The Secret Life of the Salami Maker

Doing it for the girls, with the boys!

By: Sara Grazia

It's been a busy few weeks for me since winter has arrived. I've been visiting friends and avid salami and meat curing enthusiasts all over, as the curing season kicks off I'm going to be sharing my adventures with you.

Today's adventure is with an Italian friend of mine, Signore Attilio. I was invited over to help the family with some salami making, which lead into some pancetta production, capocollo and some other delicacies I've only every seen made in particular regions of Italy.

 

Preparations are all set, it's time to get washed up, aprons on and started. Today we processed 2 pigs at almost 200kg each. The messiest parts had been done the night before, a process which is not a job for the faint of heart!

Are you ready to see what we got up too?

Our adventure begins on a fine winter's day. Temperatures chilled, the perfect environment for an afternoon of curing.

On a large estate of farmland rests our picturesque paradise. Something from a salami makers fairy-tale.

 

Like with many traditionalists, Attilio and his family continue to produce all their meats using authentic production methods from the Italian north, where the family originates from. It was really exciting to see the difference between the methods and techniques he uses in comparison to those that my Mamma uses from the south.

Attilio's sons are busy preparing the minced meat for the salami and cotechino making. These guys will produce approximately 100kg of salami alone today, using the same recipe Attilio's Great Great Great Grand Mother used. "Nothing has changed, It's always been this way for generations. I was brought up on the flavours and so have my children. We love taste, it's very simple and reminds me of when I was a child".

Keeping your recipes simple and uncluttered lets you develop particular accent flavours and aromas. If you want a variety of accents, instead of throwing everything into the one mix, make several mixes - and fill each one individually. This way you'll also end up with a variety of different flavoured salami, and more of them (which can't be a bad thing).

Once the meat had been minced and put into the electric meat mixer, one of Attilio's son’s mixed and added the recipe. There was a bit of a discussion of which one should have the honours. It's quite a particular process the way Attillio and his family blend their spices. Much of it happened hidden away, like many traditional producers, he's very protective of sharing his recipes.

In the end, the blending honours were given to his youngest son who sifted all the ingredients meticulously before added them to the minced meat. The spice mix was then delicately sprinkled over the surface of the minced meat using a large silver spoon. It was like watching an artist at work. The spices were not just thrown in the meat, to get an even mix of spice time and appreciation of the process must be taken.

With a push of a button, a large steel grill covered the meat mixer and the paddles went to work. Churning and mixing the freshly minced meat with the spice and infused wine. It was quite a hypnotic experience; the fragrance that come from that mixture as it was being blending was to die for. Floral and sweet, with mild peppery accents, I was almost tempted to poke my finger in and sneak a tasting.

With the meat mixing, there was no time to stop for lunch, it was a quick coffee to warm us all up and then back to business.

While Attilio's youngest son attending to the salami, the rest of us moved on to the muscles meats. Preparing the pancetta, capocollo and other cured delicacies.

All skinned, trimmed and ready for salting. The pancetta and capocollo are placed to once side to be salted and laid to rest. We made a flat pancetta using a very simple pepper and coriander rub, followed by a rolled pancetta that was bathed in a hot pepper sauce. I look forward to tasting this one later on after we'd finished up.

The rolled pancetta is one of Attilio's favourites, and his pepper sauce is made by his wife who grows her own chili peppers at home. Something I could relate too as my Mamma does the same things, although she tends more to dry and crush them (as is traditional in her village).

Once the muscle meats were all salted and resting it was time to get back to the salami. Overall, we made 4 different types of salami. We used different cuts of meats to get different flavours and textures, we also used other meats such as lamb and a little bit of beef.

Some of the meat was minced while others where diced by hand (I had that honour, there was a lot of meat to be diced! approx. 12kg. It was great fun, I'd go and do it again tomorrow - In fact I am! stay tuned for my next adventure)

With all the casings full it was time to start stringing. Everyone got involved. WE were all stood around the large butchers table, chatting away, knotting salami while Attilio was telling his boys to concentrate. His daughter brought in coffee and pastries for everyone on her way through after work. It was another wonderful salami adventure with Attillio and Co. I look forward to seeing you all again in a few weeks for tastings!

From Rump To Rafters - Day 4

A Traditional Family Adventure With Mamma and Co.

By: Sara Grazia

It’s been an epic journey over the past few days and today we finish off the last of the meat curing. We’ve made kilograms of salami and now they're resting ready for hanging later in the afternoon. Before we get to that stage however there is still quite a lot of work to be done finishing off the pancetta, capocollo, prosciutto and other meats that will be cured over the next several months.

Our variety of cuts have been under salt for the past couple of days and now need to be cleaned, seasoned, wrapped and hung. One of the downfalls of cleaning the meat is that it needs to be done using cold water and on a cold winters day, your hands feel very quickly like ice blocks. With 12 cuts to clean, it was looking to be a long and cold process. I have a cup of warm water at arms length and after every couple of cuts I clean, I stopped and wrap my hands around the cup to thaw them out. 

The only problem was the dread of getting my hands back under that ice cold water for the next round of cleaning. Half way through I decided it was better to simply close my eyes and think of tropical waters and get the remaining meats cleaned – it didn't work that well but I managed to get everything cleaned much quicker than expected.

 

Once cleaned of the salt and brine it was time to rinse them off with a little wine and then get the spices rubbed all over. 

As this is a process I've undertaken many times before, I don’t really follow any particular recipe. I gauge everything on sight and how the weight feels in my hands, I was brought up this way. It was only a few years before I started teaching professionally that I was forced to began using scales for recipe preparations.

 

So armed with a table spoon in one hand and a soup spoon in the other, it was time to mix up our first batch of ingredients. I prepare each recipe directly onto the meat… this is not advisable for beginners.

This method is similar to watching a painter create a piece of art on a canvas, in this case my meat is the canvas and the ingredients are my paint. I start with the background colour, then add a few highlights and finish off with dollops of radiance. With a combination of black pepper, paprika and mammas homemade chili paste, this canvas is ready for painting and what a beautiful colour the paste gives the meat. The paste blended with the cracked pepper gives of such an intense fragrance when rubbed through together.

Once every surface, crack and crevasse has been rubbed all over with the ingredient mix - it was time to wrap, net and have it ready for hanging. For the capocollo I'm using the thin layer of belly fat that mamma meticulously separated and cleaned a couple of days before. 

 

The fat is wrapped tightly around the meat to protect it during the curing process, similar to how our skin protects the muscles within our bodies.

I will also use the dried version of this same product to wrap the rest of the meats in. This is a great alternative as it’s still natural but has been commercially dried. You’re getting the same benefits without all the preparation work.

You might remember a couple of blogs back when I mentioned that the pancetta from this pig were half the size I am, they literally were. They rolled up so big individually that it would take a good 12 months to dry and cure properly. I was almost tempted to give it a go, but was persuaded otherwise. We ended up slicing each side of pancetta into 3 sections and they were still huge, each piece coming in at approximately 4kg! We ended up with 6 in total and I was a happy girl.

 

I used the same recipe on 3 of the pancetta and for the others I used a very traditional crushed coriander mix that my mamma has used ever since I can remember.

After the pancetta I processed the lonza and the prosciuttini. The prosciutto leg still needed a couple more weeks under salt, but my smaller prosciutto cuts were ready after a couple of days under salt.

  

On each piece I used a different recipe, I made mamma’s as she always has – using her homemade pepper paste. Another I did used a simple black and white pepper mix and the remaining two I got a little creative with. Simple mixes with a twist. I’ll have to wait a few months before I can let you know how they turned out!

 

 

All in all my epic family adventure draws to a close on yet another year of sausage, salami and curing production. Over the next few weeks all the salami we made should be ready for slicing up and packing away ready for the festive season. My cured meats and prosciutto will have to wait a month or two longer, so far all are looking good and I'm really excited about sharing with you an antipasto plate when everything is ready.

Stay tuned I have more exciting adventures on the way, near and far!

  

If you've missed out on how mamma, me and my tribe of salami making enthusiasts got this far you can read the entire story her at Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

I wish you all the best on your meat curing adventures this winter and keep me up to date with your progress.

From Rump To Rafters - Day 3

A Traditional Family Adventure With Mamma and Co.

By: Sara Grazia

For the past 2 days I've  been busy breaking down a 200kg pig for the production of homemade sausages, salami and an array of cured meats. We've been to the farm, deboned the carcass, salted the meats, mixed recipes and now today we start producing.

Day 3 is salami making day! This is always an exciting part of the process. This year we’re making 7 different types of salami. Usually we would only do a couple of variations, mamma's recipe – that has remained the same ever since I can remember. Over the years I've tried adding a change or two and every time I've been beaten away with a wooden spoon, so I learnt its best not to mess with a tried and tested formula.

Having a few extra kilograms of meat available this year however, I've managed to mix up some wonderful recipes I would not normally have the opportunity to do. I’ve made some favorites from my Secrets in Salami Book – Molisano, Calabrese, Felino and the Finnochina. I was also thrilled to be able to mix a couple of batches from a recipe a dear Italian friend had given me on my last visit. One particular mix would shock any salami making traditionalist, however I was fortunate enough to try a sample he had made on my last visit and it was to die for.

My other surprise recipe looks like a fairly typical mix on paper, however the trick with this recipe is the type of meat used and how it’s prepared and processed. As I have mentioned previously, the differences between the varieties of salami is not just in the spice mix – it’s so much more.

  

You've probably read something where I've mentioned my mamma's authentic handmade pepper sauce and how we use it quite regularly in our mixes. I’d like to introduce you to her crop of piping hot chili’s. Every year she harvests these little gems, some are dried and crushed, while others are squeezed and turned into paste.

We start the day by filling some casings with the salami mix we had prepared the day before. I’m starting with the Calabrese recipe while on the other side of the table they’re filling the Felino. 

 

Depending on who you invite over to help you on your salami making event, it’s best to keep a close eye on what’s happening around you, more specifically an eye on your recipe mixes. A friend of mine has a particular need to constantly want to add something ’extra’ to each and every recipe if not watched closely. Mammas wooden spoon comes in handy on these moments!

With one of my new recipes that I’m trying, more ingredients need to be added after the main body of the meat mix has rested overnight. This will intensify the aromatic qualities and flavour of the finished product. This particular recipe has taken my salami making to new level of excitement.

 

One of my favorite parts of the salami making process is cooking up a small batch of the mix and nibbling away on it with some homemade crusty bread and a little Italian coffee. As this is a meat mix for salami making the salt content is considerably higher than that of a fresh sausage mix, because it’s needed for the curing process. Eating the mix with lovely fresh crusty bread helps dampen down much of the saltiness and you get to enjoy the flavours.

After a short break, it’s back to filling and tying. There is more than 80kg of meat that needs to be filled and its moments like these that you’re grateful for the help of family and friends. 

  

For those a little reluctant to get out of bed for an early Sunday morning start – the bribe of my mamma’s home cooked breakfast lunch and dinner always seems to be a good motivator. There’s a little bit of morning grumbling, but that soon passes after biscuits and coffee has been handed out. 

While we’re all busy filling casings and netting the salami, mamma is boiling up more bones preparing the lardo…..and lunch.

The bones are boiled for hours to the point where the meat is only just hanging on by the teeniest morsel. It’s tender and lean and falls apart on your tongue, most importantly of all though, it’s delicious. The bones are served up as is and you enjoy the meat right of the bone, nothing added – no sauce and no spices. As the bones are boiled the natural fats and marrow flavour the meat. The liquid left in the pot is drained, filtered and poured into jars. Natural, preservative free lardo.

  

After a late lunch, it was time to get back onto the salami making, our batch was rapidly increasing with two fillers on the go. We all had a little job to do and between shifts we kept topped up on coffee, biscuits, bread and grappa! It was what I imagine an artisan production line to be like. Around this massive table some of us were preparing casings, others tying the casings when full and then there were those netting the salami. Once the salami were all finished, they were put into a container and left in the garage to rest before they are hung the day after.

 

Before I left for the day, I went to check on my cured meats which were coming along wonderfully. I drained the brine, added a little more salt and left them to rest for another night, excited about processing them all tomorrow.

If you've missed out on how my journey started, take a look at what we got up to on Day 1 and Day 2. This is Day 3 down and I'm looking forward to an early night before finishing off all the cured meats in the morning.