Hello from Thompson, Manitoba – Canada

[Sherri]

I am not much ahead of you in the use of the UMAi products. Given that you have done smoked sausages, I would speculate that you have the equipment that I did not have when husband and I first started out. We were using our kitchenaid mixer with grinder and stuffing attachments. After our first batch that was over processed by the kitchenmaid stuffer, we splurged on an LEM 5lb stuffer (last summer). This week I splurged on an LEM .35 Stainless steel grinder. We are going to give it a spin this week.

To date, we have been repeating the same sausage recipe and that is the Salami Finocchiona from the website and the UMAi videos. After this next batch, we will be looking to broaden out.

For charcuterie, I tried a capicola this past week and if you look at my other posts you can see that I had some issues to sort out. But all good, this is something I want to learn. I have heard (and should have done myself if I were not so hooked on capicola) is that the faster drying projects are more gratifying for first projects BUT I do not know that from any experience. The two I have heard are quicker are the duck proscuitto and the logo/lonzino, again from the wesbite. I also thought the cold smoke salmon looked interesting.

Link to their recipes and videos:

http://www.drybagsteak.com/recipe-archive-charcuterie-salumi.php

http://www.drybagsteak.com/videos-instructional-dry-aging-curing-at-home.php

http://www.drybagsteak.com/videos-make-dry-cured-salumi-at-home.php

http://www.drybagsteak.com/videos-make-dry-cured-charcuterie-at-home.php

Note, big pointer for a first timer. Do your research on the salt in the recipe. There is a lot of discussion on the site, but salt is supposed to be done by weight apparently and salt volumes weigh differently so the teaspoon/tablespoon amounts in a given recipe could be off for the salt you are using. This has been a stumbling block for me.