Homemade Sausage Making

The Swiss fellas here make what they call Salametti. It's basically Landjaeger without the Caraway and isn't pressed.It has red wine, 2g/kg of brown sugar and 4g/kg of GDL. We only dry it about 30% and it takes 2-3 weeks. I also made 4 chubs of a pepper salami in 50mm fibrous casings. It's the same recipe only it has 10g/kg of whole pepper corns. The salami is fantastic on cheese and crackers and the Salametti is a staple of our mountain sheep hunts which I have one coming up in 2 weeks. This is made with 60% moose, 30% pork shoulder and belly trim and 10% back fat. I don't have an actual chamber yet so with forecast weather my shed will be 22C for the next few days then cooling down. I drape plastic around my rack and put a pan of water under it. This will ferment for 2 days then into the smoker for a cold smoke for 3-4 hours, then back to the rack to dry.

Hey Don, those sausages look great! I think you have the GDL addition down pat, but are you sure you are getting fermentation without cultures and with acidification from the GDL? Are you checking the pH? And if you are already acidifying with GDL, why the additional process of trying to ferment using wild bacteria?

I don't have the ph meter yet. Still coming by mail. This is the recipe the local boys use. The new fella has just started adding the GDL. Seems to work pretty well. This is only my second batch of salametti, and my fourth of the pepper salami. I don't know the ins and outs or why they do it this way. I'm really looking forward to getting my meter and chamber then I can go through all the motions and know what's happening throughout the process. It usually has a nice light tang to it. I like it a little less dry than the Landjaeger. I like to have a real fresh one just after cold smoking. This batch has nice inside colour and texture. The smoke didn't take quite as good as usual. The shed smells like it took a good smoke though! Seems to be developing a little more color as it dries. Should still be a nice product. After 25 km with a 50 pound pack I'm sure it will taste awesome!

I'm currently in Austria and have been sampling similar products, that is, sausages that have been acidified, smoked and then semi-dried. Today I bought some Landjäger and Mühlviertler Hauswürstel. Both have a heavy but almost sweet smoke flavour, that I wish I could duplicate, and a pronounced tang. Both sausages contain ascorbic acid as an acidulant, no cultures or fermentation in the process. A couple of days a ago I had some excellent kaminwurst, which had a blackened casing and in flavour was similar to the above mentioned sausages. It was absolutely delicious, but I bought it from a small butcher shop without any labels, so I have no idea as to the ingredients or process. If you could talk to your local experts, maybe they can provide some guidance as to how we can make this sausage? There is a Swiss shop in Canmore that also makes kaminwurst, so they might be familiar with it.

Rudi here knows the fella in Canmore. I'll chat about this sausage and see what I can find out.

Red, did a little reading on the Kaminwurst and it sounds similar in process to their Salametti (they call it Salametti, but it might be Salamenti, could be a language translation thing)
I know they like to cold smoke this stuff several times over 4-5 days. A little each day or so. I tasted a fresh one of mine the other day and it was good, but not as good as theirs. I'm headed over there today to get some more trim so I'll ask about the Kaminwurst.

The Salametti was excellent on our sheep trip. Just got back and tried the salami. Fantastic on cheese and crackers! Will cryovac and into the fridge for a few weeks now.

That looks beautiful. Nice job!

Great looking salami!

Did you get a sheep?

I does look good!

Just to understand the process

fatboyz wrote: I also made 4 chubs of a pepper salami in 50mm fibrous casings. It's the same recipe only it has 10g/kg of whole pepper corns. The salami is fantastic on cheese and crackers and the Salametti is a staple of our mountain sheep hunts which I have one coming up in 2 weeks. This is made with 60% moose, 30% pork shoulder and belly trim and 10% back fat. I don't have an actual chamber yet so with forecast weather my shed will be 22C for the next few days then cooling down. I drape plastic around my rack and put a pan of water under it. This will ferment for 2 days then into the smoker for a cold smoke for 3-4 hours, then back to the rack to dry.

It was cold smoked and then dried at 22 C ( 71-72 f) for around 3 weeKs ?

Bob,no it wasn't dried at 22C. I had it fermenting at 22C for two days then cold smoked then it dried at between 12 and 14C for 3 weeks. I am waiting on my PH meter and thermostat/Hygrostat controller for my chamber so had to do it the old school way. It's fall here so it's perfect weather.

Matter one. Yes, my daughter got a nice sheep. going to think of something special to do with the bit of trim. She got a young ewe on a special license so there is only 35 pounds of boned out meat. Most will be for steaks and other niceties but should have a couple kilos for some kind of nice sausage.Maybe something like a savory Brat?

Made some merguez with the last sheep I butchered. I found that pretty good stuff.

Butterbean. I'm not familiar with Marquez? Can you elaborate?

Its a north african sausage. Spice blend really works well with lamb. If you like shawarma you will surely like this.