Charcuterie For Dummies. Mark LaFay

would argue gives you a better smoke flavor.

      The Sausage Maker

      FIGURE 1-10: Gas-burning smoker.

Curing Chambers

Later in this book, you learn how to make dry-cured meats like salami and prosciutto. In order to dry-cure meat, you need to be able to control temperature, humidity, and airflow. Unless you have a sweet 200-year-old barn in the hills of Tuscany, it can be a chore to replicate the type of environment you will need to produce dry-cured products. Never fear, though; you have a couple of options. Your first option is to purchase a dry-curing chamber like the one pictured in Figure 1-11.

      The Sausage Maker

      FIGURE 1-11: Ready-made dry-curing chamber.

      The dry-curing chamber controls both its internal humidity and temperature to ensure you get slow, controlled drying. The downside to this type of device is the cost.

Your second option is to construct your own dry-curing chamber. You can do this with a working refrigerator, and some relatively inexpensive sensors and controls like those pictured in Figure 1-12. The detailed process for building your own chamber is outside the scope of this book. However, if there’s an internet search engine, there’s a way!

      Auber Instruments

FIGURE 1-12: Humidity and temperature control sensors for a homemade curing chamber.

Scientific Meters

      Humans have been preserving meats without modern technology for a few thousand years now. Methods of fermenting (to control acidity of meat), salting, and drying have been handled by family lore, which often included tracking.

      Today we have the benefit of a great deal of science that has helped shed light on why things were done a certain way. Shelf stability is a term used to describe the condition of a food product that doesn’t need refrigeration. You create shelf stability in meat by controlling the amount of water (water activity, a_w) in the meat through salting and drying. In the case of salami, you also manage it by increasing the acidity of the meat, which is measured in pH.

      Water activity meter

      Explaining water activity in a straightforward manner is no simple task. It is a scientific way of determining how much water is available in something. Water is required for bacteria and other organic pathogens to be able to live and replicate. As a result, the best way to limit the growth of bacteria, which can be potentially harmful and cause spoilage, is to eliminate as much of the water as possible. A substantial amount of research is available on the internet to explain the correlation between water activity and shelf stability.

Water activity (a_w) meters are largely cost prohibitive for the home enthusiast, so I will focus on Old World methods of tracking water loss through weight loss over time to determine the safety of your meat products. However, if you have the resources and the desire to take that extra step toward safety, the leading producer of water activity meters is the METER Group.

      pH meter

      With food, acidity is best described as how sour something tastes; the more sour it is, the more acidic it is. When making salami, one of the requirements for safety is to lower the pH — that is, to make it acidic — so that bacteria is unable to grow in the interior of the salami while it dries. There are many ways to increase acidity (lower pH), which you will learn about in Chapter 7. You will find that pH meters are both affordable and necessary when you start making your own salami. There is no way to safely approximate the pH of a meat product without testing it.

Small Wares

      In addition to the larger specialized tools and equipment that you will need to successfully craft your meats, you will also need a handful of other smaller tools.

       Knives: Knives are highly personal. There is not one size that fits all when choosing knives; however, a flexible or semi-flexible boning knife and a hard chef’s knife will serve you well.

       Cutting boards: You can never have enough cutting boards. You should only use plastic cutting boards, because they can be cleaned and sanitized with ease. Wood looks cool, but unless it is a properly sealed hardwood cutting board, it can lead to trouble.

       Sausage pricker: These are small tools intended for pricking sausages to let air bubbles out.

       Scales: Scales that measure in grams and ounces are ideal for accurately measuring salts, nitrates, spices, and so on. Larger scales for weighing larger quantities of meat are also a necessity.

       Metal bowls and tubs: Large mixing bowls or plastic tubs are a must for holding both ground and unground meats.

Properly Caring for Your Gear

      Once you’ve made an investment in equipment, you will want to take good care of it so that it lasts a long time, and also to keep you and the beneficiaries of your hobby safe and healthy! All of your equipment must be properly cleaned with warm, soapy water and then disinfected with some sort of sanitizer like a bleach-and-water mixture.

      

You can disinfect with a solution of one tablespoon of bleach to one gallon of cold water. If the water is hot, then the chlorine will evaporate off, so be sure to use cold water. Immerse the equipment in the mixture and then let it air dry.

      Once you’ve cleaned and disinfected your equipment, if there are any rubber gaskets or stainless steel parts that require some sort of lubrication, be sure to apply it per the manufacturer’s specifications.

      

Only store your gear after it has dried completely.

      Caring for your grinder

      Properly cleaning a meat grinder requires a little TLC. Meats and spices tend to clump inside the hopper, as well as in the threads of the locking ring. You may need a small wire brush to break these particles free. This can be particularly arduous if you have any sugar in your recipe, as it can quickly become sticky. A high-pressure spray setting on your sink faucet can also assist in pushing particles through the small holes of the grinder plate. Be sure to thoroughly inspect the grinder before sanitizing it and leaving it to dry.

      Once your grinder parts are dry, you can avoid rust by applying food-safe mineral oil all over the parts that experience the greatest amount of friction. If you find a little bit of rust, don’t fret. Use lemon juice and a rag to remove the rust, then properly lubricate the parts with food-safe mineral oil.

      Caring for your stuffer

Much like a meat grinder, a sausage stuffer isn’t the easiest thing