Salami time

[Spuddy]

I made some Salami and some Chorizo yesterday.
They're hanging in my kitchen at the moment to ferment and will be moved to our utility room (we have a double length garage so converted half of it into a utility room where the freezer, washing machine and tumble dryer are kept. At this time of the year the conditions are ideal for maturing Salami (although I've done it a little bit later than usual so I'm hoping it will still be OK)

[aris]

They look great. Please tell us which recipe you are using and what technique you plan to follow.

What did you stuff them in? Ox runners?

[Jonty]

Spuddy,

They look fantastic. What sort of time does it take for salamis of that diameter to dry??

[Spuddy]

The Salami recipe was:

1.5Kg Pork medium minced
400g Pork Back Fat coarse minced
40ml Red Wine
5g Coarse milled Black Pepper
7g Coarse milled Fennel seeds
30g Salt
5g Cure#2
0.5g Starter Culture
2 Crushed Garlic Cloves



The Chorizo recipe was:
1.5Kg Pork
500g Pork Back Fat
2g Fine Milled Black Pepper
2TBS La Chinata Smoked Sweet Paprika
1TBS La Chinata Smoked Hot Paprika
30g Salt
5g Cure#2
0.5 g Starter Culture
1 Crushed Garlic Clove


All mincing was done with meat and fat still partially frozen. Then all mixed together well and stuffed into casings when mixture has reached around 4-5 degrees C.



I plan to leave them for 24-48 Hours hanging in the kitchen to allow the starter culture to do it's work. I will then transfer them to the utility room (it's brick built with no windows so at this time of the year the temperature is just right) for another six weeks or so. After the first week they'll get a quick spraying over with some penicillin culture to encourage the white mould growth.

Before you ask, I haven't a clue what the RH is. I've done Salami this way for the last five years and they've always come out fine (no case hardening or uneven texture). This is my first attempt at an air dried Chorizo style sausage though but I'm sure the conditions will be OK for these too.

The casings I used were Beef Middles which are wider than Runners at 60-70mm.

[Oddley]

Spuddy I'm interested to know are these your recipes. The reason being is I would like to know if you worked out the ingoing amounts of Nitrates/Nitrites yourself. They are quite high near the maximum safe residual levels.

For 4 gm cure #2 per kg meat no fat.

Ingoing

Sodium Nitrite 500 ppm
Sodium Nitrate 320 ppm

Expected residual Nitrite 82 - 164 ppm

is this what you expected.

[Spuddy]

Sorry mate, slip of the finger, it was 5g cure no 2.
I''ll edit the post to reflect it.
The salami recipe is based on old family recipes with adjustments for using premixed cures taken from Len Poli's basic recipe (my Grandmother used saltpeter and for the first couple of attempts so did I)

How do your calculations run on it now?

[Oddley]

These are the ingoing and residual amounts I would expect.

3.33 gm cure#2 per 1kg meat

Ingoing

Nitrite = 417 ppm
Nitrate = 267 ppm

Expected Nitrite Residual = 68 - 136 ppm

This is of course after a couple of months.

At these rates I would expect your old family recipe would add about 1.2 gm saltpetre per 1 kg meat. Or 1 teaspoon of saltpetre per 5 kg meat.

[Spuddy]

It was 1g per kilo in the old recipe.

So are you saying that I've got more residual now than before?

If the levels are within the maximum is it not better to overcure than undercure, especially on a product that is not going to be cooked?

Out of interest, what would be your calculated input quantity of Cure #2 for this amount of product?

BR
Spuddy

Day 2 picture below, notice the colour change.

[Oddley]

Spuddy you have been doing the salami for years and because I have calculated it to be 200 ppm more saltpetre is minimal.

This cure is inline with traditional bacon cures by the like of maynard davis. I would not worry about it. I have not made any long cured meat / sausages yet. Only bacon ham etc nothing air dried. that is why I'm circumspect and put less cure in because of the short time to allow chemical reactions.

I would have to think about it but I believe I would use about the same as you in air dried stuff. The equivalent to about 1 gm or 1000 ppm saltpetre. Plus remember we still haven't sorted out the 53.3% difference in sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate so my calculations might be a little off. Not so much as to do harm but enough to cause a discrepancy.

I have redone my calculations and to be completely accurate acording to my more careful calcs it works out that the cure #2 you are using is equivilent to 1.105 gm saltptre which for the reasons above seems ok to me.

[Spuddy]

Thanks mate, that's reassuring.
I'd forgotton about that sodium vs potassium question, I might have to have another look at that sometime.

Have a Good Easter

[Jonty]

Spuddy,

You mentioned spraying your salami with a penicillin culture. Where do you get this from ?? If you could let me know I'd be grateful.

Thanks

[aris]

Yes, and I wouldn't mind seeing some regularly updated pics of your salamis!

[Spuddy]

I use Penicillium Candidum which is also used in cheesemaking (another of my pastimes) to get the white finish on cheeses like Brie and Camembert.
I get it from here: http://www.ascott.biz

I'll post some more pictures soon.

[aris]

Cheesemaking eh? I smell another section of this forum coming up

[Spuddy]

I thought you might say that as I was typing it.