Meats and Sausages
Summer Sausage
Summer sausage is an American semi-dry fermented sausage, made of pork and beef, although sausages made from beef alone are common. The sausage was made in the winter time and after drying and storing it was consumed in the summer when working in the field. Summer sausage displays a long shelf life without refrigeration and is often used as a component of food for gift baskets along with different cheeses and jams. Diameter of casings varies from 40-120 mm and so does the length of the sausage.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| pork | 700 g | 1.54 lb. |
| beef | 300 g | 0.66 lb. |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| salt | 23 g | 4 tsp. |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g | ½ tsp. |
| dextrose (glucose), 1.0% | 10.0 g | 2 tsp. |
| sugar, 0.5% | 5.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| black pepper | 3.0 g | 1½ tsp. |
| coriander | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| whole mustard seeds | 4.0 g | 1½ tsp. |
| allspice | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| garlic | 3.5 g | 1 clove |
| F-LC culture | 0.24 g | use scale |
Instructions
- Grind pork and beef through 3/16” plate (5 mm).
- Mix all ingredients with ground meat.
- Stuff into beef middles or fibrous casings about 60 mm.
- Ferment at 30º C (86º F) for 24 hours, 90-85% humidity.
- Introduce warm smoke (43º C, 110º F), 70% humidity, for 6 hours. Gradually increase smoke temperature until internal meat temperature of 140º F (60º C) is obtained.
- For a drier sausage: dry for 3 days at 22-16º C (70-60º F), 65-75% humidity or until desired weight loss has occurred.
- Store sausages at 10-15º C (50-59º F), 75-80% humidity.
Notes
Some sausages may contain around 10% diced cheddar cheese.
