Homemade Smoked Ham Salami
A homemade smoked ham deli-style salami, made because store-bought versions are full of water, soy protein, potato starch, lactose and countless E-additives (and even traces of gluten). The result slices thinly, holds its shape and has a barely detectable smoky aroma. Because the author's gourmet salt is slightly spicy, a gentle warmth appears two or three minutes after tasting. Perfect as a mezze or in sandwiches.
Ingredients
| 1 kg | Pork shoulder |
| 12 g | Nitrite salt |
| 8 g | Regular salt (or gourmet salt) |
| 2 g | Sugar |
| 3 g | Ground white pepper |
| 2-3 drops | Liquid smoke |
| 150 ml | Ice water with ice cubes |
Instructions
- For the batch made here, buy 600 g cooking pork and 600 g from the shoulder. Cooking pork is cheaper and, since it will be blended, there is no need for a pricier cut. Cut the pork that will be blended quite fine; cut the shoulder meat into larger random pieces (1x1.5 cm, 1.5x2 or up to x2.5 cm) — it will go into the salami as pieces. Prepared this way the meat came to exactly 1150 g.
- For this amount of meat you need about 150 ml ice water with ice cubes. In the bowl of a nutri-blender, add a little of the ice water and a little of the meat (about 150 g at a time) — puree in 4 batches, each time a little water and a little meat. The little machine is weak, so work with rests to avoid overloading it.
- You get an ideal meat paste; add the cubed pieces of meat and the spices and knead well. Spices: 12 g nitrite salt, 10 g of the author's universal gourmet salt, 3 g sugar, 3 g ground white pepper.
- Knead everything very well using a pre-chilled metal bowl and a chilled stirring spoon. Keep the meat right in the fridge chamber, take it out in parts and cut it as fast as possible; cut or blend each batch and return it to the fridge. It is extremely important that products are well chilled and their temperature does not exceed 12 C (14 C at most). At the end of the process, before the final 24-hour rest, the temperature was 10.9 C.
- Before chilling the finished forcemeat, divide it into two equal parts. Into one, drop 2-3 drops of liquid smoke; leave the other plain. Rest 24 hours in the fridge.
- Fill into casings through a funnel. Natural pork or collagen casings were unavailable, so artificial ones were used; they need no pre-soaking but shrink oddly afterwards and do not hold shape as well. Pictured are the ones flavored with liquid smoke.
- Thermal treatment: in the oven, with a tray full of water underneath on the rack. Set the oven to 50 C on the bottom fan only, and every 30 minutes raise the temperature by 10 C until it reaches 80 C. Continue until a thermometer stuck in the salami reads 70 C. For the smoked ones the thermal treatment took exactly 3 hours.
- Immediately after, cool intensively under cold running water for at least 10 minutes, then leave in the cold water about an hour. After drying, a mandatory rest of at least 24 hours in the fridge — salami tasted right after drying has no flavor; it must mature to develop its taste.
- Reference quantities per 1 kg: 1 kg pork shoulder; 20 g salt, of which 12 g nitrite and 8 g regular; 2 g sugar; 3 g ground white pepper; 2-3 drops liquid smoke. The ham flavor comes from the nitrite salt (plain salt works if you have none). Without liquid smoke there will be no smoky taste, but it can be replaced with a little smoked paprika. Making the author's gourmet salt is recommended as it solves many flavor problems in homemade sausages.