Another Beginner :D

[FrederickMüller]

Hello

My name is Frederick and I’m fairly new to this whole dry curing thing. I’ve found a YouTube channel where an Italian guy is making dry cured meat in his fridge and I though why not try the same. It only took me about 2 hours to get started.

Basically, I had no idea what I was doing.
I already read heaps of articles and I learned quite a lot about how to do things better next time.

I’ve got a few questions and I hope you could help me with it.
The videos I’ve done are the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuS5P7G ... sM&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yma9_aG ... sM&index=8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJEOSRU ... M&index=19

As English is not my mother language it’s a little difficult for me to explain exactly what I’ve done.

I did all recipes (amounts of meat, salt etc) as in the video, I only made different casings because I couldn’t get the ones in the video. I’m from Germany and atm I am studying in Hungary, but unfortunately I don’t speak the language very well. Maybe I’ll ask a friend to help me find the right casings.

For the 2 Capicola and the 1 tenderloin, I’ve used pantyhoses as casings. (Many layers)

For the other tenderloin I pressed it into a Naturin casing. I don’t know if its the right name for it. It is like a casing made out of collagen, so its breathable (water can go in and out).

And for the 2 Sausages I also used the Naturin casing.
In the Naturin casing, I made many holes with a needle to make sure the air goes out and everything is well compressed

I let everything hang at 20C° room temperature and 85% humidity for like 1.5 days and then put it in the fridge.
My fridge varies around 5-6.5C° and 70-85% humidity.

The guy from the YouTube videos doesn’t mention anything about 35-40% weight loss or mold starter cultures. Thats why I don’t know the exact staring weight. But I know that each Capicola was at around 1kg (Since I had a big 2kg piece and cut it in the middle).

The sausages start to get harder at the bottom first, but they are still quite soft a the top, so they’ll need more time for sure.

The general smell in the fridge is good I think. There is no bad/sour smell. Just a meat smell and some normal mold smell like you’d have on sausages from the store.

After 30 days I unwrapped one on the tenderloins. Since it is a whole muscle with no real casing the mold was right on the meat. Since I studied up on basically every topic, the mold (green and white but I don’t know which kind it is) got me a little nervous, so I gave some pieces to my neighbours cat to see if it is good. The cat loved it. And since it seemed alright, I’ve cut away the outer part and tried the inner part. (I didn’t want to eat the mold, just in case)
It was just too salty and not good in texture It was rubbery soft. Maybe it wasn’t dried enough.

Ok my main question is if I should take the Capicola out of the pantyhose, wipe the mold of (what’s best? Vinegar with saltwater?) and what to do with the sausages? Is it normal that the drying starts from the bottom ?

The Sausage casing is a little sticky on the outside, but when this part dries out. It becomes chalky white. So I assume its good mold.

I’ll add some pictures now. All pictures were made after 35 days. I hope, that I gave you enough information

Gallery link:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/x8xHsJX

[FrederickMüller]

[Scogar]

Welcome Frederick, you have found the right place. Many here will help you on the path. I unfortunately cannot, most of my sausage has been fresh or cured and smoked, as well as bacon, and other cured meats, etc. but I have not ventured down the dry and ferment path. I hope to soon. If you don't mind me asking where in Germany are you from?

Scott

[FrederickMüller]

Thanks for the welcome
I'm from Hamburg, but atm I'm studying in Hungary. I'll be back in Hamburg for a couple weeks soon. During the lockdown, I'm planning on building a dry curing fridge. I just have to convince my day, but that should be too difficult Hopefully I can find a fridge that fits the requirements and isn't too expensive.

[Scogar]

Never been to Northern Germany but have spent a lot of time in the south. Looking forward to potentially learning some things from and about the north

[FrederickMüller]

Is there anybody who can give me advise on how to deal with the mold on the Capicola ?
Maybe I should unwrap it and upload other pictures to see what's under the ''casing''.

[Bob K]

Vinegar and water or wine would work fine.
You should look into some reputable recipe's and production procedures. The glaring missing ingredient in all the recipes is cure ( nitrates/nitrites) and are a major contributor to the color, flavor, and texture but most importantly the safety of your products.

A wealth of information can be found here: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/

[FrederickMüller]

Great thank you

After the first mold appeared, I started to worry and did some research on several websites. That all my recipes are missing cure might be because the guy from the videos is Italian and that's the traditional way :/.

I'll definitely get cure for the next time and continue on educating myself.
I don't even know If I'll eat anything from my recent batch. It is my first time, so I'm just enjoying the process and making mistakes is a part of it.

As a medical student I'm well aware of the risks that mold and other microorganism can have on the body. I asked my Microbiology teacher already if I could do some testing on the meat, but they have no capacity because of the current pandemic Maybe in the future.

[redzed]

Hello Frederick and welcome to the forum. The video series made made by the two Italians are certainly entertaining but oversimplify the process. What they demonstrate in the process may be "taditional" in some aspects, but not in all. Traditional salumi was not aged in refrigerators, but in cellars or caves where the temps were somewhat higher. I see that you have small dedicated fridge, can you bring the temp up a bit higher in it? It will allow the gram-positive bacteria and enzymes to multiply and greatly improve the flavour and colour of the products. And do use a curing salt (Pökelsalz ), it will give you a degree of safety, better colour and flavour. Read the section on "hurdle technology" in the link that Bob provided. As to the mould, it's probably OK, but without lab tests no one can tell you if its 100% safe or not. However, I have as yet to find any documented cases where someone was poisoned by mould from a sausage. More than one strain of mould usually grow on sausages, many from the penicillium genus which are desirable. Then there are moulds that are in no way toxic but impart unwanted flavours into the meat. That is why many of us who dabble in this craft use a mould starter that contains desirable moulds. The mould starter I use contains Penicillium nalgiovense and Penicillium chrysogenum.

As to the question about drying from the bottom, I would say that that is not usual and probably caused by stagnant air in your fridge. There should be some low velocity movement of air which will homogenize the humidity.

[FrederickMüller]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and helping me. I'll read the section you mentioned

I see that you have small dedicated fridge, can you bring the temp up a bit higher in it?

It's actually a big fridge with other food inside. But everything else is sealed, like mozzarella and yoghurt etc.
The only way of bringing the temperature up, is by turning the fridge off. I've tried it today by turning it off for 2 hours and then turning it on for 30 minutes
I see that doing it with a normal fridge is not ideal and that I can't expect perfect results and that the outcome is not very predictable/repeatable. But maybe I will be able to produce something that is still enjoyable.

I'll build a curing chamber when I'm back home!