This is my 1st attempt at a goat salame.
In Italy goat salame is often mixed with some percentage of beef, to mellow out the gamey, goatey flavor. Personally I like strong flavors, so I went 100% goat for the meat portion.
I got some goat leg that was cut into bone in cubes. I removed the meat from the bones and cut it into strips and cubes that would fit into the grinder.The meat is VERY lean, and a dark dark crimson red. It's really beautiful looking.
Fat has to be added to the goat meat, as it's just too lean alone. Pork fat is generally used for this. Here are the pork belly strips after being in the freezer.
Goat and pork ground through the new, super secret, Kitchenaid grinder plate. 3/8".Keeping everything cold gives good separation between meat and fat. That's good.
The meat was mixed with the pulverized spice mixture and starter culture which was diluted in about 50g of distilled water about 15 minutes before use.The paste was mixed for about 2 minutes in the KA mixer with the paddle, and then stuffed in beef middles. I tied them off in salamini...or little salami.
Next step: fermentation chamber.
This is after 48 hours at 70 deg. F in my closed fermentation box.Just after they were put in there they were sprayed with a solution of M-EK4 mold. 1/2 teaspoon of the mold was diluted in about 1/2 cup of distilled water and allowed to sit a couple of hours.
Into the chamber for the next 20-30 days, or until they've lost about 30% of their weight, or they feel right.The chamber is running at 55 deg. F and 75% RH.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Goat, huh? The bar has now been raised......touche', sir. Prepare for my retort.
ReplyDeleteScott, i anxiously await your response!
ReplyDeleteawesome jason! salumi may be my next project in 2011....your website is such a great resource
ReplyDeletethanks Jimmy. did you make the pizza oven?
ReplyDeleteI have a question, I see you have lots of different things hanging in the fridge. When you raise the humidity for something new does it effect the other things in the fridge? Or do you do it in batches so it all runs about the same?
ReplyDeleteMike
Nice!!
ReplyDeleteI'm doing a goat leg for proscuitto ( mochetto )
I still haven't made a single salume.. and I bought a grinder, I really need to get my butt moving!!
todd
What do you use to spray the mold and how do you clean your sprayer afterword?
ReplyDeletejust a regular old spray bottle. Clean it with clean water and soap, nothing special.
ReplyDeleteMike, i just leave the humidity the same pretty much all the time...75% is where i target.
ReplyDeleteMay I impose on you with two questions? I've had a difficult time getting my salamis to be chewey. The taste is good, but the texture is crumbly. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? The secons question is about color. My salami is pinker rather than redder. What do they do to get that nice dark red color? Thank You. Frank
ReplyDeleteThe crumblyness could be coming either from insufficient mixing before casing to create a bind in the meat. Mix until you see a white film on the sides of the bowl, and the paste feels tacky.
ReplyDeleteOther reason is maybe you're not packing it in the casing enough? Make sure it's tightly packed in there with no air pockets.
Are you using cure #2 for your salame? What %?
thank you for your response. Is 1-1/2 minute on the Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment too little? I am always concerned that I mix it too much and that will cause the fat pieces to disintregrate. I do use cure #2 and most of the recipies I use call for a .25% of the weight of the meat. This pinkness is more pronounced when I use ham meat rather than shoulder, but the shoulder salamis aren't that deep dark red that even columbus brand Sopressata has every time.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of hard to say how long is long enough for mixing. It'll depend on the quantity of meat and on your mixer speed.
ReplyDeleteYou have to mix until the paste becomes tacky and sticky...without smooshing the fat blobs:)
i'm not sure what's going on with the color..sounds like you have the right additives.
You all might find this interesting.
ReplyDeleteI got in touch with eBay member dive-xtras, and they are currently making a run of 9.5mm plates for Kitchenaid grinders. They plan to have them in stock before Christmas.
Wish I would have known that before I just spend $25 in a bidding war on one.
-James O'Meara
That's great, thanks James!
ReplyDeleteI worked as a chef for 20 years trying all different kinds of meat and trust me goat is good.
ReplyDeleteI love goat, biltong
ReplyDeletecould this be the cause of not reddening enough?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-carrageenan.htm
its a thickening agent that is sometimes present in commercial salamis or so im told
Josh
Josh, i don't see how carrageenan in commercial salame would make it more red.
ReplyDeleteWhat % of dextrose are you adding for fermentation?
A friend is also having color issues, his stuff tastes great, but it isn't as red as mine...we're thinking it might be b/c he's using less dextrose, so it's acidifying less....