Salami time

[Oddley]

Spuddy I have got to hold my hands up, the calculations I did for you were wrong. The problem came when I used the following to base my calculations on.

Prague 2
1 pound salt, 1 ounce sodium nitrite, 0.64 ounce sodium nitrate.

Nitrite = 5.6689% = 124.978 ppm at 1 gm per 1lb meat
Nitrate = 3.6281% = 79.986 ppm at 1 gm per 1lb meat

So I calculated it in kg using the lb ppm. so this time I have used:

************************************************************
Prague 2
1 pound salt, 1 ounce sodium nitrite, 0.64 ounce sodium nitrate.

Nitrite = 5.6689% = 56.689 ppm at 1 gm per 1 kg meat
Nitrate = 3.6281% = 36.281 ppm at 1 gm per 1 kg meat
************************************************************

I have posted all the calculations this time so you can look them over. I don't think there are any mistakes.

Nitrates ingoing ppm = weight of cure * % nitrates * 1000000 / 100 * weight of meat

Nitrates ingoing ppm = 5 * 3.6281 * 1000000 / 100 * 1500 = 121

Nitrates ingoing ppm = 121

Saltpetre = Weight Sodium Nitrate * 100 / 53.2

Saltpetre = 121 * 100 / 53.2 = 227

Saltpetre = 227

Nitrites ingoing ppm = weight of cure * % nitrites * 1000000 / 100 * weight of meat

Nitrites ingoing ppm = 5 * 5.6689 * 1000000 / 100 * 1500 = 189

Nitrites ingoing ppm = 189

Saltpetre = Weight Sodium Nitrite * 100 / 70.8

Saltpetre = 189 * 100 / 70.8 = 267

Total Saltpetre equivilent = 227 + 267 = 494

Sodium Nitrates ingoing ppm = 121
Sodium Nitrites ingoing ppm = 189
Total Saltpetre equivilent = 494 should be 438 mg/kg need to sort this out.

So the outcome is the Saltpetre = about 0.438 - 0.494 gm/kg


A lot less than you thought eh. Me too.

Read this link it's to do with salami:

http://www.r-biopharm.com/enzymatic/pdf/meat_enzym.pdf

Still a bit of a discrepency with Sodium Nitrate to Potassium Nitrate.

[Spuddy]

Mate, I'm glad you know what you're talking about 'cos after the bottle of red wine I've just enjoyed it makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever hic!
I'll have to look at it again tomorrow.
I saw your other post re the PDF file earlier and it is interesting reading.
BR
Paul

[Oddley]

Lucky sod! I'd love a drink tonight, but I'm still on this bloody diet. It's killing me!

[Spuddy]

Me too normally, but I've just joined a gym so I'm celebrating

[TobyB]

Spuddy, would it be ok if I used the culture franco supplies to spray my salamis? I ask as although there is some white mould developing there are also unwanted spots of blue/green mould which I'm going to rub with a bit of vinegar and then was planning to spray the lot of them with some of the original culture. Will this work or do I have to use the penecillium mould you suggest?

[Spuddy]

No, The culture Franco sells is a Lactobacillus culture not a Penicillin culture, it won't grow a mould as far as I know (in fact it probably won't do anything at all on the outside).
What you could do is go out and buy a nice furry salami or a camembert, scrape some of the outside mould off it and mix it with 1/4 pint cooled boiled water and a pinch of sugar, leave it at room temperature for a couple of hours shaking regularly. Then spray it on or dip the salami in it.
That's what I used to do before finding www.ascott.biz

[TobyB]

Brilliant. Thanks very much. I have an elderly camembert in the fridge so will use that. Sadly my work security won't let me log onto the ascott site for some reason so I can't order from there. Thanks again for the tip.

regards

Toby

[Platypus]

I've got a batch of chorizo on the go at the moment, they've been maturing for about a week now but I didn't use any penicillin on them 'cause I didn't have any.

I looked on the ascott site and would have bought some but they wanted over a fiver for postage

That' just plain greedy, after all a 1st class stamp and a jiffy bag would cost them less than 50p

So I think I'll try rubbing my sausage with a slice of cheese

Spuddy, how long does the penicillin take to 'bloom'? My chorizo are in hog casings so will not need to hang for much more than another couple of weeks. Have I left it too late?

[aris]

Most commercial chorizo i've seen doesn't have a bloom. I wonder if it is necessary at all?

[Platypus]

It's probably not needed for authentic style chorizo, but I read somewhere that it helps to supress the spoil bacteria.

[Spuddy]

I order all my cheesemaking stuff from them so the postage isn't an issue.
I'm sure that if you give them a call they might do the postage at a more realistic level if it's only for one sachet.
It usually takes between a few days and a few weeks to get a good bloom depending on conditions and I think the main purpose of it is the flavour/aroma it imparts closely followed by the protection against undesirable moulds.
As Aris said Chorizo doesn't normally have the same level of bloom that you expect on a Salame so maybe it's not so important (after all when you've peeled the skin off the bit you actually eat has had the cure in it so should be protected by that.)
I think I remember someone (Franco I think) saying If you get mould and it is white leave it, if it's green wipe it off with vinegar and if it's black then dump it. Sounds like good advice to me, the only thing I'd add is if you get no mould at all then don't worry about it it'll still be good.

[TobyB]

Right, all the spots of green/blue mould were wiped off with vinegar and a mix was made using cooled boiled water and the scrapings from a rind off a brie. The salamis had plenty of mould of both white and blue/green but all smell absolutely fine. They are pretty dry near the top now but still quite moist at the bottom.

Here's hoping they develop a perfect white bloom over the next few days and hopefully I'll be able to report back on a tasting shortly!

Thanks for the advice. If the camenbert/brie mould works ok is seems a much easier and cheaper way of staring a penecillium mould than buying the culture and I nearly always have a bit of cheese hanging around in the house!

Regards

Toby

[mr.c]

Hello all very nice forum you have.

Can any one help me I have been making biltong in my home made biltong box & very happy with the results my eating, now I would love to make chorizo is there any Beginners step by step guide (with pic) or any link that may help me


Thank you

mr.c