I've been a long time lurker on this thread, but I've finally finished my first project, so I figured it's time to post.
This is my version of Ruhlman and Polcyn's Salami Picante recipe. I used Bactoferm's T-SPX starter culture, and Mold 600 on the outside. In addition to regular red chili flakes I added some Korean Gochugaru chilli flakes as I'm a big fan of them. (they add great flavor without too much extra heat).
To complete this project I made my own drying chamber out of an upright frost free freezer with inkbird controllers and humidifiers, heaters and dehumidifiers.
Overall I'm extremely happy with how this turned out. If I were to make this recipe again I might try making it slightly leaner, with slightly less fennel, and maybe a bit larger diameter, but I feel that's personal preference.
I dried it to 38% weight loss. I didn't notice any significant moisture gradient across the salami slices, which tells me my control in my drying chamber seems to be pretty good.
I'm still waiting on my variant of 2 guy's and a Cooler's Genoa salami to finish drying. So I'll let you all know what I think of that in the coming weeks!
Cheers and happy charcuterie making!
by AlarmingGarbage8844