Using Culture to Fement meats.

[tightgrouper]

I just finished my first batch of fermented salami using culture with some deer mixed with pork.
Has anybody else tried this.
After the fermenting process I put some in the oven and brought it up to 170 for an hour and let it cool to try. WOW! it is fantastic. Now I am hanging it for 3 months until it is dried enough. I even have the white mold starting to grow on the side of it which is good.

Apparently back in the old days they did not have to add the bacteria culture to ferment the meat because the process was so unhygienic that there was plenty of bacteria available to ferment the meat.

Anyways, I am just wondering if anyone else is doing this with game meats?

Looking to share ideas/recipes.

[tightgrouper]

I make up my own recipes due to the fact that most recipes use pink salt, instacure # 1 2 and 3, of which I do not have access to. I have learned how to covert all these recipes to use Morton Tender Quick which is a nitrate curing salt. What I do is take the recipe I want to try and eliminate any other curing salt used and replace it with this rule. per 1 lbs of meat add one level tablespoon of morton tenter quick. I do this for all use of curing nitrates.
The culture thing is challenging too for there is little information on the net about it and few products. The idea is the same for all of them. Mix your ingredients including curing salt and culture. Stuff into castings and ferment them at 20- 24 C with a humidity of 80% or better for 24 hours. Commercial operations us us a humidor to do this but I used my bathroom. I took the outdoor sender from my wireless indoor out door thermometer and put it in the bathroom to monitor the temp and humidity for 24 hours. I did not use the bathroom during this time. Any time the humidity got to low I turned the hotwater through the shower head for 5 minuts or so. This worked really good.

I now have the salami hanging outside in 6 to 12 C temp with 80 to 90 % humidity. I live on vancouver island so the climate is good for this.

I used a very basic, nothing fancy, salami recipe.

[Madeson]

hello tightgrouper:

this is a really interesting topic on the subject of eating. Fermenting meat using a starter culture is probably not that much different than fermenting vegetables and is also an ancient art.

I've just discovered the idea of fermenting vegetables and want to get into doing this in my own kitchen to get away from the high negatives of commercially available, pasteurized, sterilized, deadicized product out there. There really are no "good", probiotically live vegetables or meats out there and I've never found a good tasting sauerkraut out there. So one must do it one self. Culturing my own fermented meats would be fantastic and so health giving.

Unfortunately, I've not learned much about how to do this and know less about culturing game meat. I wonder if you could post here what you use as a culture starter for the meat. Wonder if you could also post some complete recipes and procedures. That would be awesome. Thanks.

[Geo.338]

Lets see some pics ! I have made lots if sausage and dry cure is on my to do list but I want to build a humidor first . In my opinion dry cure salamis and such are heads above semi dry and cooked sausages . There is a excellent book on every aspect of the process "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing " by Rytek Kutas . I recommend this to anyone who wants to make sausage of any type .

It is hard to impossible to find someone who makes it commercially but the guy around Coombs is a master of the craft . It is pricy to have made but well worth it .

take some pics at intervals in your curing process so we can see how the mold looks along the way . Thanks . Good Luck .

[tightgrouper]

Here are the salami's hanging in the bathroom for the ferment stage. 24 hours at 20 - 24 C and 80% humidity.

http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1224.jpg

[792]

Last summer my cousins grandfather sent me some salami that was fermented and I have been trying to find a source since I tried it, cooked it tasted like a bacon steak but just spread over bread was awesome. I would love to be able to do this.

[tightgrouper]

I was really hoping that someone would show up here that had done it. This is my first time and I wouldn't want to unknowingly lead someone down the path to sickness or poisoning so I will post what I am doing but it is important to note that while I am confident that what I am doing is safe there are potential risks of bla bla bla.... Do what I am doing at your own risk is what I am saying.
The most assistance I have had with this is from a fella at DNR sausage supply in calgary, . Through some extensive discussions he as got me started and supplied me with the products to get going on this.

This is the culture product. IT is 2 parts. One is the bacteria which must be kept frozen and the other is the feed for the bacteria.
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1235.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1232.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1232.jpg

Here is some pics of the salami's 2 weeks in. They are shrinking uniformly and firming up and there are some white mold spots starting which is what suppose to happen. Unfortunately I am getting 90% humidity when I am looking for 80% but it is drying slowly which is good. It may just be slower. I am going to start a batch of chirizo but in sausage links so that they dry faster.
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1235.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1232.jpg

[tightgrouper]

I do not know what is happening but I can not edit my post. I have some pictures in the wrong places. Here is the culture product.
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1229.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1230.jpg
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1231.jpg

[tightgrouper]

Culturing my own fermented meats would be fantastic and so health giving.

I would consider this "processed food" none the less.

For those who are wondering what the whole deal is on fermenting meats. It is an age old method of preserving meat while it is different now with the use of nitrates and culture, for me its for the flavor. IF you have ever had salami or other similar meats that have that sour flavor thats what the flavor is from. Many products other than salami use it. Start looking at the labels on peperoni or other dried meat snacks and often you will see culture in the ingredients list.

[nuadixion]

This is great. I was thinking of doing it. I did dry sausage/peperoni like before. All I use is my furnace room - it is warm and dry in there. I also use the furnace room to hang biltong or jerky.
So next is salami. Thanks for inspiration.
In LM there is good butcher supply store at marine dr and frasier (69 st. or something) they have great selection and prices.

[tightgrouper]

ll I use is my furnace room Now you will need a cool room with some humidity control. But I think that after the ferment you could dry it fast if it is a small diameter product. They guys that do it in Calgary are in a dry climate so they are subject to drying to fast where the salami gets a hard crust on the outside that seals the moisture inside. To combat this they press there salami or whatever product they do to move some moisture to the outside and recover the meat from sealing on the outside. Us on the west coast here have it made with our climate, or a bit easier as far as climate control.

[Geo.338]

Those look great . Thanks for the pics . There is a great site on the subject of curing . www.sausagemking.org Lots of knowledge on there .

[tightgrouper]

My bathroom is out of order again as I ferment some peperoni and chorizo.
http://i944.photobucket.com/albums/ad287/aquapaloosa/IMG_1263.jpg