# Anybody up in yankee land,



## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

got recipes for summer saugage, kielbasa, bratwurst? Thinking about doing some stuffing and wondered if yall ever make any.


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

I'm not up in yankeeland, but figured you want the info, rather than being locked-in to a geographic bias.

There are several good books available on sausage making. Just check any of them. 

One tip taught me by an old-time sausage maker that I've never seen anywhere else. Add your herbs & spices to the chuncks of meat, before running them through the grinder. That way you get an even distribution, instead of having little pockets of them. 

Meanwhile, to get you started:

*Bratwurst*

4 lbs fine ground port butt
2 lbs fine ground veal
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 1/2 tsp white pepper
3 tsp salt
1 cup cold water

Combine ingredients, mix well and put through the fine blade of the grinder again. Stuff into hog casing. 

*Polish Kielbasa*

5 lbs coarse ground pork
2 tbls salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp marjoram
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup water

Combine all ingredients, mix well, and stuff into hog casing. 

*Summer Sausage*

4 lbs medium ground beef chuck (or venison)
1 lb fine ground pork butt
4 tbls salt
4 tbls sugar
1 tbls black pepper
1 cup brandy

Combine all ingredients, mix well, and refrigerate 48 hours. Stuff into beef casing. Dry approx. 5-9 weeks. Smoke this sausage with a heavy cool smoke about 48 hours.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

*Lot of Q's here Brook.*

When I referred to yankeeland, I meant that's the home of sausage stuffing. Here in the mounteens and Kentuck, you just don't see it that much. In Mn, and Wis. it's a practice and an art. Now the Q's. Leaning towards hog casings and kielbasa and brats. Intended to put them in a smoker at the proper times listed for venison with pork trimmings. On summer sausage you mentioned 5 to 9 weeks to dry. How are you drying without spoilage? Got some bologna sausage[venison with pork trimmings] from a processer who smokes his in a big smoker. Best I ever et. Just too big a roll[dia.] so intend to stuff in a small casing like brat size. And you were dead on with weighing the meat, measuring the mix and sprinkling on before you grind. Been doing that for 50 years with pork sausage. Eliminates any hot spots. Thanks and get back about the 5 to 9 weeks.


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

You're right. Sausage making, as an artisanal craft, is certaining a dying art in the South. Even when it was a more common home product, chubs were more likely because Southerners have traditionally favored sausage patties over links. So the large intenstines were stuffed, and the small intenstines turned into chitlins.

I let my processor handle summer sausages, because it's too much trouble to do it at home. I did it once, just to know that I could if I had to. But it's a PITA for sure.

Dry sausages, nowadays, unless immediatly put in a smoker, require special drying "cabinets." I put that in quotes because some of them are the size of warehouses. These are both temperature and humidity controlled. Most of the time, too, saltpeter is included in the mix to act as a preservative while they dry. 

In the old days the sausages and chubs were merely hung in a dry part of the house (often from the rafters, in fact) and allowed to dry naturally. Of course, food safety, in those days, was not the issue it is now; especially in the U.S.

As to stuffing. Big sausages, like bologna, often use the stomach or large intestine as casings, whereas the small intestine is the more usual choice for sausages. Whether you use hog, beef, or lamb casings can determine the diameter as well.

Personally, I don't care for synthetic casings. But if you don't mind them they're available in all sorts of diameters. 

You can make thin chubs, though, by using muslin or lightweight canvas, and create a tube with any diameter you like. Be sure and dampen the fabric before filling. For sausages that normally are big I don't think I'd go much smaller than, say, 2" as that could effect texture and flavor.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

*Granted.*

Food safety today and the reqs would have been a joke 75 years ago. Not only that, but folks could tolerate a bunch more bacteria then than now, because they didn't have the guidelines to tell them they would die. The reason dogs don't die from eatin a gut pile is because they have done it forever. The reason people didn't get sick 75 years ago from eating questionable meat is their system was used to it and could tolerate it. What I ate as a kid at my grandmas would sent a bunch of folks to the horse pistol today. Thunk it's called evolution or somethin likes that. And all in the last 50 years or so.


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

Don't get me started on that subject. USDA and FDA have done such a number on peoples' heads that they're afraid of everything, nowadays. And the fact is, many of the numbers and recommended procedures, especially when it comes to home preservation, are BS.

Take how, through the years, they've made such a boogyman out of boutulism. But the actual figures belie their concern. The number of food-borne boutulism cases reported each year is so small that no reliable insurance company would even keep actuarial figures on it. But that doesn't stop USDA from harping on the "danger." 

And, as an aside, did you know that USDA/FDA has different figures than CDC on the temperature levels it takes to destroy boutulism toxin?

Another area that would amuse me if it weren't so scary is the to-do they've made about the dangers of handling proteins; particularly poultry. My God! To hear them tell it, if you let a chicken in the kitchen you better wear hazmat clothing, and sterilize everything from the cutting board to the sink. Yet, nowbody has shown me even one study that supports the USDA contention of their being a significant health hazard.

I am not suggesting for a second that anyone forgo basic sanitation in the kitchen. But enough is enough already! 

And, while we're at it, USDA is also the only regulatory agency in the world I'm aware of that uses the words "untested" and "unsafe" as synonyms. 

We are the only country in the world that recommends against wax sealing of sugar preserves. The only one that recommends additional acid be added to home-canned tomato products. Etc. And how come we are denied some of the finest cheese products in the world, because they start life as raw milk?

I like to point out that in many cases the standards and protocols are based on no more than the fact that our ability to measure nothing gets better every day. What do I mean by that? Well, a number of years ago I edited a magazine called Package Engineering. When I joined the staff, parts per million were the accepted "small" measurement. When I left that job, we were accepting parts per billion. Nowadays, we blythly toss around measurements in the parts per trillion range. All of which reflects improvements in measuring technology. 

So, to make up an example, 30 years ago we might say that 8 ppm was an allowable quantity of X. 15 years ago, we changed to protocol to 15 ppb. And last week we changed it again, and the "safe" level is 11 ppt. But nowheres in that three-decades period did anyone determine whether X really is dangerous, or in what quantities. And the fact is, if 8 ppm was actually safe back then, how come we now only allow a minute fraction of that? 

Ah, well. I warned you not to get me started!


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

Jumping back to an earlier post, something you said has been bothering me. 

Bologna isn't a dry sausage. Tecnically, it's not even smoked. So am I missing something, or were you just referring to that product as an example of size?

Anyway, if you want to play with dry sausages there are two possibilities.

1. Do you have an area of the house that gets cold but doesn't freeze? If so, you can hang them there. 

2. What I did was buy a still-working used fridge. Back then it cost me about 50 bucks, but I imagine they're a bit higher now. I removed the trays, installed hooks, and hung the sausages that way. So long as you keep the temperature below 40F there should be no spoilage. An occasional wipe-down with an acid (vinegar is often used, but I preferred wine) will prevent that white surface mold from forming. 

These two would work for non-smoked, or late-smoked products. With immediate smoking there's no problems. But you want to cold-smoke these, or they'll dry too quickly. When I did a pepperoni-style sausage, for instance, it was three days in the smoker. 

Keep in mind that no matter what approach you use there is a lot of liquid that drips out. So you want a collecting pan or some such under them.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

*Processor.*

labeled it as bologna sausage made from deer and some pork, then smoked. Do know it was good. How he did it I don't know, but know it wasn't LS but in a real smoker. A lot I say won't measure up since it's been 35 to 40 years since my Wis. buddy and I did it. That's the reason for questions. From somebody that makes it without the gov. help and recommendations. You do know that sackrin as a sweetener in pop has caused cancer in rats. If you drink over 832 cans of pop daily, you'll get it to. USDA gay-a-ron teed.


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

Anything I hate is defending the USDA. But, to be fair, it weren't them. Nor was it saccarine. 

It was the FDA, and one of the earlier artificial sweeteners. Can't remember the full name, but it started with an A. It was seen as the great white hope for diabetics because it was the only one, at the time, that was safe for them. 

In those days there was, as part of the Food & Drug Act, an amendment called the Delahny Clause, which basically stated that any food additive which, in any quantity, could be shown to be a carcinagen had to be banned.

A single Canadian study did, indeed, produce those results by force feeding rats the equivalent of 800+ cans of pop daily. So the product was banned, as the law insisted. 

FDA's own technical and enforcement people hated the Delahny Clause, and fought for years to get it overturned in favor of a risk/benefit analysis approach. 

So, actually, it was Congressional mandate that caused the ban, rather than the agency. Not that FDA is much higher on my list of favorites than USDA, of course. 

At about the same time, the question of free monomers in plastic containers was also a hotly debated topic. If you care for a chuckle, I'll tell you about congressional reaction to the idea of Maxwell's Demons and free monomers. 

As to the other, just shows what happens when most sausage types do not have clear definitions. Given what you describe, I'd have called it a venison summer sausage. 

But, as you point out, doesn't matter what it's called. What counts is how it tastes.


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

*Told you*

I didn't know what the hello I was talking about. Except fer the 800+ cans of pop. Too hell with the gov and their regs.


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## sprtsracer (Apr 27, 2005)

Try this for starters...then google the rest:

http://www.bbq-porch.org/recipes/html/C6.htm


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## Brook (May 27, 2009)

*Not To Beat A Dead Horse, WD, But*

this afternnon I bought a hard sausage. The front label identifies it as "herb salame," and claims it is made from an "authentic Italian recipe," and that it is "slow aged." 

The ingredient list, after the actual food ingredents, includes: ascorbic acid, lactic acid starter culture, _sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate._ 

This one was made in San Francisco. I have to wonder, though, if the "authentic" Italian recipe actually included nitrites and nitrates? And, being American made, it of course says to refrigerate after opening---something that shouldn't be necessary with hard sausages.


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

wdbrand said:


> Food safety today and the reqs would have been a joke 75 years ago. Not only that, but folks could tolerate a bunch more bacteria then than now, because they didn't have the guidelines to tell them they would die. The reason dogs don't die from eatin a gut pile is because they have done it forever. The reason people didn't get sick 75 years ago from eating questionable meat is their system was used to it and could tolerate it. What I ate as a kid at my grandmas would sent a bunch of folks to the horse pistol today. Thunk it's called evolution or somethin likes that. And all in the last 50 years or so.


Hallejuyah. Just when I've go something good and ripe in the fridge, th "Ol Lady makes me throw it away. She doesn't get the stuff I hide though
And she wonders why she gets sick and I don't


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