I must admit being a bit biased in this last question because after many large scale test productions I have grown accustomed to pour the culture (blended with the spices) directly onto the deep frozen meat while it is being turned into smithereens in a high speed bowl cutter. In other words; the st...

Mix that liquid back in!! and yeah, I´d be doing that too if I knew for sure that the sausage in question would be heated to some 160 -170 degrees F to kill off all creep. But making a fermented, uncooked, sausage of that same piece of meat I´d probably go to lenghts in wiping it dry with (preferab...

It is probably caused by the rapid Ph drop and also the salt and cure drawing out the moisture. and you really hold on to the long end here Bob, because it IS the fast and deep pH drop that causes the meat to become brittle and crumbly, as seems to be the case especially with the Skinny Jim and Bom...

CFred - can you check the temperature of the mix just as it has lef the tube? Just tug the termometer probe into the tube and give it a reading. A more cumbersome way to keep fat and meat seperate would be to initially cut the backfat into so small pieces that you dont even need to grind it together...

Yeah - VERY much so. T-SPX is a traditional culture on the slow side compared with F-RM-52 and LHP so it must be some alien influence, most probably the wine...
It was red wine I guess?

Bob, it sounds like you are jumping from A to C without mentioning the importance of B: that the pH drop has to be gradual, smooth and even in order to provide the firmness and binding. If you read Nics´s thread "Oily cacciatore" that seems to be an example of what happens if pH drops too much and t...

Don´t ask me about licorice flavour because in Denmark it´s almost our national sweet or candy - personally can´t live without it! Especially the salty ones

It´s a bit funny about that wine addition because I´ve seen a few postings now where it seems to have caused more trouble than good. In an earlier case of sweet vermuth the additional sugar of this sweet aperitif may contribute to abrubt pH drop. As Red pointed in another thread, if wine has a pH a ...

Actually I think also there is a sheer physical explanation in so far that while the meat litteraly shrinks in volume because water evaporates the fat just have to drip or run away from the constricted surroundings. And of course the slightly raised temperature during cold smoking may also have cont...

Hi Chris! Thrilling! It looks as if it´s headed in the right direction - apart from the initial steeep pH drop, with T-SPX lacking behind (in a good sense). For sure the jogurth incubated salami won´t need a higher start temperature than the one with starter culture, if you repeat the experience. Wh...

Hi Red, As regards to the oily exudate I have quite often noticed it on original hungarian salamis when they are stored for a (too) long time. Can´t provide a scientific explanation, but in your case did you make a very finely granulated chopping/grinding of the meat? Ideally it should be in a bowl ...

I´m aware that the americans prefer their Pepperoni so tangy that it can save those who suffer from too low stomac acid, but 20 grams of fermentable sugars pr. kilogram meat! Wow!! That pepperoni must recall the pleasure of biting into a unripe lemon :oops: For CFred: Yes, for this recipe I´d say li...

Case hardening is a tough problem to solve...(.)...Perhaps you could start at higher humidity? Let me top up by recommending that start humidity for the first 48 - 72 hours should be around 95 - 98%. It is in the initial phase that you have to secure the further smooth progression of the maturing a...

Uhmm, mnjam, mnjam :razz: Looks like the real thing Nic! They wouldn´t hang for long in my fridge... And good that you didn´t go higher on temperature considering the quick pH drop! Actually it makes me restate what I told a Polish technologist earlier today on the topic of chorizo production; One s...

I´ll sign up for the assumption that It's questionnable whether Fermento actually ferments the meat ´cause my best five cents on this topic is that unless Fermento contains either GdL, citric acid or some extremely sturdy freeze dried starter culture bacteria, then it doesn´t actually ferment but is...