Homemade Sausage Making

Hi Sausagemakers!

I was going through some ancient family recipes from the old country (Switzerland) and I came across some instructions from a huge Danish Supply house that dates back more than a century and a half. It is for making German "Knackwurst". The original recipe specified `ground saltpeter` as the curing agent but I`ve calculated the correct amount of Cure #1 containing sodium nitrite at 156 p.p.m. The amount of Peklosol is also included for the nice folks in Poland. Note this recipe will produce 100 lbs. (45.36 kg.) of sausage. Now that ought to make a helluva sandwich for Unclebuck in Lac La Biche, Alberta. The supply house failed to give an exact measurement of garlic. The instructions simply read, "add a small quantity of grated garlic". I added the amount of garlic powder recommended in "Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages" by Stan and Adam Marianski. The original recipe also specifies that the meat be chopped "very fine" and stuffed into beef rounds or hog casings, hung in the air for 8 days, then cold smoked another 6 days before preserving them in a "cool and dry place".

I compared the formula to Rytek Kutas` "Knockwurst" recipe. He liked to add a few more ingredients including powdered dextrose, mace, allspice, coriander, and a whopping amount of paprika. The man also liked to hot-smoke this sausage, (he sold hot-smoking cabinets) placing an "emulsified" mince into small or medium beef rounds, or 38-42 m.m. hog casings. He placed them on smokesticks, allowed them to dry completely, then put them into a smokehouse preheated to 135°;F. (57°;C.) one hour without smoke. He then raised the temperature to 165°;F. (74°;C.) and applied hickory or alder smoke until the internal meat temperature reached 152°;F. (67°;C.).

Now, unless you are going to make a hundred-pound dinner for just Tacklebox and Graygoat, you may wish to make a more practical amount. Try making 10 pounds of sausage and simply divide the amount of each ingredient by 10 or just move the decimal point one place to the left on the hundred pound formula. Shucks pards, I`ve already done it for ya! Please mix cures carefully.

Knackwurst - Original 100 lbs. Swiss Recipe. ( 45.36 kg. using Prague Powder Cure #1)
60 lbs. lean pork
14 lbs. lean beef
26 lbs. fat pork
4 oz. (113.21 grams) Prague Powder Cure #1 (American = 20 level teaspoons)
810 grams salt
5.5 oz. black pepper (1-1/2 cups)
2.5 oz. caraway seeds (70.87 gr.) = (8 tblspns.)
1.5 oz. garlic powder (5 tblspns.)

Knackwurst - 45.36 kg. Polish Recipe (100 lbs. using Peklosol)
27.22 kg. lean pork
6.35 kg. lean beef
11.79 kg. fat pork
1179.34 gr. Peklosol (Poland)
180 gr. salt
156 gr. black pepper (1-1/2 cups)
71 gr. caraway seeds = (8 tblspns)
42.5 gr. garlic powder (5 tblspns.)

Knackwurst - Ten lbs. Swiss Recipe ( 4.5 kg. using Prague Powder #1)
6.0 lbs. lean pork
1.4 lbs. lean beef
2.6 lbs. fat pork
11.32 grams (0.4 oz.) Prague Powder Cure #1 (American = 2 level teaspoons)
81 grams salt
0.6 oz. black pepper
0.25 oz. caraway seeds (2.5 tspns.)
0.15 oz. garlic powder (1.5 tspn.)

Knackwurst - 4.5 kg. Polish Recipe (10 lbs. using Peklosol)
2.72 kg. lean pork
0.64 kg. lean beef
1.18 kg. fat pork
117.93 gr. Peklosol (Poland)
18 grams salt
15.5 gr. black pepper
7 gr. caraway seeds
4.21 gr. (1.5 tspn. garlic powder)

*It is interesting to note that Rytek Kutas`s 10 lbs. Knockwurst Recipe also includes the following ingredients. Why not try them? I especially like the addition of dextrose to "sweeten" and balance the sausage.

4 tblspns. powdered dextrose
1 tblspn. mace
1/2 tspn. allspice
1 tspn. coriander
2 tblspns. paprika

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for posting your recipe! It looks great I will have to try it

Thanks Scott, and congrats Wisconsin! Those Packers looked terrific!
Let me know how your knackwurst turns out Blackriver... and thanks for your comments. Sounds like you're getting ready to make fermented sausages. What will your first project be? Salami? Pepperoni? Drag Rider's Black Pepper Sausage? Good luck.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for the recipe, Chuckwagon. I do have a question...how would the meat reach an internal temperature of 152*F is the heat source is only set to 150*?

I notice you are from the Smokies! I ain't far from you...just south of Franklin, NC! We got ourselves plenty of smokers in our part of the hills, don't we?

-Kyle (ArtisanBeard)

Oh, Nevermind...it says "ROCKIES". Sorry bout that. My mistake...

Hey, hey, ArtisanBeard,
I gotcha! You're on Highway 23 south of Dillard and north of Clayton. It's a beautiful area and those mountains on your east and the Blackrock Mtns. on your west side are gorgeous. Timpson Falls is something else too. What a great place to live!
Glad you liked my recipe and indeed, thanks for the correction on my typo in the recipe. Hey ArtWhiskers... we mountain folk must stick together!

Oh, and about the temperature in the recipe. The second part says:

He then raised the temperature to 165°;F. (74°;C.) and applied hickory or alder smoke until the internal meat temperature reached 152°;F. (67°;C.).

Best Wishes,
RockChuck WagonTrack