Charcutepalooza November Challenge: Salami

I have a pretty strong stomach, trained by years of eating whatever I want. Lots of coffee, lots of dairy, lots of hot sauce. I am lucky in that I cannot remember a time I chose not to eat or drink something because I thought it might upset my stomach, unless you count sushi in the land-locked part of Maharashtra in India or fecally contaminated water. A girl's gotta draw the line somewhere. I also once had a horrible, awful, terrible digestive event after eating some sort of liver crostini in Florence; I'm not a lover of liver to begin with, and that experience turned me against it for good.

But that's not to say that I will eat everything or that I do not fear food-borne illnesses, and after reading Chapter Five, "The Artist and the Sausage," of Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book, I was uneasy about the safety of eating a meat product that had been dry-cured in my stuffy apartment.  Mrs. Wheelbarrow's November challenge for all of the Charcutepaloozers was to cure a salami or a whole cut of meat, and I don't have a controlled environment that is anywhere close to ideal for curing meat.  So, in the beginning, I was not terribly excited to tackle this challenge, but I was curious to see what would happen.  In a science experiment kind of way.

But, back in January I hung duck breast prosciutto to cure in our bedroom corner beside a cracked window and a bowl of water, and it turned out well, so I hoped that the same approach would work for salami.  Plus, I trusted, or, at least I TRIED to trust, that the curing salts and starter culture in the recipe would defeat any bad bacteria.

In case of disaster, I halved the recipe, so in case something went wrong I wouldn't have wasted an enormous hunk of expensive, organic, locally-sourced meat.

The starting weight.

I always stuff sausages wearing my best outfits, like giant  T-shirts and pajama pants.  Also, check out my high-tech sausage hanger.

It is also important to keep in mind that I ran a MARATHON in early November, which was kind of a big deal, and this project was due today, December 1st.  After the big race, the Thanksgiving holiday was coming up and work has been busy, and so, once again (I think I say this every month), I got behind in this little charcuterie project and didn't hang the salami to cure until the weekend of November 20th.  It was more than enough time - actually a little too much time - but I didn't know that until I got them down last night.

I got them down last weekend to check them, and SOMEONE  was quite interested.

Over the several days these hung to cure, I squeezed and weighed them a number of times.  At one point, they had decreased by 30%, but it had only been a week and they still felt squishy, so I left them up there for a few more days.  I sensed that they were drying out, but they smelled OK and I was just thankful that they weren't covered in mold and didn't seem to be rotting.  Clearly, my expectations were quite low.

In the end, I took them down and noted that they had lost a LOT more than the recommended 30% in weight.  Whoopsie.

Ooops.  This salami lost more like half of its weight.  Salami jerky?

It appears to be salami, no?  Closer to salami than a scary rotting sickness-causing bacterium vessel of death?

I sliced up a link, got out some cheese, and John and I together took a deep breath and then we each took a bite.  The verdict?  It is pretty tasty!  Not as delicious as some of the artisan meats I've tasted here and there, and certainly a little dry.  But, I did it.  I lived to tell the tale of home-curing salami in a stuffy overdry apartment, although I can't recommend it.  Too stressful, and probably not the safest hobby of all time.

Still alive! 

At some point in my future, I would love to have the space to buy a small wine refrigerator or otherwise controlled chamber to use for some more curing projects, but for now, I'm very glad that this challenge is over.  I'm relieved that there will be no more dry-curing meats in this apartment.

The end product isn't perfect, but it is apparently safe to eat and will be delicious in the little appetizer rolls I plan to make as a part of my final meat feast Charcutepalooza project.  THAT I'm very excited about - I invited some friends over this weekend for some meat feasting and Christmas tree trimming, and the menu is ambitious but fun.  The plan includes dishes containing salami, bacon, duck confit, and pastrami.  There will be wine, pie, and probably board games.  I can't wait.