Requesting UMAI Charcuterie Checklist Help

[tallbm]

Well guys I now have a garage fridge that will be used for 2 purposes.

1. Keeping meat refrigerated during my yearly wild game processing week (directly proceeds my big yearly hunting week)

2. UMAI Charcuterie!!!!


If you've ever seen my posts you might know that I tend to hit the research fairly hard and this will be no different. What I'm hoping to do with this post is to get a checklist of pointers, guidelines, materials, etc. suggestions.

I plan to do sausages, maybe some smaller hole muscle items, and things of that nature that fit into the assortments of UMAI bags.

At this point I know I need UMAI bags, meat & fat, seasoning, cure #2 (I have cure#1 for anything that calls for it), some research, and the fridge I just purchased.

FYI, I have a grinder, slicer, 2 stuffers, and equipment I use for processing but feel free to mention any additional pieces of importance or great convenience.

Please feel free to offer up any of your UMAI leanings, equipment/materials, seasonings, etc. suggestions!

I look forward to seeing what your great minds offer up, and thanks!

 

[browneyesvictim]

Sounds like you have the basics. IMHO a lot depends on your fridge in how well it cycles just like a controller does on your smoker. Get a good them and hygrometer (humidity meter) to keep an eye on things and can make adjusments accordingly. Another thing I highly recommend is opening up the back panel of your fridge for cleaning and sanitizing the evap tray, coils, condensate drain and that whole area before you start. The rest is pretty straight forward.

 

[bregent]

I love UMAI (doing a bresaola right now) , but if I had a (nearly) dedicated fridge I would think about adding temp/humidity control and do without the UMAI bags. Have you considered going that route?

 

[pc farmer]

If you plan on fermented sausages you will need culture

 

[tallbm]

Sounds like you have the basics. IMHO a lot depends on your fridge in how well it cycles just like a controller does on your smoker. Get a good them and hygrometer (humidity meter) to keep an eye on things and can make adjusments accordingly. Another thing I highly recommend is opening up the back panel of your fridge for cleaning and sanitizing the evap tray, coils, condensate drain and that whole area before you start. The rest is pretty straight forward.

Thanks for the suggestion I'll give it a good inspection and cleaning. The fridge was fairly new and hardly used. It was from an old lady but made a 6 month pit stop to the guy I bought it from :)

I love UMAI (doing a bresaola right now) , but if I had a (nearly) dedicated fridge I would think about adding temp/humidity control and do without the UMAI bags. Have you considered going that route?

Yeah I have some work to do to measure temps and humidity. I do have therms and I have a hygrometer that ThermoPro basically gifted me for doing a rewiew when I bought the TP20. I don't know how accurate it is but at least it's something :)

I have researched it some but I just don't know how well I can maintain all that with the humidty and heat here in North Dallas. We aren't Houston humid but we have more humidity than a lot of other parts of the country I have visited. Also I still need to make sure the temps hold well, TX summer is not nice with the temps :)

If you plan on fermented sausages you will need culture

Thanks! Yeah I figure I will need to get into some of that but I haven't read up too much about the fermentation options and what goes with what. I figure I'll start simple and maybe get some kits for my first few rounds and then move from there.

 

[chopsaw]

Thanks! Yeah I figure I will need to get into some of that but I haven't read up too much about the fermentation options and what goes with what. I figure I'll start simple and maybe get some kits for my first few rounds and then move from there.

cfarmer is right . For the umai you need t-spx starter culture . You should read up on that part of it , because thats where the magic starts .

 

[SmokinAl]

You should PM @nepas, he uses those bags all the time & he is in Florida.
The humidity capitol of the country.
Al

 

[crazymoon]

TBM, You have to have the T-SPX and cure #2. The T-SPX is about 18-20 dollars and has a short shelf life in the freezer. Try to make up a bunch of sausage/salami during that time frame or you will be out some jing!It is a great product but I didn't like their recipe for venison salami ,it was too bland.Have fun !

 

[tallbm]

cfarmer is right . For the umai you need t-spx starter culture . You should read up on that part of it , because thats where the magic starts .

Definitely will do. I was sure I needed some type of culture but haven't read up on differences, details, etc.

You should PM @nepas, he uses those bags all the time & he is in Florida.
The humidity capitol of the country.
Al

Thanks Al. Yep I'm sure I will be hitting him up. I had already gave him a heads up before I started this thread :D

TBM, You have to have the T-SPX and cure #2. The T-SPX is about 18-20 dollars and has a short shelf life in the freezer. Try to make up a bunch of sausage/salami during that time frame or you will be out some jing!It is a great product but I didn't like their recipe for venison salami ,it was too bland.Have fun !

Thanks crazymoon. That is good info to have! This info is going to be instrumental for how I plan all of this. It seems that 1 pack does like over 400 pounds! I don't know that I'll do more than 40 pounds all year lol. I just did some googling and found nepas saying how to store it and that his keeps well for over 2 years. I will be following his advice and hopefully using it up well before a couple of years time :)


Does anyone have any recommendations on what is easiest/best to start with?

I'm thinking of tackling this first with Venison meat and Pork fat as well as probably a regular or spicy salami or maybe a pepperoni. I believe the recipe is very heavy handed with the T-SPX. For 5 pounds of meat I would reduce to 1/2 tsp rather than 1 Tablespoon. I modified version of this recipe to make Italian Cacciatore Venison Jerky sticks and it is awesome!

Let me know your thoughts :)

Italian Cacciatore Salami
Prep Time
2 hrs
Total Time
2 hrs


Course: Cured Meat
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 4 pounds (this seems like a typo and should be 5 pounds)
Author: Hank Shaw
Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork, venison or wild boar
• 1 pound pork fat
• 51 grams (about 3 tablespoons) kosher salt
• 20 grams (2 tablespoons) sugar or dextrose
• 6 grams (about a teaspoon) Instacure No. 2
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons caraway seed
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
• 2 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 3 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 10 grams (about 1 tablespoon) starter culture T-SPX (I would use 1/2 teaspoon according to Len Poli's info)
• 1/4 cup distilled water
• 1/3 cup red wine

 

[nanuk]

I am following this, as dry cure is something I want to do!

I've got a mini fridge for a fermentation chamber, and I have an older refer for a drying chamber.

 

[chopsaw]

Does anyone have any recommendations on what is easiest/best to start with?

At the advice of nepas I used the Ginger salami formula from Len Poli's site . I really liked it .
I used the Umai guide lines for the starter culture amount and fermentation time / temp .
I think they use 1/4 tsp of culture for 5 lbs .

 

[pc farmer]

At the advice of nepas I used the Ginger salami formula from Len Poli's site . I really liked it .
I used the Umai guide lines for the starter culture amount and fermentation time / temp .
I think they use 1/4 tsp of culture for 5 lbs .

The best thing to start with is a whole muscle like coppa. No fermention required. Once you get whole muscle down the move on to the fermented stuff. Atleast thats what I did.

 

[tallbm]

I am following this, as dry cure is something I want to do!

I've got a mini fridge for a fermentation chamber, and I have an older refer for a drying chamber.

Hopefully this thread can lend some good info. I'm in my research phase at the moment and once things settle down for me I will likely move to the prep phase by buying UMAI and other materials, and then it's just on to the execution phase where I put it all together and go through the processes and then the wait. I'm sure I'll really enjoy the eating phase :D

At the advice of nepas I used the Ginger salami formula from Len Poli's site . I really liked it .
I used the Umai guide lines for the starter culture amount and fermentation time / temp .
I think they use 1/4 tsp of culture for 5 lbs .

Thanks chopsaw, that is great info and is along the lines of what I was thinking. I'll be sure to get the right culture measure as well. Like with many things on the internet the numbers are all over the place and I will just need to make sure that I am using the right amount for the culture that is being used :)

The best thing to start with is a whole muscle like coppa. No fermention required. Once you get whole muscle down the move on to the fermented stuff. Atleast thats what I did.

Thanks c farmer, I didn't even think about this. It does sound much simpler and a good way to ease into things. I will give coppa and other whole muscle a look into. I wouldn't mind starting with a small piece of proschutto as well :)


This is all great input guys and what I am looking for!

 

[daveomak]

If any of the animals were gut shot or any organs were nicked during processing, I would not use the meat for charcuterie.. Save it for a process that uses a heat treatment of sorts....

 

[tallbm]

If any of the animals were gut shot or any organs were nicked during processing, I would not use the meat for charcuterie.. Save it for a process that uses a heat treatment of sorts....

Thanks for the tip Dave. The ground Venison I have left all comes from hind legs that have no guts, digestive, or waste fluids on them whatsoever. I'm not sure I will do an initial UMAI stuff with that meat as I don't want to lose it while learning.
Maybe in the future I would do something UMA with the game meat but I'm not too keen on ingesting any micro organisms not killed by a cold enough freeze or by heat. So for now I will stick with store bought :)

I make sure my feral pork sausages are smoked or cooked to 165F... every single link :)

 

[daveomak]

I did some reading on e-coli this morning... I can't find where anything but heat kills it.. You sure don't want e-coli..

 

[tallbm]

It has come to my attention that sausagemaker has their UMAI products half off.
I plan to pull the trigger and make a purchase BUT I could use a little info.

Knowing that I am just starting out would you guys recommend me going with the 32mm, 50mm, or 70mm sausage bags, or a combo, and why?

My goal when I end up doing the sausage is to have some slices that are maybe store bought pepperoni size (1-3 inch diameter finished) or a little bigger AND to not have to wait like 5-6 months for the finished product. At least not when I am doing this for the first time. I think I would eat the 32mm stick size all up very quickly but I'm not apposed to trying some.

Let me know what your thoughts are and thanks!

 

[browneyesvictim]

I recall they have a "combo" Charcuterie bag kit that has several sizes of bags to start with. But what exactly do you want to make first?
I used the 32mm (1.25") UMAI casings in the Dry Cured Peperoni in my INDEX listed in my sig. The 32's are smallish like you want, but not quite snack stick size either. More like hog casing size. 50's would also be good for that as well.

 

[chopsaw]

Buy them now . I just spent full price last week . Anyway I used the 50 mm to make Salami .
This is on a dinner size paper plate , maybe you can get an idea of finished size .

 

[tallbm]

I recall they have a "combo" Charcuterie bag kit that has several sizes of bags to start with. But what exactly do you want to make first?
I used the 32mm (1.25") UMAI casings in the Dry Cured Peperoni in my INDEX listed in my sig. The 32's are smallish like you want, but not quite snack stick size either. More like hog casing size. 50's would also be good for that as well.

Thanks for the info! Unfortunately Sausage Maker doesn't have the combo kit for sale but with the discount I can buy 2 sizes for almost the price of 1 :D

Buy them now . I just spent full price last week . Anyway I used the 50 mm to make Salami .
This is on a dinner size paper plate , maybe you can get an idea of finished size .
View attachment 370478 View attachment 370479

Thanks chopsaw! The pictures are very very helpful. I think I will end up buying at least the 32mm and the 50mm sizes. Heck I may just go wild and buy the 70mm or everything that is on sale if I get the wild hair going (which feels like the case lol).