After the radio interview I did earlier this month for the KCRW Good Food Show I thought I might well just do a post about how gosh darn easy it is to make a little setup at home to cure meat in.
When I first started making moldy meat in my garage over a year ago I figured that it must take very specialist equipment, and a team of well read meat science boffins to make anything resembling a decent cured product. I quite frankly am not a meat science boffin, or have very specialist equipment. Nor do the thousands of other people around the globe that cure meat at home, and make a darn fine product too I should add.
It turns out it is actually exceptionally easy to make a basic reliable setup at home to cure meat in, and one that doesn’t cost a pretty penny either. In fact, with a little wheeling and dealing, I reckon the whole thing can be put together for around $100 – even less if you have an old fridge already, or a room/garage/basement that has some of the right environmental properties (more on that later).
My first ever setup was a just simply hanging the meat (inside a cage incase any animals got in..) in my garage. This proved somewhat unreliable because temperature and humidity fluctuated so much – often outside the limits of what should really be considered safe. From here on in I started looking into making a more controllable setup at home that wouldn’t require a walk in fridge area, and lots of special equipment.
So – meat curing is just really the slow controlled release of water from meat. Once the water activity level (aW) of meat gets low enough it is considered safe to eat, since living organisms (bacteria included) need moisture to survive.
A setup for curing meat is really just making a small area with the right environmental conditions.
These conditions are temperature, humidity, and air flow.
In order to make a decent (and safe) product you need some way of controlling all three – or at least keeping them within a certain range. Lets look at each element separately, and see what we can do to control it.
temperature: a safe temperature range for curing meat is below 60F. Above that and bacteria grows a lot faster. Ideally you want the temperature between 50F and 60F. Below 50F and the curing process slows down a great deal, making the process take much, much longer (which also means it takes much much longer for your charcuterie to reach a safe water content level, but that is getting a bit geeky). Most likely you are going to find that you will have to cool and area to get it to 60F rather than heat it.
humidity: for most of the curing you want the humidity between 70% and 75%. Below 70% and you run the risk of the outside of your salami/meat drying out too fast, which means moisture is trapped on the inside, leading to spoilage. If the humidity is really high for too long then the sausage wont dry correctly, and you run the risk of getting a lot of bad mold on the charcuterie.
Ideally when you first put something in to dry cure, you want the humidity at around 85%, and then over the course of the next week you want to drop the humidity down to 75%. The reasoning here is that you want your humidity just a bit less than the water content of the meat you are curing – this stops the meat drying out too fast and developing case hardening. At the start of curing the meat has a lot of moisture in it (especially leaner cuts), so you want your curing humidity to almost match that. As the meat looses water you drop the humidity down accordingly (or roughly anyhow).
Typically we find that most areas in a house aren’t this humid, unless you have a cold, dank basement. Often enough we find ourselves having to add extra humidity to a space to make it perfect.
air flow: some air flow is critical in not only helping to dry the meat (pulling moisture away from the surface of the sausage), but it also really helps keep bad mold (green, black and fury mold) off the meat too – since there isn’t stagnant damp air constantly around the sausage. In practical terms this can just mean fanning the meat a couple of times a day, or setting up a low powered fan to blow a little air around.
SETTING ALL THIS UP IN PRACTICAL TERMS:
So, we know that we have a bunch of conditions that we need to control. How on earth does one go about making a space that has the right temperature, humidity and air flow?
1) buy a temperature and humidity sensor and find an area in your house with good temp/humidity
the first thing to do is get your hands on a temperature and humidity sensor. Over the course of a week, put it in different locations around your house for 24 hours, and see what readings you get.
If you have a basement that is somewhat unfinished (and not heated) then you might have somewhere with decent temperature, and possibly even humidity. Here in Seattle especially in the winter, most peoples basements can get pretty humid, thanks to all that fine rain we have.
I recommend against curing meat in a garage that you will have to open the garage door a few times a day with. Been there, done that, thrown away the meat because of it. Opening the door is going to lower the humidity quite a bit, and it will stay low for a while. Unless you get a humidifier to bump it back up as needed. Obviously don’t cure meat in a garage that you are going to drive a car in to either! Salami flavored with car fumes ain’t gonna taste too pretty.
The temperature and humidity sensor I recommend is this one: HygroSet II Adjustable Digital Hygrometer
It is relatively cheap, accurate, and most importantly adjustable. Often enough hygrometers (humidity sensors) aren’t incredibly accurate out of the box, and you need to calibrate them. Most digital sensors don’t allow this, but this one does. How to calibrate you ask? Spend less than your daily latte on this: Boveda One Step Calibration – a simple calibration kit that is so incredibly simple to use.
2) OK, my house is rubbish for meat curing.. now what?
Worry not, that is how it goes for most of us. The next thing to do is to construct yourself a curing chamber. Rent some old MacGyver episodes, read up on Heath Robinson, and make some friends at Home Depot – you are you going to need to!
JUST KIDDING!
Here is what you do… Go to craigslist. Search your local area for people selling old frost-free fridges. You shouldn’t spend over $25 on it to be honest. Quite a few are being given away free, if you can get your mits on a truck to take it away with. An old fridge makes an almost perfect curing chamber, albeit with some modifications!
Oh, and don’t worry about these old fridges draining the power grid, and your salami causing massive widespread deforestation and global warming due to the high power consumption. The fridge won’t be on that much – we are going to setup a controller that will turn it on and off to maintain a temperature of 57F – which is much higher than the regular fridge temperature of 36F.
3) Fridge, check. What’s next?
Time to talk about controlling those environmental factors above that we talked about.
Controlling temperature:
If you leave a fridge turned on, it will self regulate itself to hold a temperature around 37F. You can make go to about 45F, but that is still too low for meat curing – which should be between 50 and 60F (preferably 55-60F).
Thankfully there is a great little (and simple) product that will automagically turn a fridge on and off to maintain whatever temperature you set it to. It has a temperature probe that you put in the fridge that monitors the fridge temperature. You plug the fridge into the controller, and the controller into an outlet. Set the temp at 57F, and you are done. The controller simply turns the fridge on and off to maintain the set temperature.
The controller that you see on the left is just under $50 and can be ordered here, and is meant for home brewing – but works exceedingly well for meat curing applications.
Controlling Humidity:
Humidity is a different ball game to temperature. Humidity can vary a lot depending on where you curing chamber is. In most situations you are going to need to add humidity, and not remove it.
Since humidity in your chamber (er, old fridge..) varies depending on atmospheric conditions, how long your fridge is on for (the cold air pumped into fridges has very low humidity), how much meat you have in there, and at what stage the meat is at – we need some kind of humidity controller, and humidifier.
Some options for controlling humidity:
1) bowl of salty water. Yes it can be that simple. In the bottom of your fridge put a big bowl of very salty water. The salt prevents bacteria growth in the water. This might be enough to raise your humidity to a decent level.
The problem here is that as those conditions above change, this salty water doesn’t give out any more or any less humidity, it is constant. This leaves you forever checking it to make sure it isn’t getting too humid in there.
2) a humidity controller (hygrostat) and humififer
This is by far the best solution, but it is more expensive. The humidity controller works in pretty much the same way as the temperature controller. You set a dial saying what humidity you want, and the controller will turn a humidifier on and off to maintain that rough level. All you have to do is make sure you keep your humidifier stocked full of distilled water.
On the left is the Dayton Humidifier Controller. This does exactly what is mentioned above. Set the humidity you want on the dial, plug a humidifier into the front of it, and put the thing in your curing chamber. Easier than breathing. This will turn your humidifier on and off to maintain the humidity you set it to.
One thing that I have done is actually to add a fan into this equation too. I have a power strip plugged into the humidity controller, and into that strip I have BOTH a humidifier and a fan plugged in.
So, when the humidifier turns on, so too does a fan. This pushes the humid air around the chamber, and makes sure the chamber has even humidity across it. This also provides some much needed airflow every now and again.
Now lets talk about humidifiers for a second.. You want to make sure that you get an “ultrasonic” humidifier. This gives out a much finer mist than regular humidifiers, which is absorbed into the air much easier, and wont leave you with large water globules sitting on your meat. You also want one that will just start going when you plug it into the wall – and doesn’t require 10 button presses to start – since the humidity controller cannot press buttons for you..
I use this one:
A simple cheap ultrasonic humidifier.
This one has a dial on it to determine how much moisture it kicks out. I have it cranked all the way up, and it raises humidity rather quickly. The unit is pretty small, which is great because you don’t want it taking up valuable meat space. For me, I have to fill it every couple of weeks. Oh, and on a note on filling humidifiers – always use distilled water, otherwise you get mineral deposits in your humidifier, which causes it to conk out much faster.
So you put the humidifier in the bottom of the fridge, along with the fan if you are using one (you don’t have to). Hook it up to the humidity controller, which needs to sit somewhere in the fridge too. Set the controller to the desired humidity, walk away and have a beer (the beer part is instrumental to the success of the whole seutp).
Controlling airflow:
You can get uber-complicated here. Certain airflows are best at certain times during the curing process. You could buy a small 120V computer fan, drill a hole through the side of you fridge, and mount it in the fridge, to give some air flow. Heck, even just drilling some holes in the top right side and bottom left side of your fridge would most likely give enough airflow, without the fan.
You could do that if you want.
Personally for me, I just leave the door of my chamber open a little bit. It isn’t like I don’t check on my meat twice a day, swing open the door, take the meat out, give em a squeeze, and so on. Plenty of airflow going on there.
If you have your fridge in a place where you cannot leave the door open, then seriously consider drilling some holes through the side of it (don’t worry, there shouldn’t be anything bad to drill through in the SIDES of the fridge) for some airflow. If you have rodent problems, then I suggest putting some fine mesh over these holes too. Rats can squeeze through a hole smaller than a quarter you know..
So there you have it – your basic fridge curing chamber setup. With the temperature and humidity controllers in place, this really is a pretty hands free setup.
3) Make some cured meat!
This is the fun bit. Get some recipes, get some meat, and all the stuff you need for it and get cracking making some lovely moldy bits of pig. There are some particular products you are going to need – curing salts, dextrose, casings if you are doing salami. I highly recommend Butcher & Packer for these.
You are also going to want to break down a buy a decent kitchen scale. Using cups and tablespoons isn’t accurate enough for most meat curing antics. Quite frankly, I have no idea how people bake/cook using volume measurements for dry ingredients anyhow. Scales rock. They aren’t expensive either.
Oh wait.. I nearly forgot recipes. Well, there are a couple of great books to get you started:
Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn – a great book covering cured meats, salami, pate, sausages
The Art of Making Fermented Sausages by Stanley Marianski – fabulous book on making salami. A lot of information here, including a lot of science – however it is extremely accessible, and not at all dry. Marianski has managed to write a technical book with great recipes that is easy for you and I to read.
Finally, if anyone gets started curing meat, let me know! I want to hear about it.
we have no intentions now of curing meat, but read this with such fascination…great and easy to follow tips
OK, I gotta ask: is that a toy fridge set -up? Seriously, tho. You just saved me a lot of sleepless nights..Right after your KCRW show, I started thinking about curing meats and building a “chamber”–now I don’t have to think, I just need to find an old fridge! Thanks!
That isn’t a 3D model of your refridgerator, is it? Hahahaha. Your garage wasn’t tidy enough to take a photo?
Thanks for this excellent how-to guide. I kept wondering if my basement has the right conditions to use some of my Charcuterie recipes, and now I know how to find out.
Sharon – nope, not a toy – just a quick illustration I did..
Dawn – yep, it’s a 3D rendering! a little different to my setup, since I use that huge wine cooler fridge I got from Earth and Ocean.
Matt, THANK YOU so much for this post– so clear and easy to implement! I have the Polcyn/Ruhlman book and have made lots of things from it but have been intimidated to delve into the cured/dried meats. This post was just what I needed to convince me that it’s totally accessible.
I’m planning on moving in the next few months so I don’t know that it will make sense to get started straight away (having to move a fridge in and out of the basement, etc), but I will most definitely keep you updated on any future projects!
I’m just getting started and need to choose between a meat grinder and a curing chamber with only temperature control… I’m leaning towards the curing chamber at the moment, mostly because of your bresaola pictures. Thanks for all the posts… it makes it much easier for those of us who are still new to the sport.
Great Stuff Matt!
I have all the components. I managed to get an old warming box with an adjustable heat element in it at the Restaurant Supply for 50 bucks. I have been testing it everyday now and the temp is great it will sit at 77 or 85 for days. I tried the pan of water and got little result. I will be using the humidifier now and should have a small micro fan in tomorrow. After I get some consistent results we will be making a batch. I will send you photos soon.
Thanks for all of your info.
Alan
fantastic post – thank you! my husband will go bananas if i tell him about this. he’ll make me start tonight.
awesome post. someday, I swear, I will put this post to very good use.
thanks!
Wonderfully informative post. I too have the Polcyn/Ruhlman book and haven’t been able to try making any of the cured meats. Thanks!
Woah, this is fascinating. One day I’ll try it, haha!
Matt, I found that until I installed a hygrostat, I was unable to effectively control my humidity. It was all over the map. I burned out 2 expensive humidifiers. Finally, I installed the hygrostat and paired with a low rent humidifier, it’s been fine ever since. Once I found the range, I could now set it and forget it. The bowl of salted water is rubbish. You’re better off hanging a wet towel from a dowel inside the fridge. As far as the circulation, the hole in the side works. It works better with a light pointed at the temperature probe. This makes the refrigerator cycle more often causing more air circulation. Hope this helps.
Hi Scott – I totally agree with you about a hygrostat and cheap humidifier vs the bowl of water thing. When I started with the bowl of water, I spent my life down in the garage checking on the meat – an emotional rollercoaster for sure. I am so glad to have the hygrostat setup now!
Good tip about the light for fridge circulation!
All handy advice, exactly the info i was looking for!
– one question though. How much air do you need? I have a pretty tiny flat, with an attic space, so could fit quite a small fridge in there, but not one even as big as an under counter fridge.
STEVE: ideally you are going to want both a meat grinder (attachment for a kitchen aid is brilliant) AND a curing chamber
Alex: I wouldn’t go much smaller than an under counter fridge to be honest. Some
people have cured stuff in tiny wine fridges with decent enough results,
but you do need some room in there.
If you do use a small unit like that, you might well find your problem
isn’t one of how to raise humidity, but how to actually lower it. The
curing meat will give off moisture into the air, and in a small enclosure,
this could be enough to raise the humidity significantly.
One way around this is to buy a dehumidifier controller (like the dayton
one I recommended, but it controls a dehumidifier – so it turns something
on when the humidity gets too high) and have that controller linked to a
small fan (something like:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102825) – which you
would position near some holes you drilled through the side for
ventilation. This would extract any humid air.
Before you do that though, measure the ambient temp and humidity up there.
If the humidity in there is already high, and the temp low, you might not
even need a fridge in the first place.
Oh, and rodents LOVE attic spaces.. I would make sure you are rodent free
up there!
Matt, you sir, are a Chevalier of the Cheeky Finger. More meat will harden as a result of your mojo than all the back-pew shennanigans to date. Thank you.
To the folks with the light bulb in the fridge angle…isn’t this more suitable for frost-free fridges that attempt to regulate humidity ‘the new fashioned way’? The bulb raises the temperature, activating the fridge, which cools the interior, condensing the excess humidity, with the bulb bringing the temperature back up etc…?
Great informatiion. I have to tell you I have cured meats coppa’s and prosciutto’s for years following my families old ways brought from Italy but I want a higher quality product. My fermentation chamber is ready to go as well as my drying chamber only waiting for the humidistat. I am looking foreward to seeing what I can do. thanks for the information.
Matt, you’re a diamond! We got a quarter carcass of veal from our nextdoor neighbour last year. I split it into 3 and hung it in the fridge. My girlfriend started freaking out after the fourth day so we cut it up and froze it. That said, it was the best beef I’ve ever tasted. I plan to build a cold store this year so I can cure under the correct conditions for two to three weeks and have been looking for sound information and advice.
The information on here has really helped me.
thanks.
Cripes! You wrote an entire encyclopedia on the topic! Thanks for this. It’s an exhaustive guide and you answered all of my questions before I asked them. Except for this one…. how do you fit this all in a fridge? Can you recommend a cubic foot-size when looking for fridges, one that’s not too big or too small?
Also, I assume you should remove the shelves and hang the meat?
Dreaming of salty meat……… now if only I had a hearth and chimney I could hang my sausages in.
Hand Check – er thanks..
Steve – Let me know how it works out!
Sam – Get curing
Stephanie: Well, a regular fridge (not undercounter) should be fine. If you can find one that is just the fridge, and no freezer – that might give you more room. Personally if you can only find them with a freezer compartment, I would go for a top/bottom configuration rather than side/side. I reckon this will give you more square footage on the bottom of the fridge.
You don’t need a large humidifier, and the control system thingies you mount to the side of the fridge – the only thing in the base is going to be a humidifier, and a fan if you choose to install that.
I am writing a book on preserving meat for Atlantic publishing Company. I can across this web page during my research and was very impressed. I would like to use this article just like it is in my book as a case study. I need your permission to do so. You would be properly recognized, and would get a copy of the book for your kind cooperation. Please e-mail me if you would be willing to be part of the book, “The Complete Guide to Preserving Meat, Fish, and Game: Step-by-Step Instructions to Freezing, Canning, Curing, and Smoking book.” If you are interested I would email you a release form for permission to use this web page in the book. Thank you, Kenneth Oster
You are the MAN! I have been looking for a way to do this and had been unsuccessful. This is the last step to being able to do my own charcuterie. I come from the New York City area and have always had easy access to salumi. I moved to San Antonio, TX and access to quality salumi is almost nonexistent.
Thanks alot.
Take care,
T
Shit, 3 weeks into a saucisson sec run, mine got really rancid. I did it in a cooler. Temp good, humidity too high (>90%) and no air flow.
Nice post, thanks for the tips.
Matt, Thanks for posting the site and information, it’s very helpful.
I’m setting up a fridge to dry meats & sausage but I’m reluctant to drill holes in it. I’ve dried pancetta, bresola and proscuitto in walk-in refridgerators but never in a smaller fridge. My reluctance results from using a rather expensive commerical refrigerator. You thoughts?
Hi jim – I am not going to recommend doing anything you feel uncomfortable with. Almost all fridges out there have nothing but insulation in the side walls. I haven’t drilled through one yet and found a problem with it.
What you can easily do is use some stick-on hooks to hang a power-cord off. You can also just have all the power stuff on the base of the fridge. I personally however recommend against this, since you can get some liquid in the bottom – a mixture of meat drippings, and some condensation. Also, if your humidifier was to develop a leak, and it leaked all over the electrics down there, that would be rather bad news.
I was planning on using a drip pan. I’m not worried about drilling through anything but it is an expensive refrigerator, not an old junker.
Thanks for posting such a great write up on this topic. I’ve been sticking to non-dry cured meats because it just seemed to complicated. I’m excited to find a fridge and get started! Will post build photos once i’ve actually built it up.
Thanks! This process is easier than I thought.
Any recommendations on scales?
mark – I like the scales from American Weigh – http://www.americanweigh.com/ I have one of their pocket scales that does up to 100g with an accuracy of 0.01g. Works great for measuring of cure ingredients.
You will need a regular kitchen scale for weighing the meat – accuracy to 1g is fine for that. They sell those too, I have no idea how good they are however.
Hi Matt,
I have wanted to try curing meats since my first trip to Italy 5 years ago. The fact of not having a controlled environment and the fear of creating a deadly batch of toxic meat has always stopped me. I’ll be getting a fridge and setting this up in the coming weeks. One question. Won’t drilling holes in the fridge lower it’s ability to maintain temp? Requiring it to cycle on and off more often?
Can you do proscuito in this type of environment? I also wonder if this type of setup could be used to do cheese.
Mmm, what a tasty website.
MPG
I’m wanting to cure meats and I will need a cure box. The big question for me is whether a cure box could be set up outside? Has anyone done this? Any thoughts on how this would work out? I would like to set up a cure box as described here on my back porch.
THANKS!
Yes, the fridge will cycle more often – but since it is only keeping at 55F not 35F (regular fridge), that isn’t much of a problem. You absolutely have to have airflow, otherwise things get nasty. Been there, done that. Not repeating it
You can certainly do proscuitto in this environment, a lot of people do. One thing to think about however that such a large piece of meat gives off a lot of moisture, so think about a decent system to get that moisture out of the chamber. What I suggest is drilling holes in one side of the fridge. Then in the other drill a 3″ hole. Mount a 12V DC CPU fan over that 3″ hole. Hook this up to a dehumidifier controller, and when it senses the humidity is too high, the fan turns on and pulls that damp air out of the chamber.
The larger your chamber, the less you have to worry, since the meat wont effect the relative humidity that much in a larger air space.
Had another thought that since we live in the same neck of the woods. My fridge will be in the garage where during the winter months it can get quite cold. Do I need to be concerned with heating during the winter? I was thinking a light bulb may be enough considering the small, insulated nature of the space. Perhaps even the light bulb that is in the fridge, though that may not put out enough heat.
mpg
Other than smell what are some of the signs that your salumi should not be eaten? I have purchased the Ruhlman book (hasn’t arrived yet) and I’m hoping they have a bit on this subject. Would appreciate what you have to say on this as well.
mpg
This is a treasure trove of information! And great Blog over all! I will hopefully get this set up somehow. I’m sure all I have to say to my boyfriend is endless proscuitto and salted cod and he’ll be all over the idea! Now I just have to find a good butcher who wants to sell me his meats!
I use a large cooler w/ water for fermentation (only) & spray the product every 5-6 hours w/ mold solution….keeps it moist & at room temp for 36 or 48 hours no issues….not ideal for culturing mold, but has worked 100% so far.
For curing, I’m using a 20.5 CF freezer w/ a humidifier, (high end) humidstat, thermostat, medium sized fan I pot down w/ a rheostat which runs 24/7…it is important to have constant air flow….I’m using larger fan blades moving more slowly rather than a small fan moving more quickly…
something most folks are not doing…..
I have a 50 CFM bathroom exhaust fan that kicks in for 5 minutes a day to exhaust bad air. I placed a large hinged chunk of Styrofoam over the exhaust vent which the fan easily blows open & seals when the fan turns off. This keep the temp & humidity in place…and I can leave the thing for about ten days beforeit needs tending.
Happy Charcuterie! – Carl
Thanks for all of this great info Matt. These are is the most detailed yet easy to understand instructions on this setup I’ve found anywhere. Now I’ve got no excuses
.
Mike
What a great Idea using the fridge and it started me thinking for an alternative source other the an refrigerator.I happened to have a Kenmore wine cooler (small 18 bottle) and have been doing test on keeping the temps at 55 deg. Wine coolers seem to keep Ideal temps for curing meats as well as wines. I like to keep my wine temps at 58-60 deg. I reset the thermostat on the cooler to achieve 55 degrees and after 3 hours the cooler went as low as 54 to 56 swing this seems to be perfect for curing meats. Now I am looking at a reptile fogger for RH using distilled water. What do you think?
Jon – Wine fridges make excellent curing chambers, since they are designed to hold temps in the 50s.
Some words of warning though -
Typically wine coolers are pretty small – that means you can get a lot of stale air in there very quickly, which can in turn yield some very unsavory mold on the surface of whatever you are curing. Make sure you give the thing good ventilation. You could drill 10 small holes through one side of the unit, and 10 in the other – in somewhat of a circular pattern – that would give some air flow. If you needed more, you can mount a small DC computer fan over the holes, and set that up to a timer to turn on for 30 minutes every now and again.
For humidity I like to use an ultrasonic humidifer, linked up to a humidistat. I set the humidistat to whatever RH I want, and let it automagically turn on the humidifer. Works for me.
Make sure to get a temp and humidity sensor, and put it in the chamber too – don’t rely on the humidity reading from your humidistat, they are often pretty wrong.
I know a lot of people that hang meat in their wine cellars to great success. In fact, If I ever get in to gear I want to build out a section of my basement into a curing room – for which I will cool it with a wine room refrigeration unit I am sure.
My main curing fridge is now a very large wine cooler in fact – big enough to just about stand it. It works great.
MattWright
Great Blog! One of the best I have seen.
I will be doing this over the winter. And I also will be putting my chamber in the garage exposed to the winter temps. How will that effect things?
I see that you suggest using a humidifier plugged into a hygrostst, can you use a humidifier w/one built in?
One last question is there a way to detirmine if the meat is bad before you eat it?
Jason – to answer some of your questions:
my garage is insulated. It stays somewhere between 50F and 70F through winter and summer. If your garage isn’t insulated the temp in there might get too low over winter for curing.
I personally prefer a simple humidifer, plugged in to a decent humidistat. I started out with a humidifier that had a humidistat built in and it was bloody terrible. Then the humidistat on that gave up, so I had to throw the whole thing away.
As for determining safety – some stuff I go by:
Make sure your workmanship is good, and everything is ridiculously clean. Meat has to be kept cold during processing – especially salami.
Use nitrates and use a starter culture if you are curing salami.
Any mold other than white powder mold should be rubbed off with a cloth soaked in distilled vinegar.
If any black colored mold appears, ditch it. Don’t even think twice about it.
Make sure your curing chamber never goes over 60F.
Weigh your meat before curing. Look for around 40% weight loss as an indication that something is ready to eat.
The meat should feel firm all the way through at that point. If it feels like the outside is very dry, but the inside is squishy, you have case hardening. This means the outside has dried too much, meaning none of the internal moisture can escape. Raise humidity if that is the case.
Buy meat from small local trusted farms, that slaughter and butcher their animals properly. Mass market feed lot stuff is more likely to have E. Coli and so on (in my totally unprofessional opinion).
Smell and look. If it smells dicey, like rancid meat throw it out. If it looks odd, do the same.
Hi Matt,
Gorgeous site! I plan on setting up a curing chamber similar to what you’ve described, but have a question (just one? yeah, right). In your recipe for salami, you suggest starting the fermentation at 75F, 85-95% humidity, for 35 hours. How do you set up the environment for that? Not in the same fridge set-up I suppose; just a humid room?
Thanks for any advice, and the inspiration
-Dan
Great info Matt,
I have been making sausage for a few years, from kits. We have to start somwhere. But, I have always wonted to do more of the traditional making of cured goodies. I have a fridge(scored an old sub-zero for $50) and the rest of my parts and supplies are starting to show-up.
My first question. Do you find that a fan and ventilation holes work the best?
2nd, is salami more tempermental than curing others? In other words is there somthing you would recomend for a starting cure?
Thank you so much for your great insight.
Wade
Dan – if you have a warm humid room, that would be fine. If you have an area with a heat lamb, just enclose that in with plastic sheeting, pop a humidifier in there, and all should be fine.
Personally I actually use a second fridge into which I put a heat lamp, and use that as my fermentation box.
Wade – If you are using a traditional fridge with 0 airflow in it, then a fan is a good idea. You can simply set it on a timer to run for 15 minutes every 4 hours or so, or you could also hook it up to a dehumidifier controller and have it set to come on when the humidity gets too high.
I have had temperamental salami and whole muscles! If you are used to making sausage, it isn’t a huge jump to making salami. You will need an area for fermentation however.
If the grinding and stuffing process goes well, then actually drying salami is pretty easy – they are a uniform diameter, and have good surface area to volume – they dry really pretty well. However if your drying box isn’t well tuned, or you got some fat smear or something during making, they can be far more troublesome.
I suggest you start with something small like a duck prosciutto (cured duck breast). They cure quick, and dry reasonably fast. After that a pork loin is pretty easy, or some pancetta which is so easy you could do it in a regular fridge! Once you are happy with your drying environment, salami will cause you no problem!
Thanks Matt
I’m loving your web-site and cann’t wait to have my cure chamber up and running. I’m starting my search for duck breast.
Hi Matt,
I am starting out making sausage, but…. I live in India in the south where the humidity is high. do you think your setup will be ok for this environment?
I also have concerns that the meat i will be given in India is a bit dodgy and may not have been handled to proper standards… this is out of my control. recommend anything to counteract additional bacteria?
cheers,
allan
Allan – High (70-80%) humidity is great – higher than that is a problem. Remember if you are curing inside a fridge, the humidity will be different, since the cooling of the fridge reduces humidity in there.
Good cured meat starts with a good product. You are going to have to get your hands on some well produced, well butchered and handled meat. The whole idea is to start with meat with the lowest bad bacteria count possible. Personally if I couldn’t do that, there is no way I could meat.
Perhaps contact some higher end restaurants in your area and ask where they get their meats from and contact those suppliers.
can I use a freezer instead of a refrigerator. To make a curing chamber.
Thanks for the blog Matt – very helpful and inspirational. I don’t have space for anything other than a small wine fridge. I managed to buy one with an integrated fan which I’m hoping will provide the conditions needed – all looks good so far – thought others might be interested in how I’m getting on:
http://alex-howarth.blogspot.com/2010/11/adventures-in-wine-fridge-charcuterie.html
Does this look promising?