John Myers
Salami Milano is an Italian sausage specialty made from lean pork, bacon, salt, and spices. Beef is also added in some recipes. The meat is ground to the size of a grain of rice and mixed with chopped pieces of fat. The sausage mass is flavored with salt, saltpeter, crushed pepper, and crushed fresh garlic marinated in white wine or Chianti.
Then the mass is filled into pig caecum or pig rectums, so that sausages are about 25 to 35 centimeters long and nine centimeters thick. The salami Milano then comes in brine for a few hours, is then removed, and left to rest for a day. The salami is then given its typical binding.
The sausages are hung on sticks for four to five weeks to pre-ripen. The room temperature must be constantly around 18 degrees Celsius. During this first maturation phase, a smear layer repeatedly forms on the surface of the sausage, which contains microorganisms and must be washed off regularly with lukewarm water so that the Salami Milano does not spoil. During this time, the sausage reddens and is already pre-drying.
If the smear layer no longer appears, the sausages are rinsed one last time and then hung out in the fresh air for around six months to mature and dry. Finally, a natural layer of noble mold has formed around them, which can be eaten.
However, this only applies if the Salami Milano was traditionally made with natural casings. It is also commercially available in the artificial casing, with the typical net binding being imitated. This does not necessarily make the salami taste worse, but the artificial casing should be removed before consumption.
