Charcuterie Bags – 6 Pack S/M/L

The preparation and curing process for your Salumi will vary greatly depending on what cut you use and product you are intending to make. Always follow recipes precisely. For example recipes, check out our sister website www.smokedandcured.com.au/recipes. Misty Gully Banquet Bags are designed to speed up the dry ageing stage of making cured meat at home and provide an added layer of protection from the external elements. Once cured, seasoned and ready for ageing – prepare to place your meat in your Banquet Bag.

Turn the opening of the bag back on itself so you can put the meat inside without touching the opening of the bag. Place the meat in the Banquet Bag and position the meat so that it is not touching the bottom or the sides of the bag. Doing this will allow the air to flow out of the bag without creating pockets of air. There should be at least 12cm of space between the opening of the bag and the meat.

Cut a portion of Channel Helper about 10cm x 10cm. Fold vertically on itself to end up with a band-aid like strip. Insert the Channel Helper into the opening of the Banquet Bag. It should run in line with the top and stick out of the bag opening. Position the bag into your vacuum sealer. Make sure the channel helper is placed over the vacuum.

Set your vacuum sealer to gentle / normal / moist (if available) and press start. If the area around the opening of the bag starts to flatten too early, massage the area around it to let the air flow again to ensure that the air at the bag of the bag around the meat is pulled. When the bag is tightly on the meat, you can activate the heat seal. Ideally you want firm contact with the meat. The bags will be successful with ~70-80% coverage meat to Banquet Bag (i.e. some small air pockets are ok). 

Due to their design, Banquet Bags may require you to seal two to three times in the same spot to seal properly – they are different from a regular Cryovac bag.

Once the machine has finished sealing, allow it to cool for at least 10 seconds before slowly lifting the lid. Add a secondary seal outside the first seal as a failsafe.

The permeable material of Misty Gully Salumi Banquet Bags allows moisture to escape and smoke to enter the bag, giving you the ability to create authentic smoked small goods at home. Place your sealed Banquet Bags containing your meat into your smoker or smoking chamber and smoke at your desired temperature. Generally speaking, you’ll probably look to smoke your meat at a low temp for at least 4 hours with your wood species of choice.

Place your Banquet Bag on a wire rack in the fridge, making sure it is not over-crowded allowing for good ventilation. Most small goods will take 5-7 weeks in the fridge to age properly. The meat will be ready once it has lost 35-40% of its starting weight through the ageing process. Check your bag after a couple of days. If you notice that the bag has come significantly loose in the first few days, the bond has been lost and you will need to repeat step 2, 3 and 4 with a new banquet bag.

Once you’ve aged your meat for the designed time period and achieved the necessary weight loss, remove the bag from your meat and you’ll be left with a perfectly aged piece of Salumi. Cut as desired and enjoy!