Freezing Salami etc.

[joesan]

I brought back lots of professionally made whole salami, coppa, bresaola etc. from Italy.

The idea was to cut them as needed on my meat slicer and enjoy piles of fresh charcuterie. However I find cleaning the meat slicer each time a real pain so I've gone ahead and sliced everything into the appropriate cuts. I've then packed the meats into separate vacuum bags. Each one weighs about 200g.

The salamis were about 3 months opened at the point where I sliced them, and in good condition. I was wondering what people thought would be the best way to store them? I was thinking of freezing them in the vacuum bags but wasn't sure how well they would freeze.

Anyone have any practical experience or tips?

Edited June 2, 2010 by joesan (log)

[nickrey]

I've frozen similar processed meats to salami in vacuum bags and they seem to survive the process remarkably well.

[ChickenStu]

Should last pretty well in the fridge in vacuum bags. I always think cured products have a negative texture change when frozen.

[Luke]

Be careful. You can't normally freeze fat very well. While the protein meat will freeze, the fat will go rank a lot quicker. For this reason, frozen bacon and tuna (both with high oil/fat contents) don't freeze well for more than 3 months.

Luke

[Chris Hennes]

Interesting, Luke, that's been the opposite of my experience, I find that fat freezes exceptionally well. I have had excellent results freezing salume (and bacon, for that matter) for many months, perhaps as long as a year, with no obvious degradation in quality if brought back to room temperature slowly. Are you vacuum-sealing it?