Homemade Sausage Making

Thanks for all the help here. I made the Salami Finocchiona around Christmas Time. I had a problem with the PH at first because I did not put in enough sugar so it took a bit longer to reach 5.2 PH. Thanks all for the help on that. Anyway, into the chamber for about 6 weeks. Lost about 44 % weight. When I took it out it did have case hardening and was quite soft in the middle...waaaaa.. I was then called away to work for the last 6 weeks out of town. I thew all the salami in the fridge and now..surprise!!..it firmed up quite a bit. Here is a pic and you can see some hardening around the edge. It tastes ok but lacks any real punch or flavor. Pretty mild. But I can build on that for the next one.
Thanks for the help from here. It sure made things easier than just reading a book.

http://s61.photobucket.com/user/muxmun/ ... b.jpg.html

Looks good muxmum!

muxmun,

It does look very good. Congrats!
One question though: did you use Bactoferm Mold-600 in your recipe? Doesn't look you did....

Yes I did. Maybe too much as it got pretty heavy in the 3rd week or so and I was instructed here to brush the excess off and I lowered the temp somewhat.

mux

Looks great! Nice color.

Thanks guys.
I think I got a little too much fat in this. My pork butt did not have quite enough good lean so in went some meat that was a bit more to the fat side as well as the back fat that the recipe called for.
I'm wondering if say a pork loin would work just as well if your just trying to get the say 75-80 % lean meat out of the Pork butt.??

Muxmum, the salami looks great! You've got reason to be proud! Don't cut back too much on the fat as a lot of the flavour and the mouthfeel comes from it. Salami is not a "health food" so why try to to turn it into one? It's loaded with salt and and fat, but eaten in moderation, (like everything else) it will not harm you. Besides, recent studies have now concluded that there is very little connection with animal fat and cholesterol.

You can use loin meat with back fat to make salami, but it would not have the deep colour and flavour if you made it from the shoulder or rear leg. I've used loin meat many times but also mixed it with meat from other cuts. The best thing to do is to use Class I meat (no soft fat, sinew or connective tissue) from the shoulder and/or ham, and good quality hard back fat.

Red. Thanks for the encouraging words. The big reason it came out OK is from the help of all from this forum. Thanks for the info too on the loin vs butt.

Thanks all..Hope to start another salami soon.

Mux