RedNeckFoodie

I'm obviously coming very late to this thread, but yaslh, your blog is by invite only now. I was interested in reading the article if it's still up. Can I get an invite? Thank you.

Thanks Andy, I assumed that there was still some room for drying so I left most of the batch hanging and just grabbed a couple sticks for sampling. I've chewed on a small piece with my front teeth...still sporting some painful holes in the back of my mouth from surgery, and the texture and taste seem good, but I'll keep sampling as I approach a week; which will be tomorrow. I'm going to make my son his first pepperoni pizza, but as a snack item he's already thoroughly enjoying it. Thanks everyone for your input. Next up...Chorizo. Neil

With the relatively small casings the drying time is apparently short. These photos are at 4 1/2 days. How should I store the pepperoni sticks moving forward? And how long can they be stored?

Ok, here are some of the pics.

Apparently collagen casings shouldn't be stored at room temp. for long? At least according to one site I read yesterday. Interesting then that Bass Pro sells them on the shelf. Who knows how long they'd been drying out. Next question for those who have more experience than I. I'm using 3/4" collagen casings with the R&P recipe. I understand the 30% weight reduction, but how long should I expect that to take in this case? The recipe gives times in days for pork and sheep casings, not collagen. Again, thanks for all the help. Neil

Ok, emergency averted. I quickly rinsed the casings under the tap and they loosened up enough to fit. I've finished stuffing, getting ready to hang at room temp for the incubating. Will post pics in a day or two.

Help!! Ok, so I have my meat prepared. All ready to go. I bought a 3/4" LEM stuffing tube and a LEM collagen casing that specifically says "Use 3/4" stuffing tube". It also says do not soak in water. The casing won't fit on the tube. What am I doing wrong here? Any quick response would be greatly appreciated. I don't want this meat to go to waste. Thanks. Neil

My wife pointed out that they do make rice milk powder, and that in the future I should consult her too

So my copy of R&Ps Charcuterie arrived in the mail today and I immediately flipped to the dry curing section and started reading. I got to the pepperoni recipe and saw that it calls for dry milk powder. I can't include dairy in the recipe. Any suggestions on how to work around this? I understand its purpose is to act as a binder. When looking for an answer I found this site. Posting the link here in case anyone else finds it helpful. http://lpoli.50webs.com/Tips.htm

Since you're bringing the fat content up. Let me run this by you. I'm making this sausage for my son to try out. He's allergic to a long list of things, and has reacted in the past to pork. So this is going to be an all beef sausage. In the past I've used venison with beef fat added to approximate pork. It works very well for breakfast sausage. I have no clue how it might work with this, however. I looked for Ruhlman and Polcyn's Charcuterie at my local library, but had to request it on inter-library loan which could take weeks and put me into summer. I've heard such good things about it, I may try to see if any of my local book sellers are carrying it. Back to the fat content; the Ruhlman and Polcyn's recipe as a pizza topping? The fat content is low and the slices dry out as a topping?

Thanks, Chris. Much appreciated. It's just good to know that I'm not way off base. With regard to ascorbic acid. Anyone use it in their recipes? The only form I'm able to find locally is powdered. The packaging directs you to mix it one tablespoon to one quart of water. I have no idea what kind of strength that provides, or what strength is necessary for that matter. The link referenced above doesn't specify. Any advice is appreciated. Neil

Additional question. I can't use the hog casings mentioned in the recipe above. Is there any good reason I shouldn't use 'fresh sausage' beef collagen casings?

So this will be the first time I take on a project of this type. As a kid I did some butchering of hogs and beef, and I have plenty of experience processing and handling wild game. I've never dry cured anything, however, and would appreciate any help any more experienced folks might be able to give. I'm planning to use a slightly modified version of the pepperoni recipe at the following link. http://homecooking.about.com/od/porkrecipes/r/blpork85.htm I live in Missouri and right now it's nice and cold outside. I have a concrete basement and a dirt-floor crawl space. The basement is used for storage and laundry. The crawl space isn't used for anything, is about 4 feet tall, and about 100 square feet. I have a dehumidifier in the basement which I can regulate the humidity with. It stays at about 50% right now. Without the dehumidifier it hangs around 75%. The temp in the basement is in the high 40s/low 50s now. I expect it to get into the high 50s/low 60s by mid April, but no higher. My main question is whether either the basement or the crawl space would be a suitable location to hang these pepperonis for 2 months, and what, if anything, I might want to do to make sure this first attempt goes well. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any advice. Neil