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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020
The world of charcuterie is at your fingertips Even if you've never cooked a slab of bacon in your life, you can prepare sausage and cured meats at home! In Charcuterie For Dummies, you'll learn everything you could possibly need to get started, from choosing the right gear and finding quality raw ingredients, all the way through taking your parties to the next level with epic charcuterie boards. Salami, bacon, prosciutto, and good-old-fashioned sausage are all on the menu with Charcuterie For Dummies. Author and meat master Mark LaFay will help you keep things safe and sanitary, equip you with some seriously awesome recipes, and teach you a thing or two about which beers and wines to serve up with your meat. Choose a chapter and get started! * Get started curing meats at home with the highest quality raw ingredients, equipment, and recipes * Make everything from sausage and bacon to prosciutto, salami, and more * Learn how to pair your homemade meats with jams, nuts, cheeses, and pickles for epic charcuterie boards * Take your new hobby to the next level with more advanced recipes and beverage pairings Whether you're a total beginner or coming in with some previous knowledge, Charcuterie For Dummies will unleash your culinary creativity!
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Charcuterie For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020904220
ISBN 978-1-119-69078-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-74869-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-74870-0 (ebk)
Charcuterie For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Charcuterie For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used In This Book
Beyond the Book
Where To Go From Here
Part 1: Getting Started With Charcuterie
Chapter 1: Get the Gear
Meat Grinders
Sausage Stuffers
Meat Slicer
Smokers
Curing Chambers
Scientific Meters
Small Wares
Properly Caring for Your Gear
Shopping for Gear Locally
Shopping for Gear Online
Chapter 2: Working with Potentially Hazardous Food
Personal Hygiene
Before You Get Started
Protecting Against Pathogens of Concern
Pathogens of Concern
How to Find Help
Chapter 3: Quality In, Quality Out
Thinking Twice about Commodity Protein
Purchasing Protein from a Farmer
Meat the Butcher
Working with Wild Game
Selecting Your Spices
Part 2: Making Meat Treats
Chapter 4: Fresh and Dry-Cured Whole Muscles
Fresh-Cured Bacons
Dry-Cured Meats
Curing Seafood
Chapter 5: Grinding and Stuffing Sausage
Grinding Sausages!
Emulsified Sausages
A Word about Casings
Stuffing and Linking Sausage
Chapter 6: Getting Fresh with Sausages
Chapter 7: You Say Salami, I Say Salame
Fermenting Sausage
Ensuring Your Salami Is Secure with a Bubble Knot
Molding the Next Generation of Salami
Drying Your Salami
Part 3: Entertaining with Charcuterie
Chapter 8: Always the Entertainer
Sourcing Great Proteins
Say Cheese
Condiments and Accouterments
Bringing It All Together!
Chapter 9: Wine and Charcuterie
Making Wine
Red Wines
White Wines
Chapter 10: Beer and Charcuterie
Making Beer
Popular Beer Styles
Part 4: The Part of Tens
Chapter 11: Ten Wines Under $25 to Impress Your Guests
Joseph Drouhin Saint-Véran Chardonnay
Pico Maccario Lavignone Barbera d’Asti
Substance Cabernet
Gouguenheim Malbec Reserva
Pierre Sparr Cremant Rosé
Theorize Zinfandel
Roger Neveu Sancerre
Angelo Negro Angelin Langhe Nebbiolo
Mestres 1312 Cava Brut Reserva
Campuget 1753 Rosé
Chapter 12: Ten Meats You Must Try
La Quercia Acorn Edition Prosciutto
Smoking Goose Delaware Fireball
Mousse de Foie Gras de Canard
Grammy Mae’s Summer Sausage
Figatelli from Les Cochons Tout Ronds
18-Month Prosciutto di Parma with Black Truffles
Cinco Jotas Acorn-Fed Ibérico Ham
Benton’s Hickory Smoked Bacon
Brooklyn Cured Bresaola
Mole Salami
Index
About the Author
Supplemental Images
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
FIGURE 1-1: Meat grinder parts.
FIGURE 1-2: Manual meat grinder.
FIGURE 1-3: KitchenAid attachment port and grinder attachment.
FIGURE 1-4: Electric meat grinder.
FIGURE 1-5: Sausage grinder plates of different sizes.
FIGURE 1-6: Vertical stuffer and parts.
FIGURE 1-7: Bench clamps for your stuffer.
FIGURE 1-8: Meat slicer slicing bacon.
FIGURE 1-9: Electric smoker.
FIGURE 1-10: Gas-burning smoker.
FIGURE 1-11: Ready-made dry-curing chamber.
FIGURE 1-12: Humidity and temperature control sensors for a homemade curing cha...
FIGURE 1-13: Tube brushes for cleaning stuffing horns.
FIGURE 1-14: Sausagemaker.com homepage.
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2-1: A standard kitchen apron.
FIGURE 2-2: Stay safe with food-safe gloves.
FIGURE 2-3: ‘Clean and Sanitize’ prep list.
FIGURE 2-4: Time and temperature table from FSIS
Appendix A
.
FIGURE 2-5: Temperature probe.
FIGURE 2-6: The Salt Cured Pig Facebook page.
FIGURE 2-7: Facebook search feature.
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3-1: Carmel Winter Farmers Market, Carmel, Indiana.
FIGURE 3-2: Large English black hog.
FIGURE 3-3: Me with a nice Midwestern white-tail deer.
FIGURE 3-4: Ancient salt mine.
FIGURE 3-5: Sea salt production.
FIGURE 3-6: Pink salt #1.
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4-1: Salami coated with white Penicillium mold.
FIGURE 4-2: Knot-tying steps.
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5-1: Meat sized for the grinder hopper opening.
FIGURE 5-2: Meat and ingredients prior to mixing and grinding.
FIGURE 5-3: Plates with holes of different diameters.
FIGURE 5-4: Grinder hopper guard and stuffing tool.
FIGURE 5-5: Food processor.
FIGURE 5-6: Hog, sheep, and beef casings.
FIGURE 5-7: Fibrous casing prior to stuffing.
FIGURE 5-8: Collagen casing.
FIGURE 5-9: Three stuffers of different sizes.
FIGURE 5-10: Stuffer assembly.
FIGURE 5-11: Clamp it down.
FIGURE 5-12: Progression of loading a casing onto the stuffer horn.
FIGURE 5-13: Hand positioning on the stuffer.
FIGURE 5-14: Steps to distribute fill within a sausage rope.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7-1: Bactoferm lactic acid starter culture.
FIGURE 7-2: Professional fermentation chamber.
FIGURE 7-3: Sausage-drying rack.
FIGURE 7-4: Removing pH test paper to test the pH of a salami.
FIGURE 7-5: Milwaukee Meat pH Meter.
FIGURE 7-6: Steps to tying a bubble knot.
FIGURE 7-7: Bactoferm Mold-600.
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8-1: Goose the Market deli case.
FIGURE 8-2: Brie cheese.
FIGURE 8-3: Foxglove cheese.
FIGURE 8-4: Gouda cheese.
FIGURE 8-5: Manchego cheese.
FIGURE 8-6: Merlot BellaVitano.
FIGURE 8-7: Whole-grain mustard.
FIGURE 8-8: Assorted jams and marmalade.
FIGURE 8-9: Marcona almonds.
FIGURE 8-10: The “Four Feet of Meat”
FIGURE 8-11: The Dooley.
FIGURE 8-12: The Stoneking.
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9-1: Napa Valley.
FIGURE 9-3: Barrels in a cellar.
FIGURE 9-2: Montes production facility.
Chapter 12
FIGURE 12-1: La Quercia acorn-fed prosciutto.
FIGURE 12-2: Smoking Goose Delaware Fireball.
FIGURE 12-3: Terrine and Pâtés shop in Montreal.
FIGURE 12-4: Grammy Mae’s summer sausage.
FIGURE 12-5: Les Cochons tout ronds, at the Marché Jean-Talon.
FIGURE 12-6: Cinco Jotas Jamon.
FIGURE 12-7: Brooklyn Cured bresaola.
FIGURE 12-8: Salumi Molé Salami.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Introduction
Since as far back as written history takes us, humans have been finding ways to evolve and improve; the result has been a constant evolution in how we live so that life can get easier. Think about the small things, like fire, the wheel, wielding fire, stone tools, metal tools, and so on. Arguably one of the greatest innovations for the human race was learning the art of cultivation and preservation. This led to a shift from a hunter-gatherer way of life to an agrarian culture where animals were domesticated, food was farmed, and methods of preservation were discovered and used so that humankind could weather the storms of four-season living and gradually start spreading out across the world.
Maybe it’s this connection to the ways of old that is fueling a resurging interest in seasoning, salting, and preserving meats. Or it could be a pushback against the industrialization of the food system here in the United States. Whether we are romanticizing “the way it used to be” or simply looking for a better way to live in a modern world using influences from the past, the growing interest in artisanal meat craft is apparent.
Charcuterie, a French word, has become a universal term (at least in the U.S.) for preserved meats. However, there is a historical significance to this word. Charcuterie is a craft of maximum utilization and preservation of harvested animals from a time when refrigeration was either limited or nonexistent and animal protein was a luxury, not a staple. Imagine that, a plate filled with potatoes and some meat, not meat and some potatoes. With charcuterie, you can give new life to artifacts of cultural heritage that have, until now, been relegated to the history books.
About This Book
Sometimes the hardest part of trying something new is confronting our fear of the unknown. The goal of this book is to eliminate 90 percent of your fear of working with meat and to give you the tools you need to get started. Crafting delicious fresh and cured meats alike is a pan-cultural skill that has been passed down generationally. The good news is that you don’t need to have any prior knowledge about butchery to get started. In fact, you don’t even need to have a lot of experience with cooking. This book is designed to give you a breadth of knowledge without too much depth so that it isn’t overwhelming.
Part 1 of this book focuses on helping you learn about the gear you will need to get the job done. Let’s be honest; the right gear can make a difficult task more manageable. You will learn what gear is used for each task, where to find it, and how to care for it. You will also learn how to stay safe when handling animal proteins. The reason I want to eliminate only 90 percent of your fear is because when working with potentially hazardous food like animal proteins, you need to have a little reverent fear. This will keep you vigilant as you dig in and start processing your meat treats. Finally, you will learn the fundamentals of finding good raw ingredients; the differences among heritage, commodity, and wild proteins; and how to read and navigate recipes.
Part 2 is where you will learn how to make different types of charcuterie. There will be a smattering of whole-muscle, cured meats (think coppa, pancetta, and prosciutto), as well as fresh bacons, sausages, and dry-cured, fermented sausages (salami). You will learn basic methods of processing that will serve as a foundation from which you will be able to build and showcase your creativity. You will also learn how to use modern technology to test your products to ensure safety.
Part 3 of this book will spark your fires of creativity to help you give your best when entertaining with charcuterie. You will learn how to source all sorts of great ingredients to build an epic charcuterie board. You will also get a glimpse at how to incorporate different flavors like sauces, nuts, jams, crackers, breads, and pickled products to build a diverse board where your guests can build all sorts of perfect bites. This section will wrap up with a primer on beer and wine so that you can provide pairings that will take your party to the next level.
And last but not least, the Part of Tens covers ten fantastic wines under $25 to impress your friends when entertaining and ten charcuterie meats you absolutely must try if you get the chance.
Making charcuterie and eating it are equally awesome. Charcuterie For Dummies is intended to help you do both.
Foolish Assumptions
We all know what happens when you assume. The goal for Charcuterie For Dummies is to make the topic of charcuterie accessible to those who have no prior knowledge of the topic, regardless of whether they are interested in the fabrication of meat or simply entertaining. You heard that right: You do not need any prior knowledge of charcuterie to be able to use this book. In fact, if you have experience in making sausages, bacons, or dry-cured meats, you may find that your experience level exceeds the scope of this book.
Icons Used In This Book
As you read this book, you’ll see icons in the margins that indicate material of interest (or not, as the case may be). This section briefly describes each of these icons.
Tips are nice because they help you save time or perform some task without a lot of extra work. The tips in this book are timesaving techniques, or pointers to resources that you should check out.
At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, anything marked with a warning is something you should pay close attention to. Proceed with caution if you must proceed at all.
If you don’t get anything else out of a particular chapter or section, remember the material marked by this icon. This text will remind you of meaningful content that you should file away. It might also remind you of something that was already covered and that is useful again.
Beyond the Book
This book also comes with a free online Cheat Sheet full of tips related to making and entertaining with charcuterie. Go to www.dummies.com and search for “Charcuterie For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”
Where To Go From Here
Its go-time! The world of charcuterie is at your fingertips; you just have to turn the page and get started. Pick a pace you’re comfortable with and just dive in. The first chapter is dedicated to gear. If you already have the gear, or don’t need help finding, using, or caring for it, then skip to the next chapter. Make sure you don’t skip over the chapter on sanitation and safe handling, though. Give it at least one pass and then reference it whenever you have doubts. Other than that, pop around and have fun.
I laid out the book so that you can start anywhere and not necessarily have to read it in a linear fashion. Regardless of how you tackle the topic, Charcuterie For Dummies will get you going on your way toward meaty mastery.
Part 1
Getting Started With Charcuterie
IN THIS PART …
Identify the gear you need.
Learn hygiene and sanitation skills to stay safe.
Get familiar with the risks of using animal proteins.
Source quality ingredients for making quality products.
Season and preserve with salt and nitrates.
Chapter 1
Get the Gear
IN THIS CHAPTER
Learning what gear you need
Navigating where to buy gear
Using and caring for your gear
Staying safe with your gear
In any craft, an artisan has a specific set of tools to help get the job done. Having the right tools for the job makes it much easier to execute successfully. For example, you can use any number of blunt objects to knock a nail into a board, but the right tool for that job is a hammer. Hammers make nailing much easier. Taking it step further, a nail gun would make nailing even easier than using a hammer. Regardless of how big, bad, and awesome your tools are, the correct tool is essential for doing a job well.
Successfully making sausages, bacon, cured meats, or any other type of charcuterie, requires very specific tools and equipment. Using the right equipment not only simplifies the process of crafting meats, but also helps you make products that are safe to eat. In this chapter, I identify the various tools that you need to execute the processes in this book. Of course, the right tool is just the starting point; you also need to know how to use that tool. Proper use of your tools is critical to achieving great results. In this chapter, you learn how to find the right tools, use those tools, care for them, and stay safe with them.
Meat Grinders
Meat grinders are specialized machines designed for the sole purpose of breaking pieces of meat and fat into smaller pieces by forcing them through a metal plate containing several small holes. Not all meat grinders are equal, and several factors differentiate them, including the following:
Power source (electric or manual)
Speed of grinding
Volume of grinding
Size of the grinder
Construction of the grinder
All grinders can be broken down into the same core parts, and understanding what each part does will help you decide which grinder is right for you. These parts are shown in Figure 1-1 and include the following:
Body and hopper.
The body and hopper is generally one solid piece and houses all of the moving parts (excluding the motor).
Worm (auger).
The worm is inserted into the motor through the body. This is the screw-like part that draws meat down the hopper and through the body toward the knife.
Knife.
The knife is a cutting implement with four blades and looks like a propeller on a plane. The knife fits onto the end of the worm and spins at the same rate. As the meat passes down the body via the worm, it is first cut by the knife as it is forced through the plate.
Plate.
The plate is a thick, round piece of steel containing several holes. It fits onto the end of the body and holds the worm in position as it spins. The size of the holes on the plate determines how coarse or fine your ground meat will be.
Locking ring.
The locking ring holds the plate in place, securing all of the moving parts of your grinder.
For the purposes of this book, I will discuss three types of meat grinders. The size of the grinder you choose will be largely determined by the amount of meat that you plan to grind. This will also determine the size of the grinder you choose.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-1: Meat grinder parts.
Manual meat grinders
Manual meat grinders are exactly what you might imagine: grinders that are human powered. The working parts are the same as previously described, but instead of an electric motor to turn the worm and knife, you have a hand crank, as shown in Figure 1-2.
Manual meat grinders cost less than electric meat grinders because they don’t contain any motorized parts. This is probably how your grandma or grandpa used to make sausage. Manual meat grinders must be clamped onto a hard surface like a table- or countertop. Manual meat grinders are lower in cost and maintenance than their electric workhorse big brothers, which is why they are a great starting point. Manual grinders can also be used anywhere because they do not require electricity.
KitchenAid mixer attachment grinder
Several years ago I bought my wife a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas. In all honesty, I bought it for myself but told my wife it was for her. This was a wonderful upgrade to our kitchen because of all the delightful baked goods we could make without all the excessive manual labor. I’m kind of like Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor: I like more power when it comes to my cooking tools!
© Getty Images/The Washington Post
FIGURE 1-2: Manual meat grinder.
If you happen to have a KitchenAid mixer, then you’ll notice that the front of the mixer has a place for attaching add-on equipment. One of the attachments you can purchase from KitchenAid for your mixer is a meat grinder, pictured in Figure 1-3.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-3: KitchenAid attachment port and grinder attachment.
The KitchenAid grinder attachment is great for testing the waters of making sausage. The parts are all the same as on a manual grinder, but you get a nice upgrade from the laborious task of manually grinding by using the grinder attachment with your KitchenAid mixer. This is, however, not a good long-term solution. Your mixer was specifically designed as a mixer, not a meat grinder, and so excessive use as a grinder with the attachment can greatly shorten the lifespan of your KitchenAid mixer.
Electric meat grinders
As you navigate your own internal decision tree, give yourself a little time when it comes to selecting your meat grinder. Unless you have compelling reasons for not getting an electric grinder, like budget or access to power, this is where you should really focus your research. Electric meat grinders are the right tool for the job when it comes to grinding meat! They come in all shapes and sizes, which are largely determined by the intended volume of use. As with the KitchenAid attachment and the manual meat grinder, the parts of an electric meat grinder are the same with the exception of the electric motor, as shown in Figure 1-4.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-4: Electric meat grinder.
Budget and intended use are major determining factors when selecting a meat grinder. If you plan to use your meat grinder more than once a year or to grind more than ten pounds of meat at a time, then you should consider an electric grinder. This will save you time, energy, and blisters.
Sizing and choosing your grinder
Grinder size is determined by the size of the plate that the grinder uses.
The plate is a circular piece of steel covered in holes that fits on the end of the worm and determines how coarse or fine your ground meat will be.
The grinder size is denoted by a number, and this number corresponds to the diameter of the plate. The correlation of grinder size to plate size is shown in the following table:
Grinder Size
5
8
12
22
32
Diameter of Plate
2 1/8”
2 1/2”
2 3/4”
3 1/4”
3 7/8”
Generally speaking, the larger the size of the grinder, the larger the motor, and thus the higher the cost of the grinder. If you are planning to use your grinder a few times a year to grind less than a few hundred pounds of meat, then you can definitely get by with a number 5 or 8 grinder. For a comparison, Figure 1-5 illustrates some of the different sizes of grinder plates up to number 32.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-5: Sausage grinder plates of different sizes.
One other determining factor when choosing a grinder is the materials from which your grinder is made. Stainless steel is the industry standard because it is durable, easy to clean, and resistant to rust. However, you can save money by going with plastic or aluminum options.
Sausage Stuffers
A sausage stuffer’s job is simple: to get ground meat into some sort of casing. There are a few types of sausage stuffer, but the most useful stuffer is called a vertical sausage stuffer (see Figure 1-6). Strictly speaking, stuffers are quite simple and are composed of the following parts:
Cylinder.
The cylinder holds your meat mixture.
Piston.
The piston fits perfectly into the cylinder and forces your meat mixture down through the cylinder. The piston is forced down by a hand crank.
Horn.
The horn attaches to the bottom of the cylinder and is the approximate diameter of the sausage you are stuffing. Your casing fits onto the horn.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-6: Vertical stuffer and parts.
Vertical stuffers are ideal because their orientation gives you the greatest mechanical advantage as you crank the piston down. They are also ideal for stuffing a wet mixture like the emulsified sausages discussed in Chapter 6.
Cranking a stuffer can at times require some shoulder and arm strength. Depending on how firm your meat mixture is, you will want to make sure that the stuffer you select either comes with clamps to hold it down to your work surface, or at minimum has enough surface area on the base of the stuffer to use bench clamps like the ones pictured in Figure 1-7.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-7: Bench clamps for your stuffer.
Meat Slicer
The meat slicer (a.k.a. deli slicer) is a motorized device for easily and uniformly slicing meats. Meat slicers come in all shapes and sizes (like the one shown in Figure 1-8), and while they are not absolutely mission-critical for making meats, they are extremely helpful when you get to finishing up your bacon, or other meats from which you want to have slices ready to go.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-8: Meat slicer slicing bacon.
A seemingly endless number of meat slicers are available. The usefulness of your slicer will be largely determined by the size of the product that you plan to slice. If the sole purpose of your deli slicer will be to slice bacon, then you will want, at minimum, a 10-inch slicer — and possibly a 12-inch slicer — depending on the size of the pork belly you want to slice. Popular and reliable brands of slicers include
Berkel
Bizerba
Hobart
Globe
Several consumer brands with lower-end and lower-cost options are also available.
Smokers
A great smokehouse is a great thing! Have you ever had barbeque that made you groan with contentment? Or, how about bacon that kept you coming back for another strip? Have you ever wept when the last piece of bacon was eaten? Asking for a friend.
There are several ways to smoke, and there are several outcomes that you can have. The most important quality in a smoker is whether or not you can run it and make tasty food that is safe to eat. For the purposes of this book, I focus on hot smoking, which is smoking at temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The goal is to cook your product to a temperature that kills off any potentially harmful bacteria, while applying a smoke flavor to the meat. Following is a list of smokers you can buy.
Electric smoker:
Electric smokers (see
Figure 1-9
) are a delightful creation because they offer automated digital temperature control. Electric smokers also smolder wood chips using an electric heating element which requires no lighting or maintaining. You can acquire an electric smoker for your home at a reasonable price, and aside from the periodic requirement to reload it with wood chips, it will be largely “set and forget.”
The Sausage Maker
FIGURE 1-9: Electric smoker.
Pellet smoker:
Pellet smokers are fully automated electric smokers. These smokers use compressed hardwood sawdust that is held together with paraffin to generate heat and smoke. Did I mention that they are fully automated? The smoke is never as heavy as you’ll get with an electric wood chip smoker, but you do get a whole lot of convenience.
Gas-burning smoker:
Gas-burning smokers (see
Figure 1-10
) are more like a traditional grill in that they use a propane burner to generate heat and smolder the wood in order to generate smoke. Gas burners require frequent monitoring to ensure that you are getting a steady heat output. The benefit is that you can smolder larger pieces of wood, which some enthusiasts would argue gives you a better smoke flavor.
The Sausage Maker
FIGURE 1-10: Gas-burning smoker.
Curing Chambers
Later in this book, you learn how to make dry-cured meats like salami and prosciutto. In order to dry-cure meat, you need to be able to control temperature, humidity, and airflow. Unless you have a sweet 200-year-old barn in the hills of Tuscany, it can be a chore to replicate the type of environment you will need to produce dry-cured products. Never fear, though; you have a couple of options. Your first option is to purchase a dry-curing chamber like the one pictured in Figure 1-11.
The Sausage Maker
FIGURE 1-11: Ready-made dry-curing chamber.
The dry-curing chamber controls both its internal humidity and temperature to ensure you get slow, controlled drying. The downside to this type of device is the cost.
Your second option is to construct your own dry-curing chamber. You can do this with a working refrigerator, and some relatively inexpensive sensors and controls like those pictured in Figure 1-12. The detailed process for building your own chamber is outside the scope of this book. However, if there’s an internet search engine, there’s a way!
Auber Instruments
FIGURE 1-12: Humidity and temperature control sensors for a homemade curing chamber.
Scientific Meters
Humans have been preserving meats without modern technology for a few thousand years now. Methods of fermenting (to control acidity of meat), salting, and drying have been handled by family lore, which often included tracking.
Today we have the benefit of a great deal of science that has helped shed light on why things were done a certain way. Shelf stability is a term used to describe the condition of a food product that doesn’t need refrigeration. You create shelf stability in meat by controlling the amount of water (water activity, aw) in the meat through salting and drying. In the case of salami, you also manage it by increasing the acidity of the meat, which is measured in pH.
Water activity meter
Explaining water activity in a straightforward manner is no simple task. It is a scientific way of determining how much water is available in something. Water is required for bacteria and other organic pathogens to be able to live and replicate. As a result, the best way to limit the growth of bacteria, which can be potentially harmful and cause spoilage, is to eliminate as much of the water as possible. A substantial amount of research is available on the internet to explain the correlation between water activity and shelf stability.
Water activity (aw) meters are largely cost prohibitive for the home enthusiast, so I will focus on Old World methods of tracking water loss through weight loss over time to determine the safety of your meat products. However, if you have the resources and the desire to take that extra step toward safety, the leading producer of water activity meters is the METER Group.
pH meter
With food, acidity is best described as how sour something tastes; the more sour it is, the more acidic it is. When making salami, one of the requirements for safety is to lower the pH — that is, to make it acidic — so that bacteria is unable to grow in the interior of the salami while it dries. There are many ways to increase acidity (lower pH), which you will learn about in Chapter 7. You will find that pH meters are both affordable and necessary when you start making your own salami. There is no way to safely approximate the pH of a meat product without testing it.
Small Wares
In addition to the larger specialized tools and equipment that you will need to successfully craft your meats, you will also need a handful of other smaller tools.
Knives:
Knives are highly personal. There is not one size that fits all when choosing knives; however, a flexible or semi-flexible boning knife and a hard chef’s knife will serve you well.
Cutting boards:
You can never have enough cutting boards. You should only use plastic cutting boards, because they can be cleaned and sanitized with ease. Wood looks cool, but unless it is a properly sealed hardwood cutting board, it can lead to trouble.
Sausage pricker:
These are small tools intended for pricking sausages to let air bubbles out.
Scales:
Scales that measure in grams and ounces are ideal for accurately measuring salts, nitrates, spices, and so on. Larger scales for weighing larger quantities of meat are also a necessity.
Metal bowls and tubs:
Large mixing bowls or plastic tubs are a must for holding both ground and unground meats.
Properly Caring for Your Gear
Once you’ve made an investment in equipment, you will want to take good care of it so that it lasts a long time, and also to keep you and the beneficiaries of your hobby safe and healthy! All of your equipment must be properly cleaned with warm, soapy water and then disinfected with some sort of sanitizer like a bleach-and-water mixture.
You can disinfect with a solution of one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of cold water. If the water is hot, then the chlorine will evaporate off, so be sure to use cold water. Immerse the equipment in the mixture and then let it air dry.
Once you’ve cleaned and disinfected your equipment, if there are any rubber gaskets or stainless steel parts that require some sort of lubrication, be sure to apply it per the manufacturer’s specifications.
Only store your gear after it has dried completely.
Caring for your grinder
Properly cleaning a meat grinder requires a little TLC. Meats and spices tend to clump inside the hopper, as well as in the threads of the locking ring. You may need a small wire brush to break these particles free. This can be particularly arduous if you have any sugar in your recipe, as it can quickly become sticky. A high-pressure spray setting on your sink faucet can also assist in pushing particles through the small holes of the grinder plate. Be sure to thoroughly inspect the grinder before sanitizing it and leaving it to dry.
Once your grinder parts are dry, you can avoid rust by applying food-safe mineral oil all over the parts that experience the greatest amount of friction. If you find a little bit of rust, don’t fret. Use lemon juice and a rag to remove the rust, then properly lubricate the parts with food-safe mineral oil.
Caring for your stuffer
Much like a meat grinder, a sausage stuffer isn’t the easiest thing in the world to clean. You’ll want to be sure to inspect the cylinder, piston, and horns for pesky particulate that may be hiding. They tend to stick to welded seams, and in the threads where the locking rings screw on. The inside of your stuffing horns can also be a place where meat hides out. Investing in some tube brushes like the ones pictured in Figure 1-13 will serve you well.
Photo by David Pluimer
FIGURE 1-13: Tube brushes for cleaning stuffing horns.
