How I Made Salami

“Normal” salami is dry cured and fermented. That means it isn’t cooked. It’s meat stuffed in a casing and hung to air dry (not cooked). With the correct humidity, temperature, and time, “good bacteria” will grow and the salami will lose moisture. With the good bacteria taking up the resources and changing the pH of the meat, bad bacteria don’t have an environment to grow. The loss of water helps as well.

I didn’t make “normal” salami though. I made Cotto Salami. Cotto salami is simply cooked salami. It’s like a smoked sausage, although it’s not always smoked.

I used beef, pork, and pork fat. I split the salami into two flavors. Both had the same ingredients, except one had red wine added. I’ve seen people use red wine in salami and figured I’d see what it was like.

I used a 3-inch fibrous casing (76 mil). The casing is artificial and you peel it off before you eat it. I did not use a colored casing, my casing was clear.

I let the stuffed salami sit overnight in the refrigerator, then I smoked it at 180 for about 4 hours. Kicked the heat up a little towards the end and pulled them when the internal temp hit 160. Gave them an ice water bath and then let them finish cooling in the fridge.

My ingredients:
Lean beef (54%)
Lean pork (23%)
Pork fat (23%)
Salt
Sugar
Granulated garlic
Black pepper
Mustard powder
Mustard seed
Coriander
Cardamon
Prague powder #1
Water (for 1)
Red wine (for 2)

The results: I loved it. The red wine salami has a slightly deeper flavor, but it’s not significantly different. It’s hard to tell the difference in taste, it’s subtle.

I highly recommend trying this. It’s actually very easy. The casing is easier than natural hog casing you’d use for sausage. Get a large fibrous casing (any size you want) online and try a 5 pound batch. You can use any meat or combination of meat. I used 23% fat.


I began with a beef shoulder clod and 2 pork butts. I separated the fat from the lean. I used all the beef lean and used as much pork lean as I needed. The rest was cut for jambalaya. I saved the beef fat for ground deer meat.


Beef trimmed, fat and lean.


Ground beef, ground pork, ground pork fat.


Mixed all the ingredients. In all these pictures, the No red wine is on the left and the red wine is on the right.