[ArosP]

When we had our pigs chopped up i had most of the bellies and shoulder minced and have kept iit in th efreezer. I now want to make salami and i see most recipes call for lean meat with added back fat, has anyone made salami with a fatty mince of belly and shoulder and is it ok or should i carry on making it into sausages and mince a joint and add squares of fat

[Eve]

You need the backfat because it has a different texture. Any other kind of fat will smear and the salami's will look grey-ish instead of dark red, but worse, they'll taste bad. They won't smell bad or give you an upset tummy, they'll be perfectly safe to eat but they will not be pleasant to eat.The meat and the fat need to stay sufficiently separate for a salami to work, otherwise it's wasted. So yes, stick to mincing a joint and adding back fat.

We learnt this through experience