Can you do salami snacking sticks without having to smoke then, only dry them? Most snack stick recipes i see calls to smoke them.

So I have a little question.

I butchered down a full ham ( from the hip to the lower part of the leg ) and placed it in « saumure » ( a really salty brine approx 2 kg of salt for 12l of water plus spices and sugar ). Here is my problem, I placed it in my fridge covered and sealed but the fridge was unfortunately not functioning properly, it’s been 36h so far and I wonder if I have to throw it all away or if the amount of salt in the brine could have prevented the development of bacteria ?

Usually the pieces of meat are kept in saumure for 3 days in a cold environment.

As it’s pork meat I would have naturally thrown everything away if it had laid so long at room temp for sure but I wonder if there is any chance the meat is still good, it’s almost 15kg of it and it would be a shame to throw it away.

Hi, I made two salamis on 10MAR2024 with quick cure. Just hung it up in my cupboard and hoped for the best. There was a distinct "foot" smell which I googled is normal from fermentation. About a month and ahalf later, the salami's are still soft and the "foot" smell still there. It is not a rotten or bad smell, just not appealing. Should I chuck it?

First one I cut this year. Made Jan 9.

Does pfeffereisser need sugar?

I want to make smoked cured pork (not sure what is a proper term for it).

I usually cure it in salt for a few days then wrap with herbs and spices and let it hang dry for a few weeks. This time I want to add a smoke component to it and try lightly smoking it. At what stage in the process should I do smoking?

Dry age steak wraps in a standard refrigerator. 4.5 months 36% weight loss ( next one will go to 40% loss) now to vac seal for a minimum of 2 months. 2guys and a cooler recipe

I already asked in this community about this topic, but the other day I've received a different answer from a well-known and award winning British charcuterie producer: Tempus

They posted this so I asked them about it:

"vacuum packaging means that our unopened products can be stored at room temperature for up to 60 days, and once opened to be consumed within 3 days"

I asked:

Sliced Coppa does not need to be refrigerated? How? Because of being vacuum sealed?

They answered:

Correct. Once the packs are opened they then need to be refrigerated but as long as the packs are sealed they do not need to be refrigerated

I asked:

thanks for the answer! Just to know: that’s because of the meat being dried and the curing salt?

They answered:

yes, because of the level of water activity.

​

I know that whole muscles cured, dried and vacuum sealed last almost forever (theoretically), but once sliced, the shelf life reduces. How much? Does it need or not refrigeration? In Spain and Italy, many vacuum sealed sliced prosciutto are not refrigerated.

Can we have the opinion of the most experienced and professional in this beloved community?

​

Note: I'm asking about cured, dried and sliced pork/beef charcuterie vacuum sealed (not controlled/modified atmosphere packing)

Link to the original post

Moved halfway during cure. New basement cellar has higher humidity than last house. Humidity in the low 80s and temp around 50-55F. Last house had similar temp but humidity rarely went past 65. Gonna eat it anyway but have others seen this kind? I wiped off with white vinegar and will give cold smoke for 15 hours or so before hanging again. Figure that'll clean it. I typically smoke before hanging but didn't this time around. I never get mold growth of any kind. Assuming cos of the smoke. I also don't use starter cultures or any of that white mold people spray on. What does "bad mold" do to you assuming you don't go to a hospital once you feel sick? Just a lot of shitting?

Hi, first attempt at curing anything, so be nice. Salt box for 24hrs and hung for 3 weeks, lost about 26% of its weight from after salt cure. im not sure if its too early to eat or not.

I see quite a few meat curing chambers on the market designed for the purpose of dry aging or salumi curing, that controls both the temp and humidity which is nice but out of my price range...

• Temp control: (not part of this discussion) as I have temp control all working OK.

• Humidity control:

These commercially designed dry aging / meat & salumi curing chambers only seem to control humidity by turning on a FAN, which then assists the water container located at the bottom of the chamber to increase the humidity. They don't have a ultrasonic humidifier or a dehumidifier to control humidity, which means when the unit compressor turns on to cool it sucks all the humidity out of the unit and %RH drops below 45% which will result in case hardening for salumi.

For a commercial product to me it doesn't make sense why they've designed it so and if it's acceptable... as long as its for a short periods of time???

So... For those of you that have done a DIY conversion of a Fridge or Wine Cooler into a meat curing chamber I am after your opinion and curious what you have done in regards to this issue.

• When the compressor turns on to cool the inside and %RH drops below the acceptable level ie minimum of 65%. Do you:

a) Ignore this drop and let it go all the way down on it's own OR,

b) Add humidity via a ultrasonic humidifier if the % reaches below the minimum 65% RH?

• The Situation:

Currently I have an INKBird IHC-200-WIFI humidity controller where i've got both a ultrasonic humidifier and a peltier dehumidifier hooked up to it. When the compressor turns on to drop temps down and maintain that temp it also drops humidity right down to 40~45 %RH level.

When the compressor turns off (inside temp reached) the %RH starts to recover back on it's own and settles around 66~70% (this is with no products in the fridge right now).

To counter that drastic drop I've enabled the ultrasonic humidifier at 65% RH and it can happily maintain this level.

• The issue:

When the compressor turns off (inside temp reached) the %RH starts to recover back on it's own along with the additional humidity that was added to maintain that minimum 65% RH. Now humidity reaches close to 85%~ which I don't like and this is with no product inside the unit...

Humidifier is enabled at 75% ish but i'm playing with this number since there is a delay if dropping any actual humidity, these peltier units are power efficient but seem to be almost useless at extracting humidity quickly.

• The dilemma...

Do I not maintain the minimum 65% RH when the compressor turns on and struggle to maintain the upper RH% OR, don't worry about trying to maintain the lower RH when the compressor is on and leave it as is... As it only cycles ON and OFF every so often and stays on for approx a min anyway... I will need to time the exact cycle duration to get a base line but keep this in mind the fridge is empty with no product other than the humidifier containing 1 L of water and a dehumidifier.

• This build was inspired by what I read on tasteofartisan / meat-curing-chamber/

So this is probably a wild, maybe even a stupid idea (one actually cooked up by ChatGPT) that might just be crazy enough to work.

I live in an area (Cambodia to be specific) where you can't find things like collagen dry aging sheets. So I was asking ChatGPT for suggestions of alternatives I can use. One surprising and novel suggestion it had was to use rice paper sheets, which cost only pennies here and can be found everywhere. It's easy to work with too, as it gets soft quickly in water and sticks like plastic wrap to meat.

The AI was even nice enough to explain how the paper will help regulate the moisture release and eventually harden to form a dry protective crust.

The idea seems viable, but I can't find a single reference on the internet of anyone doing this before. Even ChatGPT admitted it'd be pioneering a new approach after I asked it for some references.

So my question for y'all is, has anyone ever tried this?

My biggest concern would be the rice harboring rapid mold growth, but I suspect that could be addressed by just giving it some mold-600 to control it.

Had some mould on the outside but cut it off and the inside looks great…. Taste is delicious too melts in your mouth

Thank you so much to this awesome community for being such a supportive corner of the internet! I come seeking advice.

I’ve got a capicola and a culatello vac packed and in the fridge doing an EQ cure. Both been in there a week. 2.75% salt, 0.25% PP#2. Pasture raised pork from a local Mennonite farm, if that makes a difference.

I noticed that my temperatures have been really volatile- as low as 34 F and as high as 48F.

I suspect the inconsistent temp is due to this being an old wine fridge rather than a proper fridge. My food fridge is tiny and can’t accommodate massive curing cuts so decided to roll the dice - this is my first cure of this size. Lesson learned for next time I guess.

They’ve been in there a week and I’m concerned that even with the cure in there it’s going to be crawling with bacteria. Am I screwed or can I save my meat?

Anybody have any idea how I can set my Auber aw-th3300 so I can maintain a 750% humidity . I currently have it set to 70 but it will go as high as 90