Hello, and help!!

[Dragon]

I've just stumbled upon this site - and what a revelation. I had no idea there was such a sausage making community out there.
I've just had a go at making salami and think I'm heading for a disaster. The beef bungs arrived in the post so I grabed a copy of HFW book and followed the salami recipe. With no mincer I had to use a food processor instead, and then a funnel and wooded spoon to fill the casings -I then hung the salamis in the garden shed.
They have come alive !! My salamis are now covered in grey hair - is this normal?
Also - what equipment should I buy? I see that this site offeres mincers and stuffers for about �30 - is this all I need for my salamis?
Sorry to be a demanding newcomer - I promise to contribute for fruitfully in the future provided I don;t get terribly ill in the meantime

[Franco]

Hello and welcome to the forum...

a couple of questions...

What colour is the fur? how does the salami smell?and what recipe did you use? and did you use nitrates ie saltpetre?

Franco

[Dragon]

Franco

thanks for replying. The fur is white - about 1 cm long. The salamis don't smell. I followed a recipe from The River Cottage Cookbook. 400 gLean pork, 100g back fat, 10g salt, red wine, garlic and half a teaspoon of acidophilus. I didn't add any saltpetre.
The salamis are hanging in the garden shed (too cold?)

regards
Dragon

[Parson Snows]

It's not so much the temperature that is critical but rather the humidity or relative humidity. From the information that you have provided I would say that the atmosphere in your garden shed is too humid. If you intend to make more salamis and also intend to keep them in your shed I would suggest that you purchase a small humidifier, and place it in the shed.

hope that this information is of some use to you

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Dragon]

Thankyou Parson Snows
I've just got back from two weeks working in Thailand. Before I left I put the salamis up into the attic - where it should be less humid, and a little warmer perhaps.
I guess I'll wait and see what happens to them !!

Dragon

[Spuddy]

If you haven't used any nitrates/nitrites at all then I would seriously recommend that you cook them well before eating them.