How do you know when to progress?

[nomoreusmc]

Been making sausage for about 2 years, bacon about a year, and jerky for over a decade. Thinking about going to the next level and trying fermented sausages and dry curing meats. Maybe even some kimchi and sour kraut. Also thinking about cheese.

Not gonna lie, I feel intimidated about using bacteria and mold in my food on purpose. I'm worried about getting sick. But I watch Eric from 2 guys and a cooler, child and Mr Duncan and I want to get in on the action. But I can't even get my summer sausage to come out right. Not sure if I just have a confidence issue or a legitimate concern. Not sure how to tell either !

 

[ghostguy6]

Personally I dont do my own fermented sausages because I am not set up for it. If I had the room and money for a dedicated drying chamber I would try it. I am not a fan of kimchi or sourkraut but that seems easy enough to make. I have made home made mozzarella and it was pretty easy and tasty. That might be a good start into your cheese making adventures. Here is a tutorial thread that makes it pretty easy. https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/homemade-mozzarella-its-so-easy-plenty-of-q-view.114544/

Best advice I can give you is to research the product you intend to make and know the signs of when things are going wrong. Green and black molds are generally a bad thing. Find out what the safe temperature and humidity limits are and stick within them. When you feel comfortable trying you will know your ready to try it. Worst that can happen is you wasted some products and time if you know what to look for. When in doubt throw it out or feed it to the neighbours you don't like first and see how they react.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Been making sausage for about 2 years, bacon about a year, and jerky for over a decade. Thinking about going to the next level and trying fermented sausages and dry curing meats. Maybe even some kimchi and sour kraut. Also thinking about cheese.

Dove right in on all of it. Be warned that it is a deeper rabbit hole than just sausage.

To do the meats correctly you need to put together a curing chamber from a dedicated fridge or upright freezer (frost free) you will need some electronics like controllers for temp and humidity, a small humidifier, a dehumidifier and a PH meter for meats. You will also need to put something together for a fermentation chamber but there are ways around that one.

Also I highly recommend you first buy Stanley Marianski book: “The Art of Making Fermented Sausages”
There is plenty of knowledge here on the forum and you can always ask questions here but having that book in your hand will be invaluable.

Another option that makes getting into the art of fermented meats is to simply buy Umai-Dry casings and bags. These are products essentially made from a material like collagen sheets. You can stuff salami, ferment it and then safely dry it in the regular refrigerator. I will warn you though, while the end product is tasty, it will never develop the complex “cheesy” flavors that come from a curing chamber held 75-80% humidity and ~55 degrees. But their process works and a great way to introduce yourself to the process without investing in a bunch of extra equipment.

 

[PolishDeli]

The only fermented meat I've made was pepperoni (link to the recipe to used: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/pepperoni-semi-dry)

I chose this recipe because I wanted to dabble in the art without fully committing to a set up.
-This recipe uses starter culture that has a large window of operation.
-i wired up a cheap temperature controller, used a small space heater, and co-opted the oven as a fermentation chamber.
-the pepperoni was exclusively used for pizza, so always cooking the sausage provided that extra layer of food safety. It also didn't have to go through the drying phase.

In the end, the pepperoni turned out great. But moving the hobby beyond that just wasnt for me.

If you want to try cheese making, consider making paneer for your fisrt attempt. Very simple, quick, rewarding, no need for rennet, the local supermarket has everything you need. Here is a post of mine from a while back:

Paneer

Homemade Paneer. This cheese is used in a lot of Indian dishes. It has a very mild flavor, similar to Queso fresco. I used Gavin Webber’s process for this () Turns out great. This is by far the easiest cheese to make. Recipe and pictures below. Ingredients: 1gal whole milk 12 tablespoons...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[zwiller]

Great info already. It can be intimidating but there are easy was to approach it. I would start with getting a decent set of scales and get familiar with weight based sausage making in metric.

 

[nomoreusmc]

Drying chamber is the biggie for me (living in an RV space is at a premium) Eric showed the celr-12 and used a cooler. Thought I would go the same way but that dude is 800$! Looks pretty easy to see things when they go wrong but I don't know what I don't know! Lol

I just dream of summer sausage, salami, all the polish sausages, and stuff I haven't even thought of yet.

Sigh...... I think I was supposed to be born rich.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I just dream of summer sausage, salami, all the polish sausages, and stuff I haven't even thought of yet.

Don’t give up. Look here at Umai-dry, it’s a good way to introduce yourself to charcuterie on a budget.

https://umaidry.com/

 

[nomoreusmc]

Don’t give up. Look here at Umai-dry, it’s a good way to introduce yourself to charcuterie on a budget.

https://umaidry.com/

I would love to,but I didn't have fist size hail on my bingo card for this year and I am still rebuilding. Next payday I have to get 6 solar panels.... Next is rebuilding a wall. Lol it's going to be a while. Sad. I was looking at those things on the sausage maker website and they're a different brand but the same thing. The freedom to use a regular fridge next to the pickles.....

 

[jcam222]

Speaking of making cheese I wonder what happened to Loydb. He always posted amazing cheeses