Working on a Lamb Salami Recipe

[LoydB]

I want to do a Lamb Salami. This is what I'm thinking so far. Lamb PH starts higher than pork (6.0+ it looks like). I'm thinking 2.45% total sugars, and ferment slightly warm with Flavor of Italy (80 degrees?). For spices, rosemary, garlic and a tiny bit of mint. A bit of white wine to help the bind. Comments appreciated, I've never used lamb in cured meat before, only fresh sausage.

 

[normanaj]

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

We have a small specialty market here that sells lamb salami and sausage and it's out of this world.

 

[tbern]

sounds interesting! will be watching to see how it turns out for you!

 

[indaswamp]

I'm in for the ride! The wine should drop the pH about 0.05 from my experience. If you have a pH meter, I'd check the meat after mixing in the wine then decide how much sugars to add. 20 grams of dextrose is a lot of sugar. But I've never made lamb salami. Interesting spice profile...and with the pistachios-very intriguing flavor combo.

 

[indaswamp]

Is this a fast ferment salami with a lot of tang? why 20 grams of dextrose?

 

[LoydB]

My thinking was that a) lamb is a high ph and b) I want a little sweet to play off of mint jelly that is traditional with lamb. It sounds like I should back it off some based on reaction. Thanks, that’s why I’m discussing it, to get improvements.

 

[indaswamp]

My thinking was that a) lamb is a high ph and b) I want a little sweet to play off of mint jelly that is traditional with lamb. It sounds like I should back it off some based on reaction. Thanks, that’s why I’m discussing it, to get improvements.

Ah...ok well, the bacteria don't just stop fermenting dextrose once you get to target pH. And dextrose really isn't that "sweet" tastewise anyhow. If you want a sweet profile then use more sucrose in the recipe and back way off on the dextrose. The sucrose will give you sweetness...ALSO-use a culture that does not ferment sucrose well at all....like F-RM-52. Both the bacteria strains in that culture are sucrose negative...meaning they have a really difficult time fermenting sucrose.

Use the dextrose to drive the pH to target, and the sucrose for sweetness.....Glad to disscuss this sort of stuff.

 

[LoydB]

That's exactly the kind of feedback I want, thanks.

 

[indaswamp]

F-RM-52

 

[indaswamp]

Oh-and ferment on the low end....70-72*F. The Lactobacillus Sakei will still work well at the temp. Use 0.25-0.3g./kg. dextrose to drive pH.....

 

[indaswamp]

And for insurance-once you reach target pH then move to drying chamber 47-53*F. This will slow fermentation to a crawl. Lacto Sakei can ferment sucrose, just not very well. and you want to make it even more difficult with the lower temp.

 

[LoydB]

@indaswamp So the video recommends using F-RM-52 for products that will take less than a month to finish and using #1. Based on historical record, salami of the diameter I use takes ~6 weeks in my chamber. He recommends Flavor of Italy for stuff going longer using #2, which is why I've been using it.

 

[LoydB]

@indaswamp So using your calculations, assuming my starting PH is 6.0 (I'll measure and adjust before adding dextrose):

Starting PH 6.0, target PH 5.0. 1.0 difference. Multiply by 10 (why am I multiplying by 10?) to get 10.0. 10 * 0.25 = 2.5g dextrose per kilo. Is that right?

 

[indaswamp]

Yep. Correcto!

 

[LoydB]

Updated recipe at top.

 

[indaswamp]

Updated recipe at top.

Are you changing to a sucrose negative culture too?

 

[LoydB]

Are you changing to a sucrose negative culture too?

So the video recommends using F-RM-52 for products that will take less than a month to finish and using #1. Based on historical record, salami of the diameter I use takes ~6 weeks in my chamber. He recommends Flavor of Italy for stuff going longer using #2, which is why I've been using it.

 

[indaswamp]

So the video recommends using F-RM-52 for products that will take less than a month to finish and using #1. Based on historical record, salami of the diameter I use takes ~6 weeks in my chamber. He recommends Flavor of Italy for stuff going longer using #2, which is why I've been using it.

Well, if you want the sweetness- you will need a sucrose negative culture. Flavor of Italy (FOI) is sucrose positive.....the pediococcus acidilactici in FOI can ferment sucrose.

F-RM-52 can be used for long aged salami, it is just not optimally preferred because the acid drop is fast.

 

[LoydB]

So the initial PH was 5.61, which was lower than I expected based on the PH of the lamb. Thanks @indaswamp for the advice of not adding the dextrose until I knew the real PH of the mixture. After about 30 hours, the PH was 5.03, and into the chamber it goes.

 

[indaswamp]

Excellent!