Guanciale, temp and humidity levels

I picked up some pork jowls today. I'm planing on making Guanciale. Most recipes call for hanging it in a "cool dry place" or "not be warmer than 60F".
I have a cold room in my basement that has a constant temp of 45F. Is this too cold?
Are humidity levels crucial to the drying process?

thanks!

45 degrees is spot on. Humidity affects the drying process, yes. What is the humidity in your cellar? Mine is about 50%, and this level works well for me.

Humidity is key when drying larger diameter items. If its too dry, the surface will dry too quickly and lock in the internal moisture, possibly leading to spoilage. If its too humid, you'll get lots of nasty mold and the meat can spoil before it starts to dry out.

Meats with thinner cross sections, like jowls, duck breasts, unrolled belly, tri tips, pork tender loins (which happen to be all things I've successfully dried at 55* 55% RH) do ok with less humidity.

If you conditions are similar to mine with low humidity, you can try doing what I do. I alternate the meat from hanging to bagged in a fridge. The time in the fridge allows the moisture inside to redistribute itself. But if this is your first try, then I wouldn't over think things too much. Cure it, hang it until you've lost 30-40% of your initial weight, cut it and if it still seems too soft/raw in the middle, bag it in the fridge and forget about it for a month and it will be perfect. Additionally, guanciale is typically cooked, so it can be hung for as little time as you'd like, just store in the freezer similar to bacon.


here's a link to some deer that I cured, you can clearly see how it cures unevenly when conditions are too dry (but not dry enough not to try )
venison bresaola

45 works but it takes longer than 55. I wouldn't flirt with 60F since staphylococcus bacteria start growing above 16C/60.8F. My ideal temp is ~10C/50F so 45 isn't far off.

Humidity from 60-80% works, higher is better for large diameter items as it helps guard against case hardening

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I wouldn't flirt with 60F since staphylococcus bacteria start growing above 16C/60.8F. My ideal temp is ~10C/50F so 45 isn't far off.

Humidity from 60-80% works, higher is better for large diameter items as it helps guard against case hardening </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

help me out here, its been some time since I delved into the specifics of drying meats and sausages. 45-50 seems pretty low, and IMO still too low to properly dry thin things. And why would higher be ok for bigger stuff but not smaller? I know you are a bit further along than I am, so hopefully you can help me understand. thanks.

it is not that higher humidity is bad for thinner stuff - just less important. therefore, if you have a lower humidity environment, it would be better suited for thinner stuff...

Right, like J law said - case hardening isn't a big factor for thin items like snack sticks (or even as thick as a ~32mm hog casing) but once you get too far beyond those parameters case hardening is a serious consideration

45 is also low in my opinion - when I got started I spent $65 to get a digital temperature control for my cabinet which has a thermostat that ran at ~48F, in order to increase it to 55F, but I've since settled in at about 50F.

I think 60 is probably OK but you're flirting with disaster. Last summer I had to toss a couple 3.5" genoa salami as during a heat wave my cabinet couldn't keep up, resulting in box temperatures around 65 for a few days to a week. The salamis spoiled.

Thanks guys!
I'll let you know how it turns out.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">45 is also low in my opinion </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

agreed. I can manage it, but it usually requires a long sleep in the fridge to even things up once I hit 30-40% loss. And I can barely get my mold to grow at that humidity, then again not much mold of any kind grows.

No need to mess around with bad bacteria. Build a cheap curing chamber. I have been planning one out for months. Instead I just bought a WSM. Maybe in a couple of months I will try for the chamber.

Curing Chamber