# My first attempt at salami



## Devon_Steven (Apr 6, 2016)

Some pictures here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/albums/72157664421861441

Started off with a rare-breed (and small) pig's shoulder and a honesuki and ended up with some pretty decent salami.

Only disappointment has been that some of the fat clumped together and created large lumps of fat.

Next time I'll use less fat overall (probably 20 per cent) and be sure to mix it with the meat better (a better distribution could be achieved by putting the mixture through a grinder, but my grinder produces a much finer mixture than I would like).


Here's what I used for anyone who's interested...

Lean Pork Shoulder 77 %
Pork Fat 23 %

The amounts for the following ingredients are written as percentage of the weight of the meat and fat content.


Sea salt2.64%Cure #2 (Prague Powder #2)0.15%Black Pepper0.04%Red Wine0.29%Garlic0.0125%Dextrose0.04%Sugar0.04%Bactoferm T-SPX	Fermentation culture0.04%
 

In addition to the above, some of the salami got crushed fennel at 0.4 per cent and some got whole black pepper at 0.1 per cent (the ones with the pepper corns also got 0.1 per cent ground black pepper in total).

Reckon I can increase the fennel a little next time.

--

The casings are beef runners for the thinner sausages and beef middles for the thicker ones.

The white mould on the casings was deliberately added; I cultured it from a piece of casing on a commercial salami by putting a piece of mouldy casing in water at 20oC along with some dextrose for a few hours, and then sprayed that solution onto the fresh salami.

The salami were stored at 20oC for 72 hours to get the fermentation started and then at 12oC for the remaining time. Took 4 to 5 weeks for the thinner ones to reach a 45 to 50 per cent weight loss. I preferred the ones that were closer to 50 per cent weight loss.

The curing chamber is an old fridge with a digital temperature controller installed that switches the power to the fridge on and off to keep the temperature around your chosen value.

Altogether a very satisfying experience and I'll be making version 2 shortly!


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## mikedtran (Apr 6, 2016)

Looks great! Now I'm thinking about trying this.


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 6, 2016)

mikedtran said:


> Looks great! Now I'm thinking about trying this.



Well, this is a very good resource: http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/fermented-sausage


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## mikedtran (Apr 6, 2016)

Devon_Steven said:


> Well, this is a very good resource: http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/fermented-sausage



Awesome thanks for sharing!!!


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## ChefJimbo (Apr 6, 2016)

Looks like a beautiful BEAUTIFUL soppressata to me!!


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## Dardeau (Apr 6, 2016)

Looks like you did a lot of things right. It looks better than my first salami for sure.


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## krx927 (Apr 7, 2016)

Cool Man! Looks delicious!


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## preizzo (Apr 7, 2016)

Wow stunning job Steven &#128516;


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## preizzo (Apr 7, 2016)

This salami looks delicious &#128523;


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## nwdel (Apr 7, 2016)

Well done, looks beautiful. If you grind and keep the meat and fat really cold, like just above frozen that will help with fat clumping. You can put your grinder plates and knives in the freezer. Also you can try using a different cut. I use leg which is very lean and backfat which has a higher melting point than fat on other parts of the pig so it won't smear as much.


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

ChefJimbo said:


> Looks like a beautiful BEAUTIFUL soppressata to me!!



Now there's an idea... Soppressata (at least the Calabrian stuff that I read about) has only 10-15 per cent fat. Might have a crack at that next (esp. since I like the hot pepper salami flavours).


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

Dardeau said:


> Looks like you did a lot of things right. It looks better than my first salami for sure.



Thanks. One thing I definitely did do right was to read a lot before I started :biggrin:


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

krx927 said:


> Cool Man! Looks delicious!





preizzo said:


> This salami looks delicious &#128523;



It's tasting pretty good too!

I'm eating some now and, now that it's at 50 per cent weight loss I don't think that the too-much-fat thing is such an issue any more. After all, the fat is there to provide some moisture to compensate for the dried-up muscle. Perhaps when I first tasted it (at 45 per cent weight loss) it was just too moist.

It has to be said, the difference in texture between 45 and 50 per cent weight loss is quite significant. And I think that the flavour has improved as well.


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

nwdel said:


> Well done, looks beautiful. If you grind and keep the meat and fat really cold, like just above frozen that will help with fat clumping. You can put your grinder plates and knives in the freezer. Also you can try using a different cut. I use leg which is very lean and backfat which has a higher melting point than fat on other parts of the pig so it won't smear as much.



That's interesting about the backfat's melting point. This could be an issue with these sausages... 

I did ask the butcher for some backfat but he muttered something about "these rare breed pigs are pretty lean and don't have much fat...". He did, however, throw some gratis pork 'fat trimmings' in with my meat order.

The trimmings are not backfat, however, and with hindsight, I think he needs the backfat for his own sausages and doesn't have any spare to sell. 

--

I'm thinking of trying some leg (it took a long time to prepare that shoulder... connective tissues etc.). I know from the (curing) forums that some home-curers are using a combination of leg and belly to achieve the fat content they want. The belly fat (I think) is less prone to smearing as it is an integral part of the muscle.


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## Dardeau (Apr 8, 2016)

I've always been told to use back fat as well, at least for diced garnish. You can also keep an ice bath nearby if your plates get hot. There is also no shame in tossing in a small amount of ice water to smooth your emulsion if things get hairy.


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

Dardeau said:


> I've always been told to use back fat as well, at least for diced garnish. You can also keep an ice bath nearby if your plates get hot. There is also no shame in tossing in a small amount of ice water to smooth your emulsion if things get hairy.



It's also my understanding that back fat is best, but I thought it was a flavour issue, the melting point issue is news to me.

Ice/water in the salami mix serves to prolong the drying process, and it is its dryness that ultimately protects the salami from pathogens - the curing salts and lactic acid bacteria are there to keep things good until the the water content (water activity) has dropped sufficiently to prevent the growth of micro-organisms.

In other words, you can add icy water, but it isn't always the best idea.


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## Dardeau (Apr 8, 2016)

I'm used to doing this in a climate controlled room that has a pretty strong positive culture population so I am less worried than most about contamination while drying. 

Just like any other emulsion a little cold water will improve the texture. This is more of an issue in fresh sausages, but can reduce graininess in sec sausages. I'm talking like a t at a time, not large amounts.


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 8, 2016)

Devon, First of all, looks fantastic. Great job on the curing chamber too. Curious why you used lean meat? Did you trim it, as in removing all fat, sinew, glands and silver? As noted, back fat is king without question. Its a lot more dense than belly and has a lot less water. 

I've had excellent success using:
1.) Sodium erythrobate to completely facilitate the nitrite (though it looks like your color is good). 
2.) Dehydrated milk as a binder and mouth feel
3.) Phosphates. I use FAB or AMES Phos. for long term sausage moisture

Those were beef bungs right? Love working with them, I've got 10 5" bungs waiting for more pancetta/whole muscle cure. Lately i've been into whole muscle charcuterie over ground. 

Great post.

dennis


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks Dennis.



Mucho Bocho said:


> Curious why you used lean meat? Did you trim it, as in removing all fat, sinew, glands and silver?



Yes, I removed all but muscle from the shoulder and then added in the fat. I did it that way so that I knew the exact propotion of fat I used. That way, I know how much to use next time, and so on, until I get exactly what suits my taste.



Mucho Bocho said:


> I've had excellent success using:
> 1.) Sodium erythrobate to completely facilitate the nitrite (though it looks like your color is good).
> 2.) Dehydrated milk as a binder and mouth feel
> 3.) Phosphates. I use FAB or AMES Phos. for long term sausage moisture



Yes, I'm really happy with the colour.
The milk you've used also provides lactose for the fermentation culture to feed on.
Re additives in general, I'm trying to keep things as simple and traditional as I can (e.g. slow fermentation), fewer additives.



Mucho Bocho said:


> Those were beef bungs right? Love working with them, I've got 10 5" bungs waiting for more pancetta/whole muscle cure. Lately i've been into whole muscle charcuterie over ground.



Not bungs... runners (which are around 35 to 40mm [1 3/8" to 1 5/8"] in diameter) and middles (50 to 55mm diameter [around 2"]).

For a couple of years I've been doing pancetta and guanciale (pork cheeks) but not using casings for the pancetta.

Along with doing the salami I also prepared a coppa from the pork shoulder and also some bresaola. Both coppa and bresaola went into bungs and are still drying.

Yes, it's nice working with the intestines! 

--
Steven


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 8, 2016)

I like your style Steven. I'd like to use one of those bungs to make a mortadella with olives but nobody in my family appreciates emulsified charcuterie. 

Did you use hog rings to close the casing? I found them to be a PIA. I've been suturing the bungs with a needle and kitchen string. I'll get three small coppa's out of one bung. 

I've been thinking about using the bungs in a cooked dish. Something awesome inside it (ballottine), then slowly braising it. Sorta like haggis, except not haggis. Imagine a whole small boned suckling tucked in there or even leg of lamb and cooked it in a pit like BBQ? As long as there was ample moisture could work? The nice thing is that you can make the bungs permeable by poking holes in them.


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## Devon_Steven (Apr 8, 2016)

Dennis, you're making a Scotsman hungry and homesick talking about haggis!!!

Like you, I love Mortadella but my wife hates it!

As for tying up the coppa/bresaola, I just use butcher's twine. I wanted to use natural (hemp or flax or something) twine but the cost to buy it in the UK is ridiculous. I noticed while searching the web that in the US or Australia it is very cheap. But here, it sells for very high prices and you often can't be sure that it is undyed (it seems to be being sold to people for crafts).


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## Dardeau (Apr 8, 2016)

Hog rings are awesome if you have a good crimping tool. Sewing or tying 25 casings gets old pretty fast. If you are using big casings a hemostat or locking tweezers will help hold it


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 8, 2016)

Dardeau, Maybe that's it as I currently have a $hit crimping tool. Thanks for the tip about the hemostat, I've for one too.


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## Dardeau (Apr 8, 2016)

The hog rings don't really make a difference unless you are doing a lot at once. Just don't try to overwork the hemostat, I've broken a few making bologna.


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 8, 2016)

I just looked for an automatic hog ring plier but didn't really see anything I was interested in.


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