Good Fat vs Bad Fat

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Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers

You must be Italian. Pretty much do exactly the same thing. Only difference I use a hand mixer in small batches to reduce the manual mixing, the curing room I use a small heater and humidifier to keep it around 5-8'C and 75-80%humdity. Instead of freezing we store them in the downstairs beer fridge. Only thing discarded are the glands as meaty bones are saved for the minestrone pot and the pigskin and other really slimy stuff is made into something like head cheese also for the minestrone pot.

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You bet, i was in your area making salami last weekend. Wine and meat can't go wrong!

We used too keep them in the fridge as well, lately we have been freezing them and seems to be going well. Give it a try sometime, see if you find a difference.

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Originally Posted by FortyFever

Interesting, thanks for the write up. You mention humidity and temperature can make or break it, can you be more specific, what temp and humidity is ideal? You also mention spices in your write up, can you elaborate i.e. how much per pound. Keep it coming, can't wait for your write up on prosciutto and speck. Thanks

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FFF has a good range of temperature and humidity. "keep it around 5-8'C and 75-80%humdity. "

As for the other spices we don't have a per pound measurement, its too taste. After we make a mix we through a patty in a frying pan, cook it and taste it before casing it in case more spice/heat is needed.

Be smart, don't over do it, start small and learn from your mistakes, always try to prefect the last batch. If it goes wrong don't be discouraged, learn from it adjust and have fun! And write everything down so you don't forget what happened the year before.

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Originally Posted by johny

Be careful everyone.
Do not follow Quack Kills recipe because it is missing some very important food safety steps.
Dried cured salami needs to jump over several hurdles to be safe to eat.

1) The quoted amount of salt is too low. 2.5-3.0% salt is the Standard. That should suppress growth of E. coli.
2) To suppress Clostridium botulinum some nitrites need to be added. For a dried Salami, that will be a product called Cure #2 which contain both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate plus plain salt. Available at all sausage making suppliers
3) To suppress the potential for Staph. aureus toxin food poisoning, salami needs to ferment to a pH less than 5.3 within a certain number of hours depending on the temperature it ferments. To do this, a package of Lactic Acid bacteria plus some dextrose must be added to the meat. Then the pH must be verified by a reputable measuring devise within the degree-hour-limitation graphs available from CFIA in Canada.
Failure to follow these steps could results in catastrophic food poisoning.
I've been making salami for 17 years and follow the steps I've described above with no problem.

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Sounds like a discussion we had here about aging meat.... People have been making it for a very long time without all that stuff with great success, so why is it necessary today?

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Originally Posted by Quack_Kills

Like i said, others will do things differently, to each their own. I personally don't and will never add the above chemicals to my natural products. For commercial purposes you may have to follow the above but for home use no way i would. We have used it before but found out that those additives aren't good and to me they make the meat taste funny compared to the natural ones. i cannot get myself to eat store bought salami because of the nitrates and additives they add. They didn't use it years ago and feel they are not needed now other than for mass production. This is the basic recipe my grandfather used and what my dad and myself use, The family has been producing salami this way for over 60 years with out an issue, stating not to follow it is a bit much. making people aware of possible issues is good. if you like it that's great, keep doing it!

You won't have the perfect recipe right off the bat, If you want to add 0.2% more salt go for it, try different methods over the years, different mixes, it will be a hit and miss, but you will learn what works best for you, its all a fun learning experience....until you have "catastrophic food poisoning" ;)

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I agree 100% We would never use those mentioned chemicals in our recipe. Our recipe has been in the Paone family of Calabria for many generations and each year we get a lot of compliments on the taste. We always run just over two percent salt and have never had a problem.

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Originally Posted by Quack_Kills

You bet, i was in your area making salami last weekend. Wine and meat can't go wrong!

We used too keep them in the fridge as well, lately we have been freezing them and seems to be going well. Give it a try sometime, see if you find a difference.

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Good too know its a viable option so far haven't needed the extra space.

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Originally Posted by johny

Be careful everyone.
Do not follow Quack Kills recipe because it is missing some very important food safety steps.
Dried cured salami needs to jump over several hurdles to be safe to eat.

1) The quoted amount of salt is too low. 2.5-3.0% salt is the Standard. That should suppress growth of E. coli.
2) To suppress Clostridium botulinum some nitrites need to be added. For a dried Salami, that will be a product called Cure #2 which contain both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate plus plain salt. Available at all sausage making suppliers
3) To suppress the potential for Staph. aureus toxin food poisoning, salami needs to ferment to a pH less than 5.3 within a certain number of hours depending on the temperature it ferments. To do this, a package of Lactic Acid bacteria plus some dextrose must be added to the meat. Then the pH must be verified by a reputable measuring devise within the degree-hour-limitation graphs available from CFIA in Canada.
Failure to follow these steps could results in catastrophic food poisoning.
I've been making salami for 17 years and follow the steps I've described above with no problem.

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Yes and No. Would I recommend a total novice to attempt home curing no. Yet the time honoured hand me down traditions of the old world works quite well. There are more reports in the news from illness from package lettuce than home brew stuff. Along with the health concerns of nitrates kind of cutting your nose off to spite your face.

get rid of all the fat and add pork fat . it tastes better .

I was at COSTCO about 3 weeks ago and met up with a guy that was asking over the meat counter for pork shoulder. Turns out Costco will only sell a case of pork shoulder (no bone, skin off and about 3/4 size of a normal pillow). I asked how much a case, he went back and weighted a case and it was 41KG and the price was $108.00 (no tax). I said I would take it and Ivan (the guy I met was hunter and I have new friend). Ivan, took one package and gave me $35.00 and I took the rest of the case home. Very good saving over the 2 pack in store. I have been keeping my eyes out for pork shoulder, bone in and skin all fall and have not seen any yet.

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Originally Posted by MikePal

I got the guy making my pepperettes to drop it to 70/30..the lowest he could go. Every bit helps when it comes to battling the BMI. :)

I asked at Food Basics this morning about the $0.99 lb Pork shoulders they usually have on sale at this time and they haven't got them. They do have their Boneless Pork Loin on this week however for $1.47 lb and that will work great..maybe better.

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Originally Posted by line052

weighted a case and it was 41KG and the price was $108.00 (no tax).

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That's a good price Mark..in and around $1/lb.

I'm just heading out the door to the Aldi in Ogdensburg and I'll price a pork shoulder down there.

I didn't see any big slabs of pork at the Aldi's but we stopped at the Independent in Prescott on the way home and they had the big Pork Shoulder there on sale...

$2.18/kg....a 9.12 kg shoulder cost $20.

Great deal on fresh pork if your turning your venison into pepperettes.