Homemade Sausage Making

I could eat those without forcing myself. They appear perfect.

CW,
Eating 9 kg of these Rookworst will put you in STENT City.
They are extremely nice but not too great for your arteries.
Matter of fact, they were easy to make, especially with the ready mixed spice mixture.
I was only the attendant to my mincer and stuffer, that's all.
Another 10 kg on the way shortly, when I have some spare time.
Cheers Guys.
Jan.

Those links look perfect Jan! I think running the final grind thru a 3mm plate followed by thorough mixing results in just as fine a mix as emulsifying. Nice job! RAY

Even in these turbulent times I continue to make sausages. I was cleaning out my freezer and found a 6.5 kg. turkey and a kilo of ground elk. Added 3kg pork picnic and ended up with 6kg of Dziadek's Turkey and Pork Sauasage (sort of) and 2kg. of spicy smoked Italian. Smoked the sausage for 2 hours at 130-140F then cranked it up to 185 to finish until IT reached 156.

You surely do nice work Chris.

I just finished the first 53 pages of this thread and I have seen some seriously delicious looking meats! Congratulations all, very nicely done.

Based on a Texas beef recipe, this one has a bit of pork added. I was in a hurry and forgot to add the bacon, can't find fat back.
This one is a bit lean and has a few air pockets, I guess I need one of those sausage pricker thingies...

I went through and looked at all the sausages...sorta like Pork Porn!! LOL

Thought some might find this interesting. My friend's son did this about two weeks ago. They keep it simple. No chambers, just take advantage of the weather and grind, mix stuff and hang. Very good stuff.

Basement ready for meat



Meat added - soppressata - an impressive 1700 lbs of it



Some of my experiments. Various recipes and processes. Some fermented in chamber some not. Some inoculated some left to nature. Some smoked some not. Still trying to find what suits me the best but I also keep it simple and make use of the seasons and try and keep the process as traditional and simple as possible.



Left is an inoculated salami, center is one that was wiped with vinegar early in the process after I mistook some yeast growth for a slime growth, right most has no additives and was cold smoked for two days in a heavy pecan smoke. Mold growth all native - all friendly - range in colors from whites to green to black - yes black. All friendly in my case.



Test samples

Wow Butterbean. Those are some impressive photos and your salamis look delicious!!

What keeps mold from growing on the Ham?

The ham does have some scatterings of molds but mostly around the fleshy regions and any folds in the skin. It was cold smoked several days so this kept most of the molds at bay for some time. But its going on three years - maybe four now and there are some colonies in spots. The fleshy cut area was wiped with lard and black pepper. This is done mainly as a measure to prevent excessive drying but it seems to impede mold growth as well.

I neglected to mention that in the basement setup they shoot for no mold. They will build a small fire on the floor and leave it to fill the room with smoke. They may repeat this as many times as they see fit. Other than that they do nothing but open the door and window on occasion for an air change.

Thanks for posting those photos Butterbean. Here I am in my small world getting around 7lbs of meat ready to make salami and see 1700 lbs hanging in a basement! When you get a sample of that soppressata Take a picture of the cross section and post it for us.

And when are you finally going to cut into that ham? Has not already reached its peak?

That is a lot of salami isn't it? Humbles me. I ate some of it last year's batch this fall and its pretty good but I'll get a photo when its done - I have dibs on some of it. We swap back and to. They have a very lackadaisical attitude toward curing. Measure by hand fulls and his daddy - my friend - thinks I'm anal with my processes. I think its interesting to see how other people do things.

I believe you are right. Its going to get tough to slice for sure. I cut the other leg sometime last year and still have plenty in the cooler. Those two joints yielded more meat than we can eat of course it doesn't help matters when the sweet smelling one prefers city ham over prosciutto type hams. Heck, to be honest, she would be content with chicken and rice at every meal.

Butterbean wrote:prefers city ham over prosciutto type hams. Heck, to be honest, she would be content with chicken and rice at every meal

Just be thankful she is not a vegan!