Homemade Sausage Making

Recipe for Lawman`s Landjager (sic) has been archived due to to safety concerns in the process outlined.

Lone Peak Landjager
(Dry-Cured Swiss Landjager Sausage)
Made using Bactoferm T-SPX

Landjager is a dry-cured fermented sausage of Swiss-German origin and is a convenient, easy-carry, food for back-packers and hunters. The sausages are flattened between two boards during the "lag phase" just prior to fermentation, giving them a rectangular shape. In Europe, sausagemakers have even cut special grooves into boards to form the sausages into perfectly rectangular figures. Originally, Landjager was a fully dry-cured, air-dried sausage only, requiring months of preparation. Today, the process is somewhat shorter using Bactoferm™ T-SPX, although this particular culture assists with sausages drying a month or more where relatively mild acidification is desired. T-SPX is particularly recommended for the production of Southern European type of sausages, low in acidity with an aromatic flavor regardless if smoked or molded. The Swiss prefer a few sweet spices in the recipe. However, some of the best I`ve tasted contained only salt and pepper with a bit of caraway. I hope you enjoy these little fermented sausages as much as I do.



3 lbs. "certified" pork butt (70% lean)
7 lbs. lean beef
7 tblspns. kosher salt
2 tspns. (level) Prague Powder #2
0.55 gr. Bactoferm™ T-SPX (see note * below)
1 tblspn. corn syrup solids
1 tblspn. powdered dextrose
1 tspn. white pepper (finely ground)
2 tspn. black pepper (finely ground)
½ tspn. cardamom
½ tspn. coriander
½ tspn. nutmeg
2 tspns. toasted and crushed caraway seeds

* Cultures may be stored in a freezer up to 6 months. Not frozen or un-refrigerated, it has a shelf life of merely 14 days.

Place the grinder knife and plate into the freezer while you separate the pork fat from the lean meat using a sharp knife. Cut the meat into 1" cubes and freeze the pork fat. Grind the pork using the 3/8" plate and the pork fat using a 3/16" plate. Place the fat back into the freezer. Grind the beef using a 3/16" plate and then place it back into the freezer until it is almost frozen. Re-grind the beef using a 1/8" plate. Re-grind the pork fat using the smaller 1/8" plate also. Be sure to use a sharp grinder blade.

Mix the T-SPX with distilled water only and distribute it evenly throughout the meat. Next, mix the meat with all the remaining ingredients except the fat, salt and the cure. Develop the primary bind ("sticky meat paste") by kneading the mixture to develop the proteins myosin and actin, but don`t over-mix the meat. Now, add the frozen, diced, fat and fold it evenly into the mixture with your hands. Work quickly at this point to avoid heating the fat and "smearing" it (when the mixture enters the casings). Finally, add the cure #2 (in a little water for even distribution) and the salt. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly and stuff the sausage loosely into 32-36 mm. hog casings, making links about 8" long.

Next, place the sausages tightly pressed together on a wide, clean (new) wooden board. Place another clean board on top of the sausages and add 20 or 30 pounds of weights to the top board, pressing the sausages into a thickness of only about half an inch. This procedure may take several hours. Don`t add too much weight and don`t rush the process.

Hang the sausages at 68°;F. (20°;C.) in 95% relative humidity for 48 hours. Reduce the relative humidity by 10% over the next 48 hours (4 days total). Dry the sausage at room temperature until they are dry to the touch. Cold-smoke the sausages at 68°; F. (20°; C.) in light smudge several hours. Dry the sausages at 57°; F. (14°; C.) in 82% relative humidity for about 1-1/2 months or until 30% shrink occurs (the water activity must drop below Aw 0.85). To store the Landjager sausages, place them in 75% relative humidity at as near 54°; F. (12°; C.) as possible.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Alright, what has just happened? We added a product called "fermento", produced by the Sausagemaker™. It is NOT a bio-culture. It is a dairy product (made from organic ingredients) to simulate the fermented flavor of the lengthy process of air-drying. And it works! Make no mistake about it. The stuff works. I like the product and use it frequently. It is important to realize that its development stops with the use of heat. Hence, following 4 days of "fermentation", we raise the temperature to 150°; F.

Thanks for the info CW, I have seen Fermento in several recipes and was wondering if it was organic or a chemical short cut. It will help to make the jump in to fermented sausages a little less intimidating

I just noticed I have another sausage and moved up to "user".....yahoo!

Hey CW thanks for posting both those recipes! Will diffently have to give them a try soon.

Thanks for the response guys. I'm happy to see you are going to give them a try. I'm making a batch tomorrow afternoon.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Gray Goat wrote: Thanks for the info CW, I have seen Fermento in several recipes and was wondering if it was organic or a chemical short cut. It will help to make the jump in to fermented sausages a little less intimidating

I just noticed I have another sausage and moved up to "user".....yahoo!

Fermento is strictly a flavoring agent, it in no way starts fermentation of feeds the bacteria to promote fermentation. It is simply a mixture of Dairy whey that adds a fermented flavor without any fermentation taking place.

You can get a similar flavor by using encapsulated citric acid, but in my humble opinion, neither shortcut produces a quality product when compared to a properly fermented sausage.

You would be better served purchasing a freeze-dried starter culture and using that.

I use powdered buttermilk as a substitute for fermento. I can't taste any difference and its cheaper too.

H_Nutczak wrote: You would be better served purchasing a freeze-dried starter culture and using that.

Using 'real' starter culture requires a whole different approach to the process. I'm sure that it was Chuckwagon's intent to introduce an acceptable alternative to the complicated procedure of truly fermenting sausage. The advantages to the 'Fermento' formula are curing times and potential adverse health issues.

Absolutely correct Chef-O! If folks want the "real" thing, there is an entirely different "dry-cured" recipe right below the "semi-dry-cured" recipe. I did not intend to deceive anyone and explained that Fermento is a flavoring. Here is my quote:

"Fermento" is produced by the Sausagemaker™. It is NOT a bio-culture. It is a dairy product (made from organic ingredients) to simulate the fermented flavor of the lengthy process of air-drying. Make no mistake about it - it works. I like the product and use it frequently. It is important to realize that its development stops with the use of heat. Hence, following 4 days of "fermentation", we raise the temperature to 150°; F.

Shucks pards, some people like Fermento. I'm one of them. It is made by the Sausagemaker™ in Buffalo, New York. It gives "semi-dry" a nice flavor.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Then by this method we can get the taste of "summer sausage" without the long fermentation? The primary difference will be the need for refrigeration for sausage made with fermento?