Meats and Sausages
Sheep Dry Sausage
Mutton or lamb sausage known in Russia as Баранья колбаса. Original sheep sausages were made with sheep tail fat not only in Russia, but in other countries as well, for example Turkish "sojouk."
| Materials | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean beef | 150 g | 0.33 lb |
| Sheep meat with connective tissue | 750 g | 1.65 lb |
| Sheep tail fat or other sheep fat diced into 3/16” (4 mm) cubes | 100 g | 0.22 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of materials
| Salt | 30 g | 5 tsp |
| Cure #1 | 5 g | 1 tsp |
| Sugar | 2 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Black pepper | 1 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Garlic | 1 g | 1/2 clove |
Instructions
- Curing meat. Cut meat into 1 inch (25 mm) pieces. Place beef, sheep meat and sheep fat in separate food grade containers. Mix sheep fat with 3 g (1/2 tsp) salt. Mix sheep meat with 24 g (4 tsp) salt, 3/4 Cure #1 and ½ sugar. Mix beef with 3 g (1/2 tsp) salt, ¼ cure #1 and ½ sugar. Pack tightly to eliminate air and cover with clean cloth. Place for 72 hours in refrigerator. Discard any liquid brine and submit meat to grinding.
- Grind beef through 1/8" (2 mm) plate. Grind sheep meat with 1/8” (2 mm) plate. Dice fat into 3/16” (4 mm) cubes.
- Mix beef with salt, cure, sugar and spices. Add pork and mix. Add bacon strips and remix everything together. Don’t add any water.
- Stuff sausages firmly into 40-55 mm beef middles or fibrous casings.
- Hang sausages for 5-7 days at 2-4 C.
- Using dry wood, smoke sausages for 2-3 days with cold smoke, 18-22 C.
- Dry sausages for 5-7 days (depending on sausage diameter) at 11-15 C, 80-84 humidity. Dry 20-23 days more at 10-12 C, 74-78% humidity.
Notes
Finished sausage should retain 60% of its original weight.
Russians used an ingenious method for distinguishing between sausage types by lacing sausages across with a butcher twine:
Two laces across.
