vacmouse

[Cameron]

Hello New to dry aging up here in Canada
I was wondering were to get the vacmouse in Canada?
I ordered the starter kit for sulami but didn’t order the vacmouse
its $4.00 but they want $20.00 shipping!

any help would be much appreciated

Cam

[Jim]

Welcome to the forum. If you ordered a sausage kit, you don’t need the VacMouse. UMAi Dry recommends using zip ties that are included in the sausage kit. You can see the process in this video:

[Cameron]

Thank you for the response but in the video for the venison salami it says to use a vac sealer
with the vacmouse inserted

can I go without? and just tie it tight with zip ties

this is my first go and I want it to be good

thanks
Cam

[Cameron]

ok sorry I see now the update in the video here goes my first try

Ill let you know how it goes

Cam

[Cameron]

ok i have the salami in the fridge it seems to be drying good it has been 7 days
looks good and smells good

QUESTION

the reason i started this was because of a salami my dad used to buy for us he got it at Oscars Deli in Winnipeg
it came in a plastic casing just like the one i am using from here.
the deli used to hang it in the room above the cash register and it dried out to be really hard but VERY tasty
My question is
this sausage we make with the bacto and cure could it not be hung the same way?

Cam

[Jim]

Hi Cam,
Looks like your salami is making good progress.
Since UMAi Dry is being used all over the world, we recommend drying it in the fridge because the temp range of 34-38F can be maintained regardless whether you are in Phnom Penh or Winnipeg. Temperatures and humidity above cash registers vary widely depending where you are and what time of the year it is. If the temps get too high say 70-80F the fat may melt and rancidity can develop or worse yet something more nasty can start to grow.
Contrary at 34-38F not much can happen that will affect the safety and flavor of the salami, that is the reason why we recommend the fridge.
The ideal environment for drying salami are caves that can maintain 50-55F and 60% RH, however they are not available to most people.

[Cameron]

thanks Jim makes sense

[Jim]

I also was surprised not to find the vacmouse product in my salami kit. of course I did not even look for the vacmouse until after I had ground and seasoned everything I made the venison salami sealed the bottom of the bags with my food saver and used the zip ties to secure the tops of the bags. I realize this topic has been discussed and the updated video does not use the foodsaver, but I need reassurance I did the right thing I have 40 lbs of venison salami hanging up. Is there any benefit to removing that last bit of air with the food saver?
Part two of my question I also made 20 lbs of the Salame Finocchiona I noticed the venison salami called for powdered skim milk (protein?) . Is the skim milk required in the salami because of the venison ? I guess what I am asking is should I have put powdered skim milk in the finocchonia since I used venison instead of beef?

thank you very much

[Jim]

Removing the last bit of air isn’t that critical when making sausage. Zip tying is an improvement over the VacMouse method demonstrated in earlier videos. If you follow the method of zip tying in the video above, very little air will be left in the sausage anyway.
As for your question regarding Finocchiona and non fat dry milk, Stanley Marianski’s book “The Art of Making Fermented Sausages” (highly recommended for anyone making dry sausage) tells us that “Nonfat dry milk is often added to fermented sausages because it contains 50% lactose (slow fermenting sugar). Milk powder can bind available water as well. Soy protein and Milk powder slow down the fermentation process as they leave less free water for lactic acid bacteria to grow.”
Non fat dry milk is probably added to venison recipes because venison is very lean meat that is high in moisture, the milk powder binds some of the moisture in the sausage. My guess is that its not that your venison Finocchiona will be OK.

[Jim]

Jim, thank you for your reply! Looking forward to the end result. After years of summer sausage, smoked sausage, and jerky. Iam happy to find something a little different to do with the venison. Will post results when the time comes!
Have a great evening

[Cameron]

my salami is at 30% weight loss cut into one and it is good BUT has a gummy texture inside hard on outside it looks just like the video but not really keen on the texture

is there any harm in drying it out to completely hard ?

[Jim]

Hey Cam,

If the sausage is hard on the outside and mushy on the inside, it would indicate some “case hardening”. There is no danger in letting it dry to rock hard, however it may take a long time since the outside has formed a “shell”. My opinion without looking at it is you may be better off throwing it on a pizza and giving the salami another run.
The key factors to normal and even drying when making dry sausage is:

1. Using a large grind plate 8-10 mm (3/8 in or so), you could almost stick a pinky into the whole. Most people don’t have these plates in regular use because they aren’t good for making hamburger or even fresh sausage. However homemade dry sausage is a different breed than any other sausage. The larger particles make the drying faster and more even.

2. Keeping the meat cold/semi-frozen the whole way through grinding, mixing in the cure and stuffing. The meat should come out of the grinder like pellets and that enables even mixing of the cure and spices to coat each particle and keep the particle definition (pretty look on the slice).

3. Preferably using a dedicated stuffer for stuffing. Many grinder stuffer attachments (like Kitchen Aid) will chew up the meat during stuffing, this often raises the temperature of the meat and mashes the particles creating an emulsion (kind of like bologna). As one can imagine, bologna mixture will not create dry salami and will tend to “case harden”.

Most of the success factors in dry sausage happen during the time when the meat is still raw. Hope this is helpful.

[Jan Ooms]

Hi Cam,
What I do with Coppa and Bresaola that is hard on the outside and still a bit soft on the inside is sealing them in a plain old vacuum bag and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 weeks or longer.
You will find that this makes a hell of a difference. try it, you’ll be amazed!!
Good luck.
Jan.

[Cameron]

i understand and basically did exactly what you described followed the plan to the letter

i did some more research and from what i can see is maybe my humidity was too low and the outer casing dried to quick
i had the temp in the room up at 75deg but the humidity is only 25-30% in the room I’m thinking this my be the cause

it tastes good but maybe it is the venison ill try it with beef next and bring the humidity up during fermenting and drying

thanks for the info I’m really enjoying this

i have a strip loin aging and a eye of round

[Author]

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