Here Is A Basic Step By Step Guide Of The Salami Making Process At Home
Below is a general guide for making cured salamis taking you through the various steps. Depending on the specific recipe you are using, there may be variations, but this is generally what the process looks like.
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1.Clean knives and grinder (and chill grinder if using) and chill meat and fat separately if required.
2. Grind / coarsely cut meat. 3. Add ingredients (salts,spices) as directed. 4. Stuff into casings, tie/truss 5. Weigh and record weights on labels, along with target weight 6. Incubation/fermentation of salami 7. Drying Stage 8. Monitor 9. Weigh to check for when ready 10. Equalise if required (due to case hardening) |
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1. Goes without saying that having clean and sterilised equipment (knives, grinder, grinding plates etc) is essential. you don't want to be waiting weeks for salami to be ready only for it to be ruined as you didn't use clean equipment.
2. When grinding meat put your equipment and meat in the freezer for 20-30mins to cool right down. This helps to combat the warming of the meat that can occur as it is ground up (heat generated through the friction).
3.Add additional ingredients and salt and/or curing salts as directed. Our recipes cater for bith routes - see The Choice Is Yours
4. Stuff into casings with the grinder attachment, stand alone sausage stuffer, or our Homemade Bottle Sausage stuffer,and tie/truss.
5. Weigh and record the starting weight of each salami. I use a tag I can tie separately to each one , but you can use tape and an indelible pen like a Sharpie. I recommend recording the date, the weight, and the target weight as directed by the recipe. This way you will know approximately when it is done or if you need to adjust the process for your location (temperature and humidity dependant).
6. Initial incubation/fermentation in a warm area as directed by the recipe. This is done to allow the good bacteria to grow to the temperature being dropped. We do ours at room temperature in the UK for no longer than 24 hours to prevent case hardening.
7. Drying stage. Hang he salami/cured meat in your meat chamber or cool area (aiming for 9-10C), with an ambient humidity of 75-85% unless otherwise directed in the recipe.
8. Monitor. Monitor. Monitor. Daily checks. If you can’t stand the sight of mould, you’re going to either need to get over it or give up on dry curing. Moulds, both beneficial and non-beneficial, are a major part of dry curing. The temperature and humidity of a curing chamber or where the salami are hanging are all conducive to mould growth. There are good moulds and bad moulds, and even if bad mould appears it can still be tackled 95% of the timeframe - see our Guide on Moulds, for more information.
You also want to look for 'case hardening'. This is when the casing dries out too fast (or unevenly) and does not allow the moisture inside the sausage to escape. This is usually due to low humidity, too much airflow, or too much direct heat. I tend to rotate the salami around every few days, mostly to check on the ones in the back near the fan on my wine fridge (taken over for meat curing!), but this seems to help curb case hardening and keeps all the salamis drying at the same rate.
9. Checking when your salume is ready is down to weight because these are not cooked. You are checking for the harvesting "I'm ready" time by texture, instead of internal temperature. This is done through texture and weight loss. Most recipes will call for 30-35% weight loss, though you can dry the meat further - this will just make it firmer. This is done by weighing the meat and recording the starting weight, and then checking the weight periodically for the percentage of weight loss you want.
10. In the event of "case hardening" you can vacuum seal the salami and pop in a normal fridge for a couple of weeks to allow the moisture to equalise through the salami.
2. When grinding meat put your equipment and meat in the freezer for 20-30mins to cool right down. This helps to combat the warming of the meat that can occur as it is ground up (heat generated through the friction).
3.Add additional ingredients and salt and/or curing salts as directed. Our recipes cater for bith routes - see The Choice Is Yours
4. Stuff into casings with the grinder attachment, stand alone sausage stuffer, or our Homemade Bottle Sausage stuffer,and tie/truss.
5. Weigh and record the starting weight of each salami. I use a tag I can tie separately to each one , but you can use tape and an indelible pen like a Sharpie. I recommend recording the date, the weight, and the target weight as directed by the recipe. This way you will know approximately when it is done or if you need to adjust the process for your location (temperature and humidity dependant).
6. Initial incubation/fermentation in a warm area as directed by the recipe. This is done to allow the good bacteria to grow to the temperature being dropped. We do ours at room temperature in the UK for no longer than 24 hours to prevent case hardening.
7. Drying stage. Hang he salami/cured meat in your meat chamber or cool area (aiming for 9-10C), with an ambient humidity of 75-85% unless otherwise directed in the recipe.
8. Monitor. Monitor. Monitor. Daily checks. If you can’t stand the sight of mould, you’re going to either need to get over it or give up on dry curing. Moulds, both beneficial and non-beneficial, are a major part of dry curing. The temperature and humidity of a curing chamber or where the salami are hanging are all conducive to mould growth. There are good moulds and bad moulds, and even if bad mould appears it can still be tackled 95% of the timeframe - see our Guide on Moulds, for more information.
You also want to look for 'case hardening'. This is when the casing dries out too fast (or unevenly) and does not allow the moisture inside the sausage to escape. This is usually due to low humidity, too much airflow, or too much direct heat. I tend to rotate the salami around every few days, mostly to check on the ones in the back near the fan on my wine fridge (taken over for meat curing!), but this seems to help curb case hardening and keeps all the salamis drying at the same rate.
9. Checking when your salume is ready is down to weight because these are not cooked. You are checking for the harvesting "I'm ready" time by texture, instead of internal temperature. This is done through texture and weight loss. Most recipes will call for 30-35% weight loss, though you can dry the meat further - this will just make it firmer. This is done by weighing the meat and recording the starting weight, and then checking the weight periodically for the percentage of weight loss you want.
10. In the event of "case hardening" you can vacuum seal the salami and pop in a normal fridge for a couple of weeks to allow the moisture to equalise through the salami.