Making salami

Penelope_Penguin

Has anyone tried this? DH and I have had success making sausages and pancetta. We're now wanting to branch out into salami.

I'm planning using Hugh F-W recipe from the River Cottage cookbook. Any tips?

TIA :A

sockdrawer

I've made salami, but not from the Hugh FW book. Is it the one in the River Cottage cook book? It sounds fairly straightforward if it does.
The book I used was "Preserving the Italian Way" by Pietro Demaio. A book I adore!
Some gems of wisdom from there are- soak the casings with warm water and 4-5 sliced lemons to remove some of the smell. For every kilo of meat use 28-30grams of total salt which makes sure the salami do not spoil- and as long as you follow this rule you can add pretty much anything as far as spices and seasonings are concerned. Pierce the skins 20-30 times before hanging. To hang them in a moist cool area with a slight draft- he specifies 80% moisture in the air which can be achieved by hanging them just off the ground where the air is cool, we hung them in our outside store which was successful. The draft is only needed for the first 24 hours, after that it's better to have them in still air. Make sure they do not touch each other. He suggests wiping them daily with a mixture of olive oil and vinegar, and if you want a smoked flavour (we smoked about 5) smoke them after 3 or 4 days. Ready to eat in about 12 weeks. (I notice HFW suggests 4 - 10 weeks) I would add that we sterilised everything including the hanging string. Not sure if that's strictly necessary, but we did it anyhoo. Some more esoteric advice (which is meant to make you giggle) is make sure none of the women preparing the salamis has AF visiting, and to make sure the moon is waxing.
I fancy doing some more salami making. Are you up for a joint effort? We can compare notes as we go...?

MrsTinks

Penelope - you need tasting volunteers? I could possibly assist you... *salami... nomnomnomnomnom!!!*

Penelope_Penguin

sockdrawer wrote: »

I fancy doing some more salami making. Are you up for a joint effort? We can compare notes as we go...?

Sounds like a great plan :j

First question - what dod you do about casings and flavourings? When we made sausages we just bought skins, and made up our own spices.

I'm tempted by this. Would you do that, or go for individual items?

sockdrawer

I bought casings too. Natural ones that looked a bit too "real" in their little box.
I quite fancy having a go at finoccio. (fennel salami). Maybe making the mix myself, as the recipes are pretty clear. I'd also like to try pancetta, which I see you've already done. How was it? What did you do? Going to bed now, but will have a think in the morning. Glad you are up for it, as it would be great to have a companion who is as keen on this as I am.

sockdrawer

Pen Pen, this http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/79195-cooking-curing-from-charcuterie-2005-08/ is a very interesting discussion on curing, salami making, and sausagemaking. The site itself is full of absolutely fascinating information. Hope you enjoy it.

katholicos

I used to make salami with my (now ex) italian mother in law. The liver sausage she used to make was hard like a traditional salami and it was absolutely delish. I don't recall precise recipes, but she basically used pork mince or liver, added cayenne pepper and lots of salt. The most important thing was having a cool room for them to hang in once prepared. Her kitchen always had the heating off and the boys (my then hubbie and his brothers) had long since put large hooks in the ceiling to hold up long poles (like the pole of a broom). The sausage (as she called it) would be hung for many weeks...when it started to shrivel she would take them all down and cut some in half....there were always a few which had gone off but the rest were deemed fine and were stored in a large lidded crockery jar in her pantry. She preserved them by filling the jar with oil and they could stay in there for many months ...we took them out as we wanted them. Every time we isited (which was most days - or at least felt like it) we would have some sausage (salami) sliced up thinly, some italian bread, some home made antipasti: olives, aubergines in oil etc. The winter months are the ideal time to make sausage/salami.

Penelope_Penguin

katholicos wrote: »

The most important thing was having a cool room for them to hang in once prepared. Her kitchen always had the heating off and the boys (my then hubbie and his brothers) had long since put large hooks in the ceiling to hold up long poles (like the pole of a broom).

Thank you for all your input :T Tine, if you're willing to venture to The North, you're welcome to try my first attempt

We have a single-brick-skinned pantry on the north side of the house. It has one hook at present where I'm currently hanging a pancetta slab.

When DH is back from China, he's installing a metal rod to hand the langth of the pantry, so that we can hand a selection of salami, from individual butchers' hooks He's wanting to cure a whole ham leg next :T

MrsTinks

Funny you should mention it... I have to go up to see a customer up there in the nearish future hehehe That and probably going to pick up SIL and her daughter

sockdrawer

I'm going to put this off until we get back from holiday in mid October-bit silly for me to start now as we leave on Monday! Meanwhile, I've done something I've promised myself I'd do for about 3 years, and that's buy an electric mincer with a sausage attachment! They are out of stock atm but I should have it by the time I get back. Last time we did it all by hand, which was a giggle, but not very practical!

Penelope_Penguin

sockdrawer wrote: »

I'm going to put this off until we get back from holiday in mid October-bit silly for me to start now as we leave on Monday! Meanwhile, I've done something I've promised myself I'd do for about 3 years, and that's buy an electric mincer with a sausage attachment! They are out of stock atm but I should have it by the time I get back. Last time we did it all by hand, which was a giggle, but not very practical!

:j How you doing sockdrawer I have my skins and culture, so I'm planning to buy some pork tomorrow and start my salami (with the help of DS ) over the weekend.