Dry cured, smoked venison salami
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    this is just a picture thread about creating some delicious sausage.
    there is an art to this and a few very important rules. the first is to use sodium nitrate to cure things that will be dry cured (it converts into sodium nitrite over time, providing bacteriological protection) and use regular sodium nitrite for something that will be smoked for a day or two, but not cured. do not attempt to use regular table salt for something you plan on smoking at temps lower than 140 for several hours, it will be a bacteria playground. for more information, i highly recommend the book Charcuterie http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298
    let's begin

    first, get a big bowl of meat, seasoned up how you like, taking note to use whichever salt is appropriate for your application. this bowl is 40 pounds ground venison and 10 pounds fine ground pork fat from a happy pig I bought.
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    the next step is to let that meat rest after mixing well. allow it to rest for at least 24 hours in the fridge. As this bowl doesn't fit on our fridge, we put it into huge bags.

    then, start squishing it into the tubes of your choice. to get the best consistency of your meat, i suggest picking up an actual stuffer and not using an attachement on a grinder.
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    an important part of stuffing the sausage is trying to limit the amount of air pockets between the casing and the meat. you can really limit them by holding the casing with the right pressure, but this takes practice. either way, some will still be there, so go find a pretty lady who has a tiny pin to poke holes in all those air pockets so nasty stuff doesn't grow
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    you can even make little snack sticks instead of big salami logs!
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    next you will need to build a smoker, this is a simple plywood box with a removable roof for filling and regulating smoke.
    square hole at bottom for fire pan
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    it doesn't take much fire, just a big bed of coals, and i add some small pieces of oak and hickory every hour or so. this is to cold smoke, temp never goes above 80 degrees
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    drilling a small hole and inserting a digital thermometer is a must in my opinion. guessing how hot it is in there will not work.
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    these sausages were smoked for 30 hours with a 5 hour break in the middle over thin to medium smoke, a standard cold smoking approach that allows the smoke to penetrate deep inside the sausage without drying the casing too much .
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    then they hang. best conditions are 50-55 degrees, and 65% humidity or so. this section of my basement stays at around 48-52 degrees and has 50% humidity which i increase by putting a few buckets full of salt water on the ground near the meat. the salt just stops the water from getting gross. these will hang until they lose 30% of their weight. for the salami's that will be about a month, maybe a little more, for the spicy snack sticks, maybe 2 weeks.
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  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    again, do not use this as your only guide to dry curing meat, there are several great books out there.
    it is a terrific hobby that can be produce results that are nearly impossible to purchase anywhere in the US. this meat is never taken much above room temp, but is still safe to eat once fully dry cured.
  • FuzzyFuzzy
    Posts: 49,656
    nom nom nom
    The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    FromZwolle said:

    nom nom nom


    not yet, you'll get sick!
  • FuzzyFuzzy
    Posts: 49,656
    frydogbrews said:

    FromZwolle said:

    nom nom nom


    not yet, you'll get sick!


    you're not the boss of me!
    The pinnacle of lame and awesome in one singular moment. -Lake
  • C_BC_B
    Posts: 88,470
    FromZwolle said:

    nom nom nom



    This, but when they're ready.
    "On it. I hate software." ~Cpt Snarklepants
  • BenSBenS
    Posts: 6,248
    Fry, that looks awesome! I wish I had the facilities to try that!

    You can send me some if you would like.
    There's no starting point. It's just a massive sea of shit to wade through until you find the occasional corn kernel. -DrCurly
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679

    swing on by missouri in march everybody, we can all munch some charcuteri and drink mead and cider.
  • viking73viking73
    Posts: 521
    Love to, but I have to go to dc before I go anywhere else. Love the cold smoker setup!
  • frydogbrewsfrydogbrews
    Posts: 44,679
    wanted to bump this up in since i just did it again, but with a better smoker setup.
    this details how to do it if you wanna do it people. now is the time of year. do it!
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