#ItalianHurricaneParty....

[indaswamp]

This Soppressata should have a great Red Pepper flavor with a nice heat from the Calabrian Chiles. I've heard of Nduja but never made it. I need to make a Curing cabinet and make some of these Goodies. I was happy to help out with the Red Pepper info and I hope all is Well with this Hurricane. Stay Safe all ...JJ

All is well here my friend. Just one broken pine limb in the yard about 4" dia.
Not much rain or wind here to really speak of. Waiting to hear from family that live in SWLA...I may be packing up my cooking stuff and going feed a small army of volunteers..

I actually made 2 pepper pastes, calabrian with home grown bell pepper, and home grown tabasco and bell pepper. I'll use both in the salamis...more of the tabaso in the Nduja though.

I was intimidated for a long while with even attempting making salami, but once I got a good understanding of the safety hurdles and why certain steps are taken, I began to become more comfortable with the idea of fermenting meats. The one book that really helped me was The Art & Secrets of Making Fermented Sausages by Stanley and Adam Marianski. Just enough technical data and graphs for my data driven brain to assemble and use. Though a technical book, it is a very good manual for making salami.

 

[indaswamp]

Alexandria had 80mph sustained winds for hours

Just now seeing this....
I have not seen any of the reports of damage. Haven't really been watching the news... just keeping tabs on family and spent yesterday making salamis. Today I cleaned up at the house and hung salami in the chamber.
80mph. winds will do a lot of damage no doubt... But Louisiana has been through this before, and we always pull together as a state to deal with it as a community. Some of the greatest acts of kindness I have ever witnessed were after a hurricane.....

 

[indaswamp]

Pepperoni Recipe I use and Like (a variation of Marianski's recipe)
2kg lean pork (shoulder, loin, etc...but do try to get a mix of both dark an light meat)
1.5kg. lean beef (sirloin, chuck, rump, etc...whatever is the best price)
1.5kg. hard pork fat along the loin (belly or cheeks will work too)
grind all once thru 4.5mm plate

2.7% fine pickle salt
0.3% cure #2
3% total sodium
0.4% Dextrose
0.3% Sugar
0.3% Black pepper
0.1% White pepper
0.8% Paprika
0.3% Fennel seed
0.075% Anise seed
(run the fennel and anise in a spice grinder)
0.2% Cayenne pepper powder (dark red = no seeds; so milder)
60 ml/kg. dry red wine- I use chianti
0.025% Flavor of Italy starter culture

Ferment ~75*F with 90%RH to pH drop 4.9-5.0. (usually 24-36hrs.)

 

[Cajun Smokes]

All is well here my friend. Just one broken pine limb in the yard about 4" dia.
Not much rain or wind here to really speak of. Waiting to hear from family that live in SWLA...I may be packing up my cooking stuff and going feed a small army of volunteers..

I actually made 2 pepper pastes, calabrian with home grown bell pepper, and home grown tabasco and bell pepper. I'll use both in the salamis...more of the tabaso in the Nduja though.

I was intimidated for a long while with even attempting making salami, but once I got a good understanding of the safety hurdles and why certain steps are taken, I began to become more comfortable with the idea of fermenting meats. The one book that really helped me was The Art & Secrets of Making Fermented Sausages by Stanley and Adam Marianski. Just enough technical data and graphs for my data driven brain to assemble and use. Though a technical book, it is a very good manual for making salami.

I'm gonna get my hands on this book. Thanks for sharing

 

[HalfSmoked]

First prayers for all those and their families in the target area of hurricane.

Great looking sausage coming here. Nice work indaswmap.

Warren

 

[indaswamp]

I'm gonna get my hands on this book. Thanks for sharing

You're welcome... best resource for the novice I have seen yet.

First prayers for all those and their families in the target area of hurricane.

Great looking sausage coming here. Nice work indaswmap.

Warren

Thank you HalfSmoked... means a lot, and they sure need it.

Whew...finally done for the day. Got the Calabrian being pressed with weight, and got the Nduja trussed and hanging in the fermentation chamber... see yall tomorrow, bedtime for me.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Your recipes make it sound simple! Impressive...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

Your recipes make it sound simple! Impressive...JJ

Thank you jj, I don't know if it's because I'm so anal about the details, or beginners luck, but the first two salamis I made I had no problems to speak of. Everything went like the book. Hope for the same this go around... we shall see.....

 

[indaswamp]

So, here's the post and pictures for the Soppressata di Calabria...

Night before, I crushed 12 garlic cloves and added them to 300ml dry red wine and let that steep overnight until I used it the next day.

After breaking down the pork butt and removing vessels, silver skin and blood clots, I chilled the meat to below 32*F and ground thru 10mm plate. Put that back in the freezer to gather the spices, cure and culture..

Time to mix! You can see here the two pepper pastes, one is slightly darker from the Calabrian peppers.

Checking the heat....I only used 10g. of the cayenne pepper flakes and did not need to add more.

This tastes so good! I am REALLY looking forward to trying this one after it drys and develops a complex flavor!

After stuffing, I placed them into the fermentation trash can temporary while I made the Nduja. After the Nduja was stuffed and hanging in there as well, I pressed the soppressata...

Two large 2.5' X 3' cutting boards weigh 20 pound each, plus (2) 5 gallon buckets filled with water. Roughly 100 pounds pressing 7 salamis in beef middles.

Checked the fermentation this morning at the 19 hour mark....almost to pH5.

I'll let it go a little longer in order to press the salamis a little more. The salamis did firm up upon fermentation, which I was a little concerned about with the rather large addition of pepper paste, but I trusted the process and the recipe-been made like this for a long time.....this smells so wonderful!

 

[JLeonard]

Prayers and best wishes folks!

 

[indaswamp]

Prayers and best wishes folks!

Thanks JLeonard.

 

[73saint]

I’ve got a batch of Roni going w flavor of Italy. I like how fast it ferments.

 

[indaswamp]

I’ve got a batch of Roni going w flavor of Italy. I like how fast it ferments.

Yeah, the pediococcus strains do give you a fast pH drop. Thanks to chef jimmyj for the glucose percentages in the peppers, it really helped me feel confident in not adding any additional dextrose. I am getting the fermentation I need from the sugars in the peppers and wine. Though Flavor of Italy is a fast ferment, the Staphylcoccus carnosis utilus strains can handle pH drop below 5.0 and produce flavor, which is awesome! I like the smell and bright color!

 

[73saint]

True dat!

 

[indaswamp]

So...reports from family are slowly coming in as roadways are cleared of debris and they have access to their properties. Cousins in Creole, Louisiana got hit hard. The east side eye wall passed over the town and it basically got leveled. One cousin has nothing but a slab left of the house, another lost his roof and tree fell on corner of his house. 2' of mud covering everything from the storm surge.... It's pretty bad from what they are telling me.

 

[indaswamp]

So, I'll post the process of the Nduja. Hope it turns out ok, I may have put too much added water that was in the pepper paste which diluted the salt concentration. We will see how it turns out, if not, and it fails, I'll chalk it up to a learning experience. I was ao excited to use the pepper paste because it smelled so fantastic, and I was figuring out the dextrose it supplied, thought never occurred to me that I might be adding to much water to the meat paste. At least it was not good expensive pork, this was made with commodity pork...
The seasonings, cure #2, culture, wine steeped with crushed garlic, and pepper pastes..

First grind of 50/50 pork belly and pork shoulder thru 6mm plate:

second grind thru 4.5mm plate

third grind thru 4.5mm plate

back in freezer between grinds for about 45 minutes to get mince super ice cold for a clean cut... it took a while...

Mixing
The seasoning, pepper powders, cure and salt

Added the pepper paste, then the culture..

mixed...very good bind..

Fermenting..

fermentation complete @22hours

In the chamber there in the back...Calabrese is all the way on the right. Genoa in the middle, pepperoni on the left. You can see a little mold growth has started on the pepperoni already...

 

[chef jimmyj]

That all looks so good. I wonder if they all will finish about the same time, or will the higher moisture delay the Sopressetta and Nduja...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

That all looks so good. I wonder if they all will finish about the same time, or will the higher moisture delay the Sopressetta and Nduja...JJ

Hard to say...
The Nduja only needs 15-20% drying because of all the fat which does not have as much water as muscle tissue. The Sopressata is pressed, which speeds drying time, also larger grind (10mm plate) which speeds drying...
The pepperoni is finer grind thru 4.5mm plate which slows drying. But it has 30% fat so...

The Genoa is thru 6mm plate with half the fat thru 10mm plate. should dry faster than the pepperoni.

 

[indaswamp]

Also, pH influences drying. The ability of meat to hold on to water is weakest around pH 4.8 but taken that low, salami will have a strong tang. I like to take pepperoni down around 4.85~4.9 and so far, the pepperoni is drying the fastest. But it has only been one week in, still have 6-7 more to go before they are finished.

 

[indaswamp]

Salamis @ 1 week into drying...good mold growth...

I re-pressed the Calabrese, both to press out the added moiture, and to flatten better. The first time, I only pressed them for like 8 hours and they did not hold their shape. This time, I used 18" 1"x4"s to press the salamis between towels. I tightened them down with 3 C clamps per salami. Did 3 at a time and pressed them for 24 hours, then finished the other 3. Each Calabrese salame lost between 14-18% after pressing so I removed all the added water I put in with the pepper pastes...plus some. I should be good now, they should dry evenly and bind with no voids.

Side view...