Hi Rudy
One reason for my mentioning of GdL was because it causes a fermentation process that is easier to control if the user is less skilled or lack a climate chamber with possibility of thorough temperature and humidity control. And because Landjäger is a smaller calibre fermented sausage than the average calibre 60 salami there is also a better chance that things will work out as expected. Also because the GdL denatures the proteine of the meat fibre in a rather effective (some would say
brutal) way -depending on dosage, you may find it easier to obtain the rectangular shape which is the hallmark of this sausage (...together with the caraway
).
GdL is a good helper though personally I am not that much of an advocate of GdL as I frequently experience that high dosage/overdose leads to a woody and hard texture once the sausage becomes (too) dried out and at this point an annoying metallical off-taste may be observed too, which is offensive for some people but indifferent for others.
For my taste buds the GdL also seems to enhance the saltiness of the product if salt dosage is around 2,4% or higher
But for some types of sausages slight saltiness ain´t a drawback: After all Landjäger is a kind of back packers snack-salami that goes well with a Bavarian style beer. Try it with a Hefeweisse from Paulaner or Meisel
. However as Baden-Württembergs seem to claim that the Ländjager of their region is especially good you may could also try it with a Pinot Noir (as the German Spätburgunder wines might be hard to come by in your vicinity
)
On this webpage Germanophiles of this forum may read about the Landjägers Swiss origins:
http://www.kulinarischeserbe.ch/product.aspx?id=196
So what is to be considered the right dosage of GdL? Hmmm....
The average dosage in Germany is app. 0,8% for salami type sausages of calibre 60 because with this much you are sure to ram down pH below 5.0 withing a short time.
Compared to starter cultures there is a shorter lag phase and the pH drop is steep (that´s why you should not use Cure#2). But you will probably also notice the aforementioned drawbacks in consistency and taste after some time of drying/maturing.
With 0,4 % GdL you will still have the drop down well below pH 5,3 where the water molecules start letting go, so I would recommend this as a starting point dosage for your first experiment with GdL in a small calibre. And my bet is that the off taste will be so close to unnoticable that no one will complain.
Actually during my time at Chr.Hansen we promoted the combination of 0,4% GdL and T-SPX for small scale producers who did not posses real climate
chambers but could at least leave the sausages to hang in a closed smoking chamber with high humidity inside. And it usually worked well, though consistency eventually would become slightly less elastic and a bit more woody than with starter culture alone.