Homemade Sausage Making

Re: "Polish sausage" like "kielbasa" in laymans terms ---lightly smoked , till possibly "ready to eat", or requiring post smoke poaching .....

Ok, in my quest for less salty sausage than available commercially, as a continuation of my previous post - http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=7969

So, again, I am looking for my local Butcher to make me lower salt sausage,(due to Taste, Not dietary reason), although that could help also.


SO, I need to give him a % by weight.

So, after much reading on this site and others, and responses from my above post, I am basically getting "1.5 %' by weight salt for "lower salt" sausage.

OK, fine, makes sense.

BUT - Here is my problem with accepting that as my answer ----

When I look at "nutritional label" of commercial retail sold sausage, the typical average is " 500mg Total Sodium/ 2OZ"

When I do the arithmetic, that comes to rounded off .8%.

Yes, .8%, just under 1%, far from 1.5 to 2.00%, that I read is typical.

BUT - something here makes no sense.

THAT is the mystery, and point of this post.

The commercial stuff is WAY toooo salty, but the math shows .8%, way different than 1.5%- 2% advised in recipes here, , AND, this is serving weight, AFTER shrinkage, AND, ALL Sodiums combined, not just "Salt".

So, arithmeticaly, milligram/ 1000 GM %, would be EVEN LESS in the raw mix than .8%, because AFTER shrinkage, AND including ALL "sodium"not just "salt" it is .8%.

I am totally confused.

Again, the commercial retail sausage is an average of 500mg "sodium" per 2 oz.

For me that comes up on the calculator as .8%, and WAYYY too salty.

You probably should read my previous post, link above before answering.


Help please. Marc

I really think the solution to your dilemma is to follow Butterbeans advice in a previous thread.

http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?p=35133#35133

Purchase an inexpensive gram scale.
Test various samples to see what % suits your taste.

Bob - Ok, I read that, and will order a small scale soon.

But still the question remains of the arithmetic I hope can be addressed. Marc

How can you compare the sodium content to the amount of salt - sodium chloride - that is put in sausage? That's like comparing apples to oranges isn't it? Sodium chloride aka salt only contains 40% sodium the rest is chloride.

Butter - Let me dig into that question properly till tomorrow.

I am interested in the tech side of it, that's why I'm here. Marc

If you recheck your math I think you will find its 0.9% and not 0.8%. Since sodium only comprises 40% of salt then it will take 2.5 times this amount of salt to arrive at the sodium figure listed on the label. So this would mean they used 2.25% salt which is far above what everyone has been suggesting you start your own trials with.

Since you are planning on working on the low end of the salt spectrum you need to be careful because if you go too low you will end up with a crumbly dry product. One way around this would be as Redzed mentioned which is to use sugar to mitigate the saltiness. In doing this you will still be able to get a good bind and get the benefits salt has on the sausage structure without the saltiness because salt is more than just a seasoning.

I would also think it imperative if you were going to use minimal salt that you salt the meat a minimum of eight hours before performing any further processing.

Hope this was helpful.

Butterbean hit the nail on the head, as usual. Percentage of sodium is not the same as the percentage of salt.

Since you're interested in the tech side, I'll just add that salt (NaCl) is roughly 40% (39.34%, to be more precise) sodium by weight. But, it's a one to one ratio as far as the number of molecules. One Na molecule (atomic weight of 22.99) per Cl molecule (atomic weight of 35.45). But the weight is all that matters for the purpose of sausage making, so feel free to forget what I just said and just multiply the amount of sodium by 2.5 to get the amount of salt. .. Just like Butterbean said.

Your questions on minimum salt has got me wondering what is the low end? What I mean is what is the low end where there is enough salt to form enough reaction with the meat to form the tackiness you need to bind sausage together to keep it from being mealy and dry. I suspect if you do many experiments in this area you are sure to find this % and I'd love to know what that is if you find it. I think it'd be worth knowing.

Butterbean wrote:Your questions on minimum salt has got me wondering what is the low end? What I mean is what is the low end where there is enough salt to form enough reaction with the meat to form the tackiness you need to bind sausage together to keep it from being mealy and dry. I suspect if you do many experiments in this area you are sure to find this % and I'd love to know what that is if you find it. I think it'd be worth knowing.

For what it is worth 9gm per kg which relates to 0.90%

Don't go any lower cuz it's not worth it

Butterbean and Brican, and others --- - OK , ya, I think I'm answered pretty well now.

Butterbean - ESPECIALLY your salt/ chloride post, I had NOOO idea.

Aweek ago, I was looking for info for my Butcher.

Now, 7 days later, after help here, and http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/110/electric-smokers I am planning, VERY excited, to make and smoke my OWN sausage.

Thank you ALL SOOO much. Marc

BriCan wrote:

Butterbean wrote:Your questions on minimum salt has got me wondering what is the low end? What I mean is what is the low end where there is enough salt to form enough reaction with the meat to form the tackiness you need to bind sausage together to keep it from being mealy and dry. I suspect if you do many experiments in this area you are sure to find this % and I'd love to know what that is if you find it. I think it'd be worth knowing.

For what it is worth 9gm per kg which relates to 0.90%

Don't go any lower cuz it's not worth it

Thanks Brican. I got curious where the threshold was. Don't plan to ever go that low but its little things like this that I think are worth knowing. Thanks.

Glad to be of some help Marctrees. Let us know what you come up with.

Im selecting a Smoker, probably MES 1500W Analog, Auber freestanding PID, remote "Mailbox" mod w/ AMAZEN 5"x 8" Pellet Tray, and a grinder/ stuffer.

REALLY learning at this Forum about the Sausages themselves, and below link about the smokers. Thank you ALL, Marc


http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/110/electric-smokers

If you are going to use it primarily for smoked sausages and stuff have you given any thought to just building one yourself?