Melbourne’s New Sausage HQ

Secret Sausage Business - Raising the Bar

By: Sara Grazia

As some of you may have worked out, over the past couple of months we have been busy redeveloping an historic Melbourne building into our new Sausage HQ.

Our new Sausage HQ will be the pinnacle of sausage making technology, flavours and all things mouth-wateringly scrumptious. We will be opening phase 1 of our redevelopment in just under a weeks’ time ready for the first of our 2015 courses. Our next phase – and to some the most exciting part of our redevelopment, will be opening in mid-April with our official opening at the beginning of May.

In the beginning:

Late last year, with the growing popularity of our sausage, salami and cured meats making courses, we embarked on a mission to find a new Sausage HQ. High on the list of requirements was more space so that Sausage HQ could be everything we needed to make our sausage, salami and cured meat making experience even more exiting for enthusiasts, hobbyist and commercial producers.

It was a lengthy search but eventually a palace was claimed. Built in the 1800’s with a very colourful and fascinating past, the former Railway Hotel in West Melbourne was chosen to be the hub of our sausage kingdom. Although the location is technically “West Melbourne”, it is just meters from the North Melbourne train station, and just a short drive from our previous location.

118 Ireland St, West Melbourne VIC 3003

Retaining many of its original features, our new Sausage HQ will house our tasting bar plus a few other exciting things that we will share with you as time goes on – or better yet, things you can come and experience for yourself very soon!

To start with the upstairs area looked like this, a blank canvas retaining many period features…

Powered by a good strong English breakfast and an Italian pastry our Sausage HQ started its transformation.

The heritage tasting bar was the place to start. A stunning art deco bar, hand crafted in Tasmanian oak featuring the original lead-light detail that was installed in 1913. It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship and over the next few weeks a stunning transformation occurred as years of neglect were peeled away.

It took 10 days and 120 litres of paint stripper (eco-friendly of course) just to remove the old varnish and wood stain. This was followed by a week of sanding and an unfortunate event that accidentally set off the buildings fire alarms – before our 100 year old bar was reborn. The following fortnight was a combination of varnishing and sanding, varnishing and more sanding until... 

The final touch was having the deco stained class repaired, cleaned and installed giving this handcrafted beauty back its original Victorian splendour.

With our new tasting bar complete, the theme continued around the rest of the main bar area reviving all the original oak features – benches, shelves, doors and door frames. Weeks and kilograms of sawdust later, the refurbishment was coming along brilliantly.

Our window signage was installed, our light box put in place, all gold and glittering reflecting the heritage of this amazing Victorian site. Paint colours were chosen and some hidden original gems found under stair treads and between walls, were cleaned up and ready to be put back on show.

A few ‘mod cons’ like internet connection have been installed to keep us connected to you, and some amazing new technology has been introduced.

We are very excited and proud of the work we have undertaken to date, and look forward to the next phase of redevelopment. We’ll keep you posted!

If you’re in Melbourne we wold love to see you at Sausage HQ!

Secrets In Salami - A masterclass in a book by Sausage Queen, Sara Grazia

By Sara Grazia:

Secrets in Salami is a master class in a book. Based on one of my most well attended classes, Secrets in Salami is a reference guide to those who wish to successfully produce their own salami at home. All natural, gluten free, preservative free, and with no nitrates or nitrites.

Based on traditional Italian methods and techniques that have been practiced and mastered over centuries, discover a hands-on journey full of tradition, flavour, succulence and memories. Whether you're a seasoned salami maker, or a first time producer, there will be secrets to learn, techniques to develop and methods to master. You will also discover the particulars required for your drying environment, which is essential for salami making success.

After months of preparation, and with the assistance of my Mamma, I am happy to offer the 2^nd instalment to my ‘Made Simple’ series. With 132 pages of salami preparation, secrets, methods and techniques, I’ve also thrown in some recipes for you to try – a few family favourites as well as some popular artisan mixes.

This is a fully Illustrated book with live action pictures taken of Mamma and me making the annual batch of salami for the family from scratch, just as we do it every year – a tradition, I hope that lasts for many more years to come.

Secrets in Salami is a book about sharing the skills and knowledge involved in a rarely seen process. Indulge your curiosity and create a salami making tradition of your own with your neighbour, community group, friends or family, and help me maintain an historical food art for many more generations to embrace and experience.

YOU CAN FIND SECRETS IN SALAMI IN OUR WEBSTORE BY CLICKING HERE

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.