How did you prevent mold growth? I actually don't know the answer to that. I looked for the mold to happen but never did. I used distilled water with the bactoform. The only other thing I can think of is that I started by hanging at our room temp (72°F) with a low humidity level and maybe that wasn...

I converted a wine cooler into my drying box. The cooler is pretty good at regulating temp where I want it between 50 and 60 degrees F. I have a small humidifier in there with one of the cheap humidistats.

Soppressata. 38% weight loss. A little crusty outside but great tastewith a tender bite of the red pepper flakes.

Practice will make perfect.

I can case them and then wrap in plastic. Beginning of next week I'm going for it!

My wife is going crazy with me - I have capicola going, sopressatta going and now I'm going to make more bologna while I still have some left from the last batch.

Once again, thanks for all the information. I now know J didn't have an emulsion and I worked at too high a temperature.
I'm learning!

Will the chub accept smoke after the poaching? Or does the smoke (if I need it) have to happen before the poach?


Thanks again!

Yes, I think I exceeded 170 degrees IT when I pulled them off and, yes, I think I'll do the water poach next time to get a little more familiar with the process.

I'll probably make a small chub this week and report back on my progress.

Thanks all for the advice.

OK, so I made my meat and spice mix and mixed to a sticky consistency. It seemed like it was thoroughly mixed but the fat still was visible in the mix. After stuffing, I hung it for maybe two hours. Then I went to maybe 150°F smoker rack for maybe three hours and increased to 180. When I pulled off ...

how do I prevent the fat from rendering out of my homemade bologna. Last two chubs the fat (and water?) rendered out of the meat and left a watery fat layer just under the casing. The bologna is very tasty but the texture stinks.