Superlative Solomons Salami
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:16 amMy pal Tony from Brisbane is 1st generation Italian. His family regularly slaughter pigs and his Mum, now well over 80, makes traditional Italian salami in the Australian winter so we tried her recipe and Wow it really turned out great. The older Italians have never heard of starter culture so they just use salt, pepper, paprika and garlic and sometimes a touch of chili. The main difference with Mum's method is to press the meat for 24 hours to remove surplus moisture before mincing.
Starting with 7.5 kg of visually lean pork shoulder and 2.5 kg of back fat, the procedure is as follows:
Cut the meat into finger nail size pieces and put into a colander. Put a saucepan lid or plate over the meat and place a heavy weight on top. My pic below shows the colander, saucepan lid and 7 kg weight (a heavy iron auger bit) standing in a bowl ready to put into the fridge. The bowl collects the fliuds that drain out of the meat.
The following pic shows the fluid that collected in the bowl. I was amazed. Over 600 ml from 7.5 kg of meat. Mum says the small finger nail size pieces are needed to allow the fluids to drain out.
Mince the meat with the fat and thourougly mix with 30g of salt per kg of meat so we used 225g. 100g pepper, 200 g paprika, 5 cloves crushed garlic and 1 teaspoon chili powder were then kneaded thoroughly into the mix with 2g (200ppm) Saltpetre. The pepper can be either white or black, we used white in this case because I had plenty of it handy. We added the KNO3 as a preservative in view of the tropical climate here Solomon Islands. The meat and fat were minced through a medium 5mm mincer plate but some might prefer a coarser 8mm plate for a more traditional appearance.
The mixture was then tightly stuffed into beef middles and left to dry out in the fridge. In cooler conditions the salami could be hung out but not here. We made 12 salami about 800g each. After four weeks the weight reduced by almost 40% to 500g so we cut one up and demolished it with a couple of beers each. I was surprised not to have any mould on the outside but that didn't detract from the salami's quality. I don't think adding starter culture and incubating for 24 hours would give any different results, the salami would be equally good, it's just a matter of personal choice whether to use it or not.
The important factor I believe is the initial pressing that must kick-start the drying and help the curing. Pic below of a sliced salami. There are only 3 left. I didn't know my neighbours all liked salami so much.
All the best to everyone,
Vernon
Starting with 7.5 kg of visually lean pork shoulder and 2.5 kg of back fat, the procedure is as follows:
Cut the meat into finger nail size pieces and put into a colander. Put a saucepan lid or plate over the meat and place a heavy weight on top. My pic below shows the colander, saucepan lid and 7 kg weight (a heavy iron auger bit) standing in a bowl ready to put into the fridge. The bowl collects the fliuds that drain out of the meat.
The following pic shows the fluid that collected in the bowl. I was amazed. Over 600 ml from 7.5 kg of meat. Mum says the small finger nail size pieces are needed to allow the fluids to drain out.
Mince the meat with the fat and thourougly mix with 30g of salt per kg of meat so we used 225g. 100g pepper, 200 g paprika, 5 cloves crushed garlic and 1 teaspoon chili powder were then kneaded thoroughly into the mix with 2g (200ppm) Saltpetre. The pepper can be either white or black, we used white in this case because I had plenty of it handy. We added the KNO3 as a preservative in view of the tropical climate here Solomon Islands. The meat and fat were minced through a medium 5mm mincer plate but some might prefer a coarser 8mm plate for a more traditional appearance.
The mixture was then tightly stuffed into beef middles and left to dry out in the fridge. In cooler conditions the salami could be hung out but not here. We made 12 salami about 800g each. After four weeks the weight reduced by almost 40% to 500g so we cut one up and demolished it with a couple of beers each. I was surprised not to have any mould on the outside but that didn't detract from the salami's quality. I don't think adding starter culture and incubating for 24 hours would give any different results, the salami would be equally good, it's just a matter of personal choice whether to use it or not.
The important factor I believe is the initial pressing that must kick-start the drying and help the curing. Pic below of a sliced salami. There are only 3 left. I didn't know my neighbours all liked salami so much.
All the best to everyone,
Vernon
Yep it is cold and very foggy 
I'll pull the meter out of the fridge and get an out of fridge reading 
