SOME ADVICE PLEASE

Air dried cured Meat Techniques

SOME ADVICE PLEASE

Postby CHARCUTIER » Wed Sep 29, 2004 2:59 pm

Only last week I made a saucisson following Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's instructions on the rivercottage website. The recipe was fairly basic, and Hugh was typically casual in his approach to the process - don't worry about moulds of varying colours, etc...

Since then, I have been terrified by the risk of contracting a host of nasty diseases (including botulism) I will run by eventually eating my still-embryonic sausage, thanks largely to a man called noddy on hugh's forum. I am especially worried as I misunderstood the skimpy instructions and only rubbed the acidopholous (my only hope of good bacteria as I was then unaware of saltpetre or prague powder) round the outside of the salami to encourage a pretty mould, I thought, rather than mixed in with the meat...

The salami is currently hanging in my attic, and seems to be doing fine. Ignorance is bliss...

Should I eat the thing or not?
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Postby Fatman » Wed Sep 29, 2004 5:13 pm

Chartcutier

Damn right you should!

Regards

Fatman
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Postby Twoscoops » Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:22 am

My only concern would be that the temperature is still a little high. I'm holding-off production of the first chorizo of the season until the temperature here has dropped below 12c (ish) for a few days.
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Postby aris » Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:42 am

Can you detail your chorizo technique for us?
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Postby CHARCUTIER » Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:00 pm

Fatman, Thanks for the reply. You will be glad to here I now have the courage to eat the beast when the time comes, although I'm still alittle aprehensive... Is there anything I should look out for, signs that things are going wrong?

I have recently recently received an ox-bung in the post - very exciting... Any tips regarding this larger casing? I'm hoping to make a Jesus de Lyon style saucisson and any help would be very welcome.

Also, as I don'thave anything specifically designed to control humidity or temperature yet, can anyone recommend budget diy methods to have a lttle more control over the process than just stick it in the attic and hope for the best?

Finally, any thoughts on merits of acidopholous vs prague and prague vs saltpetre, or any combinations of the above?...
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Postby Fatman » Thu Sep 30, 2004 10:01 pm

Charcutier

You are better asking twoscoops or spuddy on the technicalities, they both have the edge on me in that department.

As for the Jesus de lyon, I'll research that one as I will be in France next week carrying out some charcuterie.

Regards

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Postby Twoscoops » Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:27 am

aris wrote:Can you detail your chorizo technique for us?


Not sure if that was aimed at me, but I'm certainly no expert. I use the recipe for salami and chorizo from the River Cottage Cook Book. The recipe calls for great care in measuring out the ingredients, especially the salt. I think the critical points are hanging the sausages in a well-ventillated room, at a time of year when the temperature is unlikely to exceed 12 degrees (I think). It also says that the sausages will form moulds of several colours, which is nothing to worry about. You will certainly know if one of them has gone off.

I forgot to add the red wine last winter, and they dried quicker than I was expecting, but dried-out quite quickly too.
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Postby aris » Fri Oct 01, 2004 8:54 am

Hmm, sounds interesting. Does his recipe use nitrates of any kind?
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Postby CHARCUTIER » Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:39 pm

One more question concerning my embryonic salami:

Does the lack of saltpetre/nitrates/useful things mean that my sausage will be grey? I don't really mind (avoiding botulism is currently top of my priorities) but I'd rather know...
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Salami Colour

Postby Parson Snows » Mon Dec 06, 2004 6:09 pm

The answer is 99 % yes, when you cut into your salami it will probably be a grey/greyish colour. If some of the original meat used was very red - a condition referred to as Dark, Firm, Dry (DFD) then this colour is typically carried through the cooking/curing stage.

Hope that this is of some use to you

kind regards

Parson Snows
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And keep us all alive
There's ten around the table
And food enough for five... Amen
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