Homemade Salami

I managed to find a little time between fires to stop and write up a short post about a family recipe that we love for homemade salami.  Yes, the season has started out as a busy one for only June, and I'm afraid that may make it very tough for me to post frequently here, but I will do my best.  PLEASE be extremely careful if you are out in the hills!  It is amazing to see how bad the fire conditions are for only June, and it looks to get much more worse.  I have spent the past 5 days fighting a 1,200 acre fire (human caused) in one of my favorite hunting areas.  We got lucky with this one, but other fires rage just to the north of here, as well as in New Mexico and Arizona.  Well, enough of my ranting, let's get down to this tasty little snack!

This recipe is very simple, and is great if you are looking to use up some ground meat in the freezer.  For this batch, I used 1/2 hamburger, and 1/2 elk burger.  Here's the steps:

Start out by placing 2 pounds of ground meat (hamburger) into a large mixing bowl.

Add the following ingredients to the meat:

2 1/2 tablespoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of mustard seed
1/4 teaspoon of sage
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of celery seed
1/2 teaspoon of course ground pepper
1 cup of water

Now the "fun" part begins of digging your hands into the mixture and mixing it up well.  Wash those hands first, this is one recipe that doesn't need any extra ingredients!  After mixing everything well, form the meat into 2 rolls and place the rolls on aluminum foil.  Wrap the rolls in the foil, and tie them with yarn or string.  Place the rolls in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Now, 24 hours later you are ready to cook the rolls.  Place the rolls in boiling water for one hour, then place the rolls in your kitchen sink.  Peirce the rolls with a fork and let the rolls drain.  Unwrap the rolls, re-wrap them in foil or plastic wrap, and stick them back in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.

This recipe brings back great memories for me, as my grandma would make this salami when I was younger, and my grandpa and I would take it with us on our fishing, hunting, and wood-hauling trips.  It goes great with some sharp cheddar cheese and crackers.  What a great snack to enjoy when you are out in the hills.  We hope you like it as much as we do!