Beef middles and dry cured salami question

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Fri Sep 21, 2012 01:56

crustyo44

the last lot of water had plenty of sliced lemons in it

Sliced lemons? Sounds natural, like an experiment I will have to try!
Thanks...

atcNick · Post by **atcNick** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 14:35

Chuckwagon wrote: Channan, the answer to your question is to turn them inside out and scrape and rinse them as best you can before using them. No, the odor will not "bleed" into the meat. They'll be fine as long as they are clean.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for the tip CW. What are you scraping out exactly? Is it fat lining the inside or something? Im afraid to tear them, are you using a knife?

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 09:21

Wow Nick, you really want to know?

This really is gross anatomy! Okay pard, you asked for it. The inside passage of the intestine is called the lumen. Digested food passes through the lumen - the actual passage, which is surrounded by mucosa and sub mucosa. (In mucosa, glandular epithelium is comprised of "goblet" cells that are indicated by "folds". This also contains a lacteal [from the lymph system] and finally serosa.
The mucus protects the passage of food (through the lumen) from digestive enzymes. The lacteal produced, aids in the removal of lipids (fats) and tissue fluid from blood. The sub mucosa contains some nerves, blood vessels, and elastic fiber with collagen. The serosa is made of connective tissue and coated with mucus. The very nature of this amazing part of intestine just raises particular issues with your olfactory senses. So, when you scrape, use a DULL knife. Better yet, polish the "corners" off the right-angled edge of a hand scraper so it`s blade is more "rounded" and a little less likely to tear the tissue. Actually, you`ll be surprised how strong they are.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

atcNick · Post by **atcNick** » Sun Oct 07, 2012 15:12

Woah! I better not tell my wife! HAHA Thanks for the info dude!

rgauthier20420 · Post by **rgauthier20420** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 15:05

I don't know if the OP is still around, but maybe someone else can help me with this. I'm looking to do a salami batch using beef middles. I've read all about the prep of the middles in regards to soak time and flushing and all that. My question is about the final product. Does anyone have any experience with using these and can comment on the final product? Did you remove the casings? How was the texture? Chewy or not?

Thanks in advance.

Post by **Bob K** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 15:22

rg-

I think Redzed said it best - Beef middles are edible...but not eatable.

Yes they are very chewy, best to remove them.

Many of us prefer them over the fibrous casings for salami... but either one works just fine.

rgauthier20420 · Post by **rgauthier20420** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 15:25

Bob K wrote:rg-

I think Redzed said it best - Beef middles are edible...but not eatable.

Yes they are very chewy, best to remove them

Well I remember that. So I tested "removing" them on a smaller piece of my Andouille I'd made. That was pretty much a no go. The casings pulled off bits and pieces of meat and in areas it didn't remove completely, it left part of the casing stuck to the meat.

Do they remove differently when used with salami rather than a cooked product?

Post by **Bob K** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 15:30

I have never tried them with a cooked product but they do peel right off dry cured salami

rgauthier20420 · Post by **rgauthier20420** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 15:33

Bob K wrote:I have never tried them with a cooked product but they do peel right off dry cured salami

Bob that's great to hear!!! There were 2 reason for us getting these, and those were for a more traditional sized Andouille "Log" and for making nicer salami. I'm glad to hear they'll pull right off of the salami.

That was my experience when using them in a cooked product, so hopefully it will serve as useful for someone in the future if they look for such an answer.

Thanks!

Post by **redzed** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 18:43

IMHO beef middles are by far the best product for casing dry cured sausages. They dry and shrink in perfect tandem with the meat, grow mould better and give the salami that natural rustic look. As far as peeling, the casing pulls off very easily as long as you don't overdry it or over bake it in the smoker. I tried at least three other synthetic products specifically made for salami and in the end, the beef middles always come out on top. Below is a pic of my salame con funghi, now six weeks of maturation. You can see how cleanly the casing separates from the meat. Always pull back the casing and slice, rather than slice and peel.

Igor Duńczyk · Post by **Igor Duńczyk** » Sat Sep 06, 2014 23:45

Hi Chris!
This looks really nice. Do you experience the mushroom taste to become more intense with time?
A question on your mould: is it the Chr.Handen "600" type?
And how do you disperse it? I guess that you don´t just rely on the residue spores in your chamber but also add extra by dipping or spraying?

Post by **redzed** » Sun Sep 07, 2014 01:45

Hello Igor! Welcome back, we missed you here! This was my third salami flavoured with mushroom powder and each time I learned something new. The first one was flavoured only with chanterelles only and, because they are a bit peppery tasting (in Polish one of the names for that genus is pieprznik), I cut back on the pepper. That was a mistake, the taste was missing something. The second time around I added a bit too much powder and I think it actually affected the colour, making the salami a somewhat on the brown side and maybe it made it taste a bit harsh or almost bitter. This one is also flavoured with 4 varieties of mushrooms but less powder and it's quite good. Tastes like a classic finely aged Italian salami. Not sure whether the flavour intensifies with time, but right now there is only a slight hint of fungi. Tomorrow I'm off to the mainland, to Whistler. We will be hiking and mushroom hunting. Last year while there, we collected a nice bunch of boletus edulis so hopefully we will be lucky again. I will take my dehydrator along and in a couple of weeks might be starting a Salame Con Porcini. Boletus Edulis is the king of mushrooms and it will probably make a difference.

As to the mould, there is no reason for a hobbyist to buy more than one package of p. nalgiovense. After a month or two the curing chamber is usually rid of the nasty moulds and if you spray your first batches with the commercial product, there will be fewer and fewer rogue mould on your salami. Eventually you will have only the good stuff and then you can backslop. I demonstrated that here:
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... ckslopping

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 12:11

Topic Split 9/8/14 @5:05byCW See: "Disclaimer Container - Where Did My Post Go?" in the Hyde Park Forum at this link: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5839

rgauthier20420 · Post by **rgauthier20420** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 14:22

red, thanks for the visual. It's always helpful to get a picture of what the conversation is about for me. It looks like it dries and peels very nicely. Once my beer is out of my temp chamber, I'll be giving a few lbs of some very simple salami a shot. Thanks.