Have heard a lot about Biltong but never tasted it or made any so I thought I'd give it a go. Seems to be a hit with everyone and its very easy to make.

Hello, I am new to this forum and dry curing. I am have enjoyed reading this forum to learn about the process. I have made bacon and pancetta in the past and now have my first coppa drying in Umai bags in the fridge. My question concerns cure #2. I have 2 different cure #2s, one contains 1% sodium...

Hi, I've just cut open my salami after about 5 weeks drying. They've hit 35% weight loss but still feel a bit squishy. After cutting one open, the middle looks a little moist and raw still (see attached pics). It smells good though.

Just wondering what to do?

Should I continue drying the rest of...

Hi
Im sorry if i post in wrong location
I made salami milano for second time ( first time end perfect)
The second time salami didn't dry for months when I cut it was brown on color instead of red/ pink taste bad and smell sour
Any one have idea what I did wrong ??
I have chamber so temperature...

Hi,

I noticed this product - au.thecasingboutique.com/products/meat-culture-chr-hansen-bactoferm-b-lc-78 : The B-LC-78 is typically used to cure whole muscle meats such as Capocolla and Prosciutto.

Anyone used it or have an opinion on how useful it is? I think you are supposed to apply it...

Well I ordered the wrong casings for my cappacola and I need to get them into the chamber, do I really need to put them in a casing?

Hi everyone, not sure if anyone remembers me, it's been some time since my last visit in here, mostly do to a lot of health problems and I really got depressed about things, but I gearing for some sausage making.

Going to try and use celery powder instead of pink curing salt, has anyone used it...

Has anyone had any experience with the new starter culture from The Sausage maker. It's called Flavor of Italy. I've been playing with it for the last 4 months with incredible results. here are the specs:

l. Sakei
p. Acidilactici
s. Carnosus
s. Carnosus (Subs. Utilis)
Fermenting range 75f - 90F...

I've just put a coppa in the fridge for curing. I followed the recipe for the cure mix ALMOST to the letter. Except the bit I didn't read correctly. Which was to put half the cure on, seal in bag and then apply the second half after 5 days or so. I put all the cure mix in by mistake.

Does it...

I'm trying to decide on when to pull 2 pancetta arrotolata from the chamber.

They were cured with salt 2.5% , #2 0.25% and spices for about 2 weeks

Current weight loss is between 16% - 19%

They have been in the chamber for 43 days or ~6 weeks

They smell good, have developed some white mold (no...

Well it's fall and that's hunting and sausage and salami time. My friend and I just got this nice bull moose. Had to carry it a mile to where we could get it to the 4 wheelers. Perfect timing as I'm all out of salami and Batsurma!

All,

My first attempt at fermented, dried sausage has turned out way too salty, almost too salty to eat.

I followed these recipes in the Art of Making Fermented Sausages by Stan/Adam Marianski.

Milano
Salt 3%
Cure #2 0.24%
Dextrose 0.2%
Sugar 0.3%
white pepper 0.3%
Garlic 0.2%
Fennel 0.4%
Chili...

Hi from Australia.

So this is my first batch of salami. It's something I've been wanting to do forever. Not too long ago a neighbor moved out and left a full sized fridge in their driveway with a free sign on it. I took that as a sign that the time was right to build my cabinet :)

Fast forward a...

Hey charcutiers!

I have a question about combining fast fermented “American style” semi-dry sausages with dry curing.

Basically, I’m wondering if taking smaller (35mm) natural hog cased pepperoni/summer sausage from the fermentation chamber to a dry curing room/chamber with a relatively low...

hi everyone just wondering if it is all right to slice the bacon when it is cured and then fry it instead of putting it in the oven or water and bringing it up to temp first seemed to go to hard for my taste what does this do to the nitrate :?

Two days ago I cut into a ham that I first salted in January 2017, two and a half years ago. I never intended to leave it that long, but here we are. For those of you who are interested in the process, a summary is below

Salting The 9.5kg ham was first rubbed with a mixture of 500g fine salt and...

 
Hello, I am making charcuterie in Korea. I have a problem making saucison. Fat frozen, ground with lean....But the problem doesn't seem to be solved. please see the picture Is that fat smearing right? or myosin? is that ok?

My english is not very good please understand...

Hello Salami Experts,

I have learned so much from this forum, website and books. Thank you very much for all of your insight and advice that I have gleaned from these posts.

I currently have 2.8 kg of pepperoni, 2.9 kg of sopresatta and 4.0 kg of smoked paprika salami curing in my homemade curing...

To make a long story shorter: A few weeks ago I made up a batch of Landjaegers, exactly how I usually make them, except that when I took the bowl of freshly ground meat out of the fridge to mix in the culture and dry ingredients, I didn’t notice that some of the ground meat had become partially...

Are traditionally fermented and dry cured sausages allowed/approved (at all) by the FDA for sale on the public market without being cooked (ruined) to a minimum internal temperature at some point during production?

I've made thousands of pounds of soppressata, and every single batch has come out very predictable. On my last batch, I made 3 batches of 25 pounds each using the same 2 recipes ( 1/3, 2/3) using a LEM mixing box, which is what I always use. I used the same amounts of cure #2, dextrose and BLC-007....

So this is by far my most ambitious go at charcuterie. Using Len Poli's recipe it's just past 4 weeks of salt curing in the fridge. Next step 12 months in the chamber at 58 f and 70% rh, talk about commitment.I had the butcher remove some of the shank end and debone it as my fridge space is...

Ok, so here’s a question. I made the one batch without using culture and it came out quite good, but I never feremented it to the fullest due to paranoia after 72 hours. If I was to do it again, would you:

1-add more dextrose to get get the ph to drop?

2- let it ferment longer?

3- add more wine...

An update !
The sausage is dried well but it kept oozing out oil even I reduced the temp. range to be 50~52.
I tried today one of the sausages and it had a very funky flavor. The meat is in tact and there is no spoilage, but the taste is incredibly unpleasant..
I noticed that the bacteria that was...

My father bequeathed these to me long ago.
As a Rotarian he had a fellow Rotarian in the US mail him these bulletins in the early 60s
They all mention saltpeter as the curing salt
About 2 oz for 100 lbs of meat.
Is it ok to use saltpeter once in a way for the long dry cure that I want to do as...

Well, It's been while since I posted, But I wanted to let you know that I haven't stopped making cured meats. Thanks for all of your help. Attached are some photos with explanations for each.

Culatello hung 6 months ago

Culatello @ 41% weight loss

Cutaway of Culatello

Cappicolla...

Another newbie question.
Can I use salt pork in place of Fat back in dry cured sausage? does the salt pork contain enough salt to affect the recipe? If so how do you compensate for it in the recipe?

Thanks

Ok, so this is probably a dumb question, but 1) this is my first time and 2) trying to avoid throwing away hard work!

So, it looks like I'm going to have one of the Lonzino done in about a week or so. Obviously I'm going to cut into it...but then what? Can I just hang the meat back in the chamber...

There are times when a piece of meat that is hanging in my curing chamber has reached its targeted weight loss, but I would like to keep curing it for a longer time (to increase the funk), but I do not want it to continue to lose weight. If I vacuum pack it, do I have to put it in a regular...

I made some soppresseta the other day and used B LC 007 starter.for the first time I fermented at 68F 90-95 RH checked Ph at 48 hrs and it was at 4.95. My question is is this normal to be that low that fast? When I use S TPX it takes 72 hours or more to get to aroud 5Ph. The recipie was from...

I just finished building my curing chamber and I am looking to do my first project. I was thinking pepperettes or something that will cure fast? I'm hoping to having something ready in 3weeks for a get together with some friends. Any suggestions or ideas?

I was able to find a butcher in near by town that will sell me hard fat, but I need to buy in 5# increments. My question is how do I store it? can I simply Vac Pac and Refrigerate/freeze? How long can I store it, will it turn rancid on me?

Thanks

Hey guys, leaning on your expertise here...can someone advise whether or not this mold is good or bad, salami's been hanging since Dec. 9 @ 39F, approx. 85% humidity. I know the humidity is high, but i'm having trouble keeping dehumidifier from icing up with the room that cold.

Thanks in...

Can I make summer sausage with fl c starter to ferment , skip the smoking/cooking step, and just dry it ?

I was going to use a 70% pork 30% beef mix, and stuff in hog casing to make more of a sausage stick type thing

This is something I threw together on a whim back in February. I regret not keeping better notes on the procedure but I just found myself with a little idle time and decided to let my tastebuds direct my efforts. Using 3% salt, cure 2, 0.5% black pepper, 0.2% cayenne, 4 cloves garlic per kilogram,...

Hi,

There is a new round of scaremongering about nitrates / nitrites - eg

Leading scientists and a cross-party group of politicians are calling for chemicals called nitrites to be removed from processed meats like bacon.

Cancer specialists and politicians are among those backing the campaign...

If I decide to make soppressata without a culture, do you still add dextrose? How much? What temp for fermenting? Still monitor ph? How long shoild the fermenting take?

It's time to cover my prosciutto project with sugna and I'm having trouble finding a recipe for it. I gather from my reading that it consists of lard,white pepper and rice flour and while I have all these ingredients I need to know how much of each. Can anyone help me out?
Thanks
Bill

I had alot of friends ask to see how it's made. Although some of the comments may not be 100% accurate in verbiage, you get the idea. ENJOY!

Hey guys, quick query I am hoping someone can answer...

I have a whole load of wonderful cured back fat from a previous hog that I dried for a month and then froze. I don't see myself using it all in its current form and was wondering if it would be acceptable to add it to a new batch of salami...

Hi guys,

I've got a good recipe for pepperettes (small pepperoni), that calls for Cure#1 and smoking. I'd like to use the same recipe but dry cure them instead of smoking, can i just remove the Cure#1 and replace with #2?

Also, i'll be stuffing into small (17/19mm) casings, i'm assuming they'll...

Hello folks
I am having the common issue of the rising humidity in my curing chamber. and will appreciate any input and direction.
I am curing 25 of Soppressata for the first time ever. I am beginner who read lots of posts and now tackling it myself.
I am using a wine cellar or a soda fridge I am...

Well, I finally took the plunge. After watching some videos to find out exactly how to cut the meat, I finally decided to try 2 Culatello. 2.5% salt, 0.25% cure #2 and some black pepper placed in a bag in the refrigerator for 28 days. I rinsed them, drizzled with white wine and black pepper and...

What is the opinion with regard to the amount of cure#2 used in this recipe?

Ignoring the fact that you needn't use any for whole muscle why do you think this is such a high %. ?