Saturday, January 1, 2011

Salame di Mugnano

While I was back in Italy this past September I ate all kinds of great cured meats. The variety of different salami available is really mind boggling. I was at a standard grocery store near home, and picked up a couple different ones, including a Salame di Mugnano. One I hadn't had before. It had a fantastic smell, with a hint of smokiness. Upon eating it it was rich, and lightly smoked with just a little hint of heat.
As soon as I got home I started researching this particular salame. It was actually relatively easy finding out about it; a lean, large grain salame that's lightly smoked from Mugnano del Cardinale in Campania. Much harder was actually finding any information on the formula that might be used to make it. So I made up my own. This, I'm sure, is the first of many tries to get this right.












The butt, or shoulder sliced into strips that'll fit nicely into the throat of the grinder.

The belly is traditionally used for Salame di Mugnano. I got one that was as fatty as possible, and trimmed the lean off it, and added that to the lean meat.

Here is the 80/20 mix of shoulder to belly. As you can see, it's a pretty lean mixture.

The mix ground through a 1/2" grinder die. Everything was kept super cold, close to frozen really. This kept the definition nice. Fat and meat nicely distinct.

Closeup of the 1/2" ground meat. This was put back into the freezer to get really cold before it was mixed with the spices.

The spice mix. Smelled great. I used Scott's peperoncino calabrese.

The mixture was mixed well, and the starter culture with 75g of distilled water was added, and mixed in. It was then stuffed into hog middles.

Hog middle. All tied up and ready for smoke. The salami were fermented at 70 deg. F for 68 hours.

Here are 2 of the 3 salami after cold smoking for 11 hours, a full load using a ProQ, with mixed hardwood keeping the smoking chamber at about 55 deg. F. After the smoking they were put in a Tupperware for 24 hours to mellow the aroma a little, and not contaminate the whole curing chamber. I hope it doesn't. Scott told me it wouldn't....
They smell amazing.

These will stay in the curing chamber, at 55F and 75% RH, until they've lost 30-40% of their weight. I remember the Mugnano salame I ate in Italy was quite aged, quite dry.

18 comments:

scott said...

Hog middles.............ftw!

Jasonmolinari said...

love 'em scott!

Anonymous said...

Do you use a stuffer for the middles, or put the meat in by hand?

Jasonmolinari said...

Used the stuffer..kind of have to stuff and massage all the air pockets out.

Kyle Lee McKnight said...

Would pricking the hog middles with a steralized pin help or hinder??

Jasonmolinari said...

Kyle, definitely have to prick the casings to get the air pockets out...very important with all salami

Big Onion said...

Hog middles! You must have an awesome butcher nearby!

How do you do your cold smoking?

Jasonmolinari said...

I use the ProQ for cold smoking. See the link in the post.

Frankiem said...

Hi Jason...those things look insane! I just ordered the proq...looking foward to testing it out. Did you ferment first then smoke? Also did you buy the smoke cardboard box from that company, if not how did you build your smoking chamber?

Jasonmolinari said...

Thanks Frankie. They smell great.
I didn't buy any box from ProQ. Any box will do..basically you just want to contain the smoke the ProQ generates...
i do it in my Weber Smokey Mountain...put the proq where the charcoal normally goes, and put the meat on the top grate.

frankiem said...

Im sure...something about the smell of rotting pork! I thought about that but i also read that if the meat is touching eachother or anything it will effect the coloring but more importantly the flavor. do you find that incorrect?

Jasonmolinari said...

I hung mine from my top grate, so they didn't touch anythng, but i know that my friend Scott @ Sausage Debauchery doesn't, he lays them down, don't think he's had issue...

frankiem said...

Hi Jason

How long did it take for the proq to be shipped to Georgia? Its been 7 business days since I ordered it and nothing has come.

Unknown said...

Don't remember. It comes from England so it takes a bit. 10-20 days?

FrankieM said...

Hi Jason

I finally got the proQ in! Im planning to smoke some spanish chorizo this weekend so I have a couple of questions. Since the smoking stage is fermentation as well, do you pay attention to the humidity in the weber? For regular hog casings, how long would you smoke them? Thanks!

Jasonmolinari said...

I know smoking SHOULD be part of fermenting..but i ferment first in my controlled environment, so i know my ferment temp. THEN i smoke.

Since i haven't eaten any salumi from my proq yet, i can't recommend any smoking period....sorry!

Mark P said...

How did you prepare the hog middles? On the Len poli site he scrapes the fat out.

Jasonmolinari said...

Mark i just soaked them. They looked fine that way to me.
I guess, use your judgement.