Kulen Salami

Today’s salami cones to us from Croatia and Serbia. If you like paprika forward charcuterie you are going to love Kulen. This salami offers piquant flavors balanced with a hint of smoky garlic nuttiness. A great salami to add to your “must make” list of projects.

Follow basic salami preparation practices when making this sausage.

1. Clean and sanitize all of your equipment.
2. Keep your meat and grinder parts cold (under 34f or 1c) during the grinding process.
3. Rehydrate your starter culture (in non-chlorinated water) for 30 minutes prior to use.
4. Rehydrate your mold (in non-chlorinated water) 30 minutes before use
5. Mix your very chilled mincemeat (under 34f or 1c), seasonings, and starter culture till the mince becomes very tacky.
6. Tightly stuff the mince into casings and prick out any air pockets.
7. Record the starting weight and the target weight of each salami link.
8. Brush with protective mold culture (unless you plan on cold smoking)
9. Hang the salami to ferment.
10. After the pH target has been hit, hang the salami to dry till the weight loss target has been achieved.
11. Remove from the drying chamber, slice thinly, and enjoy.

Here are a few things you might find useful when making salami.

• SavorYe Flavor Booster
• Dry Curing Cabinet
• Iodophor Sanitizer
• Starter Cultures and Molds
• Insta Cure #2 (Curing Salt with Nitrites/Nitrates)
• EcoCure #2 (No Nitrite Curing Salt)
• Dextrose
• Apera pH Meter with Bluetooth
• Cure Accelerator
• Thermapen ONE (Accurate Thermometer)
• Sausage Pricker
• 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
• Jende Lapping plate for sharpening our grinder plates and knife
• InkBird Controllers temp & Humidity
• Dehumidifier Eva Dry 1100
• Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier

If you want to see the different things that we use in operation our be sure to check out our new Amazon Store.

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Kulen Salami

Croatia's most renowned cured meat

Prep Time2 hours hrs

Drying time100 days d

Total Time100 days d 2 hours hrs

How much do you want to make? 1000 grams

Ingredients

Metric – US Customary

• 600 g lean pork
• 200 g pork shoulder
• 200 g pork back fat
• 25 g salt
• 2.5 g Insta cure #2
• 1 g dextrose
• 1 g turbinado sugar
• 5 g sweet Hungarian paprika If you can find Croatian paprika that would be more authentic
• 8 g spicy Hungarian paprika If you can find Croatian paprika that would be more authentic
• 6 g minced garlic
• 15 ml red wine
• 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
• Beef Bung 114mm

Instructions

Prepare the casings

• Rinse off the salt and flush the beef bung with cool water. Fill the bung up with water to help expand it. Dump out all dirty water and place the cleaned bung in some fresh water and place in the refrigerator.

Prepare the Meat and Spices

• Combine the minced garlic and wine and let that mixture infuse for several hours to overnight.
• Rehydrate the starter culture in distilled water for 30 minutes prior to using.
• 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.
• Add the starter culture to the meat and mix to incorporate. Then add the rest of the ingredients (including the wine/garlic infusion) to the meat and continue mixing. 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, and reserve just a little meatball's worth of your farce for later testing. Be sure to wrap that part in some cling film and set to the side.
• Prick with a sterilized sausage pricker, Weigh your salami and record the 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.

Cold Smoke & Ferment

• This is a smoked salami so we will be cold smoking and fermenting at the same time. To start place the salami in your smoke house or smoker, add a pan of water with a paper towel draped over the sides for increased humidity, and make sure that the environment you are cold smoking in is between 75F (23.9c) and 85F (29.4c) with high humidity for 18-24 hours. (EVERY STARTER CULTURE IS DIFFERENT. THESE INSTRUCTIONS ARE FOR THE FLAVOR OF ITALY STARTER CULTURE). The goal of fermentation is to reach a pH below 5.3. I generally try to target anything between 5.2 and 5.0.
• You will be smoking this the entire time its fermenting so apply a gentle steady stream of your favorite smoke wood. Hickory adds a really nice flavor. You can even mix and match the woods for a more complex smoke flavor.
• Test the pH of your sample piece after 18 hours. If you have not hit your target yet, let the salami continue fermenting.
• 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 35% – 40% moisture loss. The more moisture that is lost the harder your salami will be.
• once you hit your weight loss target, slice thinly and enjoy

Storage Instructions

• To store your salami, remove the casing and wash the salami with either vinegar or wine. Place your salami stick in a vacuum sealed bag and refrigerate.

Notes

• In this recipe I am recommending the use of Flavor of Italy as a starter culture. Other acceptable Starter Cultures for this recipe are FLC, Sm-194, T-SPX. If you use a different starter culture, follow the packet directions for the culture that you use.