Cure #1 or #2 in Genoa Salami

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bcuda
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Cure #1 or #2 in Genoa Salami

Post by bcuda » Sat Apr 22, 2017 02:01

Hello I just finished making some Genoa salami and I followed a recipe exactly as it calls for it.
I read somewhere that I shoud have used the #2 cure and not the #1 cure. Can you all please look at this recipe and let me know if it will be a problem please.


Genoa Salami
5 lbs pork butt (2.27 kg)
1/2 lb pork fat (227 g)
3 tbsp pickling salt (58.5 g)
1 1/4 tsp pink curing salt #1 (7.0 g)
1/2 tsp Bactoferm LHP (0.50 g)*
1/2 tsp cardamom (1.4 g)
1 tsp garlic powder (3.1 g)
1 1/2 tsp coriander, ground (2.55 g)
1 1/2 tsp white pepper (4.1 g)
1tbsp white peppercorns (22.2 g)
1 1/2 tbsp powdered dextrose (13 g)
90mm beef middles or 3 1/2" diameter protein-lined fibrous casings


(1) Cut pork and back fat into cubes small enough to fit into the throat of your grinder; place cubes on cookie sheets and freeze until partially frozen. (2) Grind the semi-frozen cubes one time through a 3/16" (5mm) grinder plate. (3) Mix ground meat and ingredients together in a nonreactive bowl or tub; knead well until the mixture is sticky and batter like. (4) Stuff the meat batter into beef bung or 3 1/2" protein-lined fibrous casings; sausage length is a personal choice. We make ours 18-20" (46-51 cm) long. (5) Optimum fermentation is 85°F (29°C) at 85-90% humidity for 24 hours. (6) Dry at 55-60°F (13-16°C) @ 80-85% relative humidity for 5-6 weeks or until it has lost 25-30% of its green weight. (7) Home-cured Genoa salami keeps well without refrigeration when the original casing is left intact and it`s stored at 55-59°F (10-15°C) @ 75% humidity.
   
*You have the option to follow  the culture manufacturers recommendations ss to the usage and optimum temperatures required for a successful fermentation. I highly recommend butcher-packer.com for your next dry-cure project.

Tying several loops of butcher twine in loops around the diameter (or girth) of the salami helps to support the product during the long drying cycle.

https://www.dakotahsausagestuffer.com/d ... s/1966.htm
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redzed
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Post by redzed » Sat Apr 22, 2017 06:49

Hello bcuda and welcome to the forum. We are are happy to have you aboard! Sorry that I deleted your other post but it was the same question(s) and we prefer to have a single thread on the same subject here. :lol: In looking at the recipe you posted there are numerous issues there but if you already made it, you'll be OK. What you will have is a slightly salty and sour tasting product without the funk and complexity that we normally expect from an Mediterranean style dry cured sausage. But if you are a fan Northern European salami type sausages, it just might turn out to be the cat's pajamas. In response to your first question, whether you should have used #2 instead of #1, it probably would not have made any difference in this case. The reason for that is that LHP is a simple fast acting culture designed for not much more than acidification. It contains Pediococcus acidilactici and Pediococcus pentosaceus which are lactic bacteria that other than lowering the pH, giving it some tang, lowering water activity and providing anti microbial protection, don't produce a salami with an assembly of flavours that come with slow fermented products with the added micrococci bacteria, i.e. Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus carnosus. These interact with the nitrates in Cure #2 and play a part in setting the colour, flavour development, aroma and texture. But in order to get the full benefit of the microcococci, you need to give them time to work, primarily during the fermentation stage because once you reach a pH of of 5.2 or lower, they are barely active. So in your case if you used Cure #2 instead of Cure #1, the former would hang around for a while longer and slowly convert the nitrate into nitrite, acting as an anti oxidant and preservative.

As to recipe, here are my comments, since you asked, and I hope the authors don't take this personally.

Genoa Salami
5 lbs pork butt (2.27 kg) I don't understand this obsession with pork butts in 90% of the recipes out there. What the hell do you do with the rest of the pig? Best salami is made from lean neatly trimmed meat from all parts of the carcass, without connective or soft fat tissue.
1/2 lb pork fat (227 g) Usually hard back fat works the best, but there are exceptions. For example pork belly belly could be used to make a softer smoother tasting salami.
3 tbsp pickling salt (58.5 g) Together with the curing salt your percentage is almost 2.9% which might be OK fro some and too salty for others. 2.5% salt should be the minimum for dried cured products.

1 1/4 tsp pink curing salt #1 (7.0 g) A little high but still within limits and OK.
1/2 tsp Bactoferm LHP (0.50 g)* Something is not right here. 1/2 tsp. weighs more than .5g. Half a teaspoon is enough for 2.27kg, but .5g might not be. When making such a small amount of product, a slightly higher amount of culture in proportion should be used. More than half of the contents in the packet of starter culture is dextrose carrier, so you need to make sure that there will be enough bacteria in there to start the fermentation.
1/2 tsp cardamom (1.4 g)
1 tsp garlic powder (3.1 g)√ but personally I would double that
1 1/2 tsp coriander, ground (2.55 g)
1 1/2 tsp white pepper (4.1 g)
1tbsp white peppercorns (22.2 g) That is a lot of pepper. In most recipes 4-8 g/kg is the norm
1 1/2 tbsp powdered dextrose (13 g) If you want the pH to drop to 4.6 that is the right amount.
90mm beef middles or 3 1/2" diameter protein-lined fibrous casings


(1) Cut pork and back fat into cubes small enough to fit into the throat of your grinder; place cubes on cookie sheets and freeze until partially frozen. (2) Grind the semi-frozen cubes one time through a 3/16" (5mm) grinder plate. (3) Mix ground meat and ingredients together in a nonreactive bowl or tub; knead well until the mixture is sticky and batter like. (4) Stuff the meat batter into beef bung or 3 1/2" protein-lined fibrous casings; sausage length is a personal choice. We make ours 18-20" (46-51 cm) long. (5) Optimum fermentation is 85°F (29°C) at 85-90% humidity for 24 hours. (6) Dry at 55-60°F (13-16°C) @ 80-85% relative humidity for 5-6 weeks or until it has lost 25-30% of its green weight. (7) Home-cured Genoa salami keeps well without refrigeration when the original casing is left intact and it`s stored at 55-59°F (10-15°C) @ 75% humidity. If you are using LHP then the fermentation parameters are fine. I just think that LHP is the wrong culture for Genoa. And I would dry at a a lower temp, 11-13C
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Post by bcuda » Sat Apr 22, 2017 14:15

redzed

Thank you for your reply it really helped me feel better I was starting to worry
and was afraid I had something really wrong with the cure.
I did like you had suggested and used back fat and I used more of the bactoferm lhp
so I guess I did something correct.

On another note I just built my cure chamber and this is my very first try at any cured meat.

I don't know anything about the different tastes of European cured meats and sausages but want to learn. All I can go off of is when I go to the supermarket deli I always get some Genoa salami cut in big pieces to nibble on with cheese and crackers and love it so this is what I was trying to get from this first attempt.
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Post by Bob K » Sat Apr 22, 2017 14:47

Most of the US style Genoa that you get in the Deli definitely has some tang so the taste should suite you fine!
There are many traditional salami recipes here : http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes , including a very good Genoa recipe. More recipes that members have tried can be found in the Dry cured meat section of this Forum http://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewforum.php?f=5

Also if you have used 80-90 mm casings the drying time will more than likely be longer than the
5-6 weeks stated in the recipe. I would go for a 35+% weight loss.
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Post by bcuda » Sat Apr 22, 2017 17:01

Thank you Bob K

I used the 90mm beef middles so how long do you think might be a time frame on these? Also since the cure time will be longer and the cure#1 is for short term will that be a broblem ?
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Post by Bob K » Sat Apr 22, 2017 18:10

Like Chris said the cure #1 will be fine, most cure #2 sold today only contains about 25% of the nitrate ( 1% vs 4%) that was used as a standard mix not so many years ago.

Hard to say on timing as chambers will vary. I made a batch of Genoa just before Christmas and just cut and wrapped the 75mm casings today, the other half I used 90mm collagen and they will wait until next month. Your best bet is to go by weight loss and also a squeeze test.

Where did you get 90 mm middles? Never have seen them that large. Maybe you used 3 1/2" bungs?
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Post by fatboyz » Sat Apr 22, 2017 18:10

Not to derail this, Red when you talk about a "traditional funk" is that kind of a cheesey taste/smell? I noticed in the Genoa I made had what could easily be described as a "funk" taste. It was my first try at long slow dry in the chamber so wasn't sure what to expect?
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Post by bcuda » Sat Apr 22, 2017 20:07

Bob K

I went back and looked and they are 60-65 mm middles. I got them from butcherpacker.com. So that should shorten up on the cure time I guess.
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Post by Bob K » Sun Apr 23, 2017 12:39

That size should be in the ballpark of 7-12 weeks. Any time after 30-35% weight loss just try a sample and see how you like the texture.
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Re:

Post by fordtruckbeast » Sat Apr 09, 2022 21:57

redzed wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 06:49
Hello bcuda and welcome to the forum. We are are happy to have you aboard! Sorry that I deleted your other post but it was the same question(s) and we prefer to have a single thread on the same subject here. :lol: In looking at the recipe you posted there are numerous issues there but if you already made it, you'll be OK. What you will have is a slightly salty and sour tasting product without the funk and complexity that we normally expect from an Mediterranean style dry cured sausage. But if you are a fan Northern European salami type sausages, it just might turn out to be the cat's pajamas. In response to your first question, whether you should have used #2 instead of #1, it probably would not have made any difference in this case. The reason for that is that LHP is a simple fast acting culture designed for not much more than acidification. It contains Pediococcus acidilactici and Pediococcus pentosaceus which are lactic bacteria that other than lowering the pH, giving it some tang, lowering water activity and providing anti microbial protection, don't produce a salami with an assembly of flavours that come with slow fermented products with the added micrococci bacteria, i.e. Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus carnosus. These interact with the nitrates in Cure #2 and play a part in setting the colour, flavour development, aroma and texture. But in order to get the full benefit of the microcococci, you need to give them time to work, primarily during the fermentation stage because once you reach a pH of of 5.2 or lower, they are barely active. So in your case if you used Cure #2 instead of Cure #1, the former would hang around for a while longer and slowly convert the nitrate into nitrite, acting as an anti oxidant and preservative.

As to recipe, here are my comments, since you asked, and I hope the authors don't take this personally.

Genoa Salami
5 lbs pork butt (2.27 kg) I don't understand this obsession with pork butts in 90% of the recipes out there. What the hell do you do with the rest of the pig? Best salami is made from lean neatly trimmed meat from all parts of the carcass, without connective or soft fat tissue.
1/2 lb pork fat (227 g) Usually hard back fat works the best, but there are exceptions. For example pork belly belly could be used to make a softer smoother tasting salami.
3 tbsp pickling salt (58.5 g) Together with the curing salt your percentage is almost 2.9% which might be OK fro some and too salty for others. 2.5% salt should be the minimum for dried cured products.

1 1/4 tsp pink curing salt #1 (7.0 g) A little high but still within limits and OK.
This translates to around 175ppm. Just curious Why you say this is high? İn Marianskis book it says nitrites limit for dry sausages are 625ppm and 156ppm for comminuted products.
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Re:

Post by fordtruckbeast » Sat Apr 09, 2022 22:06

Bob K wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 18:10
Like Chris said the cure #1 will be fine, most cure #2 sold today only contains about 25% of the nitrate ( 1% vs 4%) that was used as a standard mix not so many years ago.

Hard to say on timing as chambers will vary. I made a batch of Genoa just before Christmas and just cut and wrapped the 75mm casings today, the other half I used 90mm collagen and they will wait until next month. Your best bet is to go by weight loss and also a squeeze test.

Where did you get 90 mm middles? Never have seen them that large. Maybe you used 3 1/2" bungs?
İ thought if you are drying more than 1 month nitrates were necessary... So do you think one can use a 75mm fibrous casing to make a dry-fermented salami with only cure 1? Lets say you let it dry for more than 1 month.. Would it have an Aw less than .9 to be considered shelf stable within that 1 month? İf not wouldnt the nitrites have dissipated by than and be risky?
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