Let’s make an Italian classic that reigns from the Tuscan region of Italy. The finocciona salami. This fennel salami dates as far back as the middle ages were pepper was extremely expensive and fennel grew in abundance.
The back story of this salami is quite interesting. It is told that the finoccinoa salami was born out of thievery. A local thief at a fair in the small Tuscan city of Prato stole a salami from one of the fair vendors. So as not to get caught he hid that salami in a basket of wild fennel then ran off. Upon returning to retrieve that salami he had discovered that the stolen salami had absorbed the fresh and beautiful flavors of that wild fennel. Word spread quickly of this new and interesting salami and since that moment the finocciona salami was born.
I’m sure that the Italians tell it a little differently and there’s a fairly decent chance that I’m leaving out a love interest and some sort of beautiful Tuscan sunset. Let’s be honest. Everything is more romantic in Italy…
To make this salami you will need a few special ingredients. I’ll list them at the bottom of this post. Other than that you will be practicing standard salami making practices.
- Keep everything super cold at all times.
- Work in a clean and sanitized environment
- Mix your meat, seasonings, and starter culture till it’s tacky
- Tightly stuff into a casing, prick out the air pockets, and brush with Mold
- Ferment
- Let it dry in a drying chamber.
The ferment and drying step is where most people get a little nervous. It’s not as crazy as it seems. Let me explain.
In order to ferment your salami you need 4 things. Bacteria, food for the bacteria, the right temperature, and the right humidity. If you follow my recipe below you will have all of those things in order.
The starter culture is the bacteria. This provides lots lactic acid producing bacteria that your salami meat needs to properly ferment. Secondly, you will need food. Bacteria like to eat sugar. The simpler the better. In this case we will be adding dextrose which will be the food for the bacteria. Next, it’s time to ferment. This particular starter culture like to ferment between 75F and 85F with a high humidity (80% – 90%). This means you can literally place your salami anywhere as long as you can recreate these conditions.
In todays video I just place the salami on a tray and slid it in the oven (the oven was off). I also added a tray of warm water in the oven to create that humid environment. Viola!! That’s how you ferment a salami. Now all you do is wait. This salami ferments very fast, usually 18-24 hours. If you have a pH meter this would be a good time to check the pH of your salami. You are aiming for a pH of 4.9 – 5.2. This is considered the safe zone!! As soon as you hit that target you can proceed to the final stage of making salami and that’s drying.
Drying your salami is a little more specific. You will want to be able to control the temperature and humidity a little more precisely. Check out my post on how to build a drying chamber for more information but the bottom line is that you will want the temperature of the chamber or room to be 55F and you will want the humidity to be 80%
Once you’ve placed the salami in your drying chamber the waiting begins. You will wait until the salami has lost 35% – 40% of it’s weight. Once that happens it’s time to thinly slice and enjoy!!
Let me know if you have any questions about this process. Have fun.
Here are a few things that will come in handy when making this recipe
- Casings
- Flavor of Italy
- Mold 600
- Fennel Pollen
- Iodophor Sanitizer
- Digital Smokers (I use the model 4D WiFi)
- Bella’s Cold Smoke Generator
- MK4 Thermapen (Accurate Thermometer)
- Sausage Pricker
- Dry Curing Cabinet
- Kotai Chef Knife (for 15% off use discount code – 2guys )
- Sausage Stuffers
- Meat Grinder
- Meat Mixers
- Stuffing Horn Cleaner
- Butcher Twine & Dispenser
- Small accurate Scale for spices
- Large Capacity Scale (33 pounds)
- Drying rack and tray
- Custom Cutting Board
- Apera pH Meter with Bluetooth
- Dextrose
- InkBird Controllers temp & Humidity
- Dehumidifier Eva Dry 1100
- Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier
- Heavy Duty Kitchen Vacuum Sealer
If you want to see the different things that we use in operation our be sure to check out our new Amazon Store.
2 Guys & A Cooler Amazon Storefront
I am brand new to makeing salame. I watched your video on makeing Tuscan finocchiona salami. Im going to try this. Cant wait to try. My question is, this is a one stick recipe, Will all these ingredient weights work on other single sticks of salamies. I dont want to make to much at one time.
I think I understand your question and truthfully that’s a hard question to answer. The salt can remain the same, the cure can remain the same, the dextrose and the starter culture can remain the same. Everything else is taste specific. You can add more or less garlic, fennel, paprika, things like that…
Hi Eric, I cannot get “taste of Italy” culture in Australia – can I exchange it with T-spx starter culture? If I can and do, will the dextrose and raw sugar % remain the same
TSPx will be a great substitute. I would keep the sugars the same, just watch the ph. Also TSPX can ferment at slightly lower temps (18c-29c) and you don’t want the pH to drop below 5.0
Thanks Eric
Hey Eric!
If I don’t have Sambuca can I use rum or vodka? I know the sugar content might be different on those…
Sure. The only reason I used sambuca was to bring a little extra “fennel” flavor but rum or vodka would work or you could omit it and it will still be amazing
Hi Eric, I’ve looked at few at your recipes and just noticed that Fermenting and drying total time is 61 d, and 4 hours. Is that Days? Just curious, Also I’m going to give this one a try with the Umai kit I ordered.
Yes. The fermenting time is usually a few days (if you are using the umai kit then they will include a culture called TSPX. That usually takes 48-72 hours. Then if you are using a 61mm casing that will take about 7-8 weeks to be ready
Hi Eric!
Thank you very much for your website and youtube videos!
I’ll be doing my first salami this weekend using this recipe!
I got all the ingredients except turbinado sugar. I was wondering what is this sugar used for? I understand from your video on starter culture that dextrose is the best food for the bacterias…
Can I substitute turbinado sugar for regular table sugar?
My other question is what is the use of dry milk? You don’t seem to mention it in your video…
Thanks a lot!!
I like turbinado because it’s whats readily available where I live but regual sugar will work just fine. The powder milk is an optional ingredient that will help with the binding properties. You can omit that ingredient if you want..
I just finished putting this into my fermenter and excited with fingers crossed. One question on pH. I put the chubs into my oven at 4:30 yesterday and this morning at 9:00am the pH measured 4.88. I did a recalibration with fresh solution to make sure. Everything smells good, the sample was nice and firm and the color was a nice pink. What is the impact of the pH being lower than 4.92. (Now, this could be that the Flavor of Italy has a manufacturing date of 06.01.2022. [yes, really] perhaps because bacteria are from the future it fermented faster??)
More acidic I would think means “safer”, but any other aspects I should be on the look out for?
The impact of ph on a salami is generally flavor. The lower the ph, the more acidic (tangy) the salami will taste. Interesting date on the starter culture. I knpow that some countries label their manufacturing like this day, month, year. That’s how it’s done where I live. Maybe that’s the case..
Wow, just tasted the Finochiona and it’s outstanding, Thank you for the recipes and videos. This is the hobby I’ve been looking for.
Best to you all
cheers
Tim
Your welcome. Thanks for sharing
Hi Eric,
Your website and youtube channel have been incredibly entertaining and informative. I recently made a batch of Tuscan Finocchiona and accidently used instacure #1 instead of instacure #2. I hit a PH of 5.0 and moved it to my curing locker, and the Mold-600 is coating the exterior after only a couple days. Do you think It’s still ok to continue with the curing process based on me using instacure #1 instead of instacure #2?
Thanks in advance for your advice?
What was the diameter of your salami?
I used beef casings from The Sausage Maker and they were approximately 2″ in diameter.
Should be ok..
Hi.
First thank you,
second, can i use Bactoferm B-LC 007 from Butcher & Packer as a replacement for Flavor of Italy? are they the same?
Thank you
They are not the same but they are interchangable
Thank you so much
Eric,
Big fan of the channel and just want to say, I’ve made this salami a couple of times now and it’s a winner every time.
I’m pretty proud of this salami and the fact that I can make it at home, thanks to people like you.
NICE!!!! Glad to hear. Congrats on the success. Salami making is no joke.
Happy New Year Eric! I have been making sausages for 40+ years and have really enjoyed your posts. I’m really into the charcuterie methods now and enjoying it even more. Thanks for spending the time to educate all of us!
I am having an issue with my dried meats achieving their weight loss specs of 40%, too soon. My Chorizo was done in 24 days vs the projected 30 and now my Tuscan Fino is at weight a full 12 days under the projected 60 days. At a guess I’d say i’m 15% sooner that it should be. I don’t have too much case hardened ring, but my centers are a bit soft. Basically uneven drying. Flavors are great. Do I have a humdidity issue, or too much air movenment? I calibrated the Ink Bird humidity controls and have a EvaDry meter in there as back up. Both are within 3% of targeted 80% RH. My tags are moving a bit when the refrig turns on, but I’m using a computer fan and it don’t move too much air, (or at least I didn’t think so). Meat went in at 5.0 ph and Im using Flavor of Italy. thanks jack
tough to say. I would guess air flow. Do you have a hygrothermometer that allows you to see the average temp and humidity over a period of time? those come in real handy when it comes to dialing in your chamber. I use one from Govee: https://amzn.to/3v55Tz1
Thanks for the video on Coppacolla using the Sausage Maker sheets. The first one came out excellent but is unfortunately gone; but the second larger batch will be ready in about two weeks plus EQ time. Question for salami can I use the same sheets for soppressata since they are flattened or even regular? salami if you don’t need them to be tubular Thanks in advance
technically yes, but it might be a bit challenging as the sheets are pretty fragile
I use an Engbird bluetooth monitor, as well as an Evadry unit recording current conditions. It stays in my chamber for 30 days at a time. I get fluctuating readings because of the refrigeration coming on, but a total swing of about 4-5% humidity, and not for long, just spikes. Weekly average is just about spot on at 79.8%.
I just put a new set of meats in 16 days ago and I reduced the computer fan speed by 50% just to try and isolate this issue. 30 day Landyager . At 16 days it has already lost 32% of its weight. Still too fast
My products are certainly edible, just not quite correct on texture.
you might want to try turning the computer fan completely off and see how it turns out.
Hey Eric.
Just took this recipe out of my ager. There are two distinct issues. First, it’s very oily. Second, the fat is super soft. Is there a reason for that? The weight target is right but these two dimensions are disappointing. What do you think I did wrong ? Thanks
Sounds like the fat was smeared somewhere along the way. You should sharpen your knife and plates, make sure everything is below 34 when grinding and mixing. Also if you are using a grinder to stuff the meat into a casing it will greatly affect the end product as well (lots of heat generated). A dedicated sausage stuffer is highly recommended for making salami