Follow basic salami preparation practices when making this sausage.
- Clean and sanitize all of your equipment.
- Keep your meat and grinder parts super cold (below 34F) during the grinding process
- Rehydrate your starter culture (in non-chlorinated water) for 30 minutes prior to use.
- Mix your very chilled mincemeat, seasonings, and starter culture till the mince becomes very tacky
- Tightly stuff the mince into casings and prick out any air pockets
- Record the starting weight and the target of each salami link
- Brush with protective mold culture
- Hang the salami to ferment for 18-24 hours (these parameters are for Flavor of Italy starter culture)
- After the pH target has been hit, hang the salami to dry till the weight loss target has been achieved.
- Remove from the drying chamber, slice thinly, and enjoy
Here are a few things you might find useful when making this salami
- Smokers
- Hungarian Paprika Sweet
- Hungarian Paprika Hot
- Iodophor Sanitizer
- Apera pH Meter with Bluetooth
- Flavor of Italy Starter Culture
- Mold 600 (protective Mold for Salami)
- 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)
- Custom Cutting Board
- Dextrose
- InkBird Controllers temp & Humidity
- Dehumidifier Eva Dry 1100
- Humidifiers
- Hand Held Vacuum SealerHeavy Duty Kitchen Vacuum Sealer
How do you store your salami when it’s finished
Storing your salami properly is just about as important as making your salami. You’ve spent so much time patiently waiting for your salami to dry properly the last thing you want is to have it ruined by storing it incorrectly. In all my years of salami making the advice I’m about to give is from personal experience.
I have found that the best way to store your salami is by vacuum sealing it then placing it in your refrigerator till you are ready to eat. This method will keep your salami in “stasis” for as long as a year! By vacuum sealing your salami will keep it from losing any more moisture and as an added bonus the time it remains in the refrigerator will help equalize the moisture that inside and allow the salami to “age” which will develop it’s flavor. It’s a win win!
Can you freeze your salami? Technically you can and many people do BUT freezing your charcuterie (salami or whole muscles) will affect the texture when it’s thawed and eaten. As the salami thaws moisture crystals (that were frozen) will be released changing the overall texture. I don’t personally recommend freezing but if you don’t mind the texture change it is certainly an option.. If you are looking for an affordable vacuum sealer consider checking out the Heavy Duty Kitchen Vacuum Sealer from the Sausage Maker. This vacuum sealer is versatile and really does a good job. It has lots of features and really makes a tight seal on your meats (which is what you want). A more economical option for more short term storage is this Hand Held Vacuum Sealer with Zip Lock Bags also from The Sausage Maker. This is a great option for fast convenient vacuum sealing especially if you plan on taking slices off your salami frequently. This options allows you to use a small hand held sealer with special bags that can be reused time and time again.
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away.
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Hungarian Salami
Ingredients
- 600 g pork shoulder
- 200 g pork belly
- 200 g pork back fat
- 25 g salt
- 2.5 g Insta cure #2
- 2 g dextrose
- 2 g table sugar
- 3 g black pepper
- 9 g sweet Hungarian paprika
- 9 g hot Hungarian paprika
- 2 g caraway
- 7 g minced garlic
- Flavor of Italy Starter Culture re-hydrate 1/4 tsp of starter in 1/4 cup of distilled water for every kilo (2.2 pounds) of meat/fat. Let this rest for 30 minutes
- mold 600 re-hydrate 1/2 tsp of mold in 1/2 cup of non-chlorinated water. This will do about 5-10 pounds of salami. Let sit at room temp for at least 5 hours before use
- protein lined casings 61mm
Instructions
- If you are using a mold culture (mold 600) prepare at least 2-3 hours before you need it. This will give it a chance to "wake up".
- Clean your meat of any sinew or silverskin and cut the meat and fat into small chunks (small enough to fit into your grinder)
- Chill your meat to below 34f (1.1c). Grind chilled meat and fat through a medium course plate (6mm). Rechill after grinding.
- Rehydrate the starter culture in distilled water for 30 minutes prior to using.
- Prepare the casing by soaking in luke warm water. The synthetic casings only need to soak for 10-15 minutes.
- Add all of the spices, cure, dextrose, and starter culture to the chilled ground meat. Mix well until everything is thoroughly incorporated. It should feel tacky and stick to your hand if you turn your hand upside down, when finished.
- Stuff the mince tightly into your casings, prick with a sausage pricker, and if you plan on using mold this would be a good time to brush it on. Also weigh your salami and record the weight. Also record your target weight. For a firm salami I would target a 40% weight loss. If you like your salami a bit softer you can target a 35% weight loss.
- Ferment your salami by placing them in an environment that between 75F (23.9c) and 85F (29.4c) with high humidity for 18-24 hours. You can achieve high humidity by wrapping your salami in cling film. This locks in the moisture. A good place to ferment is in your oven with the light on but the oven off. (EVERY STARTER CULTURE IS DIFFERENT. THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR THE FLAVOR OF ITALY STARTER CULTURE). The goal of fermentation is to reach a pH between 5.2 and 4.9.
- Once you have reached the target pH you can transfer your salami to the drying chamber.
- The drying conditions should be set to 55F (13c) and 80% humidity. Leave it in here till you lose 30% – 40% moisture loss. The more moisture that is lost the harder your salami will be. I personally like 35% – 40% weight loss.
Cold smoking schedule
- After you have placed the salami in the drying chamber for 1 day you can begin the cold smoking process. Every day for 3-4 days (during the coldest part of the day/night) cold smoke your salami for 3 hours. Keep a tray of water in your smoker for high humidity and as soon as you are finished cold smoking return the salami back to the drying chamber. The temperature while you are cold smoking should be below 70f and the humidity should be in the 80's.
- ALTERNATIVELY – you could cold smoke during the fermentation step (which is a lot easier). Just make sure there's a tray of water in your smoker and keep the temps between 70f and 85f
- once you hit your weight loss target, slice thinly and enjoy
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Hi there, I recently started a salami very much like this, unfortunately my smoker temp got too high and my internal temp was around 120 f. My question is, can I take that salami and continue dry curing as though it were cold smoked?
technically yes. You could make it like a semi dried sausage (much like pepperoni or summer sausage. Dry it for about 2 weeks Then cook it once you want to eat it
Hey Eric,
Love your Chanel. It’s inspired me to finally start to make sausage and salami. Quick question. When you cold smoke during fermentation is it the same smoke schedule and do you wrap it in plastic wrap in between smoking times?
Usually when I cold smoke during fermentation, I’ll ferment for 12 hours then I’ll place it in my cold smoker for another 12 hours (with a pan of water in the smoker to keep the humidity high)
I made this with venison and gave some to a Hungarian co-worker. He said I absolutely nailed it and reminded him of his childhood! Awesome recipe and thanks so much for all the video guidance!
Nice!! What a cool thing to hear!
I’ve been making a lot of your recipes and am going to give this one a go tonight. Could you please do a video where you go through your top 5 salamis of all time? I would love to know your favorites so I can make them all.
That sounds like a super cool idea!! Thanks for the sugesstion
Question Eric, my family use to make hard Hungarian/ German salami’s and we never use cultures or cures. They would make the salami’s, hang and cold smoke them several times then hang them in cold cellar. We didn’t have drying cabinets and all this fancy stuff. Have you ever heard of this and do you have any recipes? I know we used salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, Hungarian smoked paprika, little liquid smoke and a very little water.
Please respond to:
Andy Heberle
Just14us@msn.com
If you are familiar with the “old school” way of doing it, then I say go for it. This version locks in all of the safety hurdles and allows anyone to produce a safe salami year around. The old school way was basically reserved for the winter months.