SmokinAl
SMF Hall of Fame Pitmaster
Original poster
Staff member
Moderator
OTBS Member
★ Lifetime Premier ★
Ok guys I have been wanting to get into dry curing for quite some time now, but TheSausageMaker had a sale on UMAi casings & so that put me over the edge. I bought 4 packs, Bactoferm, cure #2, and their dry cure pepperoni seasoning. I read that I should use a combo of lean beef & lean pork or just one or the other then add fatback. Well I looked everywhere & couldn't find any fat back. Every meat man I talked to said he had a guy that came in everyday & bought all their trimmings. So I thought I would just grind up a butt & see what I got. I bought a little over an 8 lb butt & when I cut the bone out I ended up with 3 packages of 2 1/2 lbs. each. Which would be a good amount for an experiment.
This is the recipe I used:
2 1/2 lb. coarse ground pork butt
1/2 tsp cure #2
3 oz. SM pepperoni seasoning (not enough, next time I'll use 4 1/2 oz.)
.15 gram Bactoferm ( I used bactoferm frm 52 us, because it said it would ferment in warmer climates)
3/8 cup NFDM
1/2 cup distilled water
I practically froze the meat before grinding it & used the large plate.
Then back into the freezer for a half hour & then mix in all the dry ingredients using wooden paddles so as not to get the meat warmed up.
Next dissolve the bactoferm in the water & mix it with the meat thoroughly with my hands until it became stiff.
Next I stuffed it into the UMAi casings, I used the 32mm casings, I think next time I will use the larger 50 mm casings. Which by the way I'm going to use tomorrow to make some dry cured Chorizo. I hung the sausage in Judy's craft room which is about 79-80 degrees. The bactoferm says it will ferment anywhere from 70-90 degrees, so this seemed just right.
Here is a photo of when they were first stuffed & hung to ferment.
After one day they are already starting to turn red.
At the end of the second day they are really getting red.
I weighed them all & put tags on each sausage, the recipe said to look for a 35-40% drop in weight, so I put the weights on the tags. And onto a drying rack in the fridge.
After about 9 days they had lost about 38-39 % of their weight & I thought that they were ready.
So here is the first UMAi pepperoni that a I have ever made. I was very surprised at the taste. I was expecting the traditional factory pepperoni you see everywhere here in the US. But what I got was a really deep beefy flavor that had ample spice, (next batch will be much spicier).
I also found that if you let it sit at room temp for a half hour or so the flavor intensified even more. I had some smoked jalapeno jack cheese hat I thought would go with it. So I sliced some up & put the both on saltine crackers.
Snack time!
Well I had to just double up on the sausage & cheese!!
And I took the casings off & vac packed them & put them in the freezer for some fantastic appetizers at a later date!
This has opened a whole new world for me. I have a lot of time on my hands & really like to try new things especially food related. I'm very happy with the way the pepperoni turned out, and honestly when you do something for the first time you have to wonder did I do something wrong & am I going to be in the bathroom for the next 24 hours. But luckily this one turned out good & i'm really looking forward to making the Chorizo tomorrow. I know one thing for sure, it will get more spices than it calls for & it will go into the 50 mm UMAi casings.
I can only hope that the rest of my retirement will be spent doing fun things like this. Judy & I live a very simple life & we really like doing things together, especially cooking!
We have been together for about 60 years, so we kind of know what the other person is thinking!
Thanks for letting me tell my story about my first experience with the UMAi bags. If you haven't tried them yet I would suggest you give it a try!!
Al
This is the recipe I used:
2 1/2 lb. coarse ground pork butt
1/2 tsp cure #2
3 oz. SM pepperoni seasoning (not enough, next time I'll use 4 1/2 oz.)
.15 gram Bactoferm ( I used bactoferm frm 52 us, because it said it would ferment in warmer climates)
3/8 cup NFDM
1/2 cup distilled water
I practically froze the meat before grinding it & used the large plate.
Then back into the freezer for a half hour & then mix in all the dry ingredients using wooden paddles so as not to get the meat warmed up.
Next dissolve the bactoferm in the water & mix it with the meat thoroughly with my hands until it became stiff.
Next I stuffed it into the UMAi casings, I used the 32mm casings, I think next time I will use the larger 50 mm casings. Which by the way I'm going to use tomorrow to make some dry cured Chorizo. I hung the sausage in Judy's craft room which is about 79-80 degrees. The bactoferm says it will ferment anywhere from 70-90 degrees, so this seemed just right.
Here is a photo of when they were first stuffed & hung to ferment.
After one day they are already starting to turn red.
At the end of the second day they are really getting red.
I weighed them all & put tags on each sausage, the recipe said to look for a 35-40% drop in weight, so I put the weights on the tags. And onto a drying rack in the fridge.
After about 9 days they had lost about 38-39 % of their weight & I thought that they were ready.
So here is the first UMAi pepperoni that a I have ever made. I was very surprised at the taste. I was expecting the traditional factory pepperoni you see everywhere here in the US. But what I got was a really deep beefy flavor that had ample spice, (next batch will be much spicier).
I also found that if you let it sit at room temp for a half hour or so the flavor intensified even more. I had some smoked jalapeno jack cheese hat I thought would go with it. So I sliced some up & put the both on saltine crackers.
Snack time!
Well I had to just double up on the sausage & cheese!!
And I took the casings off & vac packed them & put them in the freezer for some fantastic appetizers at a later date!
This has opened a whole new world for me. I have a lot of time on my hands & really like to try new things especially food related. I'm very happy with the way the pepperoni turned out, and honestly when you do something for the first time you have to wonder did I do something wrong & am I going to be in the bathroom for the next 24 hours. But luckily this one turned out good & i'm really looking forward to making the Chorizo tomorrow. I know one thing for sure, it will get more spices than it calls for & it will go into the 50 mm UMAi casings.
I can only hope that the rest of my retirement will be spent doing fun things like this. Judy & I live a very simple life & we really like doing things together, especially cooking!
We have been together for about 60 years, so we kind of know what the other person is thinking!
Thanks for letting me tell my story about my first experience with the UMAi bags. If you haven't tried them yet I would suggest you give it a try!!
Al
