Honestly, I have no idea what’s going wrong then. Sorry. I wish I could be more helpful.

Sounds like being/becoming too lean isn’t the (usual) culprit... Are you also using curing salt (#1), mixing thoroughly before stuffing, and are your sausages significantly firmed up after fermenting? If so, the only thing I would suspect is your fermentation culture/method. Basically, I use Bactofe...

Hey Fishhead,

Are you finding a significant amount of fat/oils sweating from your pepperoni during the “cooking” phase?

On a happier note, here’s a couple pics of some summer sausages (kind of a hybrid of summer sausage and semi-dry pepperoni) hanging in my newest curing chamber (for just a few days to firm up a bit). I’ll be using the chamber to slow cure dry salamis very soon (now that it’s had a couple weeks of op...

Here’s a closeup pic of my slow cured pepperoni snack stick fail. Unfortunately, I can’t even use them as doggy treats, because my 13 year old cocker pup doesn’t need that much sodium.

Incidentally, it’s the CHALLENGE of homemade charcuterie that keeps me motivated and inspired to do it. If it was easy, I wouldn’t bother. I’d just save my time and $, and buy finished products on the market. Failure is an essential part of success. Without some level of uncertainty, I can’t see how...

Strips of meat are somewhat “self feeding” (requiring less “plunging” than cubed meat), but can easily overwhelm the worm drive through the added tension of “pinching” the meat against the worm-drive-housing. That’s how I busted my favorite grinder awhile back. There’s a reason cubes are always reco...

With regard to moisture loss (aw/water activity), I’m pretty sure that a lack of enough moisture in a slow cured sausage can adversely affect the slow chemistry required for long (6 week +) curing times. I recently attempted to make a batch of slow cured pepperoni sticks in the same room/space I use...

Apparently, the last “edit” for my reply didn’t update my response, so I’d just like to add that if anyone is having trouble finding the Wedliny Domowe main page and section I referred to in my post, from a browser/search engine: type in meatsandsausages.com to get to the main site, then in the “Sau...

Hey MTBiker, Go to the Wedliny Domowe main page and under Sausage Types, select Fermented > Fermented, and then scroll down to the section on “Drying”. While it’s normal (desirable) for the ph to rise during the slow curing process of dried sausages, (and lose much of the tang from the initial ferme...

Personally, over the years, I’ve found that one of the least expensive cuts (sirloin “tri-tip”/“petite”), often on sale for less than $3/lb, to be my favorite for ground and whole muscle jerky, sausages/salamis/burgers/etc. For the most part, it’s useless as a “steak”. Fried, grilled, broiled,roaste...

Thanks Butterbean! I decided to hold off on actually going to the health and safety office just yet. I’d rather be patient than unprepared. This is just the kind of food for thought that I’m looking for. I’ve been keeping (and often losing) notes on each batch that I’ve made in the past (just for re...

I’m going to go into the public health office tomorrow (or the next day) and just put myself at their mercy, and see how it goes. I’ll update anyone who cares how it turns out...

No prob. Even if we weren’t on the same page, I appreciate your feedback. I’m not very good at clear communication sometimes. Your correspondence has been very helpful. If nothing else, I should probably put more thought into my inquiries.

I’ve been building and remodeling homes for 3 decades. The last thing I would ever do is schedule a building inspection and then ask the inspector “how should I build this?”, lol.