Lightly Smoked Duck Salami Gourmet Woodsman

Experience the satisfying flavor that brandy and warming spices along with a little kiss of smoke give this duck salami. I'll take you step by step through the process to make your own duck salami at home.
Duck Salami:
60% duck
10% pork
30% pork fat
3% brandy
2.5% salt
0.25 cure #2
0.3% dextrose
0.2% black pepper
0.1% allspice
0.1% coriander
0.05% cloves
0.1% marjoram
0.1% granulated garlic
0.05% nutmeg
Flavor of Italy starter culture

[@shawnadams1965]

Your videos are so interesting to me, I love salami and am planning on picking it up whan I've saved up enough for all the things I need for it.

[@gourmetwoodsman]

It's a great hobby to have, you can't buy salami as good as what you can make yourself.

[@pasha92]

Very interesting!

[@withoutprejudice8301]

I always put some vinegar in the casing soak water. Somewhere read that it denatures the protein of the forcemeat in contact with the casing preventing it from adhering and makes peeling easier. Can attest that it works.

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Does the vinegar inhibit the growth of beneficial molds? I give my salami a quick soak in water if the casing is being stubborn about peeling off.

[@withoutprejudice8301]

@@gourmetwoodsman To that I don't know. I have seen straight 5% vinegar sprayed multiple times on whole muscle meats hanging in an outdoor smokehouse to eliminate mold (quite effectively). I'm only putting a couple of tablespoons in the soak water. It still peels easy on smoked and poached summer sausages. (Completely different types of sausages but it would be interesting to know).

[@crobertsson7030]

Bravo!

[@withoutprejudice8301]

Your DIY drying chamber....., you using INK BIRD controllers? ✌

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Yes, I'm using Inkbird controllers. Plug and play, they're easy.

[@mike333h]

That looks delicious Greg! Great job!

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Thanks so much

[@yqb686]

Looks good, man! With the smoke, the cloves, and the allspice you're leaaning towards cajun. Maybe add a bit of thyme and bay leaf?

[@gourmetwoodsman]

I'll bet some thyme would go really good in this salami.

[@MadPick]

Greg, that salami looks delicious! I don't make salami (I don't want to deal with the setup/equipment) and most salamis don't actually appeal to me that much . . . but this one is really appealing, just something about the appearance, texture, fat, etc. Thanks for another great video!

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Thanks again.🤙

[@davidhalldurham]

Excellent video! Thank you.

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Thanks for the comment.

[@neilwest1858]

Question Greg , if you do dry your PH test piece for 30 ish days and it looses 40 ish % of its green weight but it’s not save to eat because of using cure #2.. can you equalize it for 30 more days to make it 100% safe ?
Great job as usual!

[@gourmetwoodsman]

I usually make a bigger test piece, 150 grams or so, and treat it like Pitina, a casingless salami. I rinse it with wine, coat it with cornmeal and dry it. These test pieces tend to lose a little more than 40% in a month. This test piece was so small I figured it would be rock hard in 30 days so I didn't bother trying to save it. To answer your question, yes, I think it would be safe to eat but I don't think it would have had a very pleasant texture.

[@ayanti]

Looks amazing..question for an experienced salumist as yourself: which recipes call for the addition of a binder like dry fat milk? I've seen it in some but not others when coupled with adding liquids. Thanks as always.

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Binders help retain moisture in a sausage allowing the sausage maker to add more liquid. This helps to achieve the end result of a juicy sausage and in commercial production allows the addition of more water weight (water=free weight=additional yield). With proper fat content and protein extraction the use of a binder is not necessary to achieve a juicy sausage but they will help guarantee a good result. I don't always use binders in my sausages but sometimes I do and I recommend them for beginner sausage makers.
Salami is an entirely different product. The goal is not to retain moisture like in a sausage but rather to slowly dry the salami through controlled evaporation. Since binders help retain moisture and the goal of producing a salami is to evaporate the moisture it does not make sense to use a binder in most cases and very few salami recipes call for one. I hope this helps and has answered your question.

[@ayanti]

@@gourmetwoodsman it did. Thank you very much for taking the time out to make sense of that for me.

[@daviddennison7045]

Looks great !

[@gourmetwoodsman]

Thank you! Cheers!🍻