Anyone make their own salami

[OceanMomma]

I used to homeschool my kids but they wanted to go to school so now I am having to deal with packed lunches. They have vegetarians in the class who make comments about their food. These days the ony meat I can get them to eat at school is salami. I can get really nice organic salami but it costs an arm & a leg. I have been thinking about making my own. Has anyone made any? Is it difficult? Any online recipes which work?

[sharr610]

subbing

I was interested in this once and did a casual internet search and seemed to happen upon a blog about it...ill see what I can find

[Rainbow2911]

This book has recipes for salamis that sound very good. Not tried them yet myself though I'm afraid. But I can highly recommend the book - many recipes are very tf.

[bluebell]

i've been interested in this too because the organic sausages here all have chemicals in them still! i'd love to know how to make a preserved sausage. if you try to make it please let us know how it goes and your recipe. thanks for posting about it.

[AJP]

Haven't done it yet, but might be trying it this winter, as we're buying a whole hog next month. I'll try to remember to post the results if we do it. I'd like to learn more about making those types of dry-aged sausages without adding sodium nitrate or nitrite. They're riskier in terms of botulism because they're aged for a long time at relatively warm temps, so "everyone" says that the nitrates/nitrites are necessary in order to eliminate that risk. I think commercial, organic, nitrite-free salami uses only a lactic acid starter, to lower the pH and get the fermentation going more quickly, so it's acidic enough right from the beginning that botulism wouldn't have any chance to start growing, but I'm unclear as to the intricacies of botulism risk, acid level, temperature, etc., in products like this. I haven't found anything saying definitively whether an acidic enough environment alone would prevent botulism growth, or if there's some other factor to the addition of nitrite/nitrate that comes into play. It's hard to find info on how to do these kinds of things safely at home without the modern preservatives, I think no one wants to give specific directions even if they know how to address the risk factors, because of fear of getting sued if someone got botulism after following their recipe. And in all fairness, saltpeter was used in dry-cured meats for centuries before the more consistent modern versions were available.

The book Charcuterie by Ruhlman and Polcyn has a whole chapter on dry-cured meats and a bunch of recipes, all of which call for sodium nitrate or nitrite.

I've read that humidity during aging these types of sausages is critical, also. Can't be too dry or too wet. Actually, much of what I've read about artisanal, traditional dry-cured meats is rather intimidating, because it seems like a life-long artistic pursuit and maybe there's no hope I could produce an edible product on my first try (or first dozen tries). We'll see how brave I feel after we have the hog...

So, seriously, the vegetarian students are giving your kids a hard enough time about meat in their lunch that they no longer want to take meat to school? Wow. I think in your situation, I'd be cranky enough about it that I'd make a stink and try to get the school to take some kind of action (which, if the cool crowd at the school is vegetarian, would probably only further mortify my children, but I find peer pressure manipulation irritating in the extreme).

[MadameXCupcake]

My husbands grandfather makes sausage every winter that doesn't require refrigeration.
I'm not brave enough to eat it but my husband eats tons of it, I'm not a big sausage person.
I'll see if I can get a recipe tonight for it, I'll post it if I do.

[OceanMomma]

I was just checking the look inside on that book when 2 more replies appeared! It is stacks cheaper on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...i3_rdr_bb_unew
In terms of the botulism thing, could it be quite possible people used to have a higher resistance to it as it was more prevalent?

This is the salami I buy them & it is nitrite free.
http://www.goldensalami.co.nz/ Maybe someone should email them & ask for their recipe

re: the school. I am getting around to saying something but the teacher is usually busy or I need to get home. It is kind of difficult to even know how to phrase it. The school itself is not vegetarian & there are only 2 kids who are. I think dd2 is just tired of them making comments while she is trying to eat. She is fine with meat at home. dd3 pretty much prefers to eat starch if she can so I have to be pretty careful what I offer her anyways. The kindy is huge on having shared starch so it is another completely different problem there but the net result is the same. ie all her protein food comes home as she has had 2 helpings of rice porridge.

[AJP]

I don't know that one can build resistance to botulism, because it's not the organism that directly causes disease (like with a virus), with smaller exposures stimulating antibodies and other immune defenses. It's the toxin produced during its reproduction that can be deadly to humans, paralyzing muscles, breathing, etc. Botulism spores themselves aren't harmful, but they are hard to kill (they can withstand temps above boiling), and a warm (40-140F), anaerobic (like inside a sausage), low-acid environment allows the spores to activate and the organism to grow, producing the toxin as byproduct. But I'm no expert, so maybe there is a resistance factor. The chances of getting it are pretty low, but the consequences can be dire.

As for the school, I'd probably tell the teacher that my child is getting harassed or teased by some vegetarian students about having meat in her lunch, which amounts to bullying, and it needs to stop. Maybe the teacher isn't aware of it. Seems like a respect issue to me. It's no more acceptable, in my book, than it would be for your child to tease the vegetarians about their food.

[MadameXCupcake]

Originally Posted by AJP

I don't know that one can build resistance to botulism, because it's not the organism that directly causes disease (like with a virus), with smaller exposures stimulating antibodies and other immune defenses. It's the toxin produced during its reproduction that can be deadly to humans, paralyzing muscles, breathing, etc. Botulism spores themselves aren't harmful, but they are hard to kill (they can withstand temps above boiling), and a warm (40-140F), anaerobic (like inside a sausage), low-acid environment allows the spores to activate and the organism to grow, producing the toxin as byproduct. But I'm no expert, so maybe there is a resistance factor. The chances of getting it are pretty low, but the consequences can be dire.

I'm afraid to let my husband eat his grandfathers sausage now!