I decided it was time to try some dry cured sausage from the Umai Kit I bought. I got a Genoa salumi recipe and basic Italian salumi recipe and mixed up 2.5 pounds of each for my first try. While I was at it I also thought about doing 2 Lonzino's. I had 2 small cuts of pork from the shoulder which are not the proper cuts but I wasn't sure which flavor we would like so these are flavor only tests. For the lonzino, I used one recipe from Jason Molinari and one from Len Poli.
The sasuage was done first and momma wasn't too happy about raw meet hanging in her kitchen for 3 days so I can only hope it tastes amazing enough that she forgets/forgives those first 3 days.
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I sealed the Umai bags into 2 separate tubes like they say on the site. One thing I learned is that I did not get the 2 tubes I made even so I had one wider sausage and one longer and narrower. I think the next time I would almost make 3 tubes of out each bag...oh well, live and learn.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/00AA43DC-7D71-440E-B53E-C076C4E34B82_zpsadx5l7tz.jpg)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/5586BF9B-9BE4-4BF3-83EA-6F9306B732AD_zpsl53ajw9d.jpg)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/E4ED8C63-9AB2-45A3-8CD9-FC2C8ABA4796_zpsszl7jemg.jpg)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/6A5A4273-645D-468A-8312-160FCEDF1E3F_zpstdlqhhxa.jpg)
As you can see in the pictures that when I split the bags in half, I did not get them even. I am hoping that the thicker ones don't have too much case hardening.
And for the lonzino, I had one small piece that I trimmed from a bigger piece. The good thing is they should dry quicker with their smaller size so I will be able to taste them sooner :)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/CDF47C57-71A9-411D-94A5-B002F07F50E9_zpsfybtv2te.jpg)
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/D4F1C206-FDD1-44DA-A9BA-B269DECF235F_zpsh74fyqjg.jpg)
And Thanks to GusRobin for the spreadsheet for tracking the drying progress.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/2D69692E-25FB-4FF4-B6D7-41BF78DC55D7_zpsvl9azcqo.jpg)
Looks cool, I'll have to give this a try one day when I have enough space.
I was lucky enough to get a free newer fridge a few years ago from a friend who worked for a reno company so that has been my beer/meat fridge. But as of lately it has had much more meat in it and a lot less beer. If dry curing works out with the bags I may make the jump to an actual dry cure fridge.
Next week I'm supposed to get my 12x12 building moved so I can start working on turning it into a smoker/processing room. Then I'll be able to look for a spare fridge to start on the dry curing and stuff that requires extra fridge space. There's a possibility that I may end up with the old fridge from my grandmother's house from the 50's that was a side by side upper cabinet unit with 2 fridge compartments and a freezer compartment.
That sounds awesome. I don't want to get too involved in dry curing right now because we are building a new house and I don't have the area established for the meat processing. So for now the dry cure bags will work well.
Well everything seems to be drying like it should be. I did put a humidifier on a timer in the fridge to see if I could do away with the case hardening I got the last time I tried a Brasaola.
Anyways, the big looser was the Len Poli Lonzino recipe but it was no shock since I started with a very small cut of meat to surface area. I should be cutting into that one next week if it keeps dropping weight at the rate it has been.
(http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee135/Big_Daddy_Lincoln/smoker/sausagechart2_zps94b609d9.jpg)