Salumi Update - Due Finito y Due Progesso

I deemed my Saucisson Sec to be ready and consumable one week ago

after dry-curing for 30 days post-stuffing. Four of the sausages were produced.

Here is one of them before cutting:

Here it is at first cut:

Here it is sliced for consumption:

As you can see there were some interior gaps - don't know why - improper stuffing?

Found it to be quite tasty, but a little chewy. Not really any case hardening,

but probably went a little too long in the curing chamber.

I will have to confess to indulging in the acquisition of a good slicing machine.

I just could not imagine mangling a lovingly nurtured product with an uneven hand

cut no matter what quality of knife used.

Here are some pics of the beast:

Click here to download:

Salumi_Update_-_Due_Finito_y_D.zip (3136 KB)

Besides, I have another product in the works that absolutely demands paper

thin delivery to be enjoyed.

Today (Sunday - November 15), it became apparent that the Tuscan salami

were ready. They were quite firm and some very small beads of fat tears started

to appear. So....finito.

Here they are before cutting:

Tuscan salami ready for tasting:

VERY tasty product - the lactic acid tanginess is quite different from what

the Saucisson Sec presents.

That leaves two products that still PROGRESSO (pardon my Italian) in the

dry curing chamber:

Voila:

One, of course, is the two Genoa salami which now

have a good coat of white mold and look like this at three weeks:

The other is a 1.3 lb piece of pork belly that I started on October 28 using

the recipe in the book on page 201.

I cured it in a quart size Ziploc under a brick for 10 days:

After curing, and before going into dry-curing chamber:

It has been dry curing for 8 days an now looks like this:

It was very noticeably firmer after the time in the Ziploc cure, and is

even more firm now. I hope to try it on my guinea pig Thanksgiving

guests 11 days from now.....PAPER THIN!

They will have to suffer through proud presentation of Saucisson Sec,

Tuscan Salami, Dry-Cured Pork Belly, and some home cured/cold-smoked

Loch Duart Salmon that turned out quite well (again using the recipe from

the book)....home made Hickory Smoked mixed nuts (treated with gourmet

soy sauce, salt, and a pinch of cayenne) for the squeamish or unadventurous.

Click here to download:

0Salumi_Update_-_Due_Finito_y_D.zip (3671 KB)

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Posted by Jim

Nov 15, 2009

Peter Berg said...

I don't know which looks better, the sausage, the bacon, or the slicer!!!

Jim said...

I apologize for the random insertion of picture galleries that this site produces. I was able to edit the post and get the pics of the slicer in the correct place. But, to get the article to look like what I emailed to the site, I would need to break apart one of the galleries...and, I have not figured out how to do this. So, use some interpretation when you read this.

Erika said...

I'm with peter!

Tim said...

I have slicer envy.

Thx,

Tim

Nov 17, 2009

Jamie said...

The tuscan looks truly amazing. I must say I was a little shocked that it was ready to slice already, but it looks good all the way through. Did it lose the approx 1/3 of its weight? Any signs of case hardening or other issues? I thought this was too soon to take out, but Peter said that since we used a fast-acting ferment on the tuscan, it sholud be good to go (assuming no case hardening, and evenly dried throughout). Anyone know the potential downsides of pulling a salami from the chamber too early, if it otherwise appears to be dried evenly with requisite weight-loss? Perhaps flavor is not fully developed?

On the saucisson sec, I think you probably had a stuffing problem. I certainly don't think leaving them in the chamber would cause those voids, since they should be almost indefinitely stable in chamber conditions.

By my calculations, the Tuscan lost 37.8% of its weight. I was sure they were ready by the squeeze test. I had been giving them the pinch every day, and they had been quite solid for several days. No signs of case hardening at all or any other issues. It never did get much mold on it. The flavor is quite developed, I am sure. My only criticism might be that it could have used more fennel seeds - their flavor is quite hidden.

The great results with the Tuscan has inspired us to consider home made pizza dough on which slices of this stuff could rest atop a bed of some kind of an olive oil/garlic based sauce, some kind of soft cheese, and some roasted peppers. We have a Cuisinart with a dough blade and the DVD that came with it makes pizza dough look easy (always resorted to Boboli before).

I am sure we had a stuffing problem on the saucisson sec. I think we used too small of a tube. I believe we used the middle one, and should have used the big one (hog casings) - had trouble getting them filled. NEXT TIME!

curious about the pizza effort. I've been thinking about trying the same thing.

Thx,

meatpete said...

Fast fermented sausages are great on pizza. Pepperoni is an american classic fast fermented sausage.

Use the kitchen aid for the pizza dough.

Cheers,

Peter

---

Yeah...have been perusing the pepperoni recipe.

Why Kitchen Aid over Cuisinart? I have both from which to choose. Kitchen aid with the paddle, dough hook,....?

Kitchen aid works better. Use the dough hook unless you have an extremely wet dough (80+%)

---

Nov 21, 2009

The Genoa salami are now at 4 weeks since their birth. Out of curiousity, I just weighed them - the smaller one has gone from 3.1 lbs. to 2.4 lbs. (22% loss), and the larger one has gone from 3.65 lbs. to 3.0 lbs. (18% loss). I presume the target to be around 30%.

How about some weight loss reports from other proud Genoa parents.

Meat Club Charcuterie