Finally Did It (First Salami)

[mr_whipple]

Finally got off my duff and put it together. Followed the 2 guys Saucisson Sec recipe as a nod to my French roots. While I've never met my mother other than a 9 month stint (I'm adopted), she was born and raised in Bordeaux in 1930, came here in the late 50's and the rest of the story is my life.. anyway...

Some of the equipment laying about for the start.

Forgot to take pics of the meat, but I used one pork tenderloin and the rest loin meat trimmed of any excess fat and otherwise unwelcome stuff etc etc. 1124 grams total lean meat along with the appropriate amount of back fat. I haven't used the frozen stuff yet as I found some at the butcher that was fresh and just the right amount.

Stuffed these protein lined casings, weighed and pricked, then wrapped in saran wrap to ferment overnight. The oven with the light on was 81 degrees on the bottom rack before I set them in, dropped to 63 when I put them in. I'll check back in a while but I'm sure the temp will eventually rise.

I'm very excited. Been wanting to do this for a while now. One lesson learned to start with is glove liners. I don't have any and also don't have a stand mixer. That said, my hands were hurtin' pretty good. Told my self to stop being a sissy a few times.. walk it off... rub some dirt on it... but I'll not be going down that road again.

I'll check the ph in the morning. 18 hours at 0600 but I'll be up way before then so I'll check when I get up.
Thanks for looking, and yes.. I know it's tomorrow, but stop a vet and shake their hand if you see one today or tomorrow. I wear a RED shirt every Friday to Remember Everyone Deployed.

 

[jcam222]

Nice! One of these days I'll take the leap too.

 

[indaswamp]

Good start! Don't forget to prick the casings!
Weigh before you hang.
Write down the start of fermentation at the time you add the culture.

You got this...

 

[indaswamp]

Also, loin and tenderloin, while mostly free of connective tissue, have less myoglobin so the dried salami will be lighter in color.

 

[indaswamp]

Curious-which starter culture did you use?

 

[DRKsmoking]

First off , when I read the title I read " Salmon " then saw the grinder and stuffer picture I said whet the Hell, lol
Had to go back and read again, then I just laughed and called myself a fool.

This is very interesting and good for you at wanting and doing.
I am still pretty nervous about this kind of process. The science still scares me, that I might hurt someone.

Following

David

 

[Brokenhandle]

I want to follow along!
While your thread has me interested your message about Veteran's Day is a great one! I'm not a veteran but appreciate those that have served! Have had the pleasure to meet and enjoy having a beer or two with Niles Harris each summer now for a couple years... and feel deeply humbled for the opportunity.

Ryan

 

[mr_whipple]

Nice! One of these days I'll take the leap too.

Well, it's fermented sausage so I'm sure you'll excel. You've obviously mastered fermenting peppers for hot sauce! I bought a set of airlocks probably a year ago and have yet to ferment anything in a mason jar so maybe one day I'll get off my butt and do that.

Good start! Don't forget to prick the casings!
Weigh before you hang.
Write down the start of fermentation at the time you add the culture.

You got this...

I did prick them before saran wrapping. Good catch on weighing. They did lose a small bit during the ferment, I weighed them again after applying the mold this morning. As to the time, the stove clock was staring at me the whole time I was doing this. Probably added the culture at 1100. let it set in the fridge while I cleaned the grinder, then had them stuffed, pricked and tossed in the oven by noon.

Also, loin and tenderloin, while mostly free of connective tissue, have less myoglobin so the dried salami will be lighter in color.

Never gave that a lot of thought. I didn't have anything thawed so just bought some tenderloins and a half loin. I wanted to get more of the Duroc loin from the local Kroger, but the lazy a$$ kid behind the counter tried telling me the chops in the window now came pre-cut. I don't argue anymore... I'll just go back another day when the real meat guy is there.

Curious-which starter culture did you use?

Flavor of Italy. Expensive, and I gotta say, the warning labels are quite interesting.

First off , when I read the title I read " Salmon " then saw the grinder and stuffer picture I said whet the Hell, lol
Had to go back and read again, then I just laughed and called myself a fool.

This is very interesting and good for you at wanting and doing.
I am still pretty nervous about this kind of process. The science still scares me, that I might hurt someone.

Following

David

I was very intimidated at first, but I did the reading and research. Honestly, my biggest apprehension was stuffing the case by myself, and that turned out to be easy peasy. I'm guessing natural casings might be a different game. Also, now that you mention salmon, I'm overdue to smoke some.

I want to follow along!
While your thread has me interested your message about Veteran's Day is a great one! I'm not a veteran but appreciate those that have served! Have had the pleasure to meet and enjoy having a beer or two with Niles Harris each summer now for a couple years... and feel deeply humbled for the opportunity.

Ryan

Thanks! I was a hot running wild man in my youth and never gave much thought about being a vet... you just do the job and every now and then someone reminds you. As I age and see the young folks making their way I occasionally pause and reflect on my days both afloat and ashore.

So here we are about 19 hours after tossing them in the oven. I took the pic before the meter settled but 5.07 was the final reading. I could smell the wine and garlic... it was very pleasant on the nose.

Into the box they go. The Lonzino and Lomo in the background are coming along nicely.

Now we wait.

 

[LoydB]

There’s nothing like the first! That looks like it will be great. What is your target percentage? Also, love Flavor of Italy.

 

[mr_whipple]

There’s nothing like the first! That looks like it will be great. What is your target percentage? Also, love Flavor of Italy.

I'm shooting for 35%.

 

[indaswamp]

Looking great there mr. whipple! But I do have some advice...

Probably added the culture at 1100. let it set in the fridge while I cleaned the grinder,

No need to put the mince back in the fridge AFTER you add the culture. In fact, it is strongly advisable not to do so as this will 'cold shock' the good bacteria if left in cold storage long enough. And you do not want to do that. Just leave it on the counter covered and go straight to stuffing. The meat should still be cold from grinding and this will suffice. You do want the meat to start warming up now that the culture is added.

Otherwise, what a great start!

 

[indaswamp]

I also recommend using the temp. probe with the milwaukee 102 pH meter. readings can be off by 0.2 without the temp. probe. I learned that lesson the hard way. My meter, you have to get the temp. probe plugged in just right or it will not work. I press the *C button to read the temp. and verify that it is indeed working, otherwise I get an error when calibrating.

Hope this helps...

 

[indaswamp]

Flavor of Italy. Expensive, and I gotta say, the warning labels are quite interesting.

Well, the package gives you twice as much as most cultures, and makes twice as much (200kg.)...so the price per package is deceptive. I still have my original pack I bought when I got started 4 years ago. The Lactobacillus Acidilactici bacteria is a very fast ferment bacteria. Very reliable. You are doing good checking it around 18 hours....

 

[mr_whipple]

Looking great there mr. whipple! But I do have some advice...


No need to put the mince back in the fridge AFTER you add the culture. In fact, it is strongly advisable not to do so as this will 'cold shock' the good bacteria if left in cold storage long enough. And you do not want to do that. Just leave it on the counter covered and go straight to stuffing. The meat should still be cold from grinding and this will suffice. You do want the meat to start warming up now that the culture is added.

Otherwise, what a great start!

Good tip. I'll say this, if the initial cold shock from the meat was anything like my hands, that starter culture is far tougher than I am.

I also recommend using the temp. probe with the milwaukee 102 pH meter. readings can be off by 0.2 without the temp. probe. I learned that lesson the hard way. My meter, you have to get the temp. probe plugged in just right or it will not work. I press the *C button to read the temp. and verify that it is indeed working, otherwise I get an error when calibrating.

Hope this helps...

Funny you should mention this. I calibrated the meter, but didn't pay close attention to the instructions, specifically the part about the temp probe so I went back after re-reading the instruction sheet and calibrated it again with the temp probe. Now, I wonder how much of an offset there will be since I didn't use the temp probe when checking the ph this morning. I don't think this is where I fail but if so that's gonna tick me off. I just did a quick test with the 4.0 and 7.0 solutions with and without the temp probe and the difference was no more than .03ish at the 4.0 and virtually no change at the 7.0 so I'm feeling good about it. Good looking out. Thanks for your eagle eye.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Nice start and looking good.

Big Clap

 

[mr_whipple]

Nice start and looking good.

Big Clap
View attachment 680842

Thanks!

 

[crazymoon]

MW, Looking good, I can't wait to see your finished product!

 

[mr_whipple]

MW, Looking good, I can't wait to see your finished product!

Me either!!

 

[mr_whipple]

So this turned out to be a failure. There are a few bright spots we'll call learning experiences so not a total loss but I am pretty bummed on a level I haven't felt in quite some time. I was skeptical at first of the fat I bought locally and now know I was not sold what I was after. More on that in a minute. Here are a few pics, and the last one is the worst.

Cut off the protein lined casing. It was on there pretty good so that's a positive note, but I knew immediately from handling that there was fat everywhere and it had smeared during the process. Nothing to do with the temp, as both the meat and fat were well chilled when ground. I'm chalking it up to mostly crappy fat from the meat shop around the corner. Also, this was the last thing ground on the hand me down Weston #8 grinder before I deemed it dead. It struggled a bit and I think that also contributed to the fat smear. It looked a bit sketchy but I ran with it anyway. Now I know.

The initial cut shot. indaswamp , correctomundo on the color from using loin and tenderloin. Still, not bad looking to my rookie eye.

Here you can see the fat smear quite well. All said, the taste was pretty good, not great. Texture? Not so much. The meat was bound quite well, but the fat was simply not tolerable.

So what did I learn? I went back a few days ago and asked for more back fat from the same place and they had blocks cut maybe 3 inches square for sale. Not a solid piece of fat, but layers of skin with maybe a 1/16" of fat all frozen then sawed into blocks. Virtually impossible to separate the fat from the skin. I'm sure it would render quite nicely, but I'm not looking for that.
I had also purchased a bag of frozen back fat from a spot out near Smithfield which although not frozen in layers and blocks turned out to be the same thing upon thawing and further inspection. I'm guessing this was all simply fat from wherever on the pig and sold as is to keep the $$ flowing into the till at these two establishments. That leaves me with zero places locally to procure back fat. I have done the leg work and spent quite a bit of time on the phone with just about everyplace in the area. One or two more I'm going to look at but I'm not hopeful at all so I've been looking online and there seems to be a lot of "marketing" and variance in price. If anyone here has a recommendation for where to purchase back fat online I'm all ears. I found one place that looks good but very expensive.

All said and done, I'm very unhappy, but not deterred from continuing. I have a list of things I want to try and have everything but the back fat. Temporary stop for now but I did make some killer brats in the mean time so all is not lost. Thanks for looking and Happy Tuesday!

 

[indaswamp]

Yep. Looks like bad fat to me....

This highlights the importance of using good quality fat from a trusted source that knows how to feed a pig. Even if you get it fresh off a farm pig, it can still be bad if the pig was not fed correctly. Good fat for lard, fresh of smoke sausages...even a pork chop, but very detrimental to salumi production....it is that important.