That has been a big part of why I like, and trust, this channel. When people always say everything is the best thing they ever made, I don't trust them. I'm just sad we didn't get the tasting, I always like the chemistry between the 2 of them as they try things.
No only this, but I respect Glen and Julie going above and beyond and consulting the experts to show exactly why it could have happened in their scenario! All too often you will see people on youtube fail and just be like "welp, that didn't work, oh well here is the video anyways!". Glen and Julie go above and beyond with everything they do on RU-vid. They should have millions of subs :(
You’re right. Could be like Gordon Ramsey making a grilled cheese that is objectively garbage but he just keeps saying how beautiful and delicious it is. Gordon’s brand is “I’m perfect and better than you”. Glen’s brand is “let’s learn how to do this together”.
My hat's off to you Glen. Great technique and explanation to what can be a very complex subject!! Well done sir. To know if the salami is edible just check the texture of the center. If you have hit your target weigh loss goal and the center of your salami is relatively firm then your salami is ok to eat. If the center of your salami is "squishy" or has a raw appearance then toss it and start over. One cool way to soften the "dry ring" is to place your salami in a vac bag and place it into your refrigerator for 4-6 weeks. This will equalize the moisture throughout, softening the outer ring. Great Video. Looking forward to the next one!!
Hi! This was a particularity excellent video, I adore fermented meats. As for a heat source, have your considered a reptile heating mat for the fermentation chamber? Along with a small cup of water on top of it? It's a gentler approach to this type of fermentation, as I use it to ferment tempeh at home. Works like a charm, and could even be tandemed with a really small computer exhaust fan (think micro) in the side of the box. All on a thermostat. It might work... 🤔 Cheers!
Probably add one of those indoor/outdoor temp/humidity meters that plots temp/humidity over time with alerts. Finding an accurate one will be the task.
Excellent video!!! If it's still edible, you can use the salami for breakfast (fried salami with eggs, one of my guilty faves) or for pizza, so no loss. Can't wait for the next video.
I love your channel. It's so incredibly well-done, AND you are very open when things go wrong. And the failures are just as informative as the successes!
One trick we learned in sausage making is using a variety of liquids. As different flavors are soluble I different liquids we mix the spices in one bowl with water, an alcohol like a sherry or vodka, a vinegar, and an oil. We mix it all together then put that in with the meat. We’ve found that tends to give a uniform distribution of spices.
I think we learn way more from our mistakes than our successes most times. Thanks for sharing, Glen. While I've no intentions of making sausage myself, I love charcuterie, and knowing how it's done makes me appreciate it all just a bit more. Looking forward to your next batch and a tasting. I'm so glad you and Jules didn't chance it. We need you both here. This channel is a precious RU-vid treasure in my personal top five alongside Chef John, French Cooking Academy, The Townsends, and Emmy Made in Japan.
This actually makes sense to me. I did wood working for a while and we had started drying our own lumber in a kiln. I noticed that our woods were more consistent than the 2x4 we could get a home depot, and that's because a lot of that lumber is case hardened, which is very similar to the salami in this case where the outside dries faster than the inside. In the case of wood, it traps a lot of the moisture inside of it and that's why a lot of lumber warps. That moisture still manipulates the shape of it. I don't know how that applies to salami, but it seems to be the same concept. Try, try, try again!
nailed it with the chlorine comment, however Calgary still uses it. Edmonton uses cloramine and it can be mechanically filtered out but i believe it requires a catalytic carbon filter.
I like how you mentioned chloramine vs chlorine. I also watch a lot of gardening/farming vids and so many people are still under the impression that chlorine is still used.
This is an excellent video. It is frustrating to see RU-vidrs be 100% successful every time. I think there is so much to be gained seeing the process and the failure. Doublely so if you circle back with the success of this type of Salami.
Super awesome video, I love how open you are when you fail! So many people just wouldn't post it but I like how you let others learn from some of your mistakes :) - Also glad you got to the bottom of your problem this time around, looking forward to more!
Hey there! Even though this didn't quite turn out the way you were hoping, it was still really cool to see. I appreciate that you still post your projects, even if they don't turn out exactly right. Especially with charcuterie, it's such a finicky process.
I actually have a batch of picante fermenting when I stumbled onto this video. A couple of things that have worked for me are: using pork instead of beef bung, it comes out smaller but haven't had any dry ring issues. I was also surprised to see the mold go on after the fermentation stage, i usually add it right after stuffing. Good luck on the next batch!
As a brewer, I have to disagree. Vinegar is absolutely edible, but it's no fine wine. That is what a botched wine (or beer) can become, and that is certainly a failure to make wine.
the slice of bread to push the rest of the unground meat past the plate was a revelation when i first started with my nasty grinding grinder. using previously ground flesh to ram the plate free of reluctant particles is yet another 'Of Course' moment for this hapless gorger. Thank You, Glen.
Great work in spite of the failure. About 12 years ago, this process caught my attention and with the aid of books on the subject, I became quite good at it. My first attempt was a complete success but did not use cure. I do use it but this recipe called only for salt, pepper and garlic. Made 5 lbs and it was gone in 2 days. I used a small fridge I bought for it and with technology, was able to control the temperature to 55 degree F, proper moisture and circulation. I don’t see a mechanism here to add photos to show you. Keep trying, you’ll get it.
Good job Glen this shows that not even an expert can be perfect all the time and that everyone makes mistakes. Much respect to you and keep up the great work, love watching your videos.
Thank you for the good / pass recipes and the fail ones. It's enlightening to learn what not to do and helpful to see others trying to figure things out.
I am glad when i see a content creator show the fails. When you only ever see successes it sets unreasonable expectations for us home gamers. I really like to know how fails happened because that helps us all learn.
Very educational, thanks for posting! I could tell right away where it went wrong when you first showed the salami after fermentation. I've used a heating pad (like for sore muscles) set to Low, under a sheet pan with a few tablespoons of water with success in the past. Check every once in a while to add more water if needed, adjust temp, etc.
I suppose this IS a cooking show... yes, yes it IS. Except THAT'S NOT WHY I watch it ! I like this channel bcuz of Glen and Julie's personalities!! Which simply translates into this is a channel I will always watch it no matter what they are doing! ❤ Thanks for sharing Glen & Julie!!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤
As you were putting the sausage into the fermenting cabinet, I was reminded of a friend who used a similar light-bulb rig to dry out jerky and biltong. It did get surprisingly warm in there. He had holes drilled into the sides, but that wouldn't work for your smoker. But excellent, informative content as always.
LOL. If the salami has lost it's target weight and the center of the salami is relatively firm, then it's safe to eat. If the center is "squishy" or has a raw like appearance then it's not safe to eat.
As soon as I saw the method of heating the fermenter, I was concerned. Not just by the potential for uneven heating, but also for bombarding the meat with photons. When he took the meat out of the fermenter, I was doubly concerned because it seemed darker than I would have expected (to my inexperienced eyes). I wonder if a small, flame retardant cloth over the bulb would help distribute heat more evenly and prevent possible damage from the light. Also, I wonder if the surface mold was an afterthought. I imagine it would have been ideal to add the spores before going into the fermenter. I've never made salami, though, so my thoughts mean little.
Hey Glen. Don’t feel bad I’m pretty sure everybody who’s tried to make dry cured sausage has had the same problem. I was talking to the screen when I saw your sausages come out of the fermenter. You’ll get the hang of it like everything else there’s no substitute for experience. I wish I would of had all this info 40 years ago when I started it would have saved a lot of meat. O yea forget the bread a handful of ice cubes in your grinder works wonders to push meat through and sets you up for next batch of grinding with out having to pull grinder apart. Good luck I look forward to seeing your next try.
A good way to still use this, if you are willing, is to thinly slice the cured sausage, fry it on a frypan (making sure to render out some of that fat since it will contain so much of the flavouring from the added spices), take the meat out, leaving the rendered fat in the pan, and then through in some diced onion, mushroom, capsicum (or chillies if you are feeling brave and want some added heat), and this would be great on a cheese board, or a tapas plate, or even in a sandwich.
In your fermenter a tip might be to section off the heating element with some aluminum foil or some cardboard and make sure your thermistor is above sectioned off heating element. If it was the dry ager that caused the issue, you could also try putting some aluminum foil over the fan outlet in there which would slow down the air flow and help prevent the outside of the charcuterie from drying faster than is desirable.
Interesting process. Do you have a video on how to make normal, i.e. non fermented, sausage? For example what kind of casing do you use and where do you find them. And what kind of meat mixture(s) are the best for tasty sausage?
Reminds me of a pellical just with the opposite desire. A mini fridge sized dry ager is something I'm going to have to convince the roommates that we need
Great learning video.... mistakes are part of the learning process. Where did you find Prague powder #2 curing salt? I’m having trouble finding some. Thanks.
In culinary school they told us to run some cling film through the grinder to push the rest of the meat out, and it's never resulted in plastic in my ground meat for me at least.
Love your work, and this video is no exception :) However, I wasn't clear on something. The floating text at the end said "if it's not too bad, the sausage is still edible." Is the sausage you picture 'too bad'? or does it just need further aging/drying?
Hi Glen, do you have a video showing how you built the cold smoker? Or could you point me in the direction of a good home cold smoker video build? Your videos are great. I’ve been making lots of KFC friend chicken. Lol
Sorry about the sausages, but thanks for posting the video even if it wasn't a fail. Still informative! Probably almost more than if it would have been a success. And as Albert Einstein said; "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new". Keep at it, and thanks for another great video.
You had the whole process nailed all the way up to the fermenting chamber. That is most likely where it started to go downhill. You can't improve if you don't make mistakes to learn from. Thanks for sharing your fail. I am curious how this could have turned out doing a 30-60 day post E.Q.
could you tell us what vacuum sealer and deli slicer you using ? they look quite good, and im shopping for those at the moment , here in montreal hehe.. thank you !
Right! I was wondering this too!! Maybe eat some after it's been cooked a bit, just for insurance? Like maybe: BBQ... Or paella 🥘 Or a hot pot🍲 Or even a pizza🍕 !
I think it might be that light bulb's fault. The sausages seemed way too close to something that hot. I would try having a bigger fermentation chamber where the lightbulb can stay farther from the salamis.
This is incredible....I just watched ba different Glen and Friends cured meat video and it was almost word for word the same. Different ingredients and what not but I swear it's the same otherwise. Even the fricken PH level of the meat was the same!!!
I guess you just learned that almost all cured meats from all regions are exactly the same - just different spices. If you learn the fundamental basics you can make anything.
I just use my home made wine in my recipes no water or starter .red win or white will give it a different flavor.thats how my grandmother showed me how .I clean all my own casings and salt them. Before I use them I soak them and wash them good in several waters.then I soak them in wine for a few hours before I stuff them.when done you can teast the wine .and a buttery nutty flavor. I hang for 6 weeks. Were the air circulates around them .
I don't know man, I wouldn't have the heart to throw meat just like that. Also, having watched the outro, I knew that bulb was trouble. These things get real hot real fast. Don't underestimate them.
