Thanks, y'all- I did lose humidity for 18-24 hours in the few days, but wiped the salami back down with saline solution, put in warm/humid, "just right" chamber the rest of the time. The case didn't feel hard and slick after this treatment. The instructions that came w/the F-lc say "If you are makin...

I can't seem to get the right pic uploaded... Sorry! I tried both the forum codes from image shack, but neither linked to the right photo, so I tried using the website coding above instead. One more try here... http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/8566/p1000312ru.th.jpg I deleted all the photos I had bu...

Hi, all- Turns out dry-cured salami really is kinda tricky. Drat. Most of my first batch went in the trash, cuz it stayed mushy and weird. Seems like I heard/read somewhere that a thinner sausage would cure/dry easier than a biggie, so I made this batch in ~32/35mm hog casings. The salami look and f...

Great distinction, story28. Thanks!

OK, cool! In other words: Jerky=dehydrated quickly Salami=dehydrated slowly-high humidity slows dehydration, which encourages fermentation If nitrate breaks down to -ite it's ok. But if not, then it's carcinogenic over time. Common vegetables contain more nitrate than any other food... which makes m...

Chuckwagon, great idea. It'd be a fun project... I don't think I can swing the money right now, though. In addition to ingredients I resolved not to use that hand-crank grinder/stuffer again, so I need to build or buy another. If I can get everything in by the time you guys start, great, & if not I'...

Ross, I've been thinkin' the same about the foil foam board. Meant to pick some up last weekend but got sidetracked by another project. For warming up, a lightbulb can do the trick handily. For a large converted cooler a 7.5 watt bulb seemed to do the trick, for what it's worth. I was trying to thin...

Ahhhh... power tools in the kitchen. A short story I once wrote started off "The delicate aroma of 2-cycle gas wafted through the kitchen." If you find yourself in a bind, a standard fork or a wire-handled whisk shoved into the end of a drill makes for a fine beater (found myself needing to make whi...

Just astounded with all the knowledge here. Thanks! I'll confess, I'm not a total idiot. :wink: And I generally do my reading when I get into something. Must be the doggone grad degree in English, I'm stuck on some language things. Sorry! Not tryin' to be a snot in any way! If the difference between...

I must be slow, & I apologize, but I seem to be missing something. Between this thread & the "some good salami" thread I've become less certain about the meaning of "dry-cured" & "fermentation." story28 made what seems like a great distinction, that the salami was not to be fermented, but was instea...

Update on the mushies, & perhaps a few follow-up questions: I vigorously wiped down the mushy salami with a ~4% vinegar solution on Sunday; one salami in particular feels completely cured on the top half (which was moldy, incidentally), but the bottom half was completely soft (& mold-free), so I jus...

Wow, thanks for such a detailed response! You reminded me of the phrase "Relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew." I made some smoked venison sausage. Delicious! The casing feels... right, I guess. But it went in greasy as all get-out. No slime, positive airflow (a fan rigged just so). Fermentation/dryi...

Story28, thanks! I'm in Ann Arbor these days, but didn't find out about Five Lakes Grill until after it had closed. :neutral: Ah well. So it sounds like dry-aging without fermentation is an accepted style. Is there a reason more sausages aren't just dry-aged? Is it a food safety thing, or a consiste...

Hi Chuckwagon, thanks for the response! I'll take some better pics of the funky salami & get those up (what I shot the other day doesn't have enough detail). The salami is all in the same diameter & type of casing; a local butcher helped me out, selling me some of the fibrous casing he had on hand, ...

"Charcutebrew" came about with some good-natured teasing from a buddy. My interests are wide-ranging, which can make it difficult to take a career direction. But I've long talked about opening a brewpub (from what I hear, though, having your own restaurant involves lots of prep time during closed ho...