DIY Food Quotient Final Score

Now that we have the results, I tabulated the final score for each different kind of sausage.   Needless to say, I had mixed feelings about how the totals came out.  Here they are, compared with the earlier canadian bacon results for come context:

So none of the sausages we slaved over for a whole month beat the canadian bacon, which only took a couple of days to put together.  In general, I didn’t give the sausages very high scores on whether they were easy to make.  My feeling is that canadian bacon is probably easier.  Cost wasn’t a major factor, and usefulness also didn’t have a large impact.  I scored it as a moderately useful product, with cost similar to the store-bought variety.

The main reason they didn’t measure up was taste test results.  Out of 21 participants, 14 chose the tuscan salami over the store-bought Gallo, and 3 chose the Gallo (4 scored it a tie).  Good results, but not as decisive as the canadian bacon, which was 23 to 1.  For the genoa salami, 14 preferred it, while 6 picked the Gallo (1 tie).  Lastly, 11 people picked the saucisson sec, while 9 chose Gallo (again, 1 tie).  All the home-made varieties won, but for the saucisson sec, it was pretty close.

This means it’s good to make these meats, especially since they’re not available anywhere in Pullman, the little town where we live.  I’m a little surprised the saucisson sec did so badly – that’s one of my personal favorites.  It’s not the kind of thing most people “get” though, because we’re all taught that hard salami needs spices and tangy-ness, neither of which are components of the saucisson sec.

Lastly, even though the meat was all technically “done”, I really like it to be firmer and more dry.  It needs a deeper red, translucent feel to it before I want to eat it, and some of the salami we tasted was still too soft, in my opinion.  Getting it this dry will take perhaps 2 months of drying instead of the 3 weeks or so recommended in the book.  Maybe it’s just a personal preference, but I see some evidence of that approach in the Salumi product we ate earlier this year.

Bottom line: the home cook probably should make tuscan salami, but maybe not the genoa and saucisson sec.

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