My first batch of hard salami has a hole in the middle...why?

[uncle eddie]

It tastes good, but what caused the hole? (see pic)
My friend who makes this all the time says it sometimes happens to him as well.
I used 1.5" fibrous casings (too small in my opinion - now that I have one) and hung it in my garage which stays at a winter-temp of about 50F +/-

 

[mosparky]

Did you stuff off the grinder ? That will definitely do it. That's where the Auger was.
If not, I'd be real curious as well.

 

[indaswamp]

natural or synthetic casings? Or did you use umai bags? if using synthetic-did you stuff the casing super tight? If using natural, did you truss super tight?

Also, wild fermentation bacteria can cause gas bubble formation. Did you use a culture? Which one? Are you 100% sure you used distilled water with no chloramine present?

Did you prick the casings??

 

[indaswamp]

how much liquid did you add to your meat paste?

 

[indaswamp]

Did you use fresh meat? Did you grind the meat for making the salami?

 

[indaswamp]

hung it in my garage which stays at a winter-temp of about 50F +/-

What is the humidity in your garage?

 

[indaswamp]

How much sugar by percentage did you use?

 

[indaswamp]

Good read here:
https://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5032

 

[SmokinEdge]

Inda brings up many pertinent questions.

Aside from that I agree that it looks like the sausage was stuffed from a grinder. The action of using the plunger to push the mince through the throat pushes air into the sausage. This is a function of having a grinder in the #5 range and trying to push too much meat through too fast. Small little meat balls that will free fall through the throat is the way to go. The biggest advantage of a larger grinder is the larger throat size. A #12 grinder stuffs better because it is fed easier. Really a dedicated stuffer is the solution. There are no shortcuts in salami.

Interesting to me is the brown non cured appearance of the meat in the center surrounding the hole. I’ve not seen this before. Your humidity must be fine as I don’t see dry ring on the outside of the salami. I’m just guessing that aerobic bacteria somehow played a roll in that brown color in the center. Air in sausage is a bad thing generally.

 

[uncle eddie]

Humidity of garage…probably pretty low as the temps outside were in the 5F to 40F range.

No sugar used.

I used a Hakka stuffer to stuff the casings.

I read the link above…good stuff.

I didn’t prick the fibrous casing. No culture used??

the meat was frozen before use. I normally buy butts and picnic roasts in bulk and freeze in 5 and 10 lbs shrink wraps until use. this batch included 50% Venison

I added very little water…maybe 2 cups for 10 lbs. water was tap water…well water…water softener treated.

 

[indaswamp]

uncle eddie :If you'll take the time to answer my questions, I will be able to trouble shoot your situation and help you better...

 

[DanMcG]

The surface dried to fast and case hardened, the inside never dried.

 

[zwiller]

The surface dried to fast and case hardened, the inside never dried.

Case hardening gets my vote. Center looks pretty GNARLY too. Cure #1? You need Cure #2 for these runs. Just did some UMAI and a little pretty pricey but great results.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

What inda and dan said.

 

[indaswamp]

Humidity of garage…probably pretty low as the temps outside were in the 5F to 40F range.

No sugar used.

I used a Hakka stuffer to stuff the casings.

I read the link above…good stuff.

I didn’t prick the fibrous casing. No culture used??

the meat was frozen before use. I normally buy butts and picnic roasts in bulk and freeze in 5 and 10 lbs shrink wraps until use. this batch included 50% Venison

I added very little water…maybe 2 cups for 10 lbs. water was tap water…well water…water softener treated.

Your salami has case hardening from the low humidity in your garage.
That and the lack of sugar likely resulted in a high pH which allowed wild bacteria to grow in the meat which gave you the brown center, or the wild bacteria was introduced on the venison.
2 cups of water/10# is too much liquid for a salami. Max. added liquid needs to be under 50g./kg. for a salami. Too much water dilutes the salt in water concentration in the salami and this favors the growth of wild bacteria as well.

No pin pricks in the casing likely retained any air pockets introduced during stuffing and the air favored wild bacteria strain growth.

No culture used favored wild bacteria strain growth.

 

[indaswamp]

Using no culture in a salami introduces a lot of new variables and procedures that must be followed for successful results. A holding period under refrigeration after the addition of salt must be done to increase the number of beneficial bacteria naturally on the meat. The chance of wild fermentation bacteria growth increases substantially. Wild lacto bacteria can produce CO2 and H2O2...both of which can cause voids.

Too much water can cause voids...once the salami bind is set it will be weak, the extra water diffuses and evaporates, leaving voids in the bind.

 

[uncle eddie]

Using no culture in a salami introduces a lot of new variables and procedures that must be followed for successful results. A holding period under refrigeration after the addition of salt must be done to increase the number of beneficial bacteria naturally on the meat. The chance of wild fermentation bacteria growth increases substantially. Wild lacto bacteria can produce CO2 and H2O2...both of which can cause voids.

Too much water can cause voids...once the salami bind is set it will be weak, the extra water diffuses and evaporates, leaving voids in the bind.

Thanks for the detailed answers...My first foray into hard salami is a failure.

We will improve on the next batch I am sure.

 

[indaswamp]

How much salt did you use? Bare minimum for a salami is 2.5%. I personally would not go any lower than that. This is according to many Italian Norcini Institutions. The higher salt in a salami is necessary to retard the growth of bad bacteria and favor the growth of the good bacteria. There simply is no safe way to make a low salt salami.

Starter Cultures use many bacteria that offer protection from bad strains through the production of natural antibiotics. Lactobacillus Sakei is one such bacteria and will inhibit the growth of many wild strains of bacteria.

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for the detailed answers...My first foray into hard salami is a failure.

We will improve on the next batch I am sure.

Well it's a time to live and learn. I'm not a dry curing expert at all but with what I'm reading, I'm guessing you don't want to eat that salami as the wild bacteria sounds... wild :D

Have you ever looked up the UMAI bags and casings?
You still have to add all the proper stuff to the meat but the bags make dry curing a breeze. Even a zero experience person like me has made prosciuotto and capicola with them. I plan to some day do pepperoni and pastrami if I ever get off my butt to make it happen.

The UMAI bags/casings eliminate the need for the cure chamber and you just set them in the fridge and forget... until you need to check and see if they are done or near done :D

UMAi Dry

UMAi Dry bags allow you created dry-aged, dry-cured meats at home easily and safely, from steak to charcuterie and salumi. Order online or buy from resellers.

umaidry.com

 

[zwiller]

This is my FIRST run with UMAI. Butt I used was a little fatty for me but otherwise I am happy. I think venison would extremely well with some fatback.