The whole thing's pretty simple - an enclosed space in which you can control temperature, humidity and air flow. Mine's constructed in a more-or-less standard way for homemade jobs - an old fridge, a humidifier, and a sensor/controller.
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| Antlered harbinger of bresaola |
The fridge was a moving-sale deal, and for $50, I got a nicer (well, certainly cleaner) fridge than I the one I already have. Inside is an ultrasonic humidifier (finer mist, less trouble-prone, apparently) with a built-in fan; humidity and air movement in one. Missing yet are some racks for hanging, and a couple of screened holes with adjustable closures in the fridge sides for air exchange.
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| Less complex, more reptilian |
I looked around for some time trying to find an elegant solution to the humidity/temperature control problem. Ebay had cheap and plentiful lab controllers, but being from Hong Kong, they were all 220V, and had complex-looking wiring requirements made all the more difficult by having Cantonese instructions. Further searching, however, and I came across purpose-built, programmable humidity/temperature sensor-controllers marketed to reptile and amphibian enthusiasts. Sold. Program a temperature, and it turns the fridge off and on to maintain it. Program a humidity, and it does the same with the humidifier. Luckily, it's always dry here, so I only ever have to worry about adding, rather than subtracting, humidity.
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| Showing Hank some love brought it up to the free shipping minimum |
The latest stage was waiting for appropriate reference to arrive, which happened today. Now, to mail-order in some Prague Powder #1 and 2, a few culture starters, and I'll be ready to start turning perfectly good meat into shriveled, moldy and hopefully delicious shadows of its former self. I figure I'll start small (cured bacon, duck prosciutto, guanciale if I can talk a local guy into selling an appropriate jowl), with the eventual goal of getting reasonably elaborate (Dall mocetta seems appropriately lofty). We'll see.
Oh, and on an unrelated note, the Saturn has some new friends:
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| Two different ways to turn dinosaurs into noise |
Very cool - I am anxious to to see the final product!
ReplyDeleteI never understood the mold - flavour right?
I'm still learning this stuff. Certainly, there's internal fungal stuff going on - fermentation is why salami tastes sour (and delicious). You can achieve the same flavour with additives, but the way it's traditionally done is with an initial warm, humid fermentation phase, followed by slow air drying at lower temperature and progressively lower humidity. The external mold, I suspect, is just gonna happen (I don't know that it's a flavour, per se). The thing to shoot for is floury white mold, I'm told (mostly 'cause all the other colours will kill ya).
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