Meats and Sausages
Salamini Italiani alla Cacciatora
Salamini Italiani alla Cacciatora is a popular short salami also known as Hunter’s sausage (‘alla cacciatora’ means ‘hunter-style’). Hunter’s sausage can also be found in other countries, for example German Jadgwurst or Polish Mysliwska sausage. The sausage owes its name to the tradition that once it was the meal of hunters, who used to carry it in his bag during the hunting trips.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean pork, shoulder, leg (ham), loin | 700 g | 1.54 lb |
| Back fat, jowls, pork belly | 300 g | 0.66 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Salt | 28 g | 5 tsp |
| Cure #2 | 2.5 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Pepper | 1.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Garlic, minced | 7.0 g | 2 cloves |
| Dextrose | 3.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Sugar | 3.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Red wine | 15 ml | 1 Tbsp |
| T-SPX culture | 0.12 g | use scale |
Instructions
- Grind lean pork through 1/4” (6 mm) plate.
- Dice fat into 1/4” (6 mm) cubes.
- Soak minced garlic in red wine.
- 30 minutes before mixing dissolve starter culture in 1 tablespoon de-chlorinated water.
- Mix lean pork with salt and cure #2. Add spices, wine and culture. Mix. Add diced fat and mix all together.
- Stuff firmly into 65 mm natural casings making 6” (15 cm) links.
- Ferment at 20º C (68º F) for 72 hours, 90-85% humidity.
- Dry at 18-25° C (64-77° F), 65-75% humidity for 1 week.
- Dry at 15→12° C (59→53° F), 65-75% humidity for 3-4 weeks.
- Store at 10-12° C (50°-55 F), 75% humidity.
Notes
History
Historical references to “Salamini italiani alla cacciatora” are found in culinary traditions from Lombardy that are still kept alive today. The reputation enjoyed by ‘Salamini italiani alla cacciatora’ is linked to its traditional production area. Based on word-of-mouth accounts, production can be traced back to the Lombard invasions of northern Italy, from where it spread to neighboring areas of central Italy. The production area gradually came to comprise the group of regions in which the ‘Italian heavy pig’ is typically found. The product’s history is linked to the development of a specific rural culture throughout the entire macro-region known as ‘Padania’ (another name for the Po Valley).
The geographical area of production
Salamini italiani alla cacciatora must be produced in the traditional production area, which comprises the entire territory of the following regions, which are also the regions from which the pigs originate: Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Tuscany, Marche, Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise.
Production
Meat: lean pork meat, hard pig fat. Mechanically separated meat may not be used.
Ingredients: salt, whole pepper and/or ground pepper, garlic. wine, sugar and/or dextrose and/or fructose, fermentation starter cultures, sodium and/or potassium nitrate up to a maximum of 195 ppm, sodium and/or potassium nitrite up to a maximum of 95 ppm, ascorbic acid and its sodium salt.
Processing: meat and fat is minced through 3 – 8 mm (1/8 – 1/4”) grinder plate. The ground meat is mixed with all ingredients and stuffed into natural or synthetic casings not bigger than 75 mm in diameter. Heavier sausages nay be reinforced with butcher twine. The sausages are fermented/dried at 18 – 25° C (64 – 77° F) for a few days. The, the sausages are dried/matured at 10 – 15° C (50 – 59° F) for at least 10 days. The finished product must have pH of at least 5.3 a diameter of not more than 60 mm, a length of not more than 200 mm (8”) and a weight of not more than 350 g (0.77 lb).
