Anyway, I said back in Bacon Times that I would try the same process again with added flavourings to the cure mix before moving onto other forms of curing ("I'll warn myself not to get too carried away" to be exact.) Well, as good as my intentions were at the time, I lied and ignored my own warning. To be fair, curing another belly of bacon first probably wouldn't tell me much that is relevant to this stage, as I already know my cellar works as ok conditions for hanging meat for curing. So I suppose so much chomping at the bit has finally worn it down and there are currently four cow intestines (see further example of ethical Using Up All Bits of Animals - my stance on that is already outlined on this blog) filled with pork hanging up in there. Another spoiler, shit, there goes the chance of Disaster Post, I hear you cry. Well, for the cruel and sadistic amongst you, there's up to 10 weeks from now for it to all go wrong, and I have no more idea than you about how, when or indeed, if that will happen. So here's what's happened so far. As always, guided by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and The River Cottage Cookbook.
Basic salami recipe and instructions;
400g lean pork, coarsely minced
100g back fat, cut into small pea-sized pieces
10g fine cooking salt
100ml red wine
½ garlic clove, crushed to a paste (1 clove for every kilo of mix)
½ teaspoon acidophilus
You will also need
Ox-runners
Butcher's string
Before you get to work on your salami mix, put the ox-runners to soak in a large bowl of fresh water. Slosh them about to rinse off the salt, then run the tap through the inside of them to flush them clean. When they are slippery, flexible and thoroughly rinsed of salt, they are ready to use.
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly - with your bare (but clean) hands, if you like - so that the salt and fat are well distributed throughout the mix. Load up your sausage-making machine with the mix, slide a length of ox-runner on to the nozzle, and tie the end of the casing into a knot, as you would tie a balloon. Then tie a short length of butcher's string in an ordinary granny knot inside the knot in the runner. Stuff the casing with the mix until you have filled a length of 40-50cm. Then cut this length off, leaving enough unfilled runner at the end to tie another knot.
Hold the filled casing up with the knotted end at the bottom and squeeze the mixture down the casing gently, so it is nice and tight. Then tie another knot in the top of the runner and another length of string inside that knot. The compacted sausage, tied securely at both ends, will now be about 30-40cm long.
Here's my ox runners soaking (and looking lovely), and one of my two varieties pre-mixing.
I've gone for two variations, one a sort of chorizo (I'm loathe to refer to it as chorizo, as it kind of isn't really, but I'm even more loathe to call it chorizo style, because that just sounds shit) using paprika as the predominant flavouring (and a Spanish red wine) and the other a more basic (I suppose Italian style) salami, using fennel seeds and an Italian red. Excuse to buy red wine? Probably. In fact the guy in Noble Green, the awesome beer and wine shop where I buy alcohol expressed surprise at seeing me buying wine rather than the Belgian trappist ales I usually stock up on, so I explained what they were for. I now have two local tradesmen enquiring for updates, the other being the butcher I bought the meat from.
The acidophilus is what encourages the mould growth on the outer casing. Hugh suggests hanging the salami with others that have already developed their own mould as an alternative, but as this was my first attempt I went off to Holland & Barrett and got the smallest amount I could. One hundred capsules. Fortunately they keep for about a year as, as far as I am aware my digestive health is perfectly fine so I'll always have some for future salami making.
My flavour variations were;
Aglianico Terredora 2009
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Quinta el Refugio Tinto, Toro 2008
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1½ garlic cloves
I don't possess a sausage stuffer, hand cranked or automated, so I went out and bought the widest nozzled plastic funnel I could find (which wasn't actually very wide at all) and then sawed half the nozzle off to widen it whilst leaving enough to pull the bung over and smoothed the edges off so as not to potentially rip holes in it. In the end I managed to tear a couple of holes in the first attempt, but that was more down to some sort of over-exuberance and novice Coaxing Of Meat Down A Cow's Intestine By Hand rather than self-made plastic splinters. Fortunately they were relatively near the top of the bung and were easily rectified by cutting it off below the tear, but it did lead to increased trepidation, especially as I got near the end. It had taken me longer than I anticipated and didn't particularly fancy the prospect of having to start all over again and waste one of the bungs. They are actually a lot more robust than I was expecting, and it is not as delicate a process as I thought it would be. Which is a very good thing. I suppose they should be pretty strong really, given their original purpose. Hugh does advise that "for large quantities of salami, a sausage-making machine... is invaluable" Unless you particularly want to spend an entire day filling salami, I'd have to agree.
Having trimmed the first filled salami I discovered that (actually rather obviously) it is much easier to fill half of one than a whole, so come the second lot I decided upon filling them effectively from the top down, rather than attempting to push it all the way to the end. I think it was probably down to the longer soaking time afforded the one I used for the chorizo as I found it much easier, and filled and tied the two in at least half the time as the first lot.
I'm trying to monitor temperature fluctuations in the cellar, due to the sporadic temperature increases in the weather lately. It tends to stay pretty cold regardless of the outside temperature. So far it seems to have stayed pretty rigidly to about 13℃, which means either it does stay cold despite it getting pretty warm outside, or the thermometer is broken.
So now I just have to wait and see and eagerly look at them every day. I suspect I shall approach the first mould growth with the same level of excitement one might expect for say, a new seedling sprouting, as some kind of reassurance that it is at least giving the impression of working. The lack of control in leaving something to its own devices, as such, is the sort of thing that piques my curiosity to some level of substitute for the nurturing that isn't really required. I ended up almost completely ignoring my bacon once I'd hung it, yet so far I've snuck down to look at the salamis every day now. So far after about four days the skins have almost completely dried out and the meat has just started to firm up. I could just leave the chorizo hanging for about a week, then use it for cooking, but I'm going to leave both for at least the minimum four weeks required for eating raw. Obviously I'll update any interesting progress, good or otherwise.
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