Well, in the style of Calabria, at least. This has always been my favorite salame. However, all the recipes I have found to this point have been uninspired. So, I decided to try my own. This is based on several recipes(Poli, Ruhlman, Bertolli, Kutas) I went with a high percentage of dried hot pepper powder from Calabria(about .5%) also added .1% crushed red pepper, along with some black pepper, white pepper, fresh garlic and white wine with a splash of vermouth. Cure #2 and F-LC starter were used as well. What I can't figure out is why with all that pepper powder, I can't get that nice red color. I sprayed them with some M-EK-4 mold. They will ferment at about 70 degrees for roughly 48 hours. They were stuffed in 60mm collagen casings.
Looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteDo you ever wonder if people think we're strange because we like to look at raw meat? ;)
I KNOW people find it odd. Ever try to explain this weirdness? Forget it. Try to tell people why there is a 2nd full size refrigerator in my kitchen. To cure what? What the hell would you do that for?
ReplyDeleteYou should get that good color in a day or so, after they ferment. My Spanish chorizo looked similar out of the gate.
ReplyDeleteCan I ask why you use collagen casings? I always use natural out of tradition, and have heard lots of pros trash collagen as being hard to work with, flavorless and very difficult to keep tight on the sausage. have you used both kinds?
H.A.G.C., I like you blog, btw. I haven't yet worked with natural casings for salame, only fresh sausage. I've had no issues to date with collagen. I started out using collagen and have just gotten comfortable with them. I would love to work with natural casings, just got a boatload of collagen of which to rid myself. As far as being flavorless, I'll agree, as I haven't eaten any yet. But, for salume, they have been perfect. And sprayed with M-EK-4, they look pretty traditional. They've also been great for salame, with one exception being the venison salame.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I forgot to add, I know the color would change with the fermentation process, I just wanted the natural color to change from an over abundance of hot pepper powder :)
ReplyDeleteI used to make this with my parents. they added paprika to get the red color.
ReplyDeleteitalocdn: no need to use paprika anymore, use the real deal:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sausagedebauchery.com/products/?category_keyword=Peperoncini Products
if you want the red pepper colour you use a lot of pepperoncini (paprika}
ReplyDelete