Looking forward to learning from Folks!

[Bentley Meredith]

Hello, my name is Bentley. I have been making fresh sausage and Dry Aging Beef for about 20 years. To me, easy basic stuff that just requires some knowledge.

But I have ventured into Charcutier, scarier then dating if you ask me, and those were some terrifying years!

So I ate some Soppressata a couple of years ago and it was the best salami I have ever eaten. Being a Cheap Screw, $13-$20/lb. for this meat is unacceptable, so my journey begins. The reason I never pursued Charcutier was I assumed you needed (maybe I am going to find out you do) special fermenting and curing chambers. I came across an ad for the UMAi bag process and decided I would give that a try.

I bought there kit and have been as careful as possible to be very sanitary. The meat is I guess currently fermenting. It was started last night about 9pm EDT. A photo of what it looked like then and now. It says 48-72 hours in a 65°to 75° oven, and mine has stayed about 68°so far. That is about it. I have no clue whether to go 48 or 72, and since I guess 72 wont hurt I will do that. They all weighed out at between 30 to 32oz. They state 6-8 weeks in fridge at 38, but I opted for the 70mm casings. I do not like Whimpey size salami, so I am wondering if it is going to be a lot longer in the fridge because of that? We will shoot for that 40% reduction and see what happens. I am a pessimist, and am pretty certain this is goin to fail, but I only have about $65 into it and if it does, I figured that was a number I could deal with. If it works, I will end up with about $120 worth of meat!

All suggestion are greatly appreciated. One concern I have is to much fat in it. I used 8lbs. of butt and added 2lbs of fat trim. Am I going to regret that?

[Bentley Meredith]

This was my 1st attempt at Salami about 13 years ago! Before I knew about fermentation and Aging.

[Bentley Meredith]

I guess if changing color means it is going smoothly I am Golden! It is even starting to smell like Salami!

Start.



24 Hours.





36 Hours.

[Bentley Meredith]

You start to realize that you need equipment you do not have. Like a Ph meter, and an aw (water activity) meter. But you are told if you do X & Y you will get Z and you hope that is accurate info. These were fermented for 60 hours. They will now go in the 38° fridge and we just keep checking weight loss for "doneness". The temp and RH gauge is off a tad due to the fridge being open 3 times getting the Salami in there. It was reading 37.8° and 75% RH the 1st time I opened it.

Since they are 70mm casings and UMAi was using 50 for their video, I am gonna assume that my drying time will be about 25% longer then theirs. I am figuring 1st of the year, although with my internet research, it appears that the UMAi bags seem to dry faster then a collagen or similar casing using a curing chamber. I will have no date for the chamber curing, but maybe i can compare notes with O2 about his chamber curing!

[Bentley Meredith]

Just 24 hours into the "drying" stage and you can feel a difference in the texture.

[Bentley Meredith]

Can someone explain to me why you would use different starter/fermentation cultures for salami?

[jcflorida]

Can someone explain to me why you would use different starter/fermentation cultures for salami?

I'm no expert on the subject, but simple answer is different cultures impart different flavor profiles and fermentation speeds.

Here's some information from the main site about Chr Hansen cultures. https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausag ... e/cultures

It does not include the relative newer B-LC-007 and Flavor of Italy (Flora Italia) variants but you can get information on them through a web search.

If you don't have access to Chr Hansen cultures, the simple answer is still the same, but I can't lead you to similar comparisons.

Edit:
If you want to wade in ankle deep, here's Chr Hansen's take on their cultures for fermented sausage. https://netropolitan.co.nz/wp-content/u ... 141009.pdf

[Bentley Meredith]

Thank you.

[Dave in AZ]

Different flavors.
Also different target fermentation temps. So, some work est 65 to 70f, other fast ones at say 90 -100. Depending on where you live, might use a dufferent one.

Fast cultures tend to give big pH drops also, so if you want 4.3 vs 5.2ph, you might go for a fast higher temp ferment like FHP. For example, I live in Phoenix. My house is 76f. But outside may be 100f. If I want a fast ferment to safe pH making pepperoni, I will go with fhp, and ferment it outside.

I just use that nice pdf doc from Hansen myself. I have FHP because I like pepperoni US style, and FLC because I like it's listeria protection, for everything else.

I also have Flavor of Italy, because I see it used for salami by Eric at 2guysandaCooler a lot. It is a new, fast US style ferment that gives good listeria protection, and has the strains needed to produce good flavors with aging. I havent used it yet, but that will be my #1 Italian style salami culture. I like pepperoni and pork roll and summer sausage way better than salami though, so I use FLC and FHP.

I make Taylor Pork Roll, it is just acidified then cooked in a few days to a week, so no long term flavor production. So I just use FLC for that for safety and quick lactic acid.
Those are the reasons I have anyways

[Bentley Meredith]

Thank you.

[redzed]

Welcome to the forum! From what you described, your salami fermented successfully and you've cleared the that hurdle. There are many elements in the process before you cut into it: hygiene, quality and type of meat used, amount of sugars added, temps when grinding and stuffing and temp and humidity when fermenting. Since you are using the umai casings and drying in the fridge, the type of starter you use does not make that much difference because the staph bacteria that play a huge role in developing flavour during the maturation stage are for the most part inactive at fridge temps. Your salami still should be fine and the flavour will be largely the spices you used. Once you reach a 35% weight loss cut one in half and see how you like it. I can't really comment further because I have no idea of the type of meats you used, amount of fat ingredients, or process you followed. Like making any type of sausage, there is so much more to it than grinding and stuffing.

[Bentley Meredith]

Thank you.

It was a just shy of 9lbs. of pork shoulder (BB) and 2lbs of fat. My best Sausage ext. is 75% lean and 25% fat, maybe 70/30. It is good to at least hear that I may have gotten the fermentation right. As I have read on this site about Dextrose, it seems as though this recipe was very heavy on it, 60g. The other ingredients were fairly simple. 120ml of water, 120g sea salt, 130g nonfat dry milk, 6 grams ground white pepper, 30g whole pepper corns, 12g minced garlic, 5g red pepper flakes and 120ml of white wine.

Welcome to the forum! From what you described, your salami fermented successfully and you've cleared the that hurdle. There are many elements in the process before you cut into it: hygiene, quality and type of meat used, amount of sugars added, temps when grinding and stuffing and temp and humidity when fermenting. Your salami still should be fine and the flavour will be largely the spices you used. I can't really comment further because I have no idea of the type of meats you used, amount of fat ingredients, or process you followed.

[Bentley Meredith]

Is there a difference between Dry Sausage and Dry Salami?

[Bentley Meredith]

So after 1 week they have lost appx 7% weight. I am encouraged they might be done after 6 weeks, but I have no idea if weight loss stays constant in dry curing process.

[redzed]

As I have read on this site about Dextrose, it seems as though this recipe was very heavy on it, 60g. The other ingredients were fairly simple. 120ml of water, 120g sea salt, 130g nonfat dry milk, 6 grams ground white pepper, 30g whole pepper corns, 12g minced garlic, 5g red pepper flakes and 120ml of white wine.

Are you serious? Where in the world did you find that recipe?