So we made salami. Good salami. So good, it was really hard to share. It became painfully obvious why dried salami is soooooo expensive.
The first time we all got together to make some was in 2010. We made 20 pounds or so. The second round we made 60 pounds. This last batch was around 80 pounds of pork and maybe 20- 30 pounds of venison! I think when we do it again we may need to enlist a meat army and conquer the world.
Before we start, here are some tips.....
You need a large cold dry place to dry this stuff (preferably rodent free). Basements around the end of fall in the Hudson Valley makes for perfect sausage curing. The space needs to be constantly under 50 degrees Fahrenheit for about six weeks (I bought one of these to check in on things everyday). Making salami once a year is perfect. You can almost make enough for the entire year....if you don't share. You can vacuum pack them and they could last over a year in the fridge maybe more if you freeze them after sealing.
When you buy meat in bulk consult your local grocery store butcher. The meat comes in to the grocery store in large pieces and then the store cuts it up, packages it and marks it up. You can save some money by cutting out the middle man and just buying it as it comes in to them. BIG GI-GANT-O PIECES OF MEAT!
Get a proprietary grinder. Get something powerful and easy to clean. The first time we made sausage we used our sausage stuffing attachment on our kitchen aide and almost burned it up. Totally underpowered.
Get a proprietary stuffer. You could use the plunger style stuffer or the kitchen aide attachment but.....you will not be happy with the results and you will never want to stuff anything again. Those things are a pain in the rear. You can get a good large cast iron stuffer on ebay all day long. We actually picked up ours from a yard sale. The handle was broken but being the metalsmtihs we are our partner in arms made short work of re-attaching the handle. After a good cleaning it was ready to go.
Get quality casings. I think we used lamb casings and pork casings. Also obtained from our local grocery store. They made their own sausage in house so there was plenty to be had. They were also pre-cleaned. I recommend the pre-cleaned. I wont go into the details of cleaning them. Just get them pre-cleaned casings. Trust me.
On with the show.
So we actually made two types of sausage (fresh and dried) We also made many flavors (chorizo, sage, spicy, venison etc etc). The one thing that we were adamant about was NOT using chemicals to preserve the sausage. Now before we continue....I am not saying that this is safe. You might get sick. You should continue at your own risk. I would recommend using chemicals if you are squeamish or use organic pasture raised meat. You never know whose dirty paws gives everyone salmonella. The chemicals do speed up the curing process.
Ultimately, this is how I was convinced not to use the chemicals: "..... prior to the invention of chemical preservatives sausage was made all the time." Being that we were super clean and the temperature was cold there was a VERY low risk of contamination. Also the meat was prepackage and cleaned (probably with some kind of chemicals) from the meat packing plant. We did use venison but it was properly dressed by a company after it was shot (Just as a side note it was shot on an orchard so it had been grazing on hudson valley apples most of its adult life).
There are a couple of rules of thumb to adhere to. The high salt content is crucial to the drying process. Make sure the salt is roughly 2.5% of the entire weight of the meat (It can be more but it should not be less) After that you can flavor the sausage with what ever you want. Make sure that what ever you are flavoring the dried salami with is dry. Do not use fresh herbs or anything that will absorb moisture (dehydrated onions etc). Use powdered ingredients or things like dried red pepper flakes, fennel, whole peppercorns.
When you buy your meat look for a bone out, boston butt. This is the shoulder of the pig (see below). This cut has enough fat to meat ratio to make perfect sausage. If you are making venison sausage you will need to buy pork belly or pork fat to add to the super lean meat. We are looking for about a 2:5 ratio. 2 being the fat.
Keep your meat cold. We were lucky enough to have a little snow when we started our project. When we cut up our meat we put it in big, covered, stock pots and stored them out in the snow. You may want to get a bag of ice and do like a double pot to keep things cool. If you start with semi-frozen meat you will be better off.
Cut you meat into long grind-able strips. We did maybe 1.5" x 1.5" x 6" square strips. It is much easier to shove it down in the grinder. Small skinny strips get caught between the push stick and defrost a lost faster. You want course obvious chunks. The colder it is the more separated it will be remain. The more separated and loose the meat is the more fat spots you will have in your sausage. You are also going to break down the grind when you are mixing in your spice mixture.
Once you are done chopping you can get on with the grinding. If you are not using the boston butt and you are adding fat. Separate the ground material. Do the fat then the meat. Once the meat is ground you will have to figure our by weight how much salt and spices to add. We did a little dance between a stainless bowl, a digital scale and a calculator. Try to be as precise as you can. Remember the salt! I would also recommend giving it a kick (when you think you have put in too much red pepper flakes....add some more) Our first two batches were spiced very differently but ended up tasting very similar.
We actually started by researching how to make salami from this book Pork and Sons. It is all about pork! It has almost everything you would ever make out of pork. If you are serious about your pork you should buy a copy. Plus it has these awesome little drawings in the corner.
Once you have measured out your spice mix you will need to mix it all together. Most recipes or online tutorials will have you put it back in the grinder with the mix. Do not do that. It just turns it to mush or meat paste. We got a large stainless bowl and mixed it all by hand. Use gloves! It is like slow torture. The meat is super cold, the salt grinds away at your finger tips and after a while you loose feeling in your hand and have to stop. We took turns mixing and got it done pretty fast. It is essential that you thoroughly mix in the salt to optimize curing. Again if you think you have mixed enough....mix it more.
Once your spice mixture is completely incorporated, scoop it into the stuffer. Keep it clean. One hand for scooping. One hand for other stuff. Read up on the directions for stuffing. Here are a couple of tips. First I would have a sewing needle at the ready. You can steralize it with some alcohol or flame. This is for popping air bubbles. On your first attempt you will for sure have air bubbles.
Put the casing on the nozzle then start cranking until the meat comes to the tip of the nozzle. Then roll a little of the casing off and tie it off. Start cranking. Don't over do it. I would suggest twisting every eight or nine inches. You should also use some butchers twine to tie off each link. So one person cranking, one person twisting, one person popping air pockets and one person tying off links. Like I said MEAT ARMY!!! Roll the links between your fingers. Pretend you are trying to rub glue off your finger tips. When the casing gets thin, twist. Be careful. The casing is prone to popping. This just means that you are stuffing it too tight. If it does pop just squeeze out some meat, cut the casing and tie it off.
Once the meat is in link form and tied off you are ready to hang them up. You should make sure that they do not touch. We used a long stick between basement joists and the butchers twine to create loops form which to hang them. We dried them out for five weeks! It may have been too long but better safe than sorry.
Just a few things. Make sure they are rock hard before you harvest them. If they do touch, where they touch will remain raw. So triple check to make sure there is room for air to get at all sides. When the meat dries it will turn a dark deep red. This is normal but if you make different spiced salamis if may be hard to figure out which one is which. The only way you will know will be cutting one open and trying it. I suggest keeping things on separate lines or maybe double knotting one.
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