Salami Makers

Not a salami, but oh so good.  My latest adventures have taken me down the dark path of Offal, using veal or beef liver, heart and tongue, combined with pork fat, usually trim from pork bellies and a healthy dose of herbs and spices.

Liverwurst is interesting, taking otherwise unused parts and making them into something quite delicious.  Face it, liver is not everyone’s favorite meal.  So far with my home made liverwurst there have been at least 10 people that started out saying “no way, liverwurst, that’s gross” and all of them have enjoyed it after a taste.

One change I made is that I’m using the Sous Vide machine to poach it.  I don’t know if that makes a big difference but leaving it exactly at the desired temperature of 145 for a period of time seems to help the pork fat emulsify evenly and it doesn’t get the liver overcooked.  who knows but it works.

Today’s batch is courtesy of my friend Sean Karl who I helped butcher an angus steer on Saturday.  This batch is all liver, heart and tongue from that steer, plus some port trim from my bacon.

The spice mixture includes grated and cooked onion, Cardamom, Marjoram,  mace, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt, sugar, coriander, black pepper and cure #1.  to me the nutmeg is the real key.

This batch I also ground the heart and tongue a little finer, last batch was a more chunky style.  I’ll keep you posted on how it comes out!

In June I got a new batch of salami into the case.  I’ve been testing natural beef casings instead of the artificial salami casings.  So far I’m leaning in that direction.  here’s what I have noticed:

1. Natural casings seem to dry faster, probably because they are smaller in diameter, but it seems to be more even as well.
2. Natural beef casings have an odor when you are first working with them, but it goes away.
3. Collagen casings are available in more sizes, and more consistent sizes, they also peel off the finished product easier.

I’m not 100% in either direction yet so I’ll keep splitting the batches of salami up.  This batch has a nice Finnocchiona, soppraseta, and Hungarian style.  So far the natural casing Finnocchiona is out of the case first and tasting excellent.  Stay tuned for the rest.

Freshly stuffed and ready to ferment

Mold has blossomed and its ready to dry

The finished dried product! Can’t wait to eat it!

If the worst part of salami making is waiting, the best part is after the wait.  I’ve been sampling most of the 5 varieties from the last batch, and must say the custom recipes are standing up nicely to the known recipes from Len Poli.  Specifically the Tarra Special (tarragon with madiera) is real good.  The Soppressa Veneta da Friuili  is real good too though.

So then I’m looking through the fridge and there’s a half pound of the salsichon I made several months ago.  It’s smoked so I’m not sure how long it will last in a plastic bag, but 3 months seems good.  It’s flavors have gotten more concentrated, with the smoked paprika and cold smoke coming through but not beating you over the head.  Really good salami.

The calabrese style salami is going fast, a big hit.  The Friday lunch crowd it getting the most benefit of all this salami right now, and I must say, I’m enjoying the variety.  My first experiments with recipes with cinamon and nutmeg, plus the old favorites, and my favorite of all the Tarragon special.  Yay.

Well we’ve finally got something to talk about, well actually lots to talk about.  The Calabrese small diameter salami has been being consumed for 2 weeks now, from now on if you are low on salami, make a few in skinny hog casings, they dry fast…. yippeee, and in the photo the one in the front.

That’s also an awesome salami, great flavor with a late bit of heat from the red peppers on the backend.  that’s a keeper.  For some reason the Finnocchiona also dried faster than the others and this batch seems as good as the last.  I think I have that recipe where I want it and the new name is Finnnominal!  It’s the larger one on the right.

Also being consumed is the venison salami.  It took much longer to get to a consistency I was happy with but it’s there now and I must say the flavor is great.  it’s the one on the left.

I also tasted the Salami Artigiano which if you recall has a bit of cinnamon and cloves.  The flavor is really nice, but they need another week or two.

Still pending are the Soppressa Veneta da Friuili and the Tarra special.  looking forward to both but the feel of the salami was just like the Artigiano so I left them to hang longer.