Homemade Sausage Making

I finally got myself a curing fridge. Made in Australia by Cleaver (small family business).

This one is suitable for salumi, cheese, and dry-aged meat. Temperature can be set between 0 ºC und 25 ºC; humidity can be set between 60 % and 85 %. For dry-aging, it maintains 80 % humidity at as low as 2 ºC (36 ºF). Also has a UV light to inhibit mold.

This is the smallest model they sell, with about 8 kg capacity. That's plenty enough for my needs

Actually not bad pricing but shipping here to Canada would kill me.
Nearest dealer is 8661.1 miles away

Devo wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 09, 2024 20:24

Actually not bad pricing but shipping here to Canada would kill me.
Nearest dealer is 8661.1 miles away

Yeah, that's the usual problem with bulky niche products. You basically have to buy local, otherwise it becomes prohibitively expensive.

Nice!

Very nice unit Michi! lets's see what you can do with it!

redzed wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 30, 2024 06:04

Very nice unit Michi! lets's see what you can do with it!

I only got around last week to actually doing something with this fridge. (I've been busy with other things.)

Made a bunch of saucisson sec, 5.7 kg worth. Casings are beef middles. I ran out of casings towards the end, so I used the remainder of the farce to make pitina-style salami (dip in red wine and roll in polenta). I have a separate temperature and humidity monitor in the fridge, so I don't have to rely on the built-in one exclusively.
So far, both temperature and humidity have been extremely stable. Temp is 13 ºC ±0.4 ºC, humidity is between 81.3 % and 84.4 %.
I inoculated with Mold 600. It's now one week since the salami went into the curing fridge, and the mold is growing nicely.
Now comes the long wait…

Mold is coming along nicely. No more risk of infection by foreign molds at this point.

Saucisson Sec is ready after 40% weight loss. It took a 5½ weeks to reach target weight.
I am extremely happy with the way that turned out. Perfect bind, absolutely no dry ring, and really nice flavour, better than even top artisanal brands here. The mould adds some subtle and really nice brie-type flavour.

Looks great!
What about the pitina ones? I'd think they would dry out even faster, I'm interested in how they did.

Dave in AZ wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 22, 2024 22:44

Looks great!
What about the pitina ones? I'd think they would dry out even faster, I'm interested in how they did.

Thank you!

The pitina version ended up fine. It was about the same diameter and dried at about the same rate, so I removed it at the same time as the cased version. No dry ring, and the flavour is good. A little bit less complex because it didn't pick up the funky/cheesy notes you get from the mold, but still very good.

Hi Have just purchased a "The HOG". Cant wait to gather your experience and tips. rgds Spud Perth

I'm sure you'll have fun with it I guess you must be planning to make a lot of salumi—that cabinet has three times the capacity of mine!

My main recommendation is to use demineralised or distilled water for the reservoir at the bottom. The drawer is not removable and, therefore, not all that easy to clean; you want to avoid lime scale build-up over time.

Michi.

Hi and many thanks for your reply. I know the cabinet size is pretty over kill. Had an opportunity to purchase a 12 months old unit that had been repaired and further warranted for great (fantastic actually) reduced price. Have a fairly big family with just about a rugby team in numbers of Grand kids and all are interested in Salami, Salumi and their Dad's all are looking to get some quality aged meats.
Havent as yet made anything as where I make my "stuff" is being renovated. Busting my bum to get started though. I'm a 74 yr old bugger that has made his share of charcuteria old school way and now looking to come into the new tech age so very excited to get bum into gear
Hoping to have enlightened reading from this Forum. rgds Graham, Perth

Great to hear! I'm not quite as ancient—a comparative youngster at 66

The Cleaver cabinets really give great results. I've made all sorts of salami and dry cured hams in mine, without any hitches.

Before I bought the Cleaver, I used the semi-permeable salami casings from Misty Gully and UMAi. You can make good salami with those, but they make it impossible to use Mold 600, which does add a lot of flavour (not to mention good looks).

Have fun with your new toy!

Thanks, onwards and upwards