Homemade Sausage Making

Very nice Dave. Looks like the Umai bags are a viable option to having a curing chamber. I'm almost tempted to order some and compare the product with what I make in my chamber.

Dave, you ol' shark! Very nice... you've been holding out on us pal! Wow, that stuff looks grrrreat!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Just ordered two styles of UMAi bags to try. One style for 50mm Salumi and the other for larger cuts of meat; perhaps Capicola or Pancetta. Although they are sold right here in town, I opted for shipping them in; it's a 30 mile round trip to that side of town!

Looking forward to some new challenges! I already have the fermentation chamber, but haven't found a suitable freezer to convert, as of yet, and maybe now I won't need one.

Jim

My first attempt at a dry cured Breasola using UMAi, is complete. It lost 40% of its green weight in 25 days. I rinsed the seasoning off with tap water and dried with a clean cloth.

Using my VacMaster, I vacuum sealed the UMAi bags.



Every week for almost a month I anxiously checked my Breasola drying in the UMAi bags. I measured the weight loss, turned and rotated the bags, and waited some more.



The first cut was like beef jerky. Once I got past the first centimeter, it was easier to cut thin slices; but try as I did, Chuckwagon, they still had two sides! A little heavy on the Clove, but not overwhelming. It has a very silky feel on the tongue. Very easy to make, and an enjoyable taste. Jean already is asking to make more. I may try a different recipe using Thyme and Juniper Berries.

Jim

Verrrrry nice indeed Jim! Nice goin' pal. I'll just bet those one-sided slices are tasty!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Jim, did you use one of their kits or just the bag with your own ingredients? My first kits are in transit - already I'm having to be patient

Shuswap, I used the Mariansk recipe from his meatsandsausage.com website located here: http://www.meatsandsausages.com/hams-ot ... s/breasola . I thought the bags were expensive enough, without the added price of ingredients.

It was the easiest product I have made yet! Next up on my list is Lomo Embuchado from the same recipe menu.

Jim

Hi Jim,
Matter of fact, I have 2 Coppa's on the go in the UMAi bags.. They are drying and losing weight rather well.
Like you, I am impatiently waiting for the end result. I used Len Poli's recipe.
The next lots are already planned but with different recipes for comparison to suit my weird taste.
Regards,
Jan.

My UMAi bags will be arriving this week so I'm getting ready for the big event

For those who have used these bags, what is your experience with vacuum sealing and freezing the end product ?

You will need a good quality vacuum sealer. The one I have didn't actually seal tight enough to my liking so I am buying another one this week.
I overcame this hassle by encasing the 2 trial Coppa's with elastic netting.
This is working quite well as they are losing weight.
I will be posting some phoot's when finished, I am aiming for 35-40 weight loss.
One Coppa seem to be softer that the other but this was from the beginning.
The were cured for the same time and bagged the same time.
I can only put this down to the age of the animals as the Coppa's were bought at different times. One was a lot larger than the other.
Ah Well, it will all come out in the wash.
Cheers,
Jan.

Jan,
I, too, have been having trouble sealing the bags completely. I'm interested in your solution, though! Do I understand correctly that, rather than attempting to reseal again, you just tightened them up with elastic tube netting? Ingenious! I would not have thought of that.

I have some Lomo and Lonzino drying for about a week, now. Discovered that one bags seal was not good. I zipped off the seal and resealed the bag, now this morning I see it once again has a leak. The bags are too expensive to just throw away and start over.

Jim

Jan and Jim - so far with two weeks in the bags with my capicola and sopressata are holding up. But sealing the bags has been troublesome. I think it is the V2244 that is the problem. It does not have the "wet" function so the advice is to double seal. If you are sealing a large bag for say a capicola the vacuum process takes some time thereby heating up the machine. You then have to wait for the machine to cool down before you can seal the second time.

I'm now investigating the snorkel type of sealer. I like the comment from others (I think it was sawhorse ray) that the chamber type of sealer does not work well with larger items.
Phil

I have been using the UMAI Dry bags with great success recently. The first photo is a cured Pork Loin (Lonza), this was cured using cure #2, salt and Dextrose, 3 x Mandarins and toasted Fennel seeds. The Pork was cured for 10 days, it was then washed and lightly smoked with Pecan wood. The Pork was sealed in a UMAI bag and dried for 38 days. This is one of the nicest cured meats I have eaten, the Fennel is subtle with the centre of the Pork quite soft with a firmer outer. I would recommend making this cured meat. The recipe is in the "Salumi" book by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.

This cured meat is Pancetta, it started out as 1.7kg piece of Pork Belly, it was cured with cure#2, coarse black pepper, nutmeg, juniper berries, salt and Bay leaves for 10 days, it was washed and sealed in a UMAI bag, it dried for 35 days.


The last cured meat is Pork Loin cured with cure #2, salt, Dextrose, coarse black pepper, cloves and onion flakes, it was cured for 10 days, washed and rubbed with a Cajun seasoning before sealing, it was dried for 45 days, it is another very tasty cured meat.

These are a few photos of some bacon I made a few weeks ago.


Some smoked Chicken Breasts

A couple of smoked Chickens with my own smoked Chillies.

Irdeer, those products look scrumptious, nice job!!!

Indeer, thanks for posting those tasty looking morsels. I'm only 3 weeks into drying my soprasetta and capicola. Your photos encourage me to hang in there.