Anyone have any ideas on this.....

[Jogeephus]

Have 3 salami's curing and one of them has sprung a leak and oily fat is seeping out of the casing. When I first noticed it I thought it was just a drop of moisture on the mold from condensation but it has since grown to what is pictured. Its somewhat greasy and has a nice smell so I don't think its anything serious but then again .... I never dreamed Elton John was gay either.

Here is what it looked like today.



I've been thinking this over and wondering why it is happening to one and not the other two and the biggest difference other than spices is that the one leaking has a 50/50 pork to beef ratio and the others have less beef. Also the recipe called for lean beef which not exactly what I used. Here is some of the cheap cuts I pulled from the freezer. Its not exactly lean but its all I had and I'm not about to buy beef.



Also, I've noticed the salami on the right is also showing some signs of oil on the bottom of the casing.

BTW - these are drying well and should be ready in ten days if the weight loss continues at its present rate which will put it in line with what its supposed to do.

My theory is that I've put too much fat in the casing and its coming out as it dries and there is no problem with the salami itself. Does this sound reasonable? Or what am I missing besides Elton being gay? Or at least that's what I heard.

Oh, the chamber smells like what I hope heaven smells like.

Thanks.

[the chorizo kid]

my gut reaction as a non expert: inconceivable that fat would be dripping out at the proper drying/ageing chamber temperature [about 55F]. somthing does not add up. was there a lot of water trapped in the meat?

[Jogeephus]

I thought the same, but the chamber was kept at 52 F and 85% humiditiy for 10 days then dropped to 60/60 to finish. This same stick is the one I mentioned in another thread of how it was drying 40% faster than others. Didn't reach a solid conclusion of the reason for this but now the stick on the right is beginning to do the same except its starting at the bottom. Other than the different meat concentrations the only other thing I can think that might be relevant is I had to buy some pork from the store and it was packed in plastic and seemed to have a lot of water in it but I cannot remember which sticks this was used in.

But the fluid has the consistancy of baby oil. Its really not that much but a little seems to goes a long way.

[mattwright]

I am certainly no expert on beef salami, but when I dry bresaola I see a lot of thick glutenous liquid come out of the meat as drying. One bresaola that I dried in a casing welled up so much of this liquid under the casing that I had to eventually take off the casing to prevent such a build up.

Maybe something similar?

[Jogeephus]

I think you are right. I think the casing is shrinking and squeezing whatever it can out. I think this is why the recipe called for lean beef which I didn't use. I weighed all three yesterday and they are continuing to dry at a consistent rate. If all continues like this they should be ready next weekend. I just hope they are not going to be too greasy but they smell great. The oily stuff doesn't taste too bad either. .

[BriCan]

I think you are right. I think the casing is shrinking and squeezing whatever it can out. I think this is why the recipe called for lean beef which I didn't use.

Therein is the problem, any time we make beef or a combination (2/3rds beef 1/3rd pork) salami the beef is always lean. Baron beef well trimmed. We never use beef trim because has to be used so never had these problems.
HTH

[ben.mcgeever]

I had a similar problem with Pork products and eventually eliminated it by reducing the temp at which I grind the meat and fat, I now keep everything almost frozen for all the processing.

Ive also found that the lean beef sausages I make like Lebanon Baloney or Landjager are a lot more tolerant of processing temperatures, but sometimes I get lazy and make Landjager with some fatty meat and don't pay attention to temperature, and it oils out too.

For temperature I basically follow the same procedure as John Toulze describes in his video here: http://www.starchefs.com/features/trend ... ndex.shtml

Hope this helps

Ben

[Jogeephus]

Thanks Ben, that is a good video. I "thought" my meat was semi frozen but after seeing how Toulze's is maybe I need to get it even colder.

[beardedcook]

Hi,

Sorry for necroing old post.
Today I notices similar thing with some of my salami that I made yesterday. It also happened with my pancetta last week.
Is it true temperature is the culprit? my curing chamber is at 10°-15°C and 60%-70% RH. I checked if my thermostat and hygrostat are broken or not, but they are working like normal.

[NCPaul]

Your humidity needs to come up. I think the outside of the salami is drying too fast and it is squeezing itself. The humidity can be in that range at the end of the process; aim for 85-80 % RH at the start.

[beardedcook]

Thanks for your reply NCPaul.
I see. I am following Ruhlman's Salumi book. Since he does not specify the RH of his curing chamber on his salami recipe, I assume it is the same as the others.
But how does that apply to pancetta arrotolata? it is a whole muscle, not grounded meat.

I will change my hygrostat to 80% RH and update.

[NCPaul]

You are trying to balance the water content inside the salami with the water in the air that surrounds it. When you start, there is a lot of water in the salami so the RH should be high. As the salami dries, the RH can come down. You are aiming for a balance between how fast water moves inside the salami with how fast water leaves the salami. For the pancetta, only about half is meat (depending on the belly) so the amount of water contained is already low and the drying is not as critical. Whole muscle cuts are altogether more forgiving. If you dry the pancetta flat (Tessa), you can even do it in your regular fridge.

[beardedcook]

I set my hygrostat to 72-80% RH, it stopped the oil leak in 2-3 days. My hygrostat can't handle more than 80% RH, RH above 80% seems to cause dew to build up on the sensor and give reading error.
Thank you very much for your help NCPaul!