Homemade Sausage Making

Hi Tom
I was at Dande market on Friday. There is a lovely Asian man selling gadgets and electronics there in one of the aisles in the general merchandise centre. He is in the second aisle across from the main road entrance. Anyway you can pick up a set of miniature scales for $15 which will measure spices to 1/00th of a gram. I have used mine for ages, and just picked up another one as backup. You might have to ask for it as it's not easy to recognise. Comes in a box about the size of a pack of cards.
Regards Ursula

started my conversion today, turns out that the existing heating element is perfect in that bread prover and after digging out service manual for pid controller i was able to change max setpoint above 40C and had no problem reaching 90C and i believe could go higher but that is where i ended my first test.
so my purchase turned out better than originally expected
with bit of luck i will clean it up on sunday, drill smoke generator holes plus two vent holes, mount fan or two and i'm almost ready.

got small question for few of you that live near by, where do you buy polish style cottage cheese? (twarog)
also is there anyway to make sour milk happen without access to raw milk so i can make my own cheese or just drink it, i been using kefir grains but twarog comes out bit grainy and set milk doesn't taste as I remember.

Jan, aka crustyo44, asked me to post this on his behalf from an Australian source

Croc wrote:
got small question for few of you that live near by, where do you buy polish style cottage cheese? (twarog)

Something like this? Adelaide




It is a little bit grainy but with some rye bread, mniam.

Croc wrote: also is there anyway to make sour milk happen without access to raw milk so i can make my own cheese or just drink it, i been using kefir grains but twarog comes out bit grainy and set milk doesn't taste as I remember.

I started my sour milk with ordinary whole milk from Coles and 2 "cultures"; one with yogurt the other with ....... lemon juice. One of them worked, don't remember which one. Anyhow, now I always keep a little bit of sour milk in the fridge ready to be used whenever I feel like twarog or just "zsiadle mleko".

Cheers

Barbara

Hi Croc,
It's good to hear that you are nearly in the smoked sausage manufacturing stage.
Post some pictures please of your smoker/prover build.
Cheers Mate,
Jan.

FOr people in Oz looking for protein lined fibrous casings for salami making, I have just had an email from Huon Distributors assuring me that their salami fibrous casings fit the bill, and do shrink with the sausage. The respondent stated that he uses them for his salamis and they work a treat. Anyone use them?
Also they are looking at sourcing further fermentation starters for us.
Ursula

Ursula, I have tried and experimented with protein lined casings as well as a specialty item for salami. I purchased them from Stuffers in Canada, and from Sausagemaker and B & P in the US. They all work OK, but none compare to a natural beef middle. I get a better mould coat and perfect shrinkage with them. I found that the protein lined casings shrink only so much, so if you want an extra dry product, they might fail.

Do the beef middles smell bad? I read on someone's posts a long time ago that they are really pongy and that put me off. ( I am a little squeamish!)
Ursula

Well, they do have a distinct, but very slight odour. I would not say that they "smell bad". I soak them for 24 hrs before using, changing the water a few times. I really don't notice any offensive odours while stuffing and once they are stuffed, the slight odour is gone. Some hobbyists add a bit vinegar into the soak, claiming that it neutralizes the odour. That is not my practice, since I am inclined to think that the vinegar might retard mould formation on the salami.

Hi Members,
This is especially for Australian members. I finally found a reliable supplier for Butchers Cotton Twine in Melbourne.

Paul McKeon
Industrial Yarns Pty Ltd
26 Jesica Road
Campbellfield Vic 3061
Ph: 9357 8988 Fax: 9357 8180
www.industrialyarns.com.au

Paul has several sizes in stock. Prices are very good and "proper cotton butchers twine" is actually hard to get here.
Every wholesaler I contacted only stocks the artificial twine which I don't like for obvious reasons.
At least this cotton twine is a natural product.
Give him a go.
Cheers,
Jan.

Hello All
Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong forum....Maybe janlab can advise me here...but anyway...I decided to make my own cure #1.....93.75% Sodium Chloride
and.............6.25% Nitrite.....I have electronic scales that that are calibrated to measure down to 0.01g so I was able to get accurate measurements.
I thought that the grade of salt was too course (it was sold as "Flossy" )as my concern was how to get an even distribution of Nitrite when mixing to the salt. so...I I ground the salt through a coffee grinder first before adding the Nitrite....I then chucked it all in a ziplock back and shook the shit out of it!!!.....Labelled it up with a skull and crossbones with the word Poison and Called it Cure#1 home made!
If any of you professionals out there are shuddering in your boots about my process here then please let me know!!

Some time back I went to my local sausage supplies shop and asked them for a Cure#2.
They sold me an MBL product called Salami Cure 3120023......I had to order it as they had no cures in stock....When it arrived I discovered that (the labelling was really hard to read) the Cure mix had fermented rice in it.. .....This is not what I was expecting.....is this a normal ingredient for Cure#2....??????......Is it used as an anti caking agent perhaps????
I like to buy local if I can and so I'm still looking for a supplier to obtain a Starture culture for when I venture into making Salami.................

Flossy Australian Lake salt from: 03 Cockburn Rd, North Coogee WA 6163.....I bought a 25k bag for $20.00
(08) 9431 9431..
...I obtained the pure Nitrite from http://mistygully.com.au
Redback trading are selling #cure1 I kilo for $10.95
http://redbacktrading.com.au/index1.htm ... 230;…...

Hi Aaron! It's nice to have you with us on W.D.

Before C.L. Griffith came up with an answer during the 1920`s, the question of how to intersperse sodium nitrate and nitrite into salt evenly with homogeneous and consistently unvarying uniformity, was a major problem. Simply mixing nitrates and nitrites with salt didn`t work because it would settle to the bottom of the barrel during storage or shipping. Mixing a combination that was faultlessly and consistently uniform was never accurate. It was even considered to be a near impossibility - that is, until C.L. Griffith had the idea that he could somehow "flash dry" or "freeze dry" the nitrates and nitrites onto salt crystals (German Prague Salts) on huge rollers. His product was enormously successful and his "Prague Powders" became a household word in small sausage-making concerns everywhere in the world. For the first time, it was possible to measure exactly the amount required. The company has continued to thrive over the decades, even producing products globally. As far as I know, their headquarters are still in the town of Alsip, Illinois - a suburb of Chicago with a population of about 20,000... although there are not many horse wranglers among them.

Sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are poisonous when ingested in concentrated form in only small amounts. How much is lethal? A fatal dose of potassium nitrate is about 30 grams (two tablespoons). Merely 1 gram of sodium nitrite (about 22 milligrams per kilogram of body weight) will cancel your clock! That`s only about 1/3 of a teaspoon! It takes a little more for sodium nitrate to keep you permanently horizontal - one full teaspoon will do the trick!

Please be careful mixing and measuring this stuff. I`m just not too sure about mixing it with salt to make a convenient "curing agent". I would recommend using only a professionally-made and marketed product with a safe reputation.

Please read the information in these links:
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5743 (Calculating Nitrites)
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4794 (Nitrate/Nitrite content varies from country to country)

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Aaron,
I got my curing salts from Umai, when I ordered their bags. Now I'll just get it from Misty Gully, with their bags.
Since I make mostly Biltong, I don't use much Curing Salts. If you need some in the short term I can help you.
Jan L
Ps: What a glorious day we had here today!

Hello All
I think I've had a few too many wines as i can't revisit a post I received from chuck wagon....If I remember corectly he was telling me to abort my method of combining my own nitrate to salt....I just can't find his post again.....and I can't remember where I posted in the first place....I'm in a sorry state!!....Bloody red wine just makes me happy!

Tell him I'll abort and buy a pre made cure.....

Thanks
Aaron

Go one page back in this thread....