The magical time has finally approached and time to embark on my journey with my 6 year old son and our first attempt together making ‘homemade’ Genova salami.  It took a little coaxing and bribery to get him in the kitchen today, however once all the equipment was on the kitchen butcher block his eyes open wide seeing all the cool things he soon would get to play with and use.

All of the organizing happened earlier in the week making sure I had all the proper raw materials and charcuterie supplies to get the job done making our Italian traditional deli meat.  One important trip was over to our friend “Jack”, the local butcher in town.  It had been a few days since we last visited and I wanted to make sure the right pork shoulder, pork back fat and fresh natural casings would be available for our project.  Jack always has come through with great products and this time would be no different, a local Colorado farm would be delivering fresh hogs at the end of the week – Perfect!

I did some digging through old notes and files from my early culinary days and came across a recipe from an instructor I had during my days at the Culinary Institute of America, so today I’m taking claim with a slight adjustment to the seasonings.   As for my recipe, today is day one for the new tradition, unlike the Volpi family’s ‘old-world’ recipes that have been handed down and perfected from generation to generation creating fantastic authentic Italian meats that today can claim over a century of history.  Besides finding a Genova salami recipe a handful of notables were in the pile, Sopressata, Chorizo, Red Wine Salami and Bresaola.

The recipe for this project:

18 pounds        Pork Shoulder (has approx 20% fat ratio)

2 Pounds          Pork Back Fat

8 oz                  Sea Salt

2.5 oz               Sugar

3 oz                  Red Wine

3 oz                  Garlic, powder

.5 oz                 Fennel Seed, ground

1 oz                  Black Pepper

.25 oz               White Pepper

.05 oz               Cure Salt

Required          Starter Culture (see manufacturer recommendations)

Before I can get busy cutting, grinding and seasoning anything it is imperative to clean and sanitize the equipment and all working surfaces.  So now that this is out of the way, time to get cutting and grinding our pork.  I prefer to start by dicing the pork shoulder and pork back fat into 1 ½ -2 inch cubes, placing them in the freezer to ensure a very cold temperature is maintained – about 33°F-36°F.  By keeping the meat cold during grinding processing it will assist in creating a nice emulsion providing for proper texture and consistency in the final product.  I will be using a 1/8” plate in order to have a fine grind for this batch of Genova salami.

Once all of the grinding is completed, then all the other ingredients with exception of the ‘starter culture’ will be added to the ground pork.  Make sure to mix very well to incorporate and evenly distribute ingredients, maybe 3 -4 minutes.  Next is the starter culture, add to the ground pork mixture and mix well, additional 2 -3 minutes.

Now for the fun part, father and son need to get all of this pork mixture into the salami stuffer in order to fill the natural casings.  I chose a smaller hog casing for this project for a few reasons, first it will keep our fermentation, maturation and drying time shorter allowing us to reap the rewards of our work sooner.  A few laughs and smiles for us as my son cranks the press too fast and we ‘squirt’ the pork through weak part in the casing all over the butcher block.

Once all the pork has been filled into casings, I plan to the following guidelines for fermentation: 75°F-80°F with humidity at 75%-85% for the first 24 to 48 hours.  The target pH we are looking for is 4.7 – 4.9.  The maturation process will need temperatures between 55°F-60°F with humidity at 70%-80%.  It is during this stage where the salami will lose water in area of 35%-40%.

My wife is shaking her head and my son laughing as we stare at the 20 or so pounds of fresh ‘homemade’ Genova salami hanging in the basement wine cellar.  Let the adventure begin and in 30 or so days and all going well our first taste…….

All the best,

Chef Michael