Salami making at home, salami recipe

Salami

Salami is a thing of beauty! Its so much more satisfying when you do it yourself. There are quite a few aspects to it and also quite a few places where you can get help, so I'll try to mention everything I can.
Salami is  a fermented, cured, then dried sausage. It is more commonly found in Italy, France and Germany. In the UK we dont have so much of a heritage, and this is probably down to the climate.
The most difficult part is the drying, and in Southern Europe the air quality (and I mean temperature and humidity, not purity) lends itself better to drying salami. All will be revealed as we go on.
So we need some meat....now pork is the usual first choice, but lamb, or beef also lend themselves to this process, and sometimes a mixture of two meats.

For this exercise we are just using pork, and will make two flavours of salami in different size skins. By the way, everyone seems to be doing this now, and some of the info available is so good, that I will skip some of the details as they are already well covered on other sites, so google: cured meat blogspot, Len poli, and some of the forums at sausagemaker.org.

I tend to use leg meat as there is much less trimming to do. Its important to remove all the sinew and silverskin, as it doesn't break down and when you eat it, that's what sticks in your teeth. Shoulder is the more traditional cut as the fat to meat content is about right, however leg is much more lean, so I use about 2/3 leg and 1/3 fat belly.
On that subject, if you go to the butchers and ask for belly, nowadays you will be given something which is very lean, you will need to search to get a piece which has a good centimetre of fat, at least. The best place is to find someone raising their own pigs! If they do and they are not doing it commercially, they will be inundated with chunks of fat belly (cos they keep the pigs longer than commercial farmers so its fatter) and they won't know what to do with all the pork they have grown. Trust me this gets you the best meat at the lowest cost, and if you offer to give them some salami in exchange, you may well end up with a kilo or two for nothing.

So the recipes for the two we are doing are:

Garlic and Wine Salami
2 kg meat  (1.3kg leg 700g belly)
2.5% curing salt
0.25% cure number two
0.50% garlic granules
250ml red wine (I did have a percentage, but in the end we sploshed a bit more in)
Starter culture (as directed)

Pepper and fennel Salami

2 kg meat  (1.3kg leg 700g belly)
2.5% curing salt

0.25% cure number two

15g fennel seeds ( once again were going to use 1% but it looked too much)

1%  20g whole black pepper
Starter culture (as directed)

The method for both is really very similar. Cube up your meat to about one inch squares, then put them in the freezer to get a crust on. This point is absolutely vital! By doing this when you mince the meat the fat and flesh remains discreet and separate. If you don't do it, then there is a real danger that you will smear the fat into the meat, and this will effectively seal it, and prevent the meat drying properly. If the meat doesn't dry, then you wont be making salami!

Diced leg and belly ready for the freezer

Soak your skins!!

While its freezing down, put together and weigh out your curing ingredients, so salt and cure number 2, in one bowl, and the flavourings in another. Then in put a little warm water in a cup and add the starter culture. Its always best to add half a packet even though this will be overkill, but it helps guarantee that its mixed into the blend properly. Fiddling about with half a gram of the stuff could leave the mixture untreated. The warm water helps wake it up, and it needs between 10 mins and half an hour.

Once your meat is nice and crispy, add the cure, give it a good mix, and then mince it. I normally use a coarse plate, but do whatever you fancy. This helps mix the cure in to everything. Now you should have a bowl of meat where the meat and fat are fairly seperate!

Next in a bowl (and use one thats big enough) add your flavourings, and the starter culture, and give it a good mix by hand. The mixing helps to make the proteins stick to each other giving a better end result. Mix for a while till it gets sticky, but keep it cold. This can be done with another trip to the freezer, or by putting your bowl on a bed of ice (in the sink, or like a bain marie).

Excellent...I can smell the garlic....

Take your skins, you decide which size is best, but if its your first time go for smaller ones (hog casings) as they dry quicker and there is less chance of spoilage. (plus you'll be eating them sooner). Beef middles are bigger and make a nice 'slice' but are best used once you've done a few.

Rinse the skins through to remove any salt traces. Put then on your sausage stuffer nozzle, and fill away.

Freshly made salami hanging in the drying cabinet

You can see in the photo one hour old salami. The smaller ones at the back are the red wine and garlic (the wine has made them darker) while the larger ones are the fennel and black pepper. You need to weigh them now, either individually or in bunches so you can monitor the weight loss.

I have done these in strings because they hang ok and tieing off 14 or 15 salami with string takes ages. We basically left some skin between each sausage and then tied both ends but didn't separate them. On a previous occasion, we made big salamis and tied the ends with sting, and as they dried in the first week, they shrank and kept slipping the knots and ending on the floor.. I got mad so we did it this way this time. You've just got to remember to move them around so they aren't touching all the time. (I Check them every day)

The starter culture is there to kick start the fermentation and generate lactic acid. The bad bacteria don't like salt, nitrate, acidity, and a lack of moisture. Therefore we add cure 2 which is nitrite which slowly changes to nitrate, obviously the salt, the starter culture , and hanging them up to dry is the last part.

After 36 to 48 hours at 24 degrees c the culture has started its work. You can see the dramatic change in colour, the larger ones are deep pink, and the smaller ones are almost red. (I really am a great photographer! I could win prizes with shots like that.......not!)

So its into the drying box, at 12 degrees and 70% humidity until they have lost about a third of their weight.

Salami after the culture has kicked in

So after a particular mixed bit of weather, meaning my drying cabinet didn't know if it was hot, cold, dry, wet etc, the small salamis took 5 weeks to lose 35%, but i think i may have had some anomolies as after 4 weeks they had only lost 28% and so they seemed to speed up again after a slow start. Whatever, I should have used my trusted squeeze test, because its pretty accurate......Squeeze your salami...does it feel like it might have a nice texture, once its cut, and you are eating it? If yes its ready. I measured these small ones but they felt too hard (too dry)...and they were! It needs to give a bit, and probably be a tad softer than you think.

The thing is that meat and fat contain hugely different percentages of water and so to say 'lose a third of their weight' is guidance only as if the fat to meat is 20:80, or 30:70 that percentage will be different. ( roughly in the first case it loses 50% of its water while in the second its 55% resulting in a different hardness).

Also I do find that the thinner salami comes out harder, whatever the measurement says. Anyway they were very palatable, not too salty but the red wine and garlic flavour was 'subtle', in other words too mild.

Fennel and black pepper salami

For the larger salami, fennel and black pepper, I used the measurement and the squeeze (took them out at 32%, so not much different). They were (are) lovely, great texture, lovely colour, nice bite of pepper and a fennel perfume, from using whole seeds and corns, you get a bit of texture, and a slightly different flavour balance in every slice.
The picture above is one of the larger ones, and they really do eat nicely.

Well thats a quick guide, but as with all things you will need to do it a few times to get the hang of it. You'll soon get a 'feel' for what works, and when they are ready, plus how tightly packed they are etc, none of which can be learned without experience!

Passwords Passwords Passwords

Its taken me four days to get back to my blog because of passwords. Man I hate this now! I've entered so many squiggled out images into boxes that its made me see double, and most of them I cant make out anyway.
This is nuts, as like most people you tend to have your favourite password(s), that way if you don't remember, it can only be one of two...Then you come to a new thing, say a blog site and 'they take your security very seriously' et voila, suddenly my password is weak and I've got to come up with another which is more complicated, and harder to remember, just in case someone wants to impersonate me on this blog!
(any takers?), course not, cos apart from me, only my mother has seen it and at her advanced years, I'd be amazed if she could remember me showing it to her in the first place.

Homemade Crusty Bread recipe

Now apart from ranting, I do have some other virtues! Bread is one of them, I love to bake bread. Now I dont like to bake anything else, cakes, buns etc and I dont make desserts (I wanted to say puddings, but we actually call it 'afters') it is only bread.
I think its to do with the simplicity of four ingredients, the fact that it is 'alive', and also that it grows of its own accord. Of course when its done it looks nice and you can eat it! Also if you make it rubbish, it's still good. So a little simple recipe follows, this is the most simple, easiest to handle, guaranteed recipe....later I'll do some variations so this is the least good bread!!

heres some

Beautiful bread using this recipe and method

The numbers are:
500g bread flour
300g water
8g easy blend yeast
8g salt

Aha! you say, thats the same recipe that everyone has! Well no s**t, cos it makes bread. However I have followed thirty recipes from all sorts of well known books, and like I do with lots of things, analysed and analysed, and achieved paralysis by analysis! So got no-where fast. The secret, and its the same with meat curing and air drying, is confidence.
Now, I behave like I don't care when I'm making dough, so the dough doesn't fight back. I almost sneak up on the dough, catch it unawares with my nonchalance, and it in return, it  forgets to be difficult! Now you haven't read that in any TV chefs baking book! (I know, I've read them all!)
Its difficult to explain, and it does mean you will have to make a dozen loaves to get the feel, but trust me, approach it matter of factly, handle it like you know what you are doing, and the result will be good.

If you watch the TV chefs, some of them are just presenters, not chefs at all, some, and I am hoping not to give anyone a heart attack with this revelation, are just there because they look good! (I would be in that category). Everyone ok? So how can you tell?

Just watch they way they handle the food and knives etc...a sous chef working 10 services a week, will grab hold of whatever it is and you can tell by looking that they know what they are doing. I think its called experience. Practise gives you experience.
So it is with bread. When you mix the ingredients together, do it vigorously as if you are in a hurry, that way the dough wont stick to your hands, same with kneading...vigorous..

Ok so to the bread, take your ingredients and mix them together, except the salt! Just add the water last and try to make sure its warm....just warm, no need to be more specific, if your can put your hand in it and leave there then its not too warm, if its too cold it just takes longer, and doesn't harm anything.
You can mix in a bowl, or in a food processor. The processor is quicker and also starts the kneading off, but sometimes I don't like to use it.

Ok you now have a rough looking dough, tip it onto the work top. Remember no salt yet...

Work the dough by kneading, stretching and folding. It will be patchy at first, some bits floury, some bits wet, but it only takes a minute or two to start to come together.
Then as you knead, it begins to look like proper dough....keep going....its now smooth and not sticking to your hands (as long as you are vigorous), but then....it starts getting sticky again. This is the gluten forming and showing that you are working the dough correctly.

Because we havent added the salt, the dough kneads up quicker, the salt tightens the dough, but is essential for taste. So once it starts to be too sticky, have your salt weighed out, stretch the dough and add about a quarter of the salt. Knead for a minute, stretch the dough out again and add the next quarter and so on. You will feel the dough tightening, and it will become less sticky. Nearly there..once all the salt is in knead for another two minutes to make sure its incorporated properly.

Tip number 1..when kneading use a clock. If you think you have kneaded for 5 minutes you have probably only done it for one! I dont know why but kneading alters the way the mind perceives time. Trust me on this and test yourself...this may explain why your bread isn't great. So altogether it takes about ten minutes to knead.

Put the dough back in the mixing bowl you started with, cover with clingfilm (or a plate if you dont want to waste clingfilm) and wait till its doubled in size.

Once its ready, scrape it out carefully onto a floured surface, and flatten it a bit. Then just grab a bit on the outside edge and fold it into the middle, rotate a little and do it again, til you have a nice tight ball. then turn it over (smooth side up now) and try to slide the edges of your hands under it three or four times, once again tightening the surface. I then place it smooth side down into a floured proving basket. Cover it and leave it to double again.

proving basket

Put the oven on now, about 220 centigrade.

Can we talk about the baking part? A massive factor in how your bread turns out is in the baking. For crusty bread, I have tried everything, fan oven, conventional, tray of ice cubes, tray of boiling water, misting the oven with a water sprayer etc etc. The moisture is supposed to make the bread crust crisp, and it will in a commercial bread oven. The trouble with that and with most fan ovens is that the fan expells the moisture very quickly so it doesn't work.
Commercial ovens inject steam, but we cant achieve that at home.......but I have a solution......

The best way to make crusty (and I mean crisp not thick) loaves, is to cook the bread inside its own secondary oven. The best way is in a baking cloche, but almost as good is in a large casserole dish with a lid. I suspect that its to do with the ratio of bread to air and that the moisture in there can't escape.

Cloche and baking sheet

So take your casserole with lid (Le Crueset type of thing), get a piece of silicon baking sheet and cut a circle thats slightly bigger than the base, and leave a flap one one side about four inches to act as a lifting point. It should look like the silhouette of a capital 'Q' . Then make some small cuts in the edge an inch deep so when it goes in the pot it bends up at the edges and doesn't  form creases. It needs to go up the sides abit, cos if the dough touches the pot and sticks.....there'll be tears! Put this on your work top and stick the pot in the oven to heat up.
Once your bread has risen, put the silicon on top and then turn it upside down so the risen dough is on the silicon on the work top. Take a sharp knife (or bread knife) and slash the top. You decide on the pattern, but it does help the bread to rise in the oven and also makes it looks pretty.

Take your now hot casserole out of the oven, shut the oven door quickly, then take the lid off place the dough inside on the sillicon sheet, being careful not to burn yourself on the sides, replace the lid, and whack it back in the oven.

Do not touch it now for a minimum of 20 minutes, and when you get used to the process the less you disturb it the better. If you take the lid off the steam escapes and you lose the benefit, but when you do this for the first time you may need to adapt depending on your oven and pot size etc.

I normally do 20 mins at 220, then 10 minutes at 180c, then take the lid off for a darker crust or leave it on for a lighter colour and leave it another 10 minutes..et voila

Turn your loaf out onto a cooling rack, and leave it to cool......do not listen to anyone who tells you to cut it warm cos warm bread tastes best....it is utter rubbish. If you eat it warm from the oven it will be too wet and   doughy and will give you indigestion. You need to let it cool and therefore dry out with the residual heat.

You should be able to hear it crack as it cools.......man the waiting is terrible.....I'll just get some oil and balsamic together....maybe get the butter out of the fridge to warm up.....

A brief description and an example

Well I will try to explain 'Common sense in a world of madness'. There will probably be hundreds of blogs in the same vein, but being lazy, I haven't bothered looking for any.
Basically, now I am a grumpy 40 something, I find more and more things that are explained in complicated terms, primarily it seems, to confuse and confound. However 'explain' is supposed to clarify! I have therefore adopted an old and otherwise forgotten technique much loved of our forefathers, Common Sense.
You will be amazed at the complicated, sensitive and involved problems, sometimes on a global scale, that can be solved with common sense.....Lets try one....

A big one....the NHS.....
The politicians punt this one about, they are scared to say anything in case someones Aunt Mabel had the best nurse in the world etc etc..and how can anyone argue with "who would you like to withdraw medical help from? Your mother or your children" blah blah...so if we forget the argument and apply the Common Sense test....
The NHS is the fourth largest employer in the world...give you a second to let that sink in.....
 .......We are the 22nd most populated country in the world.
Now thats not the fourth largest health service employer in the world, its the fourth largest employer of any type in the world.
And the result from the Common Sense machine?
That is ridiculous and needs changing now! Forget the arguments about how, why, when etc. It cant be right! 1.6 million people in the UK are employed by the NHS...its just not right, or sustainable.
I'll fix it if you want, but you wont like it!

I'll come up with a few more as we go along, but I think you can get the gist...