South African Russian Sausage

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S@usage
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South African Russian Sausage

Post by S@usage » Fri Jul 31, 2020 10:45

Hi All
Hope someone can save me :cry:

For a very long time, I've been trying to master a Classic Sausage known here in South Africa as a Russian but I've been met with failure upon failure for far too long. The region I live in doesn't sell very good quality russian sausage however another region in South Africa which is 6hrs away from me sells the best variety of this pre-coooked sausage. Sometimes the 6hr drive seems worthy but I haven't braved the roads yet to go all the way just for Sausage so if someone is travelling by that way, then they know what to get me.

Off course googling around doesn't give you much info because it's only known as Russian here in South Africa but Russian Sausages are something totally different as my poor research proves.

Never the less, a little more digging and I found out that the South African famous Russian Sausage is actually the cousin of a widely known sausage called Polish Kielbasa. I began to narrow down my search further and found several different methods and recipes to make polish kielbasa which actually is an emulsified sausage thats pre-cooked, cooled and then cooked again later when needed.

Not to bore you with too much more detail than what I've already put down, I took a stab at it with the combination of recipes and techniques I found online.

1. Minced Silverside Steak with Beef Short Ribs for the fat. It was a 70/30 mix.
2. Mixed my spices (Salt, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Black Pepper, Milk Powder (Binder), and a pinch of other spices.
3. Everything was mixed by hand till the mix became sticky like others have suggested.
4. So Far, I'm working really hard to keep things cold.
5. I now add all of the mixture into a food processor together with crushed ice and process for a few minutes till mixture becomes pasty.(I read about this from Kenji @ SeriousEats). At this point I should definitely mention that the mixture began climbing up the mixer bowl and got lodged into the cavaties of the machine. I definitely overfilled the bowl. Also the mix wasn't all that pasty - it was definitely homogeneous and more like a rough paste than smooth.
6. Thereafter, the mix was left in the fridge overnight then the next morning I filled it into Cellulose Casings and baked in my oven till internal temp hit 71c.
7. I immediately removed from oven then placed in cold water to cool down.

Now comes the problems with the final product.

1. The texture wasn't anything close to what I was looking for. It bordered slightly mushy and grainy whereas the texture I'm looking for is firm and snappy to the bite with plenty of juiciness.
2. When I removed it from the cellulose casing, I found a whole lot of water seeping out from the area between the casing and the sausage.
3. I pan fried some and found grease seeping out of it.


Right now, i'm concentrating on texture mostly so my question is how do you make a Polish Kielbasa that has a firm texture and snappy bite that's still juicy. I don't have any commercial equipment except a small home sized mincer, food processor and a KA Mixer.

Thanks
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Bob K
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by Bob K » Fri Jul 31, 2020 11:46

S@usage
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by S@usage » Fri Jul 31, 2020 14:33

Hi Bob

We don't eat Pork so need an all Beef Version.

Thanks
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by S@usage » Fri Jul 31, 2020 17:28

I've been sitting the last few hours researching how to fix my Kielbasa and it seems emulsified sausage isn't as straight forward as it seems. It's a very sensitive method and each step play a critical role in achieving the desired results. I think my biggest screw up was overloading the Food Processor which probably led to the meat heating it up more than it should have as well as a proper emulsion not taking place due to overloading.

I've read that to get a firm textured Kielbasa, you need extra water and somewhere I read that the fat should be added midway whilst emulsifying the lean meat.

1. What's the recommended water addition for Kielbasa?
2. I always think about the method I use to pre-cook it - does an oven defer much from a smoker if I keep the temps to 70C and pull the sausage right at 70c on my thermometer.

Would really love some detail info on emulsified sausage and achieving different textures?

Take Care
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Butterbean
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by Butterbean » Sat Aug 01, 2020 20:59

I think you are seeing emulsified sausages are an art/science and takes some practice to get it right. You are right about needing to add the extra fat later in the process. Essentially what you need to do is begin with very cold meat and begin chopping this and adding the spice and salt to it. After its mixed and chopped well you need to add the cold fat and as this is chopped fine the batter will begin to warm up some - which is a good thing - and the fat will disperse and cover the proteins of the meat. It should begin to look like that "pink slime" everyone was so upset about a few years ago. Pink slime is a beautiful emulsion. When this point is reached you need to stuff and process it properly.

Improper processing using too much heat will destroy all this effort and leave you with a grainy mealy product just as will not processing the meat properly so be sure you are doing your cooking right. Oh, and typically people add about 10% liquid in the form of ice when processing.

Emulsions can be challenging. If you haven't done much of these you might want to first try making some products like krakoswki which have larger cuts of meat suspended in an emulsion of fine diced meat. Even if you screw these products up they are still pretty good but they will help you learn how to fuse all the meat back together into what looks and feels like a solid piece of meat.

Hope this helps.
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by Lorenzoid » Sat Aug 01, 2020 20:59

First, my apologies for not being able to answer your question above about water addition and cooking kielbasa. But I am curious about some other things. Is the Russian sausage you are familiar with an emulsified sausage? I ask because the Russian sausage recipe Bob linked to above is NOT emulsified but rather ground through a 10 mm plate--a somewhat coarse sausage with tiny cubes of fat. This does not sound like what you are describing.

Silverside (apparently known as bottom round here in the US) for the lean and short rib for the fat is an interesting choice. For an all-beef version of the Russian sausage Bob linked to, I would try using a fattier cut, such as chuck, which for all I know is called something else in SA. I have had good results making a beef salami using all chuck, or sometimes lean chuck for the lean plus brisket fat, which I guess is a substitute for hard pork back fat.

It's difficult to know what style sausage you are aiming for. "Kielbasa" of the type that I think most of us far from Poland are familiar with is not emulsified. The Marianksis' book explains for the benefit of us ignorant non-Poles that "kielbasa" is simply the generic word in Polish for "sausage," and the kind of kielbasa most of us are familiar is a somewhat coarse, smoked sausage, often flavored with marjoram. That is the kind of "kielbasa" I am familiar with, but have seen various more finely ground (emulsified?) sausages sold in the supermarkets as "kielbasa."

If you are indeed trying to make an emulsified sausage, it sounds like you're on the right track. Have you considered cooking them in water rather than an oven? I have not had good results trying to make an emulsified sausage, like a hot dog, using a food processor, and I defer to others here with more experience in that area.
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Re: South African Russian Sausage

Post by magician » Sun Jan 17, 2021 00:17

The tradition Russian sausage as we know it in South Africa is definitely not emulsified, it have a rough grain. How come you talk about driving 6 hours to obtain the best Russian sausages you are aware of if you don't eat pork? The Russian sausage is exclusively made from pork! Just asking!
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