# Dry Cured Beef Salami



## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Since the cool winter weather is finally here, I've started my first batch of dry-cured beef salami that I will be hanging to dry for the next several months.


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

Very nice!:goodjob:


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## hercsmama (Jan 15, 2004)

Care to share a recipe???:spinsmiley:


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

10lb course ground chuck
9 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 oz. glucose
2 teaspoons Prague Powder #2
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon powdered garlic
2 oz corn syrup


Hang sausage at 70 degrees F for 3 days at 75% humidity.
Hang sausage 45-55F for 70-80 days at 75% humidity.

You need to dry the sausages slowwwwwly at high humidity so they dry from the inside out. It's bad if they become dry on the outside first because the hard rind traps moisture inside.


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## unregistered5595 (Mar 3, 2003)

That is so admirable.
How will you create those environments? A vaporizer at room temperature and then a vaporizer at cool temperatures? I struggle with those things.
And thank you for sharing your recipe.

I remember from my youth, my dad making venison salami and the air pockets that formed in the middle of the sausage.


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Feather In The Breeze said:


> How will you create those environments?


I simply left it to hang in the north room of the unheated cabin. Daytime maximum temperatures about 60, nighttime tempertures in the 30's. I don't have any way to measure the humidity, but what I did was lay two trays of water below the sausage with a cotton towel draped between the two to draw up water. I expect this to humidify the immediate area somewhat, but it's a wait and see proposition.

Will start checking it after a month. I'm supposed to weigh the sausages and declare them done once they've lost 25-30% of their fresh weight.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Since it's so dry here in the winter, we end up hanging our dry sausages in an old gutted fridge with a pan of water in the bottom. We started with a cooler, but gasket seals on the fridge door work better to keep the humidity in.

We also found that synthetic casings worked better for dry hung sausages than the natural casings for our climate. The natural casings were just too permeable.


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## Fat Man (Mar 9, 2011)

A while back I found a site where they used and old fridge with a temp controller for home brew, the sistered it us with a sonic humidifier.

Found it.


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Ta-Da! Here they are again 50 days after curing. It turned out OK, though way too dry. Now I clearly see the meaning of the instructions to cure at high humidity. There's been almost no rain in California for January and February, so the natural high humidity I was expecting didn't materialize.

However, if the goal is to make very dry, durable meat, it's a success. I started out with 9.6 pounds of fresh sausage, and ended up with 4.0 pounds of extra dry salami, or 60% weight loss from dehydration. I eat one link yesterday, and am still here today to tell about it. The sausage had the typical purplish red color you associate with salami, odor was good, and it tasted just like salami, though you had to chew awhile.

I just have to perfect my curing conditions, and I'm all set to process my own from now on.

BTW, I saw there very first wild-pig sign on my land this weekend. They damaged the ground in about a 1/4 acre patch near my cattle watering trough. Will have to do something about that soon!


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