Salami Help Please

[deb]

I'm shortly going to be making some salamis and chorizos (hopefully). I was looking through the recipe in Hugh F-W's "River Cottage Cookbook" and it makes no mention of using ANY cure or saltpetre whatsoever, surely this is wrong isn't it?
The recipe uses 400g of lean pork with 100g hard pork backfat and salt etc. so if I were to use this basic recipe (maybe some added herbs/spices) could I just add some cure#2, and if so how much?
He also uses half a teaspoon of Acidophilus, I assume in place of the starter culture (as sold by Franco). Is this o.k. to use instead of the starter culture? He says it can be obtained from Chemists and Health-food shops as a powder so if it is a direct replacement it may actually be easier to get and store than the stuff Franco sells.
As you can tell I am a complete novice at this so all and any help will be gratefully received.
There's every chance I'll give Hugh's recipe a miss and maybe go with Len Poli, but I'd kinda like to use it as it seems pretty simple and straightforward (probably a good reason for leaving well alone).
Thanks.

[Franco]

Deb,

as much as I admire HFW's work I think that his cured meat recipes without nitrates are downright dangerous, there is a reason for nitrates and that is they stop you poisoning yourself or family.

Acidophollus fom the chemists is a different thing to the starter culture I sell it's also very expensive, I once bought some and it cost �16. The starter culture I sell will make 50 kilos of salami and costs �5.95. It is a product that is specificallly for salami making.

By all means try HFW's recipes, I post often on his forum and listen to the results people get from his cured meat recipes and they don't often work well with people complaing that results are over salty.



Nitrates work, it isn't worth risking making without.


Franco

[deb]

Thanks Franco, as I suspected. I wouldn't make a dried sausage without any nitrates.
I will sort out what I need and then I'll get round to ordering.
I have the Jane Grigson Charcuterie book which has lots of Saussion Sec recipes but I think these were devised before the cure#2 was around, have you any idea how much cure I would use to how much pork and fat please? I would like to use some of these recipes but don't know how much cure#2 to use.
Thanks for your help.

[aris]

Have a look at the recipes/formulations on Len Poli's site:

http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/

It tells you everything you need to know.

[Parson Snows]

Beef salami




also check out these links

http://www.ingredients.de/index.php?mm=48
http://blessingsforlife.com/recipes/fru ... salami.htm

I also posted this link before
http://www.gsngrocers.com/gsn/RecipeFul ... pe_id=7013

hope that this is of some use to you

kind regards

Parson Snows

[deb]

Thanks aris and Parson.
Looks like I won't be using Hugh's recipe.

[Parson Snows]

deb

let us know how it all goes. (with pictures if possible)

kind regards

Parson Snows