I had a picnic roast on hand from a recent pig order, so decided to make a batch of salami.  I combined a few recipes from the Ruhlman/Polcyn book (their tuscan salami), len poli's site (http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Salami%20finocchiona.pdf) and the Marianski book (their finocchiona), and also added in some hot pepper flakes for extra zing.  

I used the T-SPX slow-fermenting culture (suggested in Marianski, and obtained from Butcher & Packer) rather than the fast-fermenting Bactoferm F-RM-52 (called for in Ruhlman), since the Marianski book places heavy emphasis on the better flavors with the slow fermenting SPX culture.  Having been bit a bit underwhelmed by prior results with the Ruhlman tuscan salami, I'm curious to see how this one goes.  For casings I used beef middles (several sections of which were a bit thin/ragged, and two blew out while stuffing; hopefully more won't fail while hanging).

Another fun endeavor today was inventing and building a fermentation chamber for the salami.  You'll see it in the final photos in the series.  It is basically a clear, upright storage bin, with a dowel mounted across the top, a heating pad hanging inside along one wall, a remote humidity and temperature sensor, and some water poured in the bottom and misted throughout.  So far, it's working great.  The SPX culture is supposed to ferment at 68-75 F for 2-3 days at 85-95% RH.  Right now, I'm getting a reading of 73 F and 90% RH.  I'm just hoping I don't wake up to find it's at 50 or 100 degrees....