Finished my first salami


 
A

Aaron Patterson

New member
Hi everyone! I finished my first Salami, so I thought I'd share. This is my second attempt at slow curing, and first attempt at Salami. I used the Salami Finocchiona recipe out of the book "The Art of Making Fermented Sausages".

My final pH on the meat was 5.9, but I didn't measure throughout the process. The recipe called for 80% RH while drying, but I ended up dropping that to 70% because I was getting green mold.

Here are some pictures!

7387906020_1a9f35a99f_z.jpg

7387922436_8f00c7f68d_c.jpg

7388147640_87bce0a8a1_o.jpg

7387910288_f4a1acaec9_c.jpg


The salami turned out to be very delicious. I'm quite happy with it! I think on my next batch, I'm going to increase the dextrose to 0.7% (from 0.2%) and keep more meticulous records on the pH as it's curing. Also, I think I need to lower my wind speed a bit during the drying phase. The salami looks good, but it seems that the exterior is slightly more dry than the interior.

The other thing I'd like to figure out is how people get their cured salamis to be so round. Mine are kind of round, but not the perfect circular shapes like I see at the store or in pictures.
 
Aaron these look fantastic!

The irregular shapes are due to use of natural or collagen casings. I think if you use protein-lined fibrous casings or synthetic casings you will be able to achieve the round shape you're looking for.

I'm jealous of that digital meat ph meter, pretty fancy piece of kit right there!
 
forget perfectly round - this is hand made food!

i would suggest you play with larger diameter casings, and try to slice thinner than what i see in the photos...
 
Perfectly round = commercial!
Your salami looks gorgeous! The only thing I would caution is the final pH .....that is very dangerous on fermented sausage...it's the combination of lower ph, salt and drying that creates a hurdle effect to make the sausage safe. Additionally, adding salt and lowering the ph via fermentation lowers water holding capacity of the batter and thus facilitates better drying.
I caution the ph as it is very close to that of fresh, unprocessed batter. You could have promoted staph and salmonella growth as a result.
Otherwise they are beautiful!
 
Thanks Steve! Unfortunately I had started this salami before I got your recommendation about dextrose percentage. I'm starting a new batch today and increasing the dextrose to 0.7%. I'm starting a new batch today with 0.7% dextrose. Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top