Page 1 of 5

Hotel Salami is now Open!

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 06:44
by redzed
A the beginning of the current month I finally put together my curing chamber. Sourced the controls and other essentials in the summer but the only thing that was missing was the chamber itself. I was being kind of picky and let a few go as they appeared in the used appliances for sale ads. Finally I decided to get going and bought an old Kenmore all fridge for a hundred bucks. ($99.23 USD). Got it going, and then thought "why run it on empty?". So the experiment has begun. In the past three weeks it's been loaded with Salami Genoa (cross with Poli and Marianski), Soppressata (Marianski, Poli and others), Salami Finocchiona (Marianski), Bresaola (Marianski, Wright and Poli) and Lomo Embuchado (Marianski). I also have a coppa and schinkenspeck curing in the fridge and will need to make some room for it. Thanks to all you guys who experimented before me, all the stuff that CW shared on this site and the Project "A" thread. I picked up something valuable and meaningful from all of you. Marianski's yellow book has also been my bedtime reading for most of September.

Air-2 temperature and humidity controller
Image
Basic cool mist humidifier and connectors. I drilled a hole in the side of the old girl.
Image
Small fan set on top shelf, runs on a timer for half hour then rests for one our. Rationale is to distribute the air in the chamber and a requirement for the dual controller to work properly.
Image
Hotel guests: Salami Genoa, the really big one and a smaller one somewhere: Soppressatta, the mid size ones in 60mm. casings; Salami Finocchiona, the skinny guys in 36mm hog casings so that I can hopefully try it in three weeks; Bresaola, the black one with no casing; Lonzino, in the reddish fibrous casing; and the lomo embuchado in the cream coloured collagen casing.
Image

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 08:10
by Chuckwagon
Hey Red! You get an A+ on that one. Good work. If you start getting a little dry rim, you may have to switch to a smaller fan. Try a computer fan if you have trouble. Too much air speed will not allow for balanced diffusion against evaporation. You may want to check with Uwanna on this for his recommendations.
Beautiful work on your new hotel sir! Great sausages headed your way. :wink:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 08:42
by crustyo44
Hi Red,
Congratulations are in order. I am flabbergasted with all that work you have done.
Man , they all look beautiful.
No doubt, I will be picking your brain and everybody else's on this forum when I finally have a curing chamber.
An electrical engineer friend of mine said that Ebay had CPU computer fan speed controllers for sale which would be suitable for a curing chamber after I explained about the dry rim with too much air in the chamber. Prices were cheap $3.00 to $ 8.00 postage included, 3 guesses where they come from.
Regards,
Jan.

Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 14:46
by atcNick
Wow, very nice! You went all out! Can't wait to watch the progress! Make sure you post plenty pictures, I love pictures! :mrgreen:

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2012 02:21
by redzed
Chuckwagon wrote:Hey Red! You get an A+ on that one. Good work. If you start getting a little dry rim, you may have to switch to a smaller fan. Try a computer fan if you have trouble. Too much air speed will not allow for balanced diffusion against evaporation. You may want to check with Uwanna on this for his recommendations.
Beautiful work on your new hotel sir! Great sausages headed your way. :wink:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Yes I have been mulling over the fan issue from the start. But then a friend found this little guy for me and it really does not blow that hard. I don't have it pointing directly at any products, but rather to try and create an amount of weak air movement in a circular motion. And my dual controller is working quite well and probably because of the fan. A fan speed control might help, and I could rig one up with a dimmer switch, (CPU cooling fans are low voltage), but first I will wait and see how everything turns out. Will keep you posted on a regular basis.

Thanks to everyone for your interest.

Coming right along

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 22:44
by redzed
This is what the contents of my curing chamber look like today. It is currently loaded with salami genoa, salami finocchiona, soppressata, bresaola, lomo embuchado, lonzino, coppa, and schinkenspeck. The skinny ones with the thick mould cover are my salamini finocchiona and today it came in at 27% weight loss. That means this weekend is going to tasting time! Have to go and buy a decent Valpolicella. One has to welcome my first cured baby into this world properly!
Image
Image

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 00:09
by nuynai
Thanks for the pics. Please give us a review of each and what appropriate adult beverage of choice you chose to have with each. Great job.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 00:52
by huckelberry
That looks terrific. I can't wait until I have the time and chamber to dry cure.
Please be sure to show us the money shots on each type of meat as you slice in to them. I can hardly wait.
Again very nice job.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2012 23:17
by atcNick
That looks good dude!! Im curious how your salami finocchiona is going to turn out. I was at 24-29% loss on Tuesday. Im going out of town this weekend to visit family and would like to take the one with the highest weight loss. Question, did you add any wine to your recipe?

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 00:07
by redzed
Yes, I added 1/4cup of home made malbec to 2.5 kilo batch Did not want to open a chianti for such a small amount. I followed the recipe from Marianski's yellow book, with the exception that I did not use any ordinary sugar but rather doubled the amount of dextrose and added 2 tsp. of corn syrup solids. I used the hog casings so that I would not have to wait too long for it to dry and it looks like i'ts coming in on schedule. I'm getting excited since this will be my first fermented sausage.

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 01:26
by Pete
The contents of that outfit need "Armaguard" (Security firm in Aus.) redzed, they all look terrific.

Looking forward to the taste test report and any pics you may have time to take between chewing and washing down with something red !

No expert btw, but I have bought some brown butchers string, is quite fibrous/coarse and ties off the bottom of the skins very well without slippage. I found the white cord a little slippery if the skins were on the tight side.

Great work :grin:

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 07:55
by redzed
This evening was a special one as I sliced into my first ever fermented dry cured creation. The Salamini Finnochiona was started on October 20, fermented for 36 hours, in the curing chamber since Oct. 22 and today achieved a 31% weight loss. So in three weeks you can have cured salami if you use 36+ hog casings. I'm usually my own biggest critic, but here it really turned out way beyond my expectations. I am actually surprised how well it turned out. Bellissimo! I just hope the rest of the stuff is half as good.
Image
Image

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 08:17
by Chuckwagon
Bellissimo indeed! Well done my friend. Isn't it amazing what you can do if you simply think and study a bit and then TRY! Most people will never have the privilege of tasting that wonderful stuff because they buy the crap in the grocery store and think that's how it's supposed to taste.
Great job Chris! What's next on the agenda? Want to try a spreadable, fermented, sausage?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 11:43
by crustyo44
CW,
Spreadable sausage, bring it on. I have everything on the shelf, in the cupboard and deepfreeze. I am kust waiting for you to say the magic word.
It is summertime here with probably high temperature and humidity, nevertheless I am going to make some. Come hell or high water.
Jan.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 18:10
by redzed
Thanks CW. I will be sharing some of that salamini tonight with some friends. Over the next few weeks the rest of the stuff in my curing chamber will also be ready. And then Hawaii, Christmas on the prairies, and then Arizona is coming up. Does not look like I can manage the spreadable stuff until March.