Make Hungarian salami yourself – Delicious paprika salami
- Type
- Cured sausage
- Level
- Advanced
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
Today I show you how you can make a delicious Hungarian salami yourself. The preparation takes a little time, but it’s definitely worth it!
Making salami is often a big challenge, especially for beginners, because you need a certain ambient temperature and humidity for optimal ripening.
What’s important to me is this: Of course, raw sausage ripening is best done with a ripening oven. Alternatively, though, there is the option of doing without, as I also explain in this post.
You should definitely check out my make your own salami article if you’re a beginner, as you’ll find all the necessary information for making salami in detail there.
Here you can find the complete Hungarian salami recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Hungarian salami – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Variant 1: with pork neck | ||
| lean pork | 400 g | 40 % |
| pork neck | 400 g | 40 % |
| pork back fat | 200 g | 20 % |
| Variant 2: classic, as in the video | ||
| lean pork | 700 g | 70 % |
| pork back fat | 300 g | 30 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 25.5 g |
| mild paprika | 8 g |
| sugar mixture (dextrose / sugar) | 3 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| black pepper | 2 g |
| hot paprika (if hotter, add hot paprika) | 2 g |
| mace | 0.25 g |
The equipment to make Hungarian salami
A meat grinder cuts the meat into small pieces so it can be mixed with the seasoning. Cut the meat into pieces that fit the feed tube before grinding.
Sausage stuffer, grinder attachment or funnel
Use a sausage stuffer to fill the mixture into its casing. A stuffing attachment for your meat grinder or a hand funnel also works when you are starting out.
Smokable fibrous casings
For maturing raw-cured sausages, I recommend smokable fibrous casings, caliber 55/25. They support the drying and maturation process.
For readers in the EU: you can buy these casings in my German shop. Smokable fibrous casings, caliber 55/25, 5 pieces.
Place to dry and mature the sausage
To age this raw sausage, you need an environment where both humidity and temperature are relatively constant. There are several possibilities for this. I have already matured cured sausages in the fridge or cellar without any problems.
Optional: If you want to be on the safe side, then a ripening cabinet is the best choice. My recommendation: Dry Ager DX 500
Make Hungarian salami – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut the meat and fat into pieces suitable for mincing. You can adjust the size depending on how big your mincer is.
Put the meat pieces in the freezer for 1-2 hours to freeze. This will help you later with the mincing and ensures that the mass does not get too warm.
Now you can grind the meat. Depending on how coarse or fine you want your Hungarian salami, you can use different perforated discs here. Honestly, this is a complete matter of taste. I use the medium perforated disc (5 mm) for the Hungarian salami.
Add the spices to the mixture and mix well for about 3 – 5 minutes. The sausage meat should have a good binding.
Fill your mixture into the sausage filler.
Pull the casing onto the sausage filler and tie the casing end with kitchen tape. Whether you use natural or artificial casing is up to you. The important thing is that the casing is suitable for raw sausages.
Now fill the mixture into casings. Make sure that there are no air pockets.
Tie the other end with kitchen tape.
Take a needle and pierce the sausage to open any air holes.
Hang the salami for 24-48 hours at high humidity (>95%) and temperature (20-25 degrees Celsius, 68–77 °F) to ferment. You can spray the Hungarian salami with water here sometimes to maintain the highest possible humidity.
After 48 hours you can hang it up in any cool place. The humidity should be about 80% and the temperature not more than 15 C° (59 °F). If you don’t have a maturing cabinet, then in many cases you can hang them in the basement if the parameters are reasonably suitable. That’s what I did for a long time.
After the drying time your Hungarian salami is ready😄. This varies greatly depending on what caliber you use and what your environmental conditions are. Depending on the desired degree of hardness, you can let the sausage dry for between 2 and 8 weeks. Important: The maturing process takes time. Be patient until you reach your desired degree of hardness. Have fun making it!
Frequently asked questions
What is Hungarian salami?
What is Hungarian salami?
Hungarian salami is an air-dried raw sausage, and what makes it Hungarian is the paprika. The spice list carries two of them, a mild one and a hot one, and between them they give the salami its deep red colour and the warm, spicy aroma you notice before any heat arrives. Take the paprika out and what is left is an ordinary salami. Everything else in this recipe is the standard raw-sausage method: grind, mix, fill, redden, dry.
The balance between the two paprikas is yours to set. More of the hot one and less of the mild pushes the salami towards properly spicy; the other way round keeps it mild and aromatic. It is a matter of taste, and it is the first thing I would change if the result is not the one you were after.
How long is the shelf life of the Hungarian salami?
How long is the shelf life of the Hungarian salami?
Your Hungarian salami will keep for several months. However, it will gradually lose more moisture and eventually dry out completely. Therefore, it makes sense to store them vacuumed in the refrigerator.
