Meats and Sausages
Salsiccia Sarda
Salsiccia Sarda has been produced in Sardinia for centuries. In Sardinia the sausage is also known as Saltrizza or Saltizza. As Sardinia is the island off the coast of Italy, for practical reasons and pure necessity the locally raised pigs were the source of the meat. In the past Salsiccia Sarda was produced to satisfy the needs of local population or used as an instrument of barter trade, however, in time the sausage has gained popularity and now can be available all over Europe.
General considerations: meat: lean pork 10-15%, pork hard fat 10-15%; ingredients: salt, pepper, wild fennel, aniseed, nutmeg, cinnamon, garlic, parsley, vinegar or white wine, sodium nitrite. The sausage is stuffed into natural casings, pork or beef. The sausage is briefly cold smoked, then dried and matured.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean pork | 850 g | 1.76 lb |
| Pork back fat, jowls | 150 g | 0.33 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Salt | 28 g | 4.5 tsp |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Pepper | 1.0 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Nutmeg | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Cinnamon | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Garlic | 1.0 g | 1/3 clove |
| Vinegar | 5 ml | 1 tsp |
Instructions
- Separately grind lean pork and fat through 6 mm (1/4”) plate.
- Mix lean pork with all ingredients. Add fat and mix again.
- Stuff meat paste firmly into 38-40 mm hog casings forming individual U-shaped loops. Tie the ends together.
- Hold in a cold room for 3 hours to dry out the casings.
- Apply a thin cold smoke at <18° C 64° F) for 4 hours.
- Dry the sausages at 15° C/F → 12° C/60 → 53° F, 80 – 85% humidity for two weeks.
- Mature/dry the sausages at 12° C → 10 C/53 → 50° F, 70 – 75% humidity for 1 more week.*
- Store at 10-12° C (50 – 53° F), 60% humidity.
Notes
* The drying/maturing time depends on the diameter of the casings. For sausages over 40 mm in diameter, bovine casings will be selected which are thicker than pork casings. That would affect drying and the sausage will need at least 30 days total time to be finished.
