Charcuterie/Salumi

[Chris]

Had a problem with UMAI sausage kit, Maureen suggested I post on the forum

A little background about me if I may……

I have used UMAI and have made Pancetta, Prosciutto, Bresaola and Capicola as well as dry curing steaks.

I have been doing charcuterie/salumi for around 25 years and do a variety of salamis, cured meats, sausages (fresh/cured/smoked) and hams. I am very familiar with the fermentation process and the associated need for precise measurements, cleanliness, etc.

I am the pitmaster of a KCBS competition BBQ Team and am part of the instructor cadre of the California BBQ Association (CBBQA). In this capacity I teach a basic sausage making class and am in the process of putting together an Artisan Sausage Making at Home class for later this year.

Students always ask about making fermented sausages; salamis, etc. and up to this point I have only briefly described the process, due to all the variables. In preparation for the upcoming class, I decided to use UMAI and later do a demo for the students and offer links to their website, if they wanted to try it themselves.

For my personal test, I tried the Duck, Fig, and Armagnac Salami. I watched the video several times, verified the amount of Bactoferm with UMAI staff and followed the recipe EXACTLY.

I used the UMAI Artisan Dry Sausage Kit, the enclosed Insta-Cure #2 and starter culture. The culture had been stored in the freezer, was not expired (within the Best Before Date guidelines) and was mixed with boiled tap water that was cooled to room temperature.

I stuffed the Umai casings as per UMAI instructions and hung them in my unlit/pilotless oven to cure.

After the 48 and 72-hour periods, I noted NO evidence of color change to red/bright red as the UMAI video
showed.
I let them go an additional 24 hours and still noted no change, except for the odor of meat that had spoiled.

Obviously, I am disappointed in the results and the waste of ingredients and product. As you know, Umai, duck breast meat and Armagnac are expensive.

For my future personal use and use in my class, I need to have a level of confidence that the process is reliable and UMAI products will work.

Any ideas as to what may have gone wrong and corrective measures ???

Thanks,

[K Haberer]

I am wondering if maybe the bactoferm product had expired or was not kept in a freezer. Fresh bactoferm is what turns the meat red after 36 to 72 hours of hanging at a room temp of 72 degrees.

Other than that, I am stumped.

Jerry

[Chris]

Was not expired and kept in freezer….thinking a bad batch or some problem with bactoferm

Thanks,
Chris

[Bob]

quote SausageGuy” post=8424:

. I am very familiar with the fermentation process and the associated need for precise measurements, cleanliness, etc.

The only sure way (for the home processor ) to know if the culture is viable and working is to be able to check the Ph. Using the color is a good indicator but only a guess on the final Ph.

Bottled or distilled water would be a better (inexpensive) choice to mix the culture with.
What type of sugar did you use?
For more info on the culture and possible problems go to page 38 in the Bactoferm meat manuel .
http://netropolitan.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Chr-Hansen-Meat-Brochure-141009.pdf

Also you never dried the sausage in the fridge and tried it???? Many of the finest salames in the world are made without using cultures.
And a real safe bet drying under normal refrigerator temps.

Also if you added 2.8% salt and 0,25% cure #2 the meat should not have spoiled that quickly. I would look more at the meat quality, processing temp, ect. , for a problem.
Its probably best to start out with an all pork or pork + beef salame and not something like duck or game meat.

It is definitely not the Umai process or product that caused your failure

[Dave]

I’ve been having a very similar problem with my past two salumi projects.

I know the portions were correct for the salt/instacure, as they were the combo packages I purchased from Umai Dry. The meat portions were exact as well, based on those requirements from the salt/cure package. The meat was par-frozen and I also boiled water and let it cool to room temperature before adding the Bactoferm.

After letting the meat start it’s fermentation process, most of the salumi had the darkened red color one would expect, although not all of them had this in a uniform fashion.

(Note; The previous time to this, I did extend the fermentation time, for which I did see a more prominent color change, although not as dark as I would have wanted, but I was going into a 4th day, so I decided to start them in the refrigerator.)

The temperature was monitored, and it was 66 to 71 degrees. Some of the casings used were 32mm and 50mm. The 32mm size seems to be working out well, but even after 3 weeks, the hardness is just not what I expect it to be. The main issue however, is that the smell in the refrigerator seems to be slightly off. Am I going to lose all this salumi again? This is my 2nd 30lb batch – which is very costly. I think I may just go back to my traditional ways, and only dry cure during the low humidity and cool temperatures of Fall and Winter.

What should I do?

[Bob]

What kind and how much sugar did you use per kilo?
How much T-SPX did you use per kilo?
If you add 30lbs at a time to a fridge or curing chamber you should expect some odor. Usually a funky or ammonia smell. Especially if there is little air exchange.

[Jim]

What Fridge are you using to dry? It sounds like it may not have a circulation fan in it. Can you post a picture of your setup?

[Florent GANET]

Hello,

Maybe your meat was contaminated to begin with ?

[Donald]

Also having a problem with the Umai 32mm dry sausage Ki..I made pepperoni at first with the kit and 24 hrs later it turned bright red and I put it in refrigerator to cure..I just made the sopporsatta recipe x2 or 2000 grams and it’s been two days.Had some shrinkage but didn’t get a bright red color.Temerature is a little high too.It does have less bactroferm in it than the pepperoni..The kit calls for 1/8 tsp per 1000 grams so I used 1/4 tsp which is correct for a double batch.The pepperoni had1/2 tsp for approximately the same size batch.I used all pork shoulder for the recipe and the small bringing plate of the kitchen aid grinder to try and have a more uniform product as I ground the meat coarse for the pepperoni and it dryer in a flat shape.I tested ph with the test strips from sausage maker .com and two days it has read 5.7 . It does smell like salami but I’m not sure how long to hang it and if the ph doesn’t get below5.3 will it be safe to eat or yo throw it out…Please advise…Thank you Donald A

[Dave]

Thanks for the reply. I know it wasn’t, as it was in perfect condition, and this is the 2nd time it’s happening.

[Dave]

The fridge is a regular style bottom freezer, top fridge. the circulation fan does work.

[Dave]

I don’t have those measurements available, but since I was trying to avoid any possible errors, as this was my second attempt, I used the pre-measured packets of salt/cure and the pre-portioned spice packets which already include sugar. I measured, re-measured, checked online, re-measured again, and then to be sure I re-check everything again, and again, and again – just to be sure.
I still have the problem it seems. The only thing that may be an issue is the TSPX may not be as potent as it should be. Some of the meats turned to the proper red color, other ones only partially turned. I don’t know what else to think.

[Author]

Posts