- Feb 6, 2021
- 244
- 93
Not surprisingly to me, my first two batches of salami appear to be failures. They were both at or above 35% weight loss when my family and I took off for the weekend on Friday. I expected that the smaller salami ( my second batch - Fuet and Curry) would be about done when I returned home since they were stuffed into 29 - 32mm hog casings. Once home, I went straight in and checked their weight - they weighed out at 40% weight loss +/- 1%. while they smelled like typical salami, they didn't really feel firm. I cut the first open and sure enough, the interior was still tacky feeling. The exterior showed slight darkening around the circumference but not extremely so. I cut them all open and found they were all moist enough inside that declared the entire batch a failure. My first batch (Cacciatore in beef middles) has a similar spongy feel though they are only at 37% weight loss. I think they will probably not work out either though I put them back in for a bit more drying.
Since I've maintained the humidity at 75 -78 % for the first two weeks or so, then bumped it up to 80% from that point on, I don't think it was humidity levels that caused my problem. My best guess at the cause of my failure was too much air movement in the chamber. I did not modify the fan/inlet into the chamber prior to processing these batches - I felt that the 3 - 4 cooling cycles per hour would not cause too much air movement (and over-drying the product) in the chamber. It seems I have to reconsider this variable again.
Rather than running off and attempting an poorly thought out immediate fix, I cut up some cardboard rectangles and placed them above, below, and in front of the remaining meat in the chamber in an effort to minimize the actual air flow passing across the meat, which I believe will slow the moisture loss due to desiccation. So once again, it is time to ask for help - I'm curious if anyone has experience in modifying a Frigidaire frost free refrigerator (with no freezer compartment) ? Here's a picture of the fan's inlet vent at the top of the 'fridge.
Many thanks!
G.
Since I've maintained the humidity at 75 -78 % for the first two weeks or so, then bumped it up to 80% from that point on, I don't think it was humidity levels that caused my problem. My best guess at the cause of my failure was too much air movement in the chamber. I did not modify the fan/inlet into the chamber prior to processing these batches - I felt that the 3 - 4 cooling cycles per hour would not cause too much air movement (and over-drying the product) in the chamber. It seems I have to reconsider this variable again.
Rather than running off and attempting an poorly thought out immediate fix, I cut up some cardboard rectangles and placed them above, below, and in front of the remaining meat in the chamber in an effort to minimize the actual air flow passing across the meat, which I believe will slow the moisture loss due to desiccation. So once again, it is time to ask for help - I'm curious if anyone has experience in modifying a Frigidaire frost free refrigerator (with no freezer compartment) ? Here's a picture of the fan's inlet vent at the top of the 'fridge.
Many thanks!
G.