Amount of starter culture????? So many views, who's right?

[seadog92]

I'm ready to try some dry Salami this next weekend, but boy, am I getting mixed signals from supposedly knowledgeable authors.  Michael Ruhlman in his book "Salumi" says 1 tablespoon or 6 grams of starter.  The Marianski brothers in their book on Fermented meats call for .6 gram, or 1/4 teaspoon full, and Rytek Kutus says .12 gram...all for the same weights of meat (corrected).

Who's correct?  I'm making 10 lbs of Italian Dry Salami, and it seems to me that there's a vast difference in how much starter to use.  I'm using Bactoferm T-SPX.

 

[daveomak]

Use what the manufacturer of the starter says..... on the package front it says..... Use 25 grams for 200 Kilograms...

FWIW.... I never use a recipe directly from a book or the web, without first doing the calculating myself and/or checking other sources that are verifiable.... like Butcher/Packer, or the Sausage Maker,... or Mitlich...... at least you can call them to get the answer.... There is no way to call a book.... especially Ruhlman, his books have many errors.... the recipes may be great BUT... the people who do the typing to get the book printed or type to transcribe his notes, don't know squat about what they are typing and they do make mistakes....

If you were trying to use Tbs. and tsp...... STOP.... Go and buy a grams scale.... today.... like right now..... You are trying advanced methods of curing ..... get the right tools.....

 

[seadog92]

That's what I figured. I use my gram scale all the time, and this will be no exception. I'll just calculate based on weight of meat. Great comments on book recipes. Thanks Dave