Thank you

I made 3 at the same time...cheated on the others.

It was harder to wait 60 days on the salamis.....but well worth it!!!

With the temp starting to rise I am loosing the use of my "curing chamber" and just packaged up the last batch.

Soprassata, Finochia. and a Coppa dried for 120 days.

Moldy casings removed for vac sealing.

Chris-

That looks wonderful! Especially the color.

Do you think the sodium erythorbate contributed to that? Venison contributes also compared to beef.

Bob

Ray-

You need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to look as those recipes on the Poli site.

Chris-

If you are making a fermented sausage I would be cautious using baking soda
as it will raise the Ph and is a type of buffering agent.

Thanks guys, can you explain the 'not with the cure though', wouldn't the cure be usually mixed with the spices? Although many cultures are tolerant of salt you don't want to shock them. If you mix the salt (salt + cure) with the meat you are diluting it. I usually add the culture and spices before...

It will usually say pork butts or Boston butts in the grocery store.

Click on the link Ross posted above and look at fabrication videos on the shoulder portion..it will give you a better idea of the size of a (shoulder) butt.

Ray Chris is right-

The bottom part of the shoulder is the picnic. The processing plants are not too careful in how they are hacked apart (with a band saw)...its sometimes hard to get much of a coppa muscle out of a butt.

Andrew- Don't worry about the temp spike...that brings it up into T-SPX's optimal range for fermenting. If you can check the Ph you could probably shorten the fermenting time....but keep to your plan if you can't. I don't think the fermenting product caused the Temp spike. I am sure others will add ...

I saved the leftover rye starter in a mason jar and put it in the fridge. I understand before I use it to replenish with equal parts rye flour and water 24-36 hours in advance. My question is that once the starter is replenished does it stay out on the counter to warm till it's being used, or go ba...

That is a nice smoker!!!

To be honest I would be cautious as cedar with its wonderfully aromatic oils is Highly volatile.

Never tried Gerbils but have tasted Starlings...how were they?

jscarbo wrote:Great photos and great looking bread, Bob! I assume the cast iron skillet is for adding water to create moist heat, correct?

Jim -
Yes that is what the cast Iron Pan is for. The original post is on page 15 of this thread

Ray- Transfer the dough from whatever you let it rise in to a piece of parchment paper on a pizza peel. Just invert the bowl/basket onto the paper, and don't try to reshape. Then put in the oven on your preheated pizza stone. You can remove the paper after 5 minutes or so ...before it starts to burn...

The solution was easy. I now cube and season the meat, grind it only once, then mix for primary bind and, finally, stuff the casings. The meat is only going through the auger twice instead of three times. I also bought a sausage spacer plate for the grinder but it hasn't made much of a difference. ...

Ray-

Bread or better yet high-gluten flour will work with the recipe I posted.

First clear (around 15-16%) gluten was traditionally used.