Dried Italian Sausage

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 03:11

Well, after colse to 12-13 days, they lost about 30% in weight. The weight is going fairly fast, yet the meat is very mushy thruout. Normally is has more of a runbery consistency by now. Could this be because I made them with less fat and grinded it with a finer grind?

Post by **redzed** » Fri Nov 04, 2016 17:25

Hmm, hopefully it's not too "mushy", because that might be a problem such as lack of fermentation, inadequate mixing, too much water or alcohol or even antibiotics in the meat. Could also be caused by fat smearing , but if it lost that much weight already, that is probably not the case.

And a finer grind and more fat will usually slow your drying time, so I really don't know what to say at this point. Just give it another couple of weeks and it will probably be fine.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 04:06

It's actually going faster than usual, but the casings are small. 19 days with a 43% weight loss. They are getting firmer, but still soft, which normally at 43%, they are more firm. I cut one open. They smell and taste incredible. Great flavor. Very little fat, but obviously still mushy on the inside. The ends which are tapered and not as thick are perfect. I'm going to let them go to 50%. I think they will come out great.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Wed Nov 16, 2016 13:38

Here's the finished product. I took them to 49% weight loss. They have great flavor. I made 60 pounds wet.

Post by **Bob K** » Wed Nov 16, 2016 15:59

Lookin good Lou! .....Experimenting past the recommended weight weight loss pays off, ....with That many bags you start lovin the Vac-Master

Post by **Butterbean** » Thu Nov 17, 2016 02:09

That does look good.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Thu Nov 17, 2016 14:20

There has to be a better way to peel the casings off. They took forever. Any suggestions?

Post by **redzed** » Mon Nov 21, 2016 21:37

I think I already mentioned this somewhere, but if you put the salami into a plastic bag, then into the fridge overnight, the casings will come off easier.

And since I have your attention Lou, you mentioned a little while ago that you made a new curing chamber. How about some details and pics? I am still planning to convert another all freezer into a chamber, so I would be interested in seeing what you have done this time around.

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Tue Nov 22, 2016 00:44

Redzed, I did it very simple. I bought a Turboair 34.5 cubic foot double door all stainless commercial refrigerator. There are tracks on the interior for stainless wire shelves with adjustments in 1/2 increments per side individually. It comes with 6 shelves, so I have 3 different adjustable per side. The only drawback is when the unit loses power, it makes a chiming sound when it powers back up. That alert is not programmable to remove. It's not a big deal where I have it, as I can't hear it, but just a heads up. I'm sure you can remove the speaker. If you do that, you will probably lose the door open alert when the door is left open. Being the whole unit is stainless inside and out, I decided not to drill anything. I have my humidity and temp sensors running thru the door gasket. I also have a power cord running thru the gasket for the demidifier. The unit is so large, I put a 30 pint dehumidifier directly in the unit on the bottom. I set it for slow fan and continuous, but it's really not continuous because the controller is turning the unit on and off. With the amount of meat I had in the unit, I never needed to dehumidify yet, but if I need it, I will just run another power cord thru the gasket and put the humidifier on the lower box inside the unit. As far as new airflow, for now, I am just opening the door about 5-10 minutes per day. The first batch I made last week was 60 pounds shown above. Absolutely no case hardening. I didn't have to move the pieces around as they all dried pretty evenly. I did throw 3 pieces of sausage away, but that was only because of the way I hung them and 2 pieces were rubbing against each other and never dried correctly because there was no airflow between the 2 pieces of sausage. Flavor came out great and I removed them at 49% weight loss. For a while, I didn't think they were drying like I was used to, but unfortunately, I made a couple of changes from the last batch I made, so I really didn't know why they took longer to get rubbery, but once they started going, they went fast. I will post some photos, but at this point, it's empty again and not much to show. I am ready to do procioutto. I have no clue where to start. When you salt and press them, where do you put them? What kind of temperature. If you have some time, can you get me some thorough instructions. I would appreciate it. Thanks

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Tue Nov 22, 2016 05:04

Kijek · Post by **Kijek** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 22:12

OMG don't know how I missed this post ....

I feel faint

that looks fantastic. I wish I had the room to do all that.
The dried sausage ... wow! What size casing did you use for that, and can I possible get the recipe?
Please!

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 06:52

Glad you enjoyed the photos, so here's the recipe I use.

Preparation: Take the whole fennel seeds and chop them in a small blade processor so it's real fine.

Preparation: Take the red pepper flakes and run them thru a blade also. It grinds it up a little, but it's not real fine

Based on 1000 grams of pork butts:

25 grams of coarse sea salt

2 grams of coarse black pepper

2.4 grams red pepper flakes

1 gram ground fennel

2.5 grams of cure #2

.23 grams of 007 culture

6 grams of dextrose

I normally used a coarse grind and I trim the meat pretty lean.
I've used 34-36mm brat casings and I prefer the standard size sausage casings. I think it's 28-30mm? Maybe 30-32mm?

After the grind, I check the PH of the pork before ingredients. It's usually 5.8-5.9.

I take the 007 and add about 1/4 cup of warm water 20 minutes before mixing

Mix all ingredients including the 007

Stuff and prick the casings and hang at 69 degrees until PH reaches 5.1 (24-30 hours)
I hang in an unused broken refrigerator with a small office heater from walmart ( 10.00). I run the heater thru a heat controller set for 69 degrees.

After 5.1PH, I normally weigh them and tag them (usually 5-7 links long)

Hang in chamber @ 54 degrees with 75% humidity until weight drops. I usually like them more firm, so they are normally 46-50% weight loss.

When done, I rinse in cold water and it loosens the casings enough to peel them off.
After about 2 hours, I vacuum pack them.

That's it

Normal drying time is 3-4 weeks or so>

Enjoy.

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 13:09

Thanks Lou!
Thats for the dried Italian, correct?

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... n&start=30

LOUSANTELLO · Post by **LOUSANTELLO** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 14:00

Correct. I use the same exact recipe for the fresh sausage. Just decrease the salt to 1.5%, delete the cure, dextrose and 007. It`s mild, if you want more heat, you can double up on the red. Oops. I use regular morton table salt for fresh, not sea salt

Post by **Bob K** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 14:29

Fresh Italian-

Wow not much Fennel! I like to grind it also to avoid the seeds. Fennel pollen is also nice to use but it is strong.