Meat Club Charcuterie

November 17, 2009

Rosen Salami Update

Here's the latest from the Rosen Chamber. Conditions have been holding steady in the mid 50s for temp and 70-80% humidity. I've been keeping my humidity up a bit more than the Ruhlman/Polcyn book calls for for a few reasons. First, because the outside of the giant genoa was starting to get dry and it's so big, I want to make sure I don't get case hardening. Second, I wanted to encourage more mold development. Third, I just got the Marianski book on fermented sausages and it recommends a humidity range of 70-85%, rather than Ruhlman's lower 60-70%, and I put more stock in Marianski. One interesting (and disconcerting) thing I found was that my remote humidity sensor generally reads about 7% higher than my base unit for the same conditions. Who knows which is correct. I have an analog hygrometer in the mail that I'll add to the mix ($5).

You'll see that all seem to be doing nicely, with plenty of mold on the tuscans and a slow but steady development on the genoa. I wiped off some blue/green/khaki mold spots yesterday with a water/vinegar mix. Probably wasn't necessary, but did it anyway. Also, interesting to see that much of the "white" mold on my tuscans is really off-white tending toward yellow/brown. I hope that's OK.

I haven't weighed anything yet, but plan to do so soon.

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Rosen_Salami_Update_tag_Jamie_.zip (3020 KB)

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Filed under // genoa Jamie mold tuscan

Posted by Jamie

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November 6, 2009

Molds I Have Known - Update

Here is an update on the salumi in my dry-curing chamber/fridge.

The saucisson sec are very near being ready. I will probably cut into one of them to test tomorrow - Saturday, November 7 - which will be 30 days of curing since they were stuffed. They still have no mold on them, very little squish when you squeeze, and no signs of case hardening. Appearance has not changed for over a week. Hope they taste as good as they look.

The Tuscan salamis have not changed in appearance much - just slightly more white haze on them (undoubtedly the white mold I painted on) and now a few more dense spots of other white mold.

The most interesting items are the two Genoa salami. Two days ago (Wednesday - November 4), I spotted some new blue/green mold spots on one of them. I did not want to wipe them with a salt/vinegar solution as this would destroy the other white/beneficial mold that has developed nicely. So, I mixed a very small solution of 50/50 Clorox and water (about a teaspoon of each) and painted the spots lightly using a small artist's paint brush - hoping to kill the spots and not use enough of the mixture to taint the flavor. I appears to have worked quite well. Pictures and explanations follow:

Here is the most serious area before painting 2 days ago.

Here is another area with less of a problem.

This is the first area immediately after painting.

This is the first area 2 days later (today).

This is the other area today.

As you can also see, the white mold has developed well and continues to do so.

The other Genoa has had absolutely nothing bud the white mold on it.

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Filed under // genoa jim mold salumi

Posted by Jim

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November 5, 2009

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....

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Spouse_Versus_Salami_tag_Jamie.zip (2610 KB)

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Filed under // curing genoa Jamie mold tuscan

Posted by Jamie

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October 31, 2009

Sloan Salumi Update 10/31

The Sloan Salumi are curing nicely in the closet under the stairs.

During the fermentation phase, I was eventually able to get the RH elevated to 85%+ by putting two pans of warm water on the bottom rack of my oven; covering a sheet pan with a warm, wet towel; putting the salumi on cooling racks on top of the wet-towel-wrapped sheet pan; and covering the salumi with a dry kitchen towel. On Monday, I transferred the boys to a cupboard under the stairs, hanging them from a slightly truncated tension rod. For the first 24 hours or so the room was at 70F/75%RH (I think because we had the light on and put warm water in the room).

For the remainder of the week we have temps in the range of 62-67F and RH in the range of 60-65%. I have two cake pans of salted, room-tempurature water beneath the salumi. I am misting the room twice per day.I have some minor freckling of white mold. The mold is very superficial and seems innocuous. I did wipe a little of it off today.

The salumi smelled wonderfully ripe for a few days, which I am guessing is the smell of fermentation. The pungency has decreased over the course of the week. The salumi are turning a very pretty red color, mottled white by the fat. They feel a bit squishy still (but decidedly firmer than a week ago) on the inside and fairly supple--though no longer wet--on the outside. I worry a bit about case hardening.

I have included two photos. One showing mold and the other a portrait of the boys just hangin'.

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Sloan_Salumi_Update_1031.zip (3543 KB)

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Filed under // curing erika mold tuscan update

Posted by Erika

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October 30, 2009

Genoa salumi curing update. Mold.

Had a bit of white, and a little less green, mold. It bloomed over about 36 hours. It was easy to remove. I used a cloth+white vinegar to wipe it down. Jamie re-tied the knot and it's happily hanging in the basement. The ambient humidity dropped considerably this week. Having a hard time keeping it above 65-70%.

Check out the before and after pics. Took about 10 minutes total. Not hard.

Cheers,
Tim