Here is our sopressata recipe brought up to the year 2015. Curious to see what others think of this.
10 kg pork shoulder cut lean
2.3 % NaCl
.25% Cure #2
480 ml red wine (homemade)
2% pepperincino in polvere (senesi peppers dried and ground)
Cayenna to desired heat (about 2 tablespoons works for me)
TSP-X and 1/4 cup water with a pinch of dextrose
We grind the shoulder add salt, cure, red wine, and pepperincino powder, and starter culture and stuff into beef middles (pork is more traditional but they are awfully large, beef middles make a nice sized salami to give to friends). They are then pressed on clean towels washed only in hot water and bleach at 4 degrees C for one week. We try to get up to a couple hundred pounds on them.
After a week, they usually have lost about 15-18%% of their weight and are only about an inch thick. They are then hung to dry at 4 degrees for 8 weeks. If you notice, we skip the fermentation step for this salami, but I feel that there are other safety factors involved. The salt, cure, and pepperincino powder plus the pressing drop the water activity quickly, thus no botulism should be capable of producing toxin, especially at those cold temperatures. I don't really worry about listeria as I grew up eating raw canestrato cheese since I was a baby. I figure I have some natural resistance built up at least at this point in my life. The wine also adds a slight acidity, not enough to bring pH way down, but every little bit helps. Since I do not polysorbate my wine, it should also add some beneficial bugs to the party.
If you notice I add the TSP-X it is something I adopted a few years back. I tried the quick fermentation for 72 hours, but the taste left something to be desired. I reverted to the old school ways but kept the cure and adjusted the salt to be at 2.5% total. I also kept the TSP-X as some added insurance, but that may just be a mental game I play with myself.
Anyway, I see this as a compromise recipe where I adopt some of the newer techniques while keeping the old recipes as intact as possible. I understand this recipe could NEVER pass a USDA inspection, but I do feel it has enough safety built that I can live with whatever remaining risk is out there.
Does anyone else skip the hot ferment and dry at colder temperatures?
Traditional Sopressata
Hi Doug first off let me welcome you to the forum !
You seem to be well aware of the safety issues with your method and feel the taste difference is worth the risks you take. Most of us here probably don't agree with you.
That being said If you care to revisit the relatively low, (68-72f) fermentation temps usually used with T-SPX. Try adding 0,2% sugar and 0,2% dextrose to your recipe it will increase the activity of the culture with out adding "tang" or making the sausage taste sweet.
It would also greatly reduce the risk of spoilage and other undesirable bacteria that can still grow in refrigerator temps.
You seem to be well aware of the safety issues with your method and feel the taste difference is worth the risks you take. Most of us here probably don't agree with you.
That being said If you care to revisit the relatively low, (68-72f) fermentation temps usually used with T-SPX. Try adding 0,2% sugar and 0,2% dextrose to your recipe it will increase the activity of the culture with out adding "tang" or making the sausage taste sweet.
It would also greatly reduce the risk of spoilage and other undesirable bacteria that can still grow in refrigerator temps.
Hi Doug and welcome to our circle!
When I saw your post yesterday I was going to give you my two cents worth right away but then I could not think of anything positive to say, so I decided to think about it and wait until this morning. But despite sleeping on it, I still cannot see anything of merit in your sopressata recipe. To begin with, I don't believe that there is only one way to make salami, that is with nitrites, starter cultures and curing/drying in optimum conditions. I don't doubt that with proper tecnique and a suitable environment, you can make dry cured sausages in the "traditional" way. But your process does not seem to fit into the older traditional methods, and your application of the newer methods is flawed. Without actually measuring the water activity you really don't know whether it has dropped enough to inhibit all spoilage or pathogenic bacteria. For example listeria monocytogenes can grow in a dry environment and in temperatures as low as 4C. Unfortunately the beneficial bacteria that normally grow, multiple and inhibit the dangerous bacteria, need warmer temps. Salt also binds water and inhibits some bacteria, but your amount of 2.5% is probably too low to be effective. Traditionally made salami contained a minimum of 3% and had a very salty taste. Your "insurance" in adding T-SPX is not very comforting. It contains two bacteria and both need warmer temperatures and a little sugar to get the job done. Pediococcus Pentosaceus grows best at 20-42C, and produces lactic bacteria to lower the pH and affects the taste. Staphylococcus xylosus sets the colour and is a nitrite reductor. At 4C both bacteria are barely active, and certainly do not perform their intended function. At the same time, Cure #2 contains nitrate and it needs the Staphylococcus to release the nitrite and cure the meat. You are correct about the wine having a slight effect on lowering the pH, but at the same time you are adding more liquid into the mix. And I doubt that a wine that still may have active microorganisms would have any positive effect. If anything, the yeasts in that type of wine may negatively impact the flavour, although it is unlikely that they will grow in the meat.
In concluding, the fact that you keep the sausages in at a low temperature at all stages of the process, you are able to produce a sausage that so far has not caused any problems. But you have been successful at not only inhibiting the dangerous bacteria, but the beneficial ones as well, whether added or naturally occurring, thus greatly compromising flavour and colour.
I would suggest that you read Marianski's Art of Fermenting Sausages, and not once, but two or three times, and that should provide with the fundamentals to better understand the processes, and from there make the necessary adjustments to produce a better and safer sausage. As it stands now, you are only flying by the seat of your pants.
When I saw your post yesterday I was going to give you my two cents worth right away but then I could not think of anything positive to say, so I decided to think about it and wait until this morning. But despite sleeping on it, I still cannot see anything of merit in your sopressata recipe. To begin with, I don't believe that there is only one way to make salami, that is with nitrites, starter cultures and curing/drying in optimum conditions. I don't doubt that with proper tecnique and a suitable environment, you can make dry cured sausages in the "traditional" way. But your process does not seem to fit into the older traditional methods, and your application of the newer methods is flawed. Without actually measuring the water activity you really don't know whether it has dropped enough to inhibit all spoilage or pathogenic bacteria. For example listeria monocytogenes can grow in a dry environment and in temperatures as low as 4C. Unfortunately the beneficial bacteria that normally grow, multiple and inhibit the dangerous bacteria, need warmer temps. Salt also binds water and inhibits some bacteria, but your amount of 2.5% is probably too low to be effective. Traditionally made salami contained a minimum of 3% and had a very salty taste. Your "insurance" in adding T-SPX is not very comforting. It contains two bacteria and both need warmer temperatures and a little sugar to get the job done. Pediococcus Pentosaceus grows best at 20-42C, and produces lactic bacteria to lower the pH and affects the taste. Staphylococcus xylosus sets the colour and is a nitrite reductor. At 4C both bacteria are barely active, and certainly do not perform their intended function. At the same time, Cure #2 contains nitrate and it needs the Staphylococcus to release the nitrite and cure the meat. You are correct about the wine having a slight effect on lowering the pH, but at the same time you are adding more liquid into the mix. And I doubt that a wine that still may have active microorganisms would have any positive effect. If anything, the yeasts in that type of wine may negatively impact the flavour, although it is unlikely that they will grow in the meat.
In concluding, the fact that you keep the sausages in at a low temperature at all stages of the process, you are able to produce a sausage that so far has not caused any problems. But you have been successful at not only inhibiting the dangerous bacteria, but the beneficial ones as well, whether added or naturally occurring, thus greatly compromising flavour and colour.
I would suggest that you read Marianski's Art of Fermenting Sausages, and not once, but two or three times, and that should provide with the fundamentals to better understand the processes, and from there make the necessary adjustments to produce a better and safer sausage. As it stands now, you are only flying by the seat of your pants.
Yes, I understand most do not agree. I am kind of torn myself. I have tired the 68 degree fermentation with the addition of sugars, and the end product was not to my liking. The color was off, it was red instead of a deep wine color and it lacked the depth of flavor I was used to. I just did not like the end product at all. It was not just me, the consensus was it did not measure up.Bob K wrote:Hi Doug first off let me welcome you to the forum !
You seem to be well aware of the safety issues with your method and feel the taste difference is worth the risks you take. Most of us here probably don't agree with you.
That being said If you care to revisit the relatively low, (68-72f) fermentation temps usually used with T-SPX. Try adding 0,2% sugar and 0,2% dextrose to your recipe it will increase the activity of the culture with out adding "tang" or making the sausage taste sweet.
It would also greatly reduce the risk of spoilage and other undesirable bacteria that can still grow in refrigerator temps.
However, I really want to be as safe as possible. Hence the attempt at a compromise. Now, I did adjust the salt for cure #2 (in the old days dad and my uncles did not even do that). If the TSP-x is futile at lower temperatures, I could easily just omit it.
I suspect when we did it we used more than .4% carbohydrates. Perhaps that was the difference? Maybe I will try a few with that low of the sugars and see if I still find the end product less than desirable.
redzed wrote:Hi Doug and welcome to our circle!
When I saw your post yesterday I was going to give you my two cents worth right away but then I could not think of anything positive to say, so I decided to think about it and wait until this morning. But despite sleeping on it, I still cannot see anything of merit in your sopressata recipe. To begin with, I don't believe that there is only one way to make salami, that is with nitrites, starter cultures and curing/drying in optimum conditions. I don't doubt that with proper tecnique and a suitable environment, you can make dry cured sausages in the "traditional" way. But your process does not seem to fit into the older traditional methods, and your application of the newer methods is flawed. Without actually measuring the water activity you really don't know whether it has dropped enough to inhibit all spoilage or pathogenic bacteria. For example listeria monocytogenes can grow in a dry environment and in temperatures as low as 4C. Unfortunately the beneficial bacteria that normally grow, multiple and inhibit the dangerous bacteria, need warmer temps. Salt also binds water and inhibits some bacteria, but your amount of 2.5% is probably too low to be effective. Traditionally made salami contained a minimum of 3% and had a very salty taste. Your "insurance" in adding T-SPX is not very comforting. It contains two bacteria and both need warmer temperatures and a little sugar to get the job done. Pediococcus Pentosaceus grows best at 20-42C, and produces lactic bacteria to lower the pH and affects the taste. Staphylococcus xylosus sets the colour and is a nitrite reductor. At 4C both bacteria are barely active, and certainly do not perform their intended function. At the same time, Cure #2 contains nitrate and it needs the Staphylococcus to release the nitrite and cure the meat. You are correct about the wine having a slight effect on lowering the pH, but at the same time you are adding more liquid into the mix. And I doubt that a wine that still may have active microorganisms would have any positive effect. If anything, the yeasts in that type of wine may negatively impact the flavour, although it is unlikely that they will grow in the meat.
In concluding, the fact that you keep the sausages in at a low temperature at all stages of the process, you are able to produce a sausage that so far has not caused any problems. But you have been successful at not only inhibiting the dangerous bacteria, but the beneficial ones as well, whether added or naturally occurring, thus greatly compromising flavour and colour.
I would suggest that you read Marianski's Art of Fermenting Sausages, and not once, but two or three times, and that should provide with the fundamentals to better understand the processes, and from there make the necessary adjustments to produce a better and safer sausage. As it stands now, you are only flying by the seat of your pants.
I accept all of your critique with an open mind. I may be getting lucky. However, one point I strongly disagree with is your statement that, the method you prefer produces a superior tasting product. It does NOT produce a superior tasting salami. If it did, I would be doing it your way, not my bastardized approach to meld old and new. I mean, if it does not taste superior to what we buy in the store...what is the point?
Like I stated above, if you know how to adapt this method and still keep that deep flavor and no sourness or sweetness let me know. I will willingly adjust and try it your way.
