I started a batch of salami on 5 December 23. Cremona on the left (70 mm) and Finocchiona in a smaller 55 mm diameter on the right. This shows the salami after 24 hours of fermentation. The pH ended up at 4.67, with T-SPX as the starter culture.
I don't have a curing chamber, so I used salami casings from Misty Gully and UMAi, which allow curing in an ordinary fridge without humidity control. The Cremona is in Misty Gully casing, the Finocchiona in the UMAi one. The small one in the top right corner is what was left in the elbow of my sausage stuffer. I rolled that in cornmeal (Pitina style) and wrapped it in dry aging steak wraps from The Sausage Maker. The whole lot went into my fridge sitting on a wire rack.
The Finocchiona was ready eight weeks later, at 35% weight loss. (The Cremona will take a few more weeks to lose enough weight.)
I'm very happy with the way that turned out. The bind is good, the salami dried uniformly all the way through with nice firm texture, and there is zero dry ring. The flavour is nice, too. The fennel comes through not too strongly, so it doesn't overwhelm the fermented salami notes.
I've made several salamis using these semi-permeable salami casings, with good results each time. It's not quite the real thing because you can't use penicillium with these, but the results are good nevertheless. Definitely an option for people without a dedicated curing chamber.
