Large Spicy Salami Toscano

A few months ago I placed an order at butcherpacker for assorted supplies and large (90 and 100mm ) casings for my coppas and lonzinos.   I saw a "cool" casing that was a bit larger than what I had used before (probably around 3" across), that came pre-wrapped with netting.    I hadn't figured out what I was going to do with them, but finally decided to turn them into big spicy salami.

Here's the recipe

2,354 grams T&T ground Pork ( Great fat/meat ratio)
40 grams Kosher Salt
5 grams cure #2
17 grams Bacto Ferm F-RM-52
1/3 cup water
25 grams dextrose
4 oz red wine ( mosen cleto.. grenache/tempranillo blend )
25 grams cayenne pepper
15 grams crushed red pepper flake
15 grams ground hot new mexico chili pepper
5 grams ground black pepper
10 grams bactoferm Mold 600 culture (to be sprayed on salami for development of white mold"fiore")

Here it all is.. ready to be mixed together.   I decided that grinding pork at home is a pain in the butt and if my buddy Morgan at T&T is willing to do it for me, why not?

Next up, take the bactoferm and water (with a pinch of dextrose ) mix together and wake them up and put aside. ( do the same with the Mold culture)

I froze the mixing bowl the night before and then threw the meat in the freezer for an hour to keep everything cold and keep emulsification to a minimum ( same with the metal parts of the sausage stuffer ).

Mix everything together by hand, saving the bactoferm culture for the last part ( I put the meat back in the freezer for about 30 mins while doing my prep, then pulled it out and added the bactoferm and mixed well.

Here's the end result.. all ready for stuffing.  Look at that beautiful red color and nice chunks of pork fat.

For the first casing, I assembled the sausage stuffer and then used it.    I really had a problem with this, as the constant smushing of the meat into the feeder assembly really emulsified the meat more than desired.   Also, quite a bit remained in the feeder mechanism, and stuck behind the grinding plate ( not sure if that can be removed for stuffing, as the manual isn't very detailed ).

End result.. I got it stuffed, then pricked it full of holes, squeezed it down tight and tied it off.  

For the Second casing, I decided to stuff it by hand to see if I could eliminate the emulsification problem.

It was a little messy, but easier by hand than using the stuffer.   I'll probably do it by hand for all the larger casings moving forward.

After tying off, it's into my ghetto fermenter ( aka- tupperware container in my oven, with the door cracked, light on, and covered by a towel ) at around 85 degrees F for 3 days.   After that, it's off to the "curing chamber" Aka Mancave, now Home Office to hang for about 4-6 weeks or until they've lost about 30% of their weight.

If you look closely, you can see the differences between the hand stuffed ( and not emulsified ) casing on the left, and the sausage stuffer stuffed casing ( emulsified) on the right.   I'm hoping both turn out well, but if not, I know that my buddy Paul will eat anything and happily take the one on the right.

In personal news, I left Kaiser Permanente about 3 weeks ago and am now managing a PMO (project mgt office) for a lab automation company. This is a great move for me and my family, as it gets me back in the for-profit world compensation level and true pay for performance.  I'll be travelling a bit more now, but when I'm not on the road, I'll be working from home and that will give me a bit more freedom to indulge my charcuterie and (soon) wine making hobbies.