Author Topic: My First Home Made Salami  (Read 7791 times)

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #15 on: October 13, 2015, 11:52:40 PM »
Not really.  6 weeks perhaps?  It needs to lose 30% of it's total weight.  Here's the Mold 600 growth I have on day three. ;D
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Offline Boofer

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Lakewood, Washington
  • Posts: 5,015
  • Cheeses: 344
  • Contemplating cheese
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #16 on: October 14, 2015, 01:29:34 AM »
Nice dissertation, Al. Have a cheese for that presentation.

Good point about the pic size. I try to downsize my entries to 1024x768 unless I want to show close-up detail of a rind or paste. But that means the blown-up pic is sharp & crisp, not fuzzy and unfocused. For folks who may not be aware, clicking on a large size pic will blow it up so the detail is larger.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #17 on: October 14, 2015, 03:30:28 PM »
Thanks Boofer!  Still haven't worked out how to downsize this, haven't had the time, but I'm sure my software will do it. ;D
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

john H

  • Guest
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #18 on: November 10, 2015, 02:19:43 AM »
Nice job Al. It is a lot of fun making cured meats and there are as many types of cured meats as there are cheeses. A cheese to you.

Offline pastpawn

  • Mature Cheese
  • ****
  • Location: Clearwater, FL
  • Posts: 251
  • Cheeses: 45
  • It aint easy being cheesy
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #19 on: November 16, 2015, 05:40:53 AM »
Updates?

I've made salami.  I charted the weight vs time.  I was waiting for the salami to reduce to about 70%.  Took about 3 weeks. 

- Andrew

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #20 on: November 29, 2015, 05:48:08 PM »
Well I cut into my salamis today and much to my dismay they had a condition known as "case hardening."  This happens to the best of the sausage makers so it's nothing to get dismayed over.  Just try again.  I currently have 16 pounds of pork butts and 4 pounds of pork fat in the deep freeze so as soon as the freezing period is up, for trichinosis, I'll be making some more salami and will have a shot at Sopressata at the same time.  Should be fun!  Watch for a new thread!
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Offline pastpawn

  • Mature Cheese
  • ****
  • Location: Clearwater, FL
  • Posts: 251
  • Cheeses: 45
  • It aint easy being cheesy
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #21 on: November 30, 2015, 12:18:37 AM »
Well I cut into my salamis today and much to my dismay they had a condition known as "case hardening."  This happens to the best of the sausage makers so it's nothing to get dismayed over.  Just try again.  I currently have 16 pounds of pork butts and 4 pounds of pork fat in the deep freeze so as soon as the freezing period is up, for trichinosis, I'll be making some more salami and will have a shot at Sopressata at the same time.  Should be fun!  Watch for a new thread!


You have to keep the humidity up to avoid that.  Here's some pic to keep this thread from being depressing.  I had some success :)  I know it's a bit of intrusion and hijack, but I'd like to see this end on a positive.


- Andrew

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #22 on: November 30, 2015, 11:24:49 PM »
looks good!!  Don't worry, I'll be back!! ;D
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Kern

  • Guest
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #23 on: December 02, 2015, 06:22:57 AM »
Al, for us salami maker wannabes just exactly what is "case hardening"?

Kern

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #24 on: December 02, 2015, 04:35:16 PM »
The outside of the salami dries out turning dark red and hard preventing the inside from drying. When you cut it the center is soft and mushy and smells sour.  It's a common condition that happens to everyone including the pros so it's nothing to be discouraged about.  The inside meat simply doesn't cure because the moisture couldn't get out.  Just check them daily to make sure the outside is hydrated and does not dry out.  You can mist them daily if they start to dry out too much.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2015, 04:46:27 PM by Al Lewis »
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Offline pastpawn

  • Mature Cheese
  • ****
  • Location: Clearwater, FL
  • Posts: 251
  • Cheeses: 45
  • It aint easy being cheesy
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #25 on: December 03, 2015, 03:09:08 AM »
The outside of the salami dries out turning dark red and hard preventing the inside from drying. When you cut it the center is soft and mushy and smells sour.  It's a common condition that happens to everyone including the pros so it's nothing to be discouraged about.  The inside meat simply doesn't cure because the moisture couldn't get out.  Just check them daily to make sure the outside is hydrated and does not dry out.  You can mist them daily if they start to dry out too much.

Humidity meters are VERY cheap.  Check amazon.  If you have a closed chamber, like a fridge or chest freezer, it's pretty easy to keep the humidity up just by placing a container of water in there.  That's what I did.  I'm a beer maker as well, and I'm about to start fermenting lagers, which require about 50F, so I'll be making another bunch of salami at the same time. 
- Andrew

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #26 on: December 03, 2015, 02:21:11 PM »
yeah, I'm getting ready to brew my annual amber ale in a couple of weeks.  Fun stuff!! ;D
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

reg

  • Guest
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #27 on: December 10, 2015, 02:35:37 PM »
Hi Al, glad to see you making cured sausage. Temperature and humidity are the most important steps in the whole process of the make. Without having a dedicated space with a temperature between 50 - 58* and a minimum humidity of 70 - 75% it will be very difficult. You can buy a cool mist humidifier pretty cheep and plug it into a timer and that will eliminate most of the problems.

reg

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #28 on: December 10, 2015, 04:29:33 PM »
Thanks! I have a compartment set up to cure the next ones I do.  Both temp and RH are perfect.  ;D
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

reg

  • Guest
Re: My First Home Made Salami
« Reply #29 on: December 11, 2015, 03:41:35 PM »
Good stuff Al. We usually start our soprassata about the middle of November but this year has been warmer so I still have not did the first batch yet. I hope to start next week.

I have a brazola (eye of round) in the cure now and that should be ready to case and hang in about 10 days