Spouse Versus Salami
My lovely wife, Jeanine, cannot stand the "stench" in our basement. She wants me to throw all the salami in the garbage. I tell her that I am THE PRESIDENT OF THE MEAT CLUB and that it is both my duty and passion to carry on these old traditions and craft some tasty morsels in the process. She pinches her nose and says: "Get rid of them!!!!"
But, of course, I cannot. I will need to come up with some other solutions. I'm thinking of setting up some odor barriers in the short term (shower curtains?) and then maybe devise a more involved venting system to the outdoors. I guess not everyone can appreciate the funky/sour smell of aging raw meat.....
While I've still got my cherished boys (they're really like family now), here's a quick update: the Giant Genoa and the three tuscans are all sharing the curing chamber, which is hovering around 55-60 degrees and 72-76% humidity. Everything's looking pretty good, especially the tuscans, which are developing an excellent bloom of powdery white mold (see pictures). The genoa is doing nicely too, but not much mold and the only mold is slightly furry (though it's white and not too furry, so I'm not concerned); I see the beginning of some nice white powdery mold, which is good. Despite the relatively high humidity in the chamber, I have some concerns about the exterior of the genoa drying out given its massive girth and the fact that the venting fan is often on, which may be passing a dessicating breeze across the genoa. We'll see.
Next time you see Jeanine, let her know how cool you think she is for curing salami in her basement....
Posted by Jamie
