Dry Cured Venison Salami

strut buster

Eight Pointer
After getting a pretty good handle on smoked and fresh sausages of all sorts, I decided to take the plunge into dry curing. Got the chamber built and made some test runs with whole muscle stuff like pancetta, breasola, and coppa. All that exceeded expectations, so I figured I was ready to try my hand at fermented sausages. My first was a small diameter venison salami, or a salami cacciatorini (small hunter's sausage) if you want to get fancy about it. All I can say is the pictures do not do it justice. Over a pound disappeared quicker than you could blink. This link was pulled at 39% weight loss, but I do believe I'll let future batches get closer to 45%. I won't change a thing with the spices or fermentation procedure. Next batch will be a five pound minimum, though.

 
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strut buster

Eight Pointer
This link should take you to the recipe I worked from, although I made a few notable changes.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ui...nepage&q=stanley marianski cacciatore&f=false

First, this one calls for 10% beef, but I went with 30% deer. Kept the back fat percentage the same, though. I used the same starter culture, but more than called for here, and I upped the dextrose (food for bacteria) up to 0.4% since this was my first go around, and did not notice too much acidity on this batch. My rationale was at this point I'll take an overly acidic product over a potentially unsafe product. I also dried at 70-75% RH and to a higher percentage weight loss than recommended here, and as you can see from the pics, I had no case hardening issues, which is a problem if drying at too low of a humidity. I can provide specifics on how I built my chamber, but the internet is full of it. Although I don't agree with everything he writes, I'd highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to get started on dry curing:

http://books.google.com/books?id=3u... of fermented meats stanley marianski&f=false

There are definitely better books for specialized dry curing, but this one provides a very good foundation.
 

strut buster

Eight Pointer
Got meat for 7.7 pounds cubed and mixed with everything but the starter culture. Will grind, stuff, and start the fermentation tomorrow. Will be about a month and a half before I find out how it turned out. Will post a pic once everything is hanging in the chamber.
 
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