Reddit reviews The Art of Making Fermented Sausages

As far as I know, there aren't any mini-fridges specifically designed for curing meats. The closest I have found is a digitally controllable wine fridge. The downside is that it only goes up to 65ºF, but I ferment my salami at 70ºF. I've written a blog post about modifying my fridge for curing.

As for meat grinding, if you already have a kitchen-aid, the best thing to start with is the meat grinder attachment. Don't bother getting the stuffer attachment because it's terrible. It's really worth the money to buy a dedicated stuffer. I use this one, but I'm considering upgrading to the 15lb stuffer.

As for books, I like The Art of Making Fermented Sausages and Charcuterie. But note that The Art of Making Fermented Sausages uses T-SPX bacteria in it's recipes where Charcuterie uses F-RM-52. Curing with T-SPX takes around 30 days, where F-RM-52 is around 2 weeks (IIRC). I haven't tried curing with F-RM-52 yet. The Art of Making Fermented Sausages is very "food science" based, so it contains charts and graphs about pH levels and how they related to humidity and temp, etc. Charcuterie has more recipes than just Salami, and is more similar to a recipe book.

Good luck!

I don't really want to get in a fight about it, but IMO that's an awful book for recipes. It's incredibly inconsistent, and some are wildly off. Cool pictures. Cool text. Awful recipes.

Here are a few suggestions of mine. Pictures and prose aren't so exciting, but the recipes and techniques are rock solid.

https://www.amazon.com/Home-Production-Quality-Meats-Sausages/dp/0982426739?ie=UTF8&qid=1468252524&ref_=la_B001JRXURI_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermented-Sausages/dp/0982426712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468252549&sr=1-1&keywords=art+of+fermented+sausage

https://www.amazon.com/Charcutier-Salumiere-Wurstmeister-Francois-Paul-Armand/dp/0615720846

find the table of contents :)

You got it. Do yourself a favor and pick this up ASAP:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermented-Sausages/dp/0982426712/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1549308894&sr=8-2&keywords=fermented+sausage+making

If you want to make charcuterie, this is a must have.

Check out this blog:

http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/ - especially the posts about setting up a curing chamber.

Buy these books:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0982426712/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/175-9483040-3085932

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393058298/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Buy supplies from this site:

http://www.sausagemaker.com/


This should get you started. The two books have plenty of recipes and knowledge to keep you busy for a lifetime. Learn about the process and practice. Ask specific questions you may have. The recipes are the easy part and widely available, figuring out how to adjust the recipe to your liking is the hard part.

The Art of Making Fermented Sausages https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982426712/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_noJPCbET4MWFX

This book will get you versed in all aspects of curing. I’ve read it front to back so many times I can’t count. It’s a great start, hope that helps!

Do you have Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's book, Charcuterie? If not, pick it up. They also recently came out with another one focusing more on Italian style charcuterie. Also, Cooking by Hand, by Paul Bertolli has an excellent section on cured meats.

Check out [The Art of Making Fermented Sausages] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982426712) too, but note that there are a couple of errors in the ratios or amounts of ingredients in there, so those should be tracked down and I believe they are discussed online.

I don't know that baking soda would do anything. I use an ultrasonic humidifier connected to this thermohygrostat. I plug my fridge into the thermo side. It's quite an easy, simple set-up if you have a spare fridge. (Or, if you're me, you find that your refrigeration needs are satisfied by your old dorm fridge.)

The range that tends to be recommended is 55-60 deg F (~13C) and 75-80% relative humidity. If you're doing anything larger than a 2-3 in. diameter, I'd really recommend a dedicated chamber that stays consistently in this range.

Jason Molinari's blog is really one of the best online introductions to the craft, including treatises on the necessary equipment. Also The Marianski's book on fermented sausage is A NECESSITY for salami / dry cured sausage. Their other books come highly recommended, especially on smoking.

This is a hobby you really need to do your own reading and research into. You could make people sick and possibly kill them if you fuck up. Botulism is not a fun way to die.

And if you're on facebook, join Sausage Debauchery which is one of the most active forums I've found for this hobby, although they don't pull punches on safety.

Here's some good reading.

https://smile.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Salting-Smoking-Revised-Updated/dp/0393240053
https://smile.amazon.com/Art-Making-Fermented-Sausages/dp/0982426712/