[USA]Salamini Italiani Alla Cacciatore

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 21:50

Hey all
White mold is coming along as planned, I`m thinking in a few more days they should be fully covered.
Wally

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 09:25

Wally, I've got a batch I put in just about the time you made these. Your white mold has developed just a bit more than mine... it must be because you lead a more lawful and productive life eh?

Keep up the good work Sharkey!
Just wait until you taste this stuff pal!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 00:37

Here is an update of my Italian salami project. The salami has lost approximately 35% of its weight over a span of 25 days. Now for the taste test, good flavor definitely can taste the wine, next batch I will add a little extra cracked pepper, I like pepper in my salami. This salami reminds me of a salami my mother would buy in Germany when I was a young lad. Good flavor and nice color definitely will make again.
Below is a picture of the Italian salami with Vermont Cabot "smoked" cheddar.

Wally

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 05:27

Thanks for posting Wally. Beautiful work. I like a little added pepper too, so I increased the recipe just a bit per your recommendation. Which wine did you use? I like just good ol' dry burgundy. I'm glad you enjoyed the recipe pal. Your skills make a lot of folks want to come and watch you while you make dry-cured sausage. Nice goin'

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 14:06

CW
I used a Merlot, my wife is the wine professional in this house, she stocks the shelves, I just pour and enjoy! I would like to add, letting the meat / spice mix set over night is a bonus to this recipe.
I`m not impressed with the first picture, here is a second with a close up.
Thanks..

Dave Zac · Post by **Dave Zac** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 18:41

I'm prolly the last person qualified to comment on dry cured product, but the last picture looks to me like case hardening is/did happen to that salami. There appears to be a darker ring around the outside of the meat. No? If not case hardening, what is it?

Dave Zac

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 20:16

Dave
I think it might be a premature cut, salami not fully dry. I will check it in another week and see what happpens.

Wally

meathands · Post by **meathands** » Fri Jan 31, 2014 19:54

Hello All,

I know this thread is a bit old but I'm making the same style Salamini and I had some questions about mold production during fermentation.

I'm on my 3rd day fermenting in somewhat non-ideal conditions. For the first 24hrs the location was difficult to keep the RH up. It was around 55-65% and the temp was probably a little more variable too around 70 during the day and maybe 67 or so at night. I misted pretty regularly around and on the cacciacitorini. Probably more than required as I was afraid of them drying out too fast and case hardening becoming an issue.

I then moved them to a better location near a rad and I can get the RH around 65-75%. Due to these somewhat variable conditions I'm still misting around them to keep the RH up, but must less directly on them.

Here are my questions:
Is it OK to mist them this much? Could I be encouraging any bad molds inadvertently?

I'm not using any mold inoculation during spraying (or as a starter culture just wine) and it's on the 3rd day and there is no mold production whatsoever. Is this OK?

I've read it is but I wanted to get other input. They do have a nice color and subtle pleasant odor. I'd say they've lost quite a bit of their weight maybe 10-20%. I did give them a little squeeze to see how even the firmness was and if the outside was just hardening up. They felt OK. I read after here it's best not to touch them before they get their mold armor. Doh!

I have an old cacciatore salami I found in the back of my fridge. It's been there a while and the meat looks darker than ideal and I don't think I want to eat it, however I did find a bit of white chalky mold near the back, and some fuzzier white spots too. Can I use this mold now, at day 3, to spray my cacciatorini?

From what I read a sausage maker does this technique by inoculating the moldy skin in distilled water with sugar for 12hrs.

Thanks for your time, and sorry for the length, wanted to provide as much context as possible. I'm new to this art and I'm real excited. They look so awesome hanging. I can't stop looking at them!

Cheers,
meathands

bkleinsmid · Post by **bkleinsmid** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 19:45

CW........you are killing me. I have wanted to build a fermentation chamber for a long time but it just hasn't happened yet. I would love to try this recipe and I am putting it my files to try later........maybe by next fall.

Thanks,
Brad

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 11:58

Meathands, you wrote:

I'm on my 3rd day fermenting in somewhat non-ideal conditions. For the first 24hrs the location was difficult to keep the RH up. It was around 55-65% and the temp was probably a little more variable too around 70 during the day and maybe 67 or so at night. I misted pretty regularly around and on the cacciacitorini. Probably more than required as I was afraid of them drying out too fast and case hardening becoming an issue. I then moved them to a better location near a rad and I can get the RH around 65-75%. Due to these somewhat variable conditions I'm still misting around them to keep the RH up, but must less directly on them.

Meathands, you`re working harder trying to make your own methods work, than if you`d build a proper curing chamber to begin with. I have seen folks do this time after time. NONE have succeeded without a proper chamber. I have never seen anyone, and I mean anyone, succeed with this type of "open" air-dried sausage. Without following the strict regulations designed for a curing chamber, your project is destined to fail, believe me. Hanging them by a radiator simply won`t work. I don`t know how many thousands of folks over time, have tried to get around the rules by doing this. It just won`t work. Misting won`t work. You need a constant, correctly measured amount of moisture in the air and a carefully controlled temperature. The air needs to move slightly out of the chamber below 2 miles per hour. You also asked,
Is it OK to mist them this much? Could I be encouraging any bad molds inadvertently? Without penicillium nalgiovense in a controlled chamber to compete with other molds of color, I can almost guarantee other molds (some harmful) will develop.
You also asked,

I'm not using any mold inoculation during spraying (or as a starter culture just wine) and it's on the 3rd day and there is no mold production whatsoever. Is this OK?
Sorry pal, wine has nothing to do with it. All the wine does is modify proteins and add a little flavor. Sausages in cooler countries are usually made using mold for protection. Otherwise, smoking is used for surface protection.

Meathands, allow me to be blunt! Do yourself a favor and build a curing chamber. You won`t regret it. You`ll wonder why you haven`t done it before. And you`ll find that producing consistently good results is much less work than if you try to find your own methods and make your own rules. Good luck.

Bkleinsmid,
Why wait until next fall? You could be enjoying this sausage for all those months! This is a "high class" sausage usually used for appetizers. I had to do a lot of research to get it close to the real stuff. Remember this recipe is "A Real Fraudulent, Pseudo, Bogus, Shameful Counterfeit Clone! But, hot-dang! It sure is tasty. My pal Wally (Uwanna in Vermont), makes some of the best salami I`ve ever seen. His curing chamber is made from a refrigerator and he has done a beautiful job with the controls and hardware etc. Look back through his posts for some pointers about the construction of his chamber. Ol` Wally is pretty amazing.

There is also a good tutorial produced by my friend Miroslaw "Mac" Stanuzek at The Sausagemaker™. Here is a link: http://www.sausagemaker.com/tutorials/c ... amber.html

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

pearbear · Post by **pearbear** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 20:57

Chuckwagon, how do i print your salamini recipe thanks

newbie

Post by **redzed** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 22:28

Hi Pearbear!

Chuckwagon is no longer with us. You can print the recipe by highlighting the text, going into your print menu and choose "selected". If that would be a problem, select the text by highlighting, right click and then select "copy". Next go into your word processing program and right click and then "paste". Now you can print it from there.

Hope that helps.

redzed