kingudaroad

I came across this paragraph while reading Pamela Sheldon Johns' Prosciutto Pancetta Salame. ← Like everything else, there seems to be some people who swear that it needs to be one way or you die, and others that claim the exact opposite. Those photos of the green mold on those professionally made salamis are eye opening for sure, and lead me to believe that it is a natural part of the aging process as the above quote states. I am in the middle of my 3rd try at salami, dry curing in a wine fridge with a humidifier and a humidistat, and have not had mold to speak of during my first 2 batches. But this current project, which has been drying for a week, looks like it is about to bloom hard. I'll see what happens but I now think I'm going to refrain from wiping off any mold until the aging process is complete. Incubation after one week

In Kutas book he describes a box cure method where the bellies are dry cured for a couple of days to release liquid, and then a brine is added to submerse the bellies for the remainder of the curing process. The brine ingredients are the same as the dry cure ingredients except they are dissolved in water. I did not add liquid to mine, but did overhaul and redistribute the cure every 2 days. I actually dumped out the liquid as it accumulated so it would not overcure the submerged piece on the bottom. A true dry cure if you will. I made sure the pieces were pressed together very tightly and rotated them as I overhauled. Also did a nine day cure. I'm interested in seeing the results of your experiment Elsie

Looks fantastic!!

5 bucks a pound is way high. But nice bellies can be hard to find. I have paid that much before and I have paid much less for bellies that I was not happy with. I recently lucked into these for $1.50 per lb. They cured in salt. pink salt and a three pepper medley for 9 days. No sugar in this batch. I smoked them with apple wood for 12 hours at temperatures less than 120F. The taste is awesome! My best batch yet.

Seems like Portugese style linguica is hard to find across the center of the US, but prevalent in every grocery store on both coasts. Here in Central Texas its nowhere. So what is one to do? Make your own!! I think I got it fairly authentic with coarse chopped pork butt and chunks of creamy fat. The meat was marinaded in Port wine, garlic and marjoram. Cured and cold smoked with a good amount of pepper mixed in. I love Linguica and grew up on it as a youth in Northern California. Not the easiest sausage to make, but worth the effort.

If you can find a suitable outdoor enclosure, ( a large grill may work for small batches, or even an unused garbage can ), a hotplate with a cast iron skillet will smoke wood chips or sawdust and not give out much heat. Real smoke no oven! Since bacon is an uncooked product, once cured, I just let it smoke to a desired color rather than worry about the internal temperature.

This is not a new way to cook meat. A lot of BBQ folks using slow indirect cooking for like ribs, brisket, pork butt etc, will braise the meat during the middle of the long cooking process by tightly foiling the meat with liquid. The meat is then unfoiled and put back on the heat to firm up and/or glaze.

Fermento is used to add the tang of a fermented sausage without the starter culture. If you could get a starter culture you could just ferment per starter culture directions. I have used both, however there is a substitute I have not used. Encapsulated citric acid has the same purpose as fermento. Lots of info on the net.

Hi, kinda new around here . If there are any bratwurst lovers out there, the recipe in Charcuterie is a good one. I have made it a couple of times. In this batch I substituted venison for the veal. The eggs and cream really make a great looking and tasting sausage.