What is Salumi Curing?
Salumi Curing is the protection and preservation of fresh, uncooked meats by the use of salt and the removal of moisture, undertaken in a controlled environment.
The Italian term "salumi" covering salted and cured meats including salami, prosciutto, pancetta, capicola/coppa etc, which use these principles of preservation.
Our CLEAVER Salumi Cabinets provides the ideal temperature (8-12 ̊C) and humidity (70- 80%) range to allow the salt in the meat to draw out the moisture in a controlled fashion.
Typically, meat is considered cured once the moisture loss is in the order of 30%. The length of time for curing, depending on the size of the meat, can be from 3-4 weeks to several months, or – in the case of prosciutto or jamon – 1 to 4 years.
What is Dry Ageing?
Dry ageing is a process of resting or storing whole cuts of fresh beef, venison and even fish in a controlled environment and designed primarily to intensify flavour as well as promote tenderness.
When you age meat, the enzymes that are present in the meat will start to break down the tough muscle fibres over time.
In addition, if you are dry aging your steak the flavor will improve over time thanks to enzymatic and bacterial actions, as well as oxidization of the fat on the steak. As time goes on your steak will develop a deeper, beefier taste.
Dry ageing is now possible in the PLUS range of CLEAVER Salumi Cabinets - released in August 2022. Salumi Cabinet models release before this date are not designed for dry ageing.
Can I dry age in a CLEAVER?
Our latest PLUS models of cabinets release in August 2022 - The Weaner+, The Boar+ and The Hog+ - now have the capacity to dry age. Models released before this date are not designed to dry age meat.
The environmental settings in the original range of CLEAVER Salumi Cabinet are perfect for salumi and charcuterie, but not for dry ageing meats.
While the Salumi Cabinets will hold the perfect conditions for salami curing etc, they are not designed to run at Dry Ageing conditions (75% humidity). At the lower temperature range (5 to 7 ̊C), these cabinet will not hold humidity over 65% RH. These are not suitable for Dry Ageing.
Our PLUS Cabinets, however, have been designed to be able to provide the ideal dry ageing environment - low temperature/high humidity. The temperature on these cabinets can be adjusted the full range from 0 ̊C to 25 ̊C will hold a humidity up to 80-85% RH.