UMAi Dry Charcuterie Kit, Dry Curing Meat Kit Incl. 3 Large & 2 Small Dry Age Bags for Meat, Instacure #2 & Juniper Berries, Create Gourmet Charcuterie Boards in Your Refrigerator Over 1-6 Months

After doing home cured bacon and beef or venison jerky for years, I took a shot at this dry cure thing. First off, the kit has everything you need to put up 5 of either pork or beef . I followed the recipies to the letter for 2 Capicola's and 1 Bresola. Learned fast that a real kitchen scale is a must. The initial cure run is easy and I can't recommend a spice grinder enough to really get the cure mix ready to go. The headache for me is making the bags work in a 'FoodSaver' vacuum sealer. The instructions offer tips on how to do it, but it really boils down to outsmarting the machine. After wrinkling the bag with enthusiasm, do an angled seal so only the vac-mouse is in the real vacuum attempt. Then vac the bag out and hope for the best, don't be afraid to hit the cancel button and try again, and again. The results after almost 3 months where mixed... I won't bother with the Bresola again because while tasty, it really wasn't my bag and if your going to do it, get the biggest Eye of Round you can find cuz you will loose an inch of meat off both ends. I sliced up the first Capicola when it hit target weight, very tasty but rowdy with the bay leaves and nutmeg flavors. No mold or decay, the bags do exactly what they say they do. Waited a few more weeks on the other Capicola and what a difference, every slice was perfect and begging to meet a piece of good cheese and a Triscuit, rave reviews by all of my test subjects. Currently on my next round of 'Caps' .... spacing them 2 weeks apart and using my bacon cure that is heavy on the red pepper side. Also lightly smoked the last 2 to 100dg F just to see what will happen. If you want to start messing around with Dry Aging, you won't go wrong with this kit!

I dove pretty deep educating myself on making different types of charcuterie. There is a lot to consider not only in the meat selection, curing recipes, but also the time to cure. Cold cellars, dedicated refrigerators, humidity control, curing boxes, good mold, bad mold and where I’m going to put this equipment made this idea somewhat daunting. I decided to start with the Umai bags because I had a vacuum sealer to get the bag in good contact with the meat and I could put it in my kitchen fridge. On a side note, I did come pretty close to testing the limits of my marriage with taking up real estate in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. Don’t use a college style fridge because they lack the humidity control a full size fridge has. I placed a cooling rack under the Umai bag to allow good air circulation for even curing. The bag allows moisture to exit the bag and keeps other molecules from moving back and forth. The fridge had no funky meat smells and the meat did not take on any fridge smells. Don’t handle the bags too much. If the bag becomes separated from the meat it doesn’t cure as effectively but it will still do the job. I would take the curing meat in the Umai bag out once a week and weigh it. I was looking for a 40% weight loss before I called it done. The time will be variable based on the meat and fridge. I have done several now and 6-10 weeks in the umai bag was common. I would someday like to try to make and cure charcuterie old school. Beef bungs, white mold, butcher twine, etc… but for now these bags are pretty user friendly and eliminate the need for extra equipment and space. The finished product was amazing!

This product does what it says and does it well. No need for specialty drying apparatus to make great dried sausage. The hardest part is waiting for the sausage to be ready. The only reason for taking away one star is that the product is pricey. Comes with detailed instructions for the beginner.

After getting quite frustrated over the price of cured meats at the grocery store, I did a bit of googling to try and figure out if it was possible to make some yourself. Low and behold, there are plenty of instructions on the web all calling for intricate storage systems with the right temperature and humidity control etc. that made it quite complicated and a little overwhelming to even imagine doing in a 1-bedroom apartment! Then I came across the UMAI Dry bags... this looked like it would solve the problem and before long I had a pork loin through the first stage, sealed nicely in the UMAI Dry bag and resting on a little wire rack in my fridge. One month later, it had reached its target weight of -35% and I was ready to tuck in... it did NOT disappoint! This is my new hobby and my friends are always happy for the home-cured meats served up as appetizers at every entertaining opportunity! Since that first "lomo", I've cured two "capicolas", a "bresaola" and another "lomo" - all using the small charcuterie bags. This set of bags includes 2 of the larger bags, so I am setting my sights on some larger cuts of meat and a little longer curing times, but I have no fear that they will turn out. The instructions are incredibly easy to follow, the recipes are fabulous and the product itself is of very good quality and easy to use. An added bonus in this large charcuterie package is the little stickers included - you can note the start and end weights etc. right on the bag (saves keeping a log in the your phone notes or manually on a piece of paper). I wholeheartedly recommend these UMAI Dry bags to anyone looking for a little adventure in the kitchen, you really can't mess it up with this kit!

Love it. Great product and company. Go buy from them.

challenging to use with vacuum sealers. several attempts. You need a lot of patience and practice.

Update: I was contacted by the seller The Sausage Maker. They were sad to hear my situation. They informed me that my UMAi purchase was not intended for my meat application. I needed the UMAi Dry Ribeye/Striploin Packet. 5 Stars to The Sausage Makers for there knowledge and professionalism. Bags are very small. 16 lbs rib eye from Costco did not fit. I trimmed it to fit. I still had trouble fitting it into the bag. I had to trim a lot of good meat to fit. Turned the trimmings into carne asada. Tried using food saver sealer, no go. Tried sticking the Umai in a food saver bag to seal, no go. All said and done, it did work for dry aging. Used zip ties to seal shut.

1 out of 4 bags actually worked! I tried making 3 home-made Capicolas. I followed the instructions to the letter, watched videos and even bought a new vacuum sealer (when I questioned if mine was causing the problem). I prepped the meat and tried vacuum sealing. The first one took the vacuum and sealed nicely. The second not so much. Even crinkling the bag end and using the styrofoam "mouse" as suggested would not hold enough vacuum to signal my machine to seal the bag. When I eventually hit the "seal" button, I got mixed results. Sometimes it sealed, sometimes it burned right through the bag. I thought that I finally achieved a good vacuum and seal on the 2nd and 3rd capicola and put them all in the fridge. The next day 2 of the 3 Umai bags had plenty of air in them. As if the never had vacuum applied. I searched for a bad seal or hole in the bag, but found none. I can only speculate that the 2 bags either were too porous or had a small hole somewhere. It was also frustrating that they don't sell the 8 x 18" bags separately, so in order to make 3 capicolas, I had to spend $70 on two "Charcuterie kits". Pretty expensive way to make capicola and I can only pray it turns out OK with all that air in the 2 bags. Last, but not least can someone explain how these bags allow moisture (which it larger than air) out, but keep air in? They must be porous right? Which would explain why people have trouble getting a good vacuum seal.