Another venture into dry-curing.

I bought a wine fridge from craigslist for $60 and it makes a suitable drying chamber with little modifications. For this project it ran 55 degrees and 66 percent humidity.

These pepperonis were stuffed into 2 1/2" protein lined casings and dried in 3 1/2 weeks. I used the recipe from this site and did the traditional dried version.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/pepperoni.htm

I used pork butt and beef chuck.

Wine fridge
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr267/kingudaroad/pepperoni/PEPPERONI004.jpg

Pepperoni lost 37 percent of its green weight. The ends were a little overdry. Next time I will make the sticks a little shorter to improve consistency.
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr267/kingudaroad/pepperoni/PEPPERONI008.jpg
The texture is awesome and they turned out very spicy. I think a home made pizza is in order this weekend.
http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr267/kingudaroad/pepperoni/PEPPERONI001.jpg

Thanks for lookin!

Keith,
You are killing me!! Damn that looks so good, I would be a rockstar around here if I could make pepperoni... I so want to do this when I grow up!!!
huge poi-nts, BTW nice score on the wine fridge!

Wow... VERY nice. Let's see if I can give some poi-nts today.... Impressive Keith!

Excellent!! They look just about perfect....beautiful job Keith!!:hail:
poi-nts

im setting up and have the necessary equipment but dont have the nerve--my hat's off to you--great looking stuff :)

Homemade pepperoni is definately worth points. Can't wait to see what else you put into the the wine fridge for curing. Outstanding.

great job on the peppy some day I will try this poi-nts

Thanks to everyone!!

It is certainly intimidating to try to make an edible sausage without ever actually cooking the meat, but I will say this to those that have an interest...

Starter cultures are easy to use.
The wine fridge with a tub of wet salt in the bottom makes an adequate environment to dry.
It's easier than making smoked sausage.

I owe a lot of credit to Danger Dan and his inspiring projects.:thumb:

Beautilful stuff ya got there.:drooling:poi-nts

Gawd!!! I'd love to try that some day poi-nts

That's great man.
Is that all you did with the cooler? Just wet salt?
I would like to try this, but the only place I have to dry it in is already in use for aging cheese. But I do have several small refrigerators.
How 'bout a step by step tutorial, Keith?

That's great man.
Is that all you did with the cooler? Just wet salt?
I would like to try this, but the only place I have to dry it in is already in use for aging cheese. But I do have several small refrigerators.
How 'bout a step by step tutorial, Keith?


The thing about the wine fridge is they are made to be between 50 and 60 degrees for the wine storage. A regular fridge is usually 34 to 40. A regular fridge also is made to dehumidify the air as it is cooled where a wine fridge will maintain humidity.
The wet salt will also increase humidity. I would like the humidity a bit higher than it was, but it was enough to make the sausage dry from the inside out. If the outside dries before the inside, the interior moisture will not be able to escape.

Tom, I would put one of those refrigerators on its highest setting with a baking sheet full of wet salt on the bottom. If the temp will get over 45, and the humidity over 65 it will work.

I'd be happy to do a step by step on the next go round.

I've always wanted to try pepperoni.

I'd love to see a step by step!!!!

Great job!!!!

Great job nice loooking .....im skert to go there not that confident on drying sasuage cure #2 and all...still reading and may be some day got to get the Humidity and temp right....85% humidy and 95 was the high....this is Okla man Texas,OKla and La and Ar can be humid man....many other places can be also/.....good job and poi-nts

Fine job on the pepperonis! I should get started on a some more salamis myself. I only have a few packages left.

Oh yeah, and some points from me too!

Will I ever get time!......Just nice! Thanks!

Very impressive King! The pepperoni looks great and the wine fridge is a great idea that I would never have thought of. Won't let me give you points but I will when I can.

Hmm a wine fridge eh ?
now that's some lateral thinking - points for finding me something else to spend money on lol

Excellent looking pepperoni! I don't have the equipment to do that properly, so will just have to drool over yours.:drooling:

Tom, I would put one of those refrigerators on its highest setting with a baking sheet full of wet salt on the bottom. If the temp will get over 45, and the humidity over 65 it will work.

I'd be happy to do a step by step on the next go round.

I'm gonna try it this week. I have external 120 volt thermostat that has a probe and an outlet. I can set it to what ever I want from like 0° to well over 100° so I think I can make a fridge work. I have seen where others have used soaked sponges, but I'll try the salt.

I eagerly await that tutorial. And I'm gonna bug ya the way I did CA with the ice cream.:thumb:

The thing about the wine fridge is they are made to be between 50 and 60 degrees for the wine storage. A regular fridge is usually 34 to 40. A regular fridge also is made to dehumidify the air as it is cooled where a wine fridge will maintain humidity.
The wet salt will also increase humidity. I would like the humidity a bit higher than it was, but it was enough to make the sausage dry from the inside out. If the outside dries before the inside, the interior moisture will not be able to escape.

Tom, I would put one of those refrigerators on its highest setting with a baking sheet full of wet salt on the bottom. If the temp will get over 45, and the humidity over 65 it will work.

I'd be happy to do a step by step on the next go round.
yes would love to see it.and I will be trying this poi-nts,poi-nts

This is Awesome! ...... Deserves a bump :hail:

I don't even remember seeing this post before.but it is in my favorites now:drooling::hail:I need to get rolling on this:sausage:

Awsome job :thumb: points worthy from here poi-nts

I'm thinking I should take the wife's wine outta the little fridge and go for it... but thats gonna hurt :lol:

Opps didn't notice the date or read all thru it.

WOW king that's awesome man.

Sidenote.

King, someone from here said that site "www.wedlinydomowe.com" had too many messed up recipes to use it when I first signed up.

What do you think of it sir?


By the way Points.poi-nts

I have used a lot of recipes on the site. The site has a ton of solid information, and it is a trusted site in my mind.

With that being said, there are errors in recipes. All recipes. Even in cookbooks, but especially on the internet. When doing a recipe for the first time, it is a great idea to look at a couple of different recipes for the same sausage and see what is similar or different about them.

I think most of the recipes on www.wedlinydomowe.com are good ones.