Salsiccia di Calabria

[redzed]

Salsiccia di Calabria

This is a different formulation than the Salame Calabrese that I posted here recently. Salsiccia di Calabria is a very popular sausage in Italy and Europe and carries the PDO designation. There are three versions: bianca (no chili), dolce (sweet chili) or piccante (hot chili) and it is made from the shoulder and loin from pigs raised in Calabria. My take on this sausage was made with Canadian and American pork, but with genuine Calabrian peppers. I dried the sausage a bit too long, but it still turned out to be quite good. With only a touch of heat, aromatic and a long finish. Great with a heavy peasant loaf and a glass of Sangio.



Recipe for 1kg of meat
Meats
500g pork loin with fat
400g pork shoulder, trimmed of fat and connective tissue
100g hard back fat
Ingredients
22.5g salt
2.5g Cure#2
1g back pepper
1g toasted and ground fennel seed
2g sweet Hungarian paprika
1g finely ground Calabrian peppers
1g dextrose
1g fine sucrose
0.25g Texel SA 301 starter culture
30 ml dry red wine
Process
1. Cube meat and fat, mix with salt, Cure#2, dextrose and refrigerate in a sealed container for 48 hours.
2. Freeze fat completely, place the cubed and cured meat in freezer for one to two hours so that it it freezes partially.
3. Revive starter with small amount of distilled water and a pinch of dextrose. Add to meat within 20 minutes.
4. Grind everything through 6mm plate. Do not grind fat separately.
5. Mix starter culture and spices with the meat. Keep ground meat cold, mix thoroughly, taking care not to over mix to avoid fat smearing. You may want to refrigerate the meat between the grinding, mixing and stuffing steps.
6. Stuff into 40mm hog casings forming 50cm sausages in a horseshoe shape.
7. Ferment at a temp of 17-19C for 48-72 hours, until pH drops to 5.2. Be careful not to let the pH drop below 5 so that the salsiccia does not taste sour. The Staphylococcus are also not effective in a high acid environment.
8. Mould starter optional, but recommended.
9. Hang for approximately 4 weeks at 12C and 80% RH, until a weight loss of 30% or less.

[Bob K]

Those look excellent! Were you able to remove the casings? Where are you sourcing the dried Calabrian peppers?

[redzed]

Thanks Bob? How the heck did you know that I had trouble with removing the casings? Well it was a bit of work, and the second picture above was taken after I skinned them all. The sausages were heavily coated with a dry powdery mould, and the hog casings were thoroughly bonded to the meat. I took a brush and cleaned them under running lukewarm water. Then I covered them with a plastic film for an hour. The casings all came off, but some were a bit stubborn. After removing the casings, I gave them a wine bath and after another hour or so, vacuum packed them. Now I have a nice variety of charcuterie and can't really share it with anyone. We are currently under order to interact only with members of our own household. What a crazy time.

[Bob K]

Thanks Bob? How the heck did you know that I had trouble with removing the casings?

Well this time of year the cold Canadian Jet Stream can carry sound coast to coast and I thought I heard some expletives in Polish.
Lou was having a hard time removing Hog casings from his dried Italian...I'm not sure what he came up with in the end.

[StefanS]

I gave them a wine bath and after another hour or so, vacuum packed them.

Hi Chris. _ before vaccum i have added 15-20 ml of honey mead (homemade with many variety to choose from) for around of 2 kg of product.

Now I have a nice variety of charcuterie and can't really share it with anyone.

tell me about - my refrigerator is full of products. But it not stopped me from doing other batches. It is like drugs - always new experiments and tastes.......

[redzed]

before vaccum i have added 15-20 ml of honey mead (homemade with many variety to choose from) for around of 2 kg of product.

That practice is recommended by Francois Vecchio, the well known and respected Swiss-American charcutier. It adds another layer of flavour and does help in removing that dry ring around the salami. Its amazing how fast my salami absorbed the wine that was pored over it. After 30 minutes I couldn't see it all.