Sausage "Chatter"

Cabonaia
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Soft fat

Post by Cabonaia » Sat Oct 12, 2013 16:21

I have been using the meat from a couple pigs I raised. When I butchered them I separated the soft, internal fat from the hard back fat. The pigs were a tamworth/mangalitsa cross. What I've discovered is:

- the fat from these pigs is really tasty, and has such a clean, non-greasy taste in your mouth that it is hard not to plow into it as if it were meat
- the back fat is thick and hard. When you hold a piece of it vertically, it stands up and salutes :grin:
- using lard is a whole new cooking experience - what great stuff! My butter bill has dropped considerably. :razz:
- cracklins should not be left on the counter if you are concerned about your weight
- the intermuscular fat from these pigs is quite soft, which leads me to my problem...

So far I've used meat from these pigs to make sausages that require soft fat, such as morcella (Portuguese blood sausage) and braunshweiger. They turned out fine. But the kielbasa and kabanosy I made weren't good. When I poached the kielbasa, most of the fat rendered out into the water, and the sausage tasted good but was dry. Broke my heart! We choked down 10 lbs. of it nevertheless. When I poached, I kept the water temp down to 170F and poached very slowly, as I have done many times with fine results.

I made kabanosy with trim, but not backfat, as the trim was a good mix of lean and fat. I have always cold smoked kabanosy, then baked it in a low oven till it reached an internal temp of 165F. That's what I did this time. But too much fat dripped out, and the sausage came out dry.

Any suggestions before I ruin another batch? Here is what I can think of, but I would really like the wisdom of the forum on this!

- Use the leaner cuts, so that most all the fat in the sausage will be from hard backfat. (This might work, but I already butchered the loins into chops, and they were so good on the grill that I really don't want to hack them into sausage meat!)
- Cut out the intermuscular fat from cuts like Boston butt and picnics, and add in backfat only
- Poaching...is there a technique I need to know about? I brought the water up to temp, then added the sausages, and very slowly brought the temp back up to 170F, and kept it between 170 and 175F - mostly at 170.
- Baking...I pre-heated the oven. Probably a mistake, even though that's what I've always done before without problems. If I start with a cold oven, and very slowly increase the temp, I might get better results. But I am still concerned I will loose too much fat once the target temp is reached, and I really don't want to experiment with another 10 lb. batch.

Anything else or different that I should do? Help is greatly appreciated!

Jeff
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Merguez made for mutton.....Err ah lamb....!

Post by Thewitt » Mon Oct 21, 2013 13:36

I had a customer drop by and ask if I had a good recipe for lamb sausage. I had recently made up some merguez from a quality New Zealand lamb shoulder, so I cooked up a sample.

He loved it.

He then proceeds to bring me 50 kilos of the smelliest mutton I've ever seen! No way I could hide the smell of this mutton in a fresh sausage, what to do!

I made up a test batch with the merguez mix and lo and behold, it was great. A bit stronger smell than my first batch, but a very nice result.

I am also soaking 1kg of the mutton in buttermilk over night to see if I can remove some if the gamey smell, but I'm going to be ok even without this step. This was a trick I learned growing up to calm the flavor of the Fall hunt.

I'm convinced that the heavy smell of mutton is exactly why the spices in this sausage are so strong to begin with! Sometimes the original recipes are simply the best.

I would use this for goat as well.
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Post by alhunter63 » Sat Nov 23, 2013 18:58

Hi guys, I'm making venison dry sausage & salami for the first time (mixed 50/50, with fresh pork from the buther). I've made dry sausage & salami before, but always with 100% pork. Is there anything you guys think that I should do different?? Has anyone ever made it with venison & What can I expect. Also, I have the Bactoferm T-spx (starter culture) that I used back in April & then froze the remainder. Everything I have read says it lasts only 6-months in the freezer & i'm pushing 7-months. Is there anyway I can assure that it is still good??
Thanks Guys.
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Post by Igor Duńczyk » Sun Nov 24, 2013 00:29

Hi Al,
One thing that definitely matters is how much T-SPX you´ve got left and how much salami you´gonna make this time.

If you´ve got enough culture to overdose by at least 200% its my bet is that this will be sufficient -even if one month overdue.
Bacteria doesn´t just pop off because you cross the line, but their number decrease gradually. That´s why you shouldn´t worry bout´ an overdose of that white powder :wink:

Chr.Hansens rater short shelf life period somewhat puzzles me as freeze dried cultures should be able to stand 12 months if kept at the recommended temperature.
Whether its marketing politics ("throw out old and buy new if overdue") or play-safe because of the possible hazards connected with the use of dextrose as carrier is not for me to say. Otherwise the T-SPX should give you a more aromatic result than a fast CH culture (just stick to it).

As for venisom salami: I haven´t made any myself but have heard the following observations form others who make it regularely:
1) Deer may exhibit a certain dryness in structure that makes larger pieces of meat prone to "cracking up inside" if exposed to prolonged drying out (I´ve seen that a couple of times) but it should not be a problem for you, as you already have a 50/50% mix. And down to 20% pork should be enough.
2) Use pork back fat as you would in a pork salami.
Wishing you a Good Day!
Igor The Dane
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Post by alhunter63 » Mon Nov 25, 2013 04:39

Thanks Igor. That's exactly what I did, I doubled T-spx & I also added a little dab of vanilla yogurt just in case. This is the first attempt with the venison so I can't wait to see how it turns out.
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Basque Chorizo

Post by sausagemaneric » Sat Dec 07, 2013 04:07

Hi, I spent a few days in Elko Nevada during Thanksgiving and found that the grocery stores have Basque Chorizo. I had it in an omelet at a Basque Restaurant made with this chorizo, jalepenos, onions and cheddar. It was great. Cured, I would say little or no smoke and a little like linguisa.

Any Ideas?

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Post by sausagemaneric » Sat Dec 07, 2013 05:25

So I did a little digging and found the recipe by NorCalKid and wondered where he got the two jars of pepper, (the ground and the pulp)?

Thanks,
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Post by el Ducko » Sat Dec 07, 2013 06:38

That's a beautiful recipe, plus some good advice on wine addition and garlic handling. Thanks for reminding us.

I'm searching for sources for those peppers. One possible hit:
LA ESPAÑOLA MEATS, INC.
25020 Doble Avenue
Harbor City, California 90710
Phone: (310) 539-0455
Fax: (310) 539-5989
E-mail: info@laespanolameats.com
http://www.laespanolameats.com/mm5/merc ... ode=Spices

Another hit, better stocked but which appears to be located in Madrid:
http://www.mumumio.com/tienda/directo-d ... de-gernika

Good luck.
:mrgreen:
Experience - the ability to instantly recognize a mistake when you make it again.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sat Dec 07, 2013 18:24

Our pal Kevin (Norcalkid) has a wonderful recipe for Basque Chorizo with great photos, so I'm re-posting it here for your convenience.

After having made several successful batches of traditional Polish kielbasa (my wife`s family are Polish), I decided to investigate some sausage recipes that would reflect MY own Basque heritage.

I have made a number of `Basque-style` dishes before, but never looked into the `tube-meats.` However, that was to change. Last weekend while at Lake Tahoe, a friend who knew I was making sausages at home, asked me if I made any `Basque` sausages yet. I naively told him I wasn`t aware of any particularly `basque-style` sausage.
So we wander into a local butcher shop to pick up some nice steaks and I see a magazine in a rack ("Edible Reno-Tahoe") with a cover depicting...(what else?)...Basque chorizo! Produced locally at a Basque deli in Carson City, Nevada.

Cover of the magazine I have showing a batch of Basque chorizo:
Image

A trip to that deli ensued & I met one of the Basque employees there. I sampled the chorizo. Great stuff-not surprisingly, it is much closer to the fresh Spanish-style versus the Mexican chorizo: peppery, garlicky; some were sweet while others quite hot(!). We spoke for a while and he shared with me the list of ingredients used in this popular chorizo. They crank out over 200lbs of this stuff weekly. Some of the ingredients may be hard to get, I was told, but if I was serious about making it `authentic,' and the REAL DEAL, it was worth the effort.

Once I had my ingredients list, I was off & running.

Pork & beef mixture.
Here's 5 pounds of pork butt and 1 pound of beef chuck, well-chilled (near-frozen) & ready to grind:
Image

Other key ingredients included:

Espelette pepper (Basque: Ezpeletako biperra) - "the beloved chile pepper of the Basque country." A variety of pepper that is cultivated & dried traditionally in the northern territory of the Basque people. Flakey ground dry red pepper; Mildly sweet at first taste with a bit of a kick afterwards.
Image

Choricero red pepper -a red pepper utilized in cooking and making of sausages like chorizo. The `pimiento choricero` is typically sold dried. To use it, it must be rehydrated over the course of a few hours, and then the flesh is scraped out. It is also sold in glass jars as a paste. Finding dry choriceros was next to impossible, but I did locate jars of the `paste.`
Image

Here's the rest of the ingredients. I acquired some nice Sweet Spanish paprika (preferred) but a good Hungarian sweet would do just as well, I was told. Fresh Garlic, Red wine, Black pepper (tellicherry variety preferred), Kosher salt, Sugar, Pinch of nutmeg or allspice `to taste` and Cure#1 (if smoking- which I plan to, although the cure is not pictured below:
Image

Added all the ingredients to the ground meat (4.5mm plate), including the pink Cure#1:
Image

All mixed & ready to go:
Image

I'm letting this sit overnight. I did fry up a small piece to test the overall flavor. It needed a bit more salt & a touch more sugar to offset the bit of paprika 'bitterness', but the flavor I was after ('red-peppery, garlicky, bit of heat') was pretty much there. The smoking will, I believe, only enhance the final product.

Next Day:

5:00am.....Got an early start this morning and began the stuffing process. Using 30-32mm natural pork casings.
Six pounds ready for the smoker:
Image

6:45am: Managed to dangle the load over two dowels, trying to keeping 'touching' to a minimum. I couldn't find any more dowels as they've mysteriously wandered off-so I made do with the two.No smoke for the first hour-just 130° temp to dry them a bit...
Image

Used my A-maze-n smoker with 2.5 lanes of maple dust. I wanted something 'light' so as not to overwhelm the sausage flavor. Kind of silly of me, really, considering all the spices in the chorizo...

10:00 am After two hours of smoke, took a peek...
Image

3:30pm - I finally hit the desired IT after 7.5 hours so its time to pull the chorizo....
Image

Bloom time. I had some weird twist and 'curls' on some due to my chorizo-wrangling on the dowels. The color came out nice-that dark, rich mahogany red.
They''ll cool & bloom here for about an hour...
Image

Sample time!
Although they turned out not as spicy as the samples I had in Carson City, this is still a very tasty chorizo. Nothing like the Mexican variety.
Plenty of garlic with a strong 'red peppery' bite. NOT hot-which I was concerned about using the espelette pepper for the first time. More importantly, my wife and boys really liked it.
Image

It would go great with eggs, or in a good paella. Heck I might even get some good crusty bread & make a tasty sandwich with some!

-Kevin
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Goat Merguez

Post by Thewitt » Sun Dec 08, 2013 04:45

A customer stopped in and asked about the "We make custom sausages" sign. I said yes, just about anything you can imagine we will try.

She went back out to the car and brought in 2 goat carcasses....

The result was Goat Merguez, using the same recipe for lamb.

Brilliant.

The meat was fairly lean, however this seemed to work out fine. After separating out meat from fat we distributed the fat and ended up with about 80% lean sausage. Final texture was very nice.
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Post by ssorllih » Sun Dec 08, 2013 05:36

That is grand! how was the taste?
Ross- tightwad home cook
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Post by Thewitt » Sun Dec 08, 2013 05:41

Very nice flavor.

The Merguez is a little spicy, with cayenne pepper, cumin and paprika, along with garlic. To hide the gamey flavor of the goat I doubled the garlic but roasted it to soften the bite.

It was quite nice.

Stuffed into sheep casings and twisted at 4" they are a keeper.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sun Dec 08, 2013 08:27

And plenty of black pepper? :mrgreen: Right?
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by Thewitt » Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:23

Chuckwagon wrote:And plenty of black pepper? :mrgreen: Right?
Oh yes indeed.
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Post by Butterbean » Sun Dec 08, 2013 15:56

Sounds great. I love the flavor of merguez. Was thinking of making some with venison now I know I will.
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