MultiCultural Salami

BONELESS CHUCK

BONELESS SHORT RIB

BEEF FAT

Three pictures that show what beauty there is in food....at least yours truly thinks so. Ponder this for a moment, you combine simple ingredients I.E. meats, herbs and spices and create a masterpiece. You start out with a blank canvas and discover something special and new. What was an idea now becomes a reality and the manifestation of a Salami is born. I have been playing around with the idea of making my own Salami for some time now but have not been inspired until recently. Determined to a make a Salami and making one that was unique I decided I wanted something BIG too....Go big or go home I say. Big is certainly different. Experimenting with unusual ingredients is a lot of fun and every once in a while you make something interesting and great hence my salami is born. I present you with my Multi-Cultural Salami. Maybe I should explain why I chose this name for my Salami. The list of ingredients are multicultural, some are from North India and some are Middle Eastern thus the name.  

Dry Cure notes

This is very simple to make. I chose these meats for their flavor and fat content. As you can see I needed extra fat so I chose hard beef white fat. The other ingredients are also unique. The Grains of Paradise have citrus notes and a pungent peppery flavor. While the Demera Sugar has some molasses in it. Garam Masala is an amazing North Indian and Sumac is a tangy Middle East/Turkish spice. The mustard seeds I chose are both common (Yellow) and unique (Brown). Very different in flavor and hard to describe. The brown version is used in North African cuisine. 

Note: I used Cure # 1 to preserve color and as a preservative. I also used Sodium Phosphate to help with the yield and with its ability for allow proteins to hold on to more water. More water greater yield and moisture.  

OK enough with the spice tutorial lets move on to the Salami. 

Cut the meat and fat into 2-3 inch pieces ( this works well with my monster grinder) and partially freeze. Run meat through grinder twice. I used a 1/2 plate followed by a 1/4 inch plate.

The above video shows what a 1/2 inch grind looks like. The picture to the left shows the second grind through a 1/4 inch plate. From my experience if you're going to use a 1/4 inch plate or smaller you should always grind first through a larger plate.  

I placed the meat in mixer with all the spices with the exception of cure and phosphates and I let it rip for about 6 minutes. My meat mixer attaches to my grinder and it will hold 25 pounds of meat which makes this endeavor easy. I then took out a hunk and fried it up and tasted it to possibly adjust for taste and salt content. It was perfect. I then added the cure and phosphate and finished the mixing adding a little crushed ice to keep temp down below 40 degrees.


I prepared my high barrier casings which are huge. They are 4 3/4 inches in diameter and will hold 8 lbs. I used hog rings to secure. I wanted to make sure they could withstand the pressure of the meat being forced into them and remain airtight when I submerge them in water. I plan on using my Sous-Vide to cook these monsters. I am using my polyscience Sous-Vide app to calculate time. I am going to cook them at 161 degrees for 5:53 minutes which will bring the internal temp up to 155 F. 

 I used my Sausage stuffer which holds 15 lbs of meat to stuff these monster salamis. After I stuffed my Salamis I let them rest in a refrigerator for 24 hours to cure. 

Lets recap. Cut meat up, partially freeze and grind. Add spices and mix, stuff into prepared casings and hold for 24 hours. Sous-Vide until an internal temp of 155 F is reached. Submerge Salami in huge ice bath until temp falls rapidly to 38 degrees. Getting temp below 40 quickly takes meat out of the danger zone. 

ALL DONE and it's wonderful. I won't change a thing.

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Spicy Ethiopian Lambstrami

Spicy Ethiopian Lambstrami? What makes this dish Ethiopian are the traditional spices I am using called Berbere. Berbere is a highly seasoned exotic spice blend that contains Korarima, Rue, Ajwain and Nigella and Fenugreek to name a few. These are just some of the ingredients. There are plenty more spices and ingredients that go into making authentic Berbere. I purchased the spice from Zamouri Spices. The ratings were above average so I gave them a try.  

You might be asking yourself by now what is Lambstrami? Lambstrami is my made up name for a Lamb that is cured, smoked than tenderized using Sous-Vide. Pastrami is traditionally made from Beef but anything can be turned into a Pastrami and Pastrami just means cured meat. 

I purchased my boneless leg of lamb from Costco. Costco carries this all the time and it's so convenient to have an idea pop into your head and have access to buy what you want. The Lambs weighs 5.27 lbs or 2390.43 grams. I like using grams when calculating recipes because of the minute calculations that are required when using cures. 

Here is a picture of the lamb with the netting removed. 

Now butterflied opened with lots of slits in it to make sure spices and cures get deep into the meat. 

I've been thinking about using Berbere for several months now and could not come up with a recipe that would be great.....until now....I hope. 

I first combined the salt and cure and rubbed it into every nook and cranny of the meat. I then mixed the sugar with the Berbere and did the same thing.

All vacuumed sealed and here it will lie for 8-12 days to cure. After the curing process is complete I will rinse off the meat and figure out a way to shape it into something that I can smoke. I am going to use Transglutaminase Activa RM to bind the meat together. I want the Lamb when folded together to become one solid muscle. 
Transglutaminase, also called meat glue, is an enzyme that can be used to bind proteins to make uniform portions of fish filet, tenderloins, etc. that cook evenly, look good and reduce waste. Transglutaminase can also be used for creative applications in modernist cuisine such as making shrimp noodles, binding chicken skin to scallops or even making checkerboards with different types of fish.  How can you do such a thing? Simply apply some transglutaminase on each side of the protein to bind, press the sides together and let it rest refrigerated for a few hours

Transglutaminase ‘meat glue’ was introduced into the modernist kitchen by Heston Blumenthal and is currently being used by some of the world best chefs such as Wylie Dufresne to:- Make uniform portions of fish filet, tenderloins, etc that cook evenly, look good, and reduce waste.

After I create one solid piece of muscle using some crazy folding techniques the Activa will take a full 24 hours to bond the proteins together. Everytime I fold one of these they all come out different. Each leg is unique.

Cured and rinsed and
trying to figure out how to disassemble the Lamb so I can reassemble to form one piece.

As you can tell from the picture I cut a section off of the lamb and sliced it into long sections. I will reassemble this into one large muscle. 
 

I am going to use Transglutaminase Activa RM to bind the meat together. That's the powdery stuff you see in the picture. I want the Lamb when folded together to become one solid muscle. 

I think I did it.....

Using several layers of plastic wrap I tightly sealed and rolled the Lamb into a cylinder. It will take 24-36 hours to become one solid piece of meat. 





After the bonding takes place I will apply the Berbere and a little Muscovado sugar to the lamb. This will be the outer coating of the meat. As you can see from the picture the meat has become one solid piece.

Next step..........

• Apply Spices and sugar and Cold Smoke
• Semi-Hot-Smoke at about 150-170 degrees for a couple of hours
• Sous-Vide at 142 degrees for 12 hours. 
• Another thin
  layer of spices
• Semi-Hot-Smoke to create a better bark. 
• Slice very thin

Spices applied. I cold smoked the lamb using apple pellets for 5 hours and hot smoked 150-155 degrees using apple also for 2 hours. I used several quarts of ice and water above the coals and wood to keep temp down. I did not want the internal temp of the meat to rise above 140 degrees. As you can see it came out perfect. 

The Temp out side was about 68 degrees. I used Apple pellets and the A-MAXE-N-PELLET-SMOKER.   I filled the water reservoir up with a bucket of ice and water. I used old fashion charcoal and apple wood to smoke the meat and of course using my Smokey Mountain Cooker makes it easy. Temp fluctuated between 150-155 degrees. After 2 hours I pulled the meat off. Now getting it ready for 12 hour water bath.  

Sealed and ready for the 12 hour water bath. 

Submerged for 12 hours. The results are on the right. After 12 hours had passed I submerged the lamb into an ice bath to cool it off. Last step will be to Hot-Smoke under 200 degrees and form Bark/Coating. I will apply the Berbere, Sugar and Grains of paradise for texture. The Lamb will be Hot-smoke for 2 hours. After this step it will be ready for slicing and eating. 

After its long 12 hour bath its ready for the additional spices. So lets recap a bit. After its long 12 hour bath I gave it a 3 hour ice bath than refrigerated it for 24 hours. I wanted it ice cold before putting it back on the Smoker. 

Grains of Paradise, Muscovado sugar and the Ethiopian spice all in place. 

A two cook at 155-175 degrees using Apple wood. Again I used an ice basket below to keep temp down.

All done and ready for the slicer. Note: the additional cooking was to create a nice bark. Was it really necessary? no not really unless like me you want a bark.

A thing of beauty!!!!!!

SEE REVIEW BELOW...

My babies close up!!!!

Final thoughts: One word AMAZING!! One of the most tasteful unique foods I have ever made. I will not change a thing. Every step was perfect!!! The texture, the taste was to die for. Flavors not too pronounced or muted by the long Sous-vide process. 

To recap all the steps to pull this off:

• Buy Lamb
• Prepare Lamb and get spices and herbs in order.
• Vacuum Seal and cure
• Rinse
• Fold and shape into desired shape
• 36 hour rest in cooler
• Apply Spices and sugar and Cold Smoke for 4-5 hours
• Semi-Hot-Smoke at about 150-170 degrees for a couple of hours
• Sous-Vide at 142 degrees for 12 hours. 
• Ice bath for 3 hours
• Refrigerate at least 24 hours
• Apply another thin
  layer of spices
• Semi-Hot-Smoke to create a better bark. 
• Slice very thin

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