Winter Newsletter! Salami Season & New Masterbuilt packages available

How’s it going? If you live in any one of the Southern states, you’ll have no doubt realised that winter’s definitely arrived! Despite the painfully short days and the icy cold nights, there’s actually something a lot of people who like to smoke and cure look forward to at wintertime – and that’s making their own salami or dry-cured meat products! Queen’s Birthday weekend is the traditional weekend to kick off a season of meat curing! We’ll be getting together with our friends and family down on the coast this weekend to do exactly that (we’ll try to post some pics on our Facebook page). If you haven’t given Salami making a go, we highly recommend taking a course or reading up on how to do it so you can enjoy making your own products this winter.

This newsletter will be all about making sausages and salami, we’ll be awarding $20 store credit to each of the best three product reviews from the past couple of months, and showing off some winter specials we have for you – including two new Masterbuilt Smoker packages and 10% off our Reber sausage fillers and mincers! We’ve also included a basic salami recipe to try and highlighted our Hi Mountain Salami kit for those who might want to start off with something a bit easier…

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
 

New Masterbuilt Smoker Packages

We’ve created two new Masterbuilt Smoker packages which are available in store now, so if you’re thinking of purchasing a MES40, or know someone who is (please forward this newsletter on), now’s the time to do it and become a proud owner of the Gen 2 Masterbuilt Smoker.

The first one is the Hot/Cold 

Smoker package, which includes the 40″/100cm Masterbuilt Smoker with the window door as well as the 5×8″ A-maze-N cold smoker and a small bag of wood pellets as well as the standard starter pack. Click here to find out more about this package, it’s only $789 plus delivery!!

The second package is the Complete Smoker package, it includes both the 16″ high stand, and fold up side shelf accessories at a discounted price. So if you want to have the best looking and most functional MES40 out there this is the package for you. Click here to find out more

It’s only going for $859 plus delivery!

Reber Sausage Fillers and Mincers

If you’re looking for high-quality sausage making equipment that’s reliable and won’t let you down, or you want to replace that old mincer that keeps failing on you or is wearing out fast, then look no further than the Italian made Reber fillers and mincers. They are one of the leading brands in the business and have a reputation for quality and design. 

Sausage and Salami Making Supplies

Some of our customers have already started stocking up on their supplies this season, and we want to let you know that we are fully stocked and have everything you need from mincers, fillers, smokers, casings, seasonings, twine, starter cultures and other additives used in Salami making. For those of you who haven’t tried making Salami, its a heap of fun and very rewarding, but it’s obviously not as easy as making fresh sausages. We also have some books below to recommend which are excellent resources for understanding the fermenting and dry-curing process and they also include lots of recipes to try out. Once you’ve read these books you’ll feel much more confident in making safe and delicious dry-cured products at home – so why not give salami making a go this winter? Double click on the pictures below to find out more about the books.

PRODUCT REVIEWS

We had a lot of great product reviews arrive in our inbox since our last newsletter so as always, it was tough to pick the 3 winners. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review our products and please continue to keep them coming!

Congratulations to Neil, Dave and an anonymous reviewer. Could Dave and the anonymous Kosher salt reviewer please contact us so that we can apply for your $20 credit? Please remember to submit your name in full for any reviews as it helps us identify you as the winner.

All Natural Hog/Pig Sausage Casings Home Pack – Size 36

RECIPE CORNER

Spicy Cacciatore
A traditional Italian ‘Hunter’s Sausage’ – with a bit more spice than usual. You can use pork, pork/beef mixed or even venison and wild boar. In this recipe we are just going to use Pork and like making fresh sausages, we want approximately 30% fat in the mix. You can use pork back fat and mix it with lean pork to get the right mix. Please note: be sure that you have read some books (like those recommended above) before you attempt this recipe, you should have a good understanding of how fermented sausages are made to avoid potentially making yourself or others very sick. If you’re not sure that your product is safe to eat, then it probably isn’t and should be thrown out.

Preparation time: 3 hours
Cooking time: Dry curing 4-8 weeks           Servings: 20

Ingredients:
2.5kg pork

1kg pork back fat
95g Kosher Salt
10g Cure #2
11g Dextrose
¼ Cup Distilled Water
½ Cup Red Wine
0.5g Bactoferm T-SPX starter culture
0.5g Bactoferm Mold-600 (optional)
2 Tbsp Garlic Powder
2.5 Tbsp Coriander Seed
4.5 Tbsp Black Pepper
1.5 Tbsp Caraway Seed
1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper
6 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
Cacciatore Size 44+ Hog Casings

Method:
1) Prepare your casings by soaking them in warm water for a couple of hours. Rinse casings in warm water too. Cut pork and fat into cubes to be minced. Mince pork and back fat through a 5mm plate. Remember to put your meat in the freezer for an hour or two before you begin processing, so as to keep it as cold as possible. Also it’s good practice to keep your kitchen as cold as possible too.

2) Mix the T-SPX starter culture in ¼ cup distilled tepid water and let sit for 15m or so. While this is sitting, mix the rest of the dry ingredients with your meat. Once done, pour in the starter culture and wine, making sure your meat mix is still very cold. If it’s not cold enough keep it in the freezer for an hour or so and start again. Mix the mince and ingredients thoroughly. You can also run the mix through the mincer again if you wish. Store mix in the freezer until you’re ready to fill the casings.

3) Using a sausage filler, fill your casings, making sure that no air gets trapped inside the casings while filling. Make 6” links and use a sterilised needle or salami pricker to prick through the casings once filled to let out any air pockets/bubbles. Air pockets in salami can cause your product to spoil, and cause sickness if eaten. It is very important that no air pockets exist in your product.

4) Once stuffed, it’s time to hang the links inside an enclosed space to ferment, ideally you want 20°C temperature at very high humidity. Optional step: Dip the salami into a Bactoferm Mold-600/distilled water solution to inoculate and protect your salami from potentially harmful foreign moulds (it will also positively affect the flavour of your salami). Spray the sausages every 6 hours or so with distilled water, which will keep them moist and the humidity up. Ferment for 48-72 hours.

5) After fermentation, hang your sausages to air dry. Sausages must be hung in a clean area, where there is minimal temperature fluctuation and ideally between 12-16°C. Humidity should be in the range of 70-85% RH, any lower and you will experience case hardening. Dry for approximately 4-8 weeks, until a 30% reduction in weight has been achieved.

6) Store final Cacciatore in the fridge or vac seal and keep in the freezer for long-term storage.

If your looking for an easier and safer salami to try out, checkout our Hi Mountain Salami kit, which makes an American style salami, which is semi cooked as well for safety, but tastes delicious. This kit now comes with casings (7x 55mmx50cm collagen casings), so all you’ll need to do is add the meat!           <—  Click here to find out more.

WINTER SPECIALS!!!

Apart from the 10% off Reber deal and the new Masterbuilt Smoker packages, we’re giving away a free mystery gift with every order over $150, but only for the next two weeks! Also if you require any last minute supplies for this coming weekend, please be sure to contact us or leave us a message in your order form to arrange Express delivery if it is possible.

If you have any product suggestions or requests, please drop us an email at: info@smokedandcured.com.au and we’ll try our best to stock it.

Hope you make good use of the cold months ahead, enjoy all the smoking and curing this winter!

Cheers

Ben, Christine and the Smoked and Cured team