Homemade Sausage Making

Hello All, especially RedZed

When using google or bing translators from Czech to English, or German to English, when Kmin or Kummel, or its derivations go thru, I almost always get Cummin. Shouldn't this actually be Caraway?

Rex

In Czech kmin is caraway, but Kmín římský is cumin. And it seems that Google does translate it into caraway. In Polish kminek=caraway, and kmin rzymski = cumin. My German is poor but kummel is caraway, and cumin is kreuzkümmel or römischer Kreuzkümmel.

Been a while since you posted here. What are you making these days?

Thanks for the reply! I've been lurking alot, just not posting.

Started a batch of beef bacon using briskets. And, I've just cut up 25# chicken thighs for several different sausages.
Getting gifts ready for Thanksgiving when I go up to my mom's in Kansas. She's got a great-grand that she's only seen once, and so we need to go back home.

Also, She got a taste of my sausage last fall, and so she has now "placed an order." Ha ha!!

Separate question: I found a "Russian Sausage" either here, or elsewhere, that has 3 TBSP caraway, and 3 TBSP dill seed in a 5# batch of sausage. It appears to be a Kielbasa with added onion, and the "extra" seeds. If you are even vaguely familiar with the formula, is this right??

Thanks
Rex

[quote=polka post_id=41911 time=1565089160 user_id=5110

Separate question: I found a "Russian Sausage" either here, or elsewhere, that has 3 TBSP caraway, and 3 TBSP dill seed in a 5# batch of sausage. It appears to be a Kielbasa with added onion, and the "extra" seeds. If you are even vaguely familiar with the formula, is this right??

Thanks
Rex
[/quote]

Hi Rex,
On the main WD site homepage, if you click on “Recipes” then “Sausage” then “Recipe Secrets”, there’s a great reference chart for typical amounts of various spices and seasonings in grams per kilogram (of meat) and also a general conversion chart for grams of seasonings into volumes (teaspoon and tablespoons).

I use it as a general reference frequently when I’m trying to put together or double-check “new” recipes.

Just checking it against your recipe numbers:
-3 Tablespoons of caraway seeds (18.9g) is about 0.8% of 5 lbs (2,268 g) by weight.
-0.2% is closer to the “standard” for this particular seasoning.

Basically, although I’m unfamiliar with the recipe you’re inquiring about, 3 tablespoons of dill or caraway seeds in 5 lbs of meat seems like as much as 3 times more than it should require, even for strong flavors. I hope someone corrects me if I’m wrong, but I think 0.3% is a much “safer” starting point for even a featured flavor. (4 teaspoons of each should be adequate for a significant amount of dill and caraway flavor in a 5 lb batch). I suspect that even 1-1/2 Tbs of each would dominate, if not overwhelm your overall flavor profile, IMO...

Thanks for your input!!
My guess was that it was a typo when they posted the recipe, and should have been 3 Teaspoons instead of 3 Tablespoons. I'm like you -- strooooong flavors here. I can't believe it was posted without being tasted. But I've run across dumber things online, too. Genealogy things online! Whether news, recipes, genealogy, or whatever, you can't believe everything you see online!!

Thanks for your time and trouble.
Rex

My pleasure. One of my favorite stories my mom tells sometimes is about learning how to cook on her own (before the internet), and was following a recipe that called for three cloves of garlic, which she mistook for “bulbs”. 🥴 (I should probably mention that she’s a really good cook today.)

Incidentally, the fact that internet recipes are all over the place never surprises me, but when a recipe has thousands of views and hundreds of likes and comments without a single person pointing out a glaring error, like WAY too much salt...it always blows my mind a bit. That’s what I like about forums, in general. Even bad ideas or advice tend to get tempered as different people with varying experience and expertise weigh in.