My FIRST BATCH of hard salami

[Joe Wood]

Hello to all... At this stage of my dry salami making I'm afraid I have more questions than I'm entitled to. However any help I receive will be most appreciated.

1.   I followed directions on the 5 lb. batch as well as I was able... Three weeks into this I have achieved about 43% reduction in weight on all links. I use a wine fridge to cure.. My neighbor took one link home at the same time and just "hung it in his refrigerator" with no special settings for humidity or temperature... This one came out IDENTICAL to all the rest in appearance and weight reduction of 43%. How can this be?

2.   I put the left over Mold 600 in a bowl in with the drying salami links. Is this good or not good ?

3.   Now  that desired weight has been achieved is further aging beneficial?

Thanks so much for offering a site like this... All the best to all of you...

Joe Wood

[HKDave]

1 - assuming your curing chamber wasn't too cold, you fermented your salami; your neighbour dehydrated his (because not much fermentation happening at 4 degrees Celsius). There should be a difference in taste.

2 - doesn't make much difference. Did you soak your casings in non-chlorinated water, and mix your M-600 with lukewarm non-chlorinated water? That makes a difference.

3 - I'd say there was no point taking them further. That's at the upper end of weight loss for most formulations.

[Joe Wood]

On 8/9/2020 at 3:27 AM, HKDave said:

1 - assuming your curing chamber wasn't too cold, you fermented your salami; your neighbour dehydrated his (because not much fermentation happening at 4 degrees Celsius). There should be a difference in taste.

2 - doesn't make much difference. Did you soak your casings in non-chlorinated water, and mix your M-600 with lukewarm non-chlorinated water? That makes a difference.

3 - I'd say there was no point taking them further. That's at the upper end of weight loss for most formulations.

I did soak  the casings in chlorine free water and rinsed  them in same. As for taste difference I never got o taste his but he liked it a lot.

Do you have a preference of percentage for weight loss in salami?

[Joe Wood]

NO MORE AIR POCKETS IN MY HARD SALAMI...

After seeing several air pockets forming while stuffing 55 mm collagen middles I came up with the idea of pricking the casings BEFORE filling them as opposed to after... The result was ZERO air pockets and easier filling of the casings... I was making a thirteen lb.batch of hard salami . I heard a lot of talk about using a coarse grind so I did that too {3/8}... I also hand diced the nearly frozen fat to achieve better definition in final product {read that on a blog too}.. All is in the curing chamber after 72 hrs. fermentation time... Again I saw somewhere that a long cure is better {?}

[rotuts]

@Joe Wood 

 

fine work    thank you for sharing .

 

do we get a glimpse of the cut salami ?

 

I envy your hobby and your diligence.

 

I also like your thermometer  .  I had one similar if not exactly the same

 

back when.

Edited August 22, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Joe Wood]

Thanks for looking at my posts... I certainly will post some pix of the final result... It'll be some time though... I checked them today and the  "delicious" white mold has caught on nicely too...

[kayb]

Are you using a wine fridge for your curing? I'm contemplating picking up a dorm room sized fridge for the same purpose, but I don't know if I can keep the temp warm enough. Any input?

[Joe Wood]

I have the greatest respect for the guys who've been doing this a long time... However I don't have their knowledge on the subject... But here's what I did:

 

I temp. controlled the batch as best I could in a wine cooler... Yet I was surprised that my batch came out identical  to the piece I gave to a friend  to cure in his fridge which ran at fridge temp {near 40% ?}... We both achieved the same weight reduction  at the same time...   

I like doing this so much that I might buy a second wine cooler so I can have more curing at the same time... Found one on Craigs List for $100.00... I'm not familiar with the dorm fridges...

[Joe Wood]

On 8/2/2020 at 5:21 PM, Joe Wood said:

Hello to all... At this stage of my dry salami making I'm afraid I have more questions than I'm entitled to. However any help I receive will be most appreciated.

1.   I followed directions on the 5 lb. batch as well as I was able... Three weeks into this I have achieved about 43% reduction in weight on all links. I use a wine fridge to cure.. My neighbor took one link home at the same time and just "hung it in his refrigerator" with no special settings for humidity or temperature... This one came out IDENTICAL to all the rest in appearance and weight reduction of 43%. How can this be?

2.   I put the left over Mold 600 in a bowl in with the drying salami links. Is this good or not good ?

3.   Now  that desired weight has been achieved is further aging beneficial?

Thanks so much for offering a site like this... All the best to all of you...

Joe Wood

 

A QUESTION FOR THE MORE EXPERIENCED... {THE PROS}

I put up a batch of salami about three weeks ago... I was expecting the shrinkage to take about six weeks... I've reached the desired weight loss of 35 % in only three weeks...

What do I do now to continue ageing it without it shrinking further?

Thanks to anyone who has an answer... Joe Wood

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Joe Wood (log)

[HKDave]

Three weeks is a fairly normal length of time to get this kind of weight loss with salami in hog casings. What do you want to achieve by aging it longer?

[Joe Wood]

On 8/2/2020 at 5:21 PM, Joe Wood said:

Hello to all... At this stage of my dry salami making I'm afraid I have more questions than I'm entitled to. However any help I receive will be most appreciated.

1.   I followed directions on the 5 lb. batch as well as I was able... Three weeks into this I have achieved about 43% reduction in weight on all links. I use a wine fridge to cure.. My neighbor took one link home at the same time and just "hung it in his refrigerator" with no special settings for humidity or temperature... This one came out IDENTICAL to all the rest in appearance and weight reduction of 43%. How can this be?

2.   I put the left over Mold 600 in a bowl in with the drying salami links. Is this good or not good ?

3.   Now  that desired weight has been achieved is further aging beneficial?

Thanks so much for offering a site like this... All the best to all of you...

Joe Wood

I guess flavor is what I'm after...  Everything I've read says 6 weeks or so for best results... Is this correct? And if so do I continue to leave it in the curing chamber {wine cooler} ? Or do I move it to somewhere else?

 

[HKDave]

The recipes in Ruhlman and Polcyn's "Charcuterie", to cite one widely-used beginner book, are in the 2-3 week range for 30% weight loss in hog casings (which I think you're using? hard to tell from the photo), and maybe a week more for something in beef middles. And that agrees with what you've just found.

 

In the real world, the time will vary with the amount of moisture in the recipe, the humidity of the cure room, and the diameter of the casings, so that's why we weigh.

[Joe Wood]

Thank you for the info... Yes I used hog casings...  I agree with you on all points... Once the desired weight is achieved what do others do at that time?  Is it advisable to continue the cure or is it time to vac-pac?  Or something else? Thanks in advance... Joe Wood

[HKDave]

11 hours ago, Joe Wood said:

Once the desired weight is achieved what do others do at that time?  Is it advisable to continue the cure or is it time to vac-pac? 

 

If the product has been hanging long enough to have cured and you're now at the weight you want,  I'd suggest the next step is to taste it. If you're happy with the result, vac-pack.

[Joe Wood]

Thank you I will do exactly that... I find this rather exciting because I can reduce my original start to finish time from six weeks to four (ish)... l live on Cape Cod but spend winters in Florida... I plan to bring salami with me when I migrate this fall... Joe Wood 

[Joe Wood]

HKDave... Thanks again for your input... I really want to produce some cracked black pepper coated salamis... But I'm not about to pay five or six dollars for ONE pre-peppered casing... Are you familiar with using a light wash of mustard  and rolling the salami in pepper once the mustard gets tacky?. This is something I'm familiar with from smoking meat such as briskets or ribs... It worked well to hold the dry rub from falling off and didn't effect the taste... I just used simple generic yellow mustard...

I also watched a video of someone cooking a combination of plain gelatin, karo syrup, and water into a slurry which was then painted on the salami and of course then being rolled in the cracked pepper... I'd love to hear of any other methods anyone may have to offer....

Joe Wood

[Joe Wood]

On 8/2/2020 at 5:21 PM, Joe Wood said:

Hello to all... At this stage of my dry salami making I'm afraid I have more questions than I'm entitled to. However any help I receive will be most appreciated.

1.   I followed directions on the 5 lb. batch as well as I was able... Three weeks into this I have achieved about 43% reduction in weight on all links. I use a wine fridge to cure.. My neighbor took one link home at the same time and just "hung it in his refrigerator" with no special settings for humidity or temperature... This one came out IDENTICAL to all the rest in appearance and weight reduction of 43%. How can this be?

2.   I put the left over Mold 600 in a bowl in with the drying salami links. Is this good or not good ?

3.   Now  that desired weight has been achieved is further aging beneficial?

Thanks so much for offering a site like this... All the best to all of you...

Joe Wood

 

Below is a picture of my second batch of hard salami... This is the batch where I hand diced the 20% fat to achieve more definition... Not my idea... I saw it on line but kinda like it...

Edited September 12, 2020 by Joe Wood (log)