, which is why I called it finocchiona (he never does) in the title of this thread. I suggest getting the book, loads of useful stuff in there, but here's the recipe ( I got recipe from book, but this looks identical): http://betterdoneyourself.com/2014/05/14/homemade-salami/

I got my 47mm casings and BactoFerm, and Mold-600 (white beneficial) from sausagemaker: see this page: http://blog.sausagemaker.com/2016/11/diy-dry-curing-salami.html

Regarding the pepper coating, I invented that process. I inspected a label of a commercial peppered salami, noted that gelatin was on there, and made an assumption. Then trial and error to make it work, which it did, splendidly.

Cheers

 

[Daniele96]

My home made salami previously worked out great. Thread here: Dry Curing Sausage

I made this a week ago. Ground the meat and fat, added pink salt, bacterial culture, and wine and fennel and peppercorns etc, stuffed into 47mm 2# casings.

Surface of the sausages were sprayed with a beneficial white mold that will (hopefully) protect the sausages from other growths.

The first two days I kept the temperature at 95F (lava lamp!) and 95% relative humidity (RH). That lets the culture ferment the meat and get the pH way down. I measured 4.7pH after 2 days. That's plenty. Then I lowered the temperature down to 50F and the RH down to 70. That's where it's at now.

I'll be measuring the weight weekly to watch for about a 40% decrease. That should take about a month. Then we determine mess or success.

View attachment 612977

The mold looks very well. How many weeks are you going to age them?

 

[Daniele96]

I ground the protein with the small die, but used the larger die for the fat to try to make sure the fat chunks were distinct. Next time I might just hand-cut the fat chunks. Here is where I'm mixing it all together before stuffing.

View attachment 612979

You used a mincer. In Italy traditional process to prepare salami is meat and fat minced with knife. If you try this way you will see the differences in flavour and also in visual impression.

 

[passedpawn]

You used a mincer. In Italy traditional process to prepare salami is meat and fat minced with knife. If you try this way you will see the differences in flavour and also in visual impression.

I might cut up some of it by hand next time. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out this time though.

The mold looks very well. How many weeks are you going to age them?

I let them age for 4 weeks before I cut the first one. I've used 3 of those salamis to make the peppered salami I show above. Those are in vacuum bags and in the freezer.

The rest of them are still hanging in that chest freezer. I don't think they are going to dehydrate much more. I'll be freezing them this weekend.

 

[z-bob]

That's beautiful! I was going to warn you about "case hardening" but I see you mentioned that in a follow-up post. It has been about 10 years since I've made any salami; I should do it again... I never have done the mold on the outside thing, just hung them up in a too-dry place for a day or two, then moved to a chamber with proper humidity to finish. And IIRC, I inoculated the meat and let it sour overnight in the oven with just the light on, then stuffed it and hanged it.

Which lacto starter did you use? I think the one I used was Batcoferm LHP. I still have half a packet in my deep freeze, I wonder if it's still good?

 

[Daniele96]

I might cut up some of it by hand next time. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out this time though.



I let them age for 4 weeks before I cut the first one. I've used 3 of those salamis to make the peppered salami I show above. Those are in vacuum bags and in the freezer.

The rest of them are still hanging in that chest freezer. I don't think they are going to dehydrate much more. I'll be freezing them this weekend.

Now I am making sausages for Easter but Next years I will try to make a salami with fennel seeds. However I prefere to make other things like prosciutto or pancetta and loin.

 

[passedpawn]

That's beautiful! I was going to warn you about "case hardening" but I see you mentioned that in a follow-up post. It has been about 10 years since I've made any salami; I should do it again... I never have done the mold on the outside thing, just hung them up in a too-dry place for a day or two, then moved to a chamber with proper humidity to finish. And IIRC, I inoculated the meat and let it sour overnight in the oven with just the light on, then stuffed it and hanged it.

Which lacto starter did you use? I think the one I used was Batcoferm LHP. I still have half a packet in my deep freeze, I wonder if it's still good?

The last time I made salami (and also my pepperoni) I got random molds, including white, on the sausages. I had to occasionally wipe down with vinegar. It's simple to spray this white mold onto the sausage and I never wiped them down. I'd do it every time now.

I used BactoFerm T-SPX. It says it's a slow acid producer, but I heated my salami to 95 for 2 days and the pH dropped perfectly. I might try one of the others next time just to compare.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Andrew that is just beautiful, man, thank you for some gorgeous photos and such a great thread. Seems to me that between ample beer, cheese, and salumi, you must have a ton of friends lining up at the door.

Hearty congratulations.

 

[passedpawn]

Andrew that is just beautiful, man, thank you for some gorgeous photos and such a great thread. Seems to me that between ample beer, cheese, and salumi, you must have a ton of friends lining up at the door.

Hearty congratulations.

Thanks! I've got a few friends that do eat and drink my productions. Wish I could easily share them with you guys.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Thanks! I've got a few friends that do eat and drink my productions. Wish I could easily share them with you guys.

Yep, I think it would be taken care of in no time. When we had our restaurant I did a fair amount of sausages, etc., but no salumi, all French stuff (my favorite was probably duck prosciutto, from the breast of the massive moulard duck). THat's geotrichum on the outside, right?

 

[passedpawn]

Yep, I think it would be taken care of in no time. When we had our restaurant I did a fair amount of sausages, etc., but no salumi, all French stuff (my favorite was probably duck prosciutto, from the breast of the massive moulard duck). THat's geotrichum on the outside, right?

Nope, it's Penicillium nalgiovense - pretty much the gold standard for this purpose. It's sold as "Mold 600". I did try P. camemberti once, but it didn't give me great coverage.

I have been thinking about duck proscuitto. My next try will for sure be solid muscle, not sure which though.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Nope, it's Penicillium nalgiovense - pretty much the gold standard for this purpose. It's sold as "Mold 600". I did try P. camemberti once, but it didn't give me great coverage.

I have been thinking about duck proscuitto. My next try will for sure be solid muscle, not sure which though.

Hahaha! You know what's funny? Coquard carries that and I knew it was used in cured meat production - they have two tomme molds,

SIGMA 41 Penicillium NALGIOVENSIS (freeze-dried) 500 L For pressed cheese 005DAC
White mould, good adherence on cheese, inhibits the mucor's development. Tomme de pays
Very suitable for pressed cheeses.
SIGMA 43 Grey Penicillium (liquid) 500 L Tomme de pays 005DCC
Grey mould for the rind of Tomme.
To use mixed with sigma 21 or 22.

That I wanted to seed a Savoie cave with but they wouldn't sell me from France as they only guarantee out to 2 weeks. THere's no cascading of geo, then? Interesting. Just looks great, Andrew.

Whoops, missed the prosciutto. FWIW, I always used the Moulard duck, which they use for foie gras so the birds are massive. The breasts ("magrets") are about 1-1.5# - EACH, if you can believe it. Huge fat cap, too, which I sliced down just a touch for the prosciutto.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Nope, it's Penicillium nalgiovense - pretty much the gold standard for this purpose. It's sold as "Mold 600". I did try P. camemberti once, but it didn't give me great coverage.

I have been thinking about duck proscuitto. My next try will for sure be solid muscle, not sure which though.

Should have asked, Andrew - where did you get your Mold? Do you happen to know if it's the same mold used in cheesemaking?

 

[passedpawn]

Should have asked, Andrew - where did you get your Mold? Do you happen to know if it's the same mold used in cheesemaking?

www.sausagemaker.com. Regarding the Mold 600, if it has the same genus/species, I guess it's the same. That's how classification works I guess.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

www.sausagemaker.com. Regarding the Mold 600, if it has the same genus/species, I guess it's the same. That's how classification works I guess.

Oh, cool, that's where I used to get my casings for the restaurant. That's where you got your stuffer, isn't it?

 

[passedpawn]

Oh, cool, that's where I used to get my casings for the restaurant. That's where you got your stuffer, isn't it?

I got my stuffer from www.grizzly.com. They used to have the best price on a 5# stuffer. These days, though, you can get a LEM on amazon for about the same price.

For these salami, I did buy the 47mm collagen salami casings from sausagemaker. However, I get casings for fresh sausage locally now, at a nearby italian "pork store". It's one of those places where they have salami hanging from string from the ceiling. I buy by the foot, and it comes wet and ready for stuffing. I don't know how/where they get it, but they're much better than the dry stuff I used to get from sausagemaker.

 

[passedpawn]

... I'll probably go with a larger casing next time. 40% shrinkage does reduce the diameter significantly. As the salami gets wider, though, the risk increases. Case hardening ruins a lot of these types of efforts, and you have to be extra careful to avoid it.

 

[Gadjobrinus]

I got my stuffer from www.grizzly.com. They used to have the best price on a 5# stuffer. These days, though, you can get a LEM on amazon for about the same price.

For these salami, I did buy the 47mm collagen salami casings from sausagemaker. However, I get casings for fresh sausage locally now, at a nearby italian "pork store". It's one of those places where they have salami hanging from string from the ceiling. I buy by the foot, and it comes wet and ready for stuffing. I don't know how/where they get it, but they're much better than the dry stuff I used to get from sausagemaker.

Very cool, thanks, Andrew. I guess stuffers don't look world's different, lol. Last time I made any cured sausage would have been 2006. You're quite accomplished, man.

I was in theater school in Providence, RI. They have a magnificent Italian section of town, Atwells Avenue. That was one of my fondest memories and favorite things to do, comb the shops with the hanging meats and cheeses. I'm going to have those memories forever. I think it's really cool you get your casings there. Yeah, I bought salted casings and had to prep them. Never worked with fresh. Very nice!

 

[Gadjobrinus]

... I'll probably go with a larger casing next time. 40% shrinkage does reduce the diameter significantly. As the salami gets wider, though, the risk increases. Case hardening ruins a lot of these types of efforts, and you have to be extra careful to avoid it.

Sounds much like rind management in cheese making, especially the hard cheeses (I've never made grana styles, only long-aged alpines. Or, heck, slip skin, in a way?

 

[passedpawn]

Very cool, thanks, Andrew. I guess stuffers don't look world's different, lol. Last time I made any cured sausage would have been 2006. You're quite accomplished, man.

I was in theater school in Providence, RI. They have a magnificent Italian section of town, Atwells Avenue. That was one of my fondest memories and favorite things to do, comb the shops with the hanging meats and cheeses. I'm going to have those memories forever. I think it's really cool you get your casings there. Yeah, I bought salted casings and had to prep them. Never worked with fresh. Very nice!

Fresh casings are where it's at.

(BTW, I was in theater too - traveled with a show across the country. Spent 3 months in a little theater in Westport CT setting it up. That was between dropping out of catholic high school and the marine corps )

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Fresh casings are where it's at.

(BTW, I was in theater too - traveled with a show across the country. Spent 3 months in a little theater in Westport CT setting it up. That was between dropping out of catholic high school and the marine corps )

Another awesome piece of history we share! For a time I lived in the "Quiet Corner" and commuted, if you can believe it, to Hartford. I went to many shows (god, was blessed to have a couple hours with Sam Waterston talking Shakespeare). At that time I was really dejected about acting. I saw a play, Our Country's Good, that absolutely ripped me apart and gave me a renewed sense of what art can accomplish. Wandered in the snow just hammered by the play and performances. Tracey Ellis was in it and we became friends. I saw her in L.A., approached her, told her what her performance meant to me, and she was kind of floored, lol.

First gig I got out of Trinity Rep Conservatory was a traveling children's group, Perishable Theater Company. Native American creation myths. I was "Great Spirit." We played one place that had to have had a couple 1000 people, sanatorium, so it was cool we played there. My job in starting the play was to do a short riff on a conga and then say, "We are the Perishable Theater Co. I'm Paul! Maggie: I'm Maggie" and so forth.

I did the riff, got to "W" of "We" and literally the entire audience exploded everywhere, at the same time. I have no idea what I did, but there was all kinds of stuff - guy driving bike across stage with card in spokes, etc. I ran a huge puppet with Maggie, Great Spirit, and we were able to hide behind it. I could not get it together as I was laughing so hard (so was she), I was genuinely afraid I'd not make it to next entrance. Ah, miss those times...

Hey, I'm famous. I was in the Smithsonian Magazine when I was with Shakespeare and Co., lol. 'nother piece of trivia is that Charles Nelson Reilly was one of my coaches, in L.A. Kellie, now my wife, flipped when Charles called and left a message when he came to town (Chicago), in the way only he could.

I either didn't know it or forgot due to my crap memory, but thanks for serving, Andrew.