Well Guys it's been a busy week. Killed a couple of 8 month old pigs which turned out fantastic, then spent a day butchering, preparing, curing and mixing up batches of salami to be stuffed following day. Even had enough meat left over for some beautiful roasts and loin chops. Did approximately 50kg...

They look sensational Jan. What wood did you smoke them with ?

I am after some ideas for using aromatics in curing some guanciale. I am killing a couple of pigs tomorrow and normally just keep the cheek meat for braising and give the rest of the head away to a customer. Would have loved to do a headcheese or terrine but im not going to have enough time. Then i ...

It is the hardest part.......waiting until your salami is ready to try. I tend to let mine dry too much.

I received the last of my casings and T-SPX culture yesterday, so am already for next week

Hi Ursula I rinsed with water then patted dry with paper towelling, then cased in 120 mm cases which were a bit big. I prefer collagen casing which are much easier to use. Ive set the fridge to come on at 14 degrees and switch off at 13 and the heater to come on at12. Humidity started at 80 % now do...

Hi Ursula, Still having trouble keeping humidity down at night time when outside temps dropping and humidity rises. Have increased ceramic heat lamp setting to within 1degree celcius of fridge cut in point (13 & 14 respectively)so that fridge cycles more regularly reducing humidity as well as placin...

Thanks Ursula
Making sure i've got everything organised to do salami next week. Im doing a Calabrese salami, a cacciatore (hot), 2 or 3 coppa and a lomo embuchado.

How is your bresaola going ? I 've been having trouble keeping the humidity down.

Was a 22 solid. It has gone through the head and into the beginning of the shoulder. Have to use a hollow point next time.

Hi Ursula
Did you get your cultures and casings from MBL in Adelaide ? Also, did you phone your order through or do it online ?
Thanks
Steve

SOMEBODY SHOT MY COPPA !!! Took coppa out of its vacuum bag once thawed and noticed some bruising on one end, so went to trim it off and discovered a bullet sticking out of the muscle. Unfortunately had to trim quite a bit off so ended up with a smaller than I would have liked piece of meat. http://...

It's thawing in the fridge now. Will use similar ingredients as Redzed

Thanks Igor.
Very helpful information indeed.
Any ideas for using the F1 up ?

Hi Guys. Just a quick question. I have a couple of frozen and vacuumed packed pork scotch fillets (the whole muscle at top of shoulder) also known as the coppa that were frozen on the day they were butchered. I would like to cure one or both in an Italian style coppa and was wondering if using froze...

Has anyone had any experience with Bactoferm F1 starter culture ? I want to make a hunter style cacciatore salami in large hog casings and the recipe calls for T-SPX culture but only have F1 on hand at the moment. It is a fast fermenting culture. Would i be better off ordering some T-SPX or can i us...

Hi Ursula, Going good over here Thanks. It's a bit wet underfoot at the moment and the pigs are loving it, digging everything up in sight. I used 120mm casings but they were a bit big. I would have liked some 90 or 100 mm ones, or even should have used collagen sheets. We will have to compare result...