Wine in salami? Why not sweet?

Seadog92 · Post by **Seadog92** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 20:33

In reading the 32 tips on making sausage, Chuckwagon states that only dry wine should be used. Why the restriction on sweet wines? I was hoping to make a salami using a red wine like Casa Rossa, or white like Riesling.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 23:12

If the salami is fermented the sugar in the wine would be a factor.

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 07:12

Seadog,
I have made Salami for many years ago with Italian friends of mine, the only wine they used was obviously home made Red but it was dry alright. I hated it.
They did tell me that the Northern Italians used white wine, sweet or dry I don't know.
No doubt somebody with more knowledge than me will answer your query.
Personally, due to the small quantity of wine used, I would have a go with whatever you think is best. Be a daredevil!!!!!!!
Good luck,
Jan.

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 16:18

I would guess that red wine is traditional because the flavors or red wine work better with a red meat. That said Pinot Grigio is often used in salami, I have one in the fridge right now.

Post by **redzed** » Thu Aug 28, 2014 16:40

If you are making a fresh sausage give it a shot. If you are making a dry cured, fermented product, I would follow a tested recipe. Just be careful in the amount of wine you use in either. I think some guys tend to be a bit too generous with the wine. You don't want to affect the binding properties of the sausage, neither do you want the wine to predominate. We have discussed this a number of times here, and the consensus is when it comes to wine, less is better.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:27

It's your sausage, use whatever wine makes you happy.
Don't let anybody tell you what's best for you.
I do agree that it's a good idea to keep the amount of wine to a minimum.

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Sat Aug 30, 2014 19:17

Some people put sugar in the sausages, because they like the shinier cut/sliced surface better than dull.
Other people rub some sugary water on the casings, because they say the smoke sticks better, gets darker. (also plug up the holes)
I don't mind the simple sugar as much as the antibiotics in the meat.
One of the biggest reason we make our own is, so it'll be the way we like it.
No matter how careful we make it, it's newer the same, because the basic ingredients aren't the same.

Igor Duńczyk · Post by **Igor Duńczyk** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 23:49

Oops - I guess that glass too much of Egri Bulls Blood Redwine made my tongue go a little too Hungarian for this forum

Jokes apart: Some time ago one of our members had a decidedly bad experience after adding sweet Italian Vermuth which was actually prescribed in a (....hmmm ...if I remember right) Len Poli recipe (

gotta´find that thread!) as the starter culture seemably ran totally beserk and rammed the pH down to a level where the meat fibres became almost shredded by denaturation.

My advice: stick to dry red wine and avoid the sweet ones unless you equally hold back on dextrose addition.

Seadog92 · Post by **Seadog92** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 20:54

Thank you for all your comments. I'll take a page from everyone's book and stick to the tried and true recipes for my 15-20 lb batches, but experiment with a couple 2 lb batches to see how the sweet wine comes out. There's a sweet Syrah from South Africa called "Jam Jar" which is pretty nice. That will be my first experiment. I'll let you know what happens.

Gulyás · Post by **Gulyás** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 04:12

Some sausage has white wine in it, and one of the world famous salami has cognac in it.
And than somebody sad he likes to cook with wine, sometimes he puts some in the food too.

Post by **redzed** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 06:22

Gulyás wrote:And than somebody sad he likes to cook with wine, sometimes he puts some in the food too.

That of course, was W.C. Fields, the great American quipster. He quipped, "I always cook with wine, sometimes I even put it into the food!"

My favourite of his witty quips is "Whenever I'm late for work, I always make up for it by leaving early."

If you want a smile or two, read more of his quips here:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/autho ... ields.html

Igor Duńczyk · Post by **Igor Duńczyk** » Sat Sep 27, 2014 13:00

Hi Seadog!
How is your Syrah Sausage doing?

Just curious....

Cabonaia · Post by **Cabonaia** » Sun Sep 28, 2014 05:21

I recently made a batch of linguica using red wine vinegar and tawny port - to 5 lbs of meat I added 150 ml of port and 2 tbs red wine vinegar. Tawny port is dry as far as port goes, but definitely sweet compared to most reds. The sausage came out great. The trick is not to use too much, chill it, add it slowly while you mix, then stuff and smoke without delay. This took me a long time to learn!