Homemade Sausage Making

Hey Gang it’s been a long time. I’ve been busy catching fish all summer and I shot my moose last week.Still a deer to harvest but I butchered a pig as well. So it’s Sausage Season!!
It’s still a little warm in the garage for drying so I thought I’d give some UMAI bags a try. The instructions call for fermentation for three days with a starter culture. I don’t have any starter culture left so I’m not going to bother. Could I not just toss them into the fridge? I’m being a bit lazy here by just asking my cyber friends but I’m hoping to put a batch together this weekend. I’ll slowly get my brain back into sausage but I still have to get that I have my eye on.

Good to be back

Hi Ed, welcome back and congrats on the Moose! You need a walk in freezer for all that meat and fish you have there!

If you are going to use the umai bags and not ferment, it should work, you'll simply have a dried sausage. Use Cure #1 because without the assurance of the bacteria in the starter and the cold temp, the nitrate might not break down. Make sure you use at least 25 grams of salt (including Cure #1) for safety. Although there is a little risk involved, you can hang the salami at room temp for a couple of days before transferring into the fridge. Add 5grams of dextrose as well.