First semi-dry - any general advice?

kielbasanjo · Post by **kielbasanjo** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 16:22

Hi folks

Going to try making my first semi-dry sausage - based on the pepperoni stick recipe on pg 373 of the 4th edition of Great Sausage Making Recipes and Meat Curing by R. Kutas.

I have all the ingredients assembled and a controlled environment ready for holding. Any lessons learned/general advice those of you who have done this recipe/technique might share?

Thanks in advance!

Kiełbasanjo

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 17:07

Hi Kiełbasanjo. You wrote:

Any lessons learned/general advice those of you who have done this recipe/technique might share?

Yup! Now that you mention it,

there is. Use a culture. You know... Bactoferm. Back in the dark ages when I was acquainted with Rytek, cultures were not available to the general public.

Today, we have access to many of them and actually, the price is very reasonable when you consider how much meat a little packet will treat. I would suggest Bactoferm™ F-LC for your project. Why? Because it is foolproof. It affords even and complete fermentation with predictability. It`s recommended for the production of all types of fermented sausages, including this semi-dry cured product. It contains Lactobacillus curvatus and Pediococcus acidilactici for complete acidification as well as developing pediocin and bavaricin - both known for keeping listeria monocytogenes bacteria at safe levels. Staphylococcus xylosus in the culture, is responsible for strong color and flavor development. Depending on fermentation temperature, acidification may be traditional, fast, or extra fast. A 25-gram packet of Bactoferm™ F-LC will treat 220 pounds (100 kilo) of meat.

Here are a few other tips that might be of help. Partially freeze the beef and pork fat. Prepare the F-LC culture with a little distilled water according to the directions on the package. Allow a "lag phase" for the bacteria to wake up while you trim any excess fat from the beef and discard it. Pork fat is where the flavor is. Cube any lean beef (1" dice) and frozen pork fat in preparation for grinding. Grind the meat and the fat through a 1/4" plate. Place them into the freezer twenty minutes, then grind them again using a 3/16"plate. Mix the cure, salt, (and phosphate if used) together with a cup of icewater and mix it with the meat until it starts to develop a sticky meat paste. Add any remaining dry ingredients (spices) and continue mixing for 30 seconds more. Finally, add the F-LC culture and mix 30 seconds more. When the mixture shows soft peaks, stuff it into casings.

Ferment the sausage as your recipe indicates, or at 86° F. 24 hours in 90% humidity dropping to 85% in one day. Preheat the smoker to 110°F. and introduce hickory smoke at least four hours in 70% humidity. Gradually, only a few degrees every twenty minutes, raise the temperature of the smoker until the internal meat temperature reaches 150°F. It is most important that this temperature is not surpassed. Remove the sausages and immediately rinse them in cold water until the meat temperature drops below 90°F. Dry the sausage three days at 60°F. in 70% humidity. Store them at 50-55°F in 75% humidity. Believe me, you`ll know when you can bite into them. Good luck with your project.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

kielbasanjo · Post by **kielbasanjo** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 17:19

Chuckwagon

Thanks for the quick and detailed reply. Given my schedule, I won't be able to use Bactoferm since I did not account for that in my supply shopping, but I will keep that in mind for the future.

I do have Fermento which is called for in the recipe. How does that compare with Bactoferm?

The smoking/fermenting instructions you give are different than what the recipe says to do (which is less involved than what you describe), but it all looks like good advice.

Thanks!

KB

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 20:31

The smoking/fermenting instructions you give are different than what the recipe says to do (which is less involved than what you describe)

Yes, KB... those are just general instructions for use with that type (F-LC) of Bactoferm.
Be aware that Fermento is not a culture. It is a product made by the dairy industry especially for the Sausagemaker in Buffalo, New York, to add tang to the final product and simulate fermented flavor. I like the stuff and have used it for years. I still use it quite often. There are many who disagree and say that it will never take the place of real fermentation. However, it was never meant to do that and most folks find it to be a very nice additive to the product. On the other hand, for real, full-flavored, fermented flavor, Bactoferm cultures are the best answer. Uniformity is the key, along with controlled, positive, lactic acid development.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Blackriver · Post by **Blackriver** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 01:39

I have been wanting to try using cultures in my summer sausage also. I usually mix all my seasoning but found a wonderful pre mixed summer sausage spice kit at PS seasonings.
https://www.psseasoning.com/index.cfm/a ... ct_id/2178
They suggest using Encapsulated citric acid to get the tang but I want to try cultures. I was wondering if I could use the F-LC culture for that kit?

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:08

Hi Scott,
Of course you can. Just leave out the citric acid and be sure to check out the information at this post:
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4796
You can use LHP and get full fermentation (5.0 pH) in as little as 2 days! (strong tang).
Or you can use F-RM-52 and finish after only 4 days! It's not quite as tangy as LHP.
You can even use T-SPX and achieve fermentation in a month. This one is more mellow and very nice if you like relatively mild acidification.
I like the F-LC in semi-dry cured products of this type because it also contains Lactobacillus curvatus and Pediococcus acidilactici which contribute to suppressing growth of Listeria monocytogenes.

Once you start using culture, you'll never go back to making sausage without it. You'll wonder why you tried making sausage without it. I would recommend using F-LC with a little more extended time and a little less "hot" fermentation.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Blackriver · Post by **Blackriver** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 16:03

Great! Thank you! I cannot wait to try it. Next time I make summer sausage I am doing this.

Post by **redzed** » Sun Jan 06, 2013 18:47

Just a couple of more notes on Fermento. I have used it in making summer sausage before I felt comfortable enough to start using cultures. It does give you a bit of tang, although it is different from what you get with cultures. Recently I used it in making wild goose sausage, and I am convinced that it helped to lessen the strong game flavour. You can add 1 to 6% of fermento to your mix, so I would add 3 or 4% if using it for the first time. I'm currently away from home, so I don"t have Rytek's book handy and can't check the recipe for the pepperoni. Does it read that the mixture be rested for a couple of days in the fridge after adding the Fermento and the other ingredients? If not, then it might be a good idea, since it gives it a period of time to permeate the meat before it's cooked in the smoker, and I had some success using this method. Since the main ingredient in Fermento is buttermilk powder, there are claims that you can substitute actual buttermilk and get even better results. I have never tried this but maybe one of these days. A couple of weeks ago there was a discussion on the WD Polish site where they made a semi-dry sausage using whey and yogurt. Unfortunately the guy who made the sausage was quite arrogant and did not post the recipe because there were some questions whether it was a fermented sausage.

Let us know how the pepperoni turns out, and make another batch using CW's instructions for comparison.

Baconologist · Post by **Baconologist** » Mon Jan 07, 2013 02:00

Definitely go with fermented the first chance you get.
Fermento is horrible stuff, IMHO.
ECA is just as bad.

F-LC culture is the best choice.
Ferment at 100 degrees F and 90% humidity for 24 hours.
1% dextrose and 1% sucrose.

HTH

kem5020 · Post by **kem5020** » Sun Jan 13, 2013 22:35

I'm also trying this for the first time with F-LC and venison summer sausage, but my plan for fermenting did not work out and I can only hold a temperature between 75 and 80 degrees, with lots of variation. The sausages have been in this environment for about 20 hours. What should I do? Hold them longer, try to raise the temperature, or simply move to the smoking phase? Any help would be appreciated.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 06:57

Kem, would you post more information about the sausage. The recipe? Instructions? Also, exactly what you have done to this point. We just need a little more info to be able to help.
Thanks and welcome to Wedliny Domowe!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

kem5020 · Post by **kem5020** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 18:44

Thanks for the reply Chuckwagon, and very happy to have found this community! I used the "recipes" link summer sausage blend:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... er-sausage

I went straight down the line on the recipe but used 20% boston butt with 80% fresh venison. I measured the F-LC in the chem lab at a local university (and will trade sausage for beer with the chemist). The blend was stuffed into 2.5 inch fibrous casings.

After mixing and stuffing my plan was to takeover the guest bathroom, fill the tub, hang the sausage over the tub, and use a spaceheater to hold 86 degrees in the space. "Fail" on the spaceheater which only ever got to 75 degrees--but held that nicely. After about 20 hours I started manually operating the spaceheater and since then have held on average 83 degrees. That makes to this point 20 hours hanging at 75 plus an additional 18 hours at 83... I'm ready to go on the smoking procedure at any point now. One bonus is that the bathroom now smells better than ever

Any and all advice, comments, or criticisms are welcome!

Kent

Post by **redzed** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 18:53

From what you described, the summer sausage is ready for the smoker. Just make sure it's dry and bring up the temp gradually in the smoker. Post pics and report. Good luck.

kem5020 · Post by **kem5020** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 02:35

The sausage has been on the smoker for about six hours how with great temp control. I'll post some pics and a report tomorrow. From the bit I cooked up today I am pretty excited.

kem5020 · Post by **kem5020** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 02:59

Oh man I am in heaven! I haven't had sausage like this since I lived in Wisconsin 20 years ago. The flavor is incredible-rich and tangy, almost addictive. If I get the pics posted, you can even see the nice subtle crust left by the smoker. Indiana deer processors make very bland sausage, which is part of the reason I moved in this direction.

I smoked for 8 hours, 6 at 110 with thin smoke and then ramped slowly up to 150 over the next two hours. My smoker is terrible for ribs and brisket but appears to be perfect for the low temps of sausage prep. The official fermentation time was 20 hours at 75 and then 18 more hours at 85 once I figured out the system. I could not be happier with the product, and now don't want to give any away

My 7 year old son was eating it like candy!!!

I'm going to let it hang and dry for a couple of days, turns out after my early temp fail, in addition to my smoker working, my pantry is also a perfect temp for holding the sausage. I'd like to try natural casings next time to see if the smoke can go deeper. I'm not sure if the extra time fermenting helped or hurt--the WD info on F-LC says 48 hours at 75, which made me feel more comfortable about what happened.

Thanks to those who helped with comments and to the whole web site for having so much information!!!

First semi-dry - any general advice?

First semi-dry - any general advice?

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