Sausage Clone Project

[Whisky]

Looking for a little help from some of the sausage experts here. I am going to try to replicate a pretty popular garlic sausage from my hometown. It's in northern ND, so I have determined it's similar to a farmer/Mennonite type sausage that is popular in Canada. Simple ingredients and flavors.

This particular sausage is not cooked at all during the smoke. And to me it seems to only get a light smoke. There is NO color to it, and light smoke flavor. It's coarse ground, I assume only once, and stuffed into natural hog casings. Around here it's most often cooked in boiling water for 15-20 minutes and then browned in butter.

The ingredients listed on the garlic package:
pork, salt, sugar, pepper, garlic, sodium nitrite

I found an old thread from Swede that lists similar ingredients:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=250616

My questions are.

Do you think they use cure #1?
If so, where does the sugar come from, and how much would you start out using?
Garlic - powder or fresh minced, and how much to start?

I'm going to experiment with pork and see if I can get it close. Once I'm satisfied I'm going to do a batch with venison and pork, 50/50 ratio, which is what they do.

Thanks
Whisky

** the pictures are not mine. Pulled them from Facebook**

[Yellowhair42]

Cure #1 is sodium nitrite. This will help with ingredient amounts. https://meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/secrets

[IamMadMan]

If you are cold smoking meat (not cooking) then there is sodium nitrite in it (cure #1) as indicated on the packages.

A little sugar will cut the sharpness of the salt, and helps to facilitate browning (carmelization) that's probably why they add it.

Botulism is the most deadly form of food poisoning. It can occur in food products before the first hint of a foul odor or other form of food spoilage occurs. It is a food poisoning caused by the bacterium Clostridium Botulinum. These bacteria are easily destroyed by boiling, but their toxin producing spores are not so easily destroyed at 212 degrees (boiling point of water). And they thrive in a low acid, moist environment that is lacking of oxygen (your smoker). When the sausage is between the temperatures of 40 to 140 degrees, we get exactly that problem. Since smoked or dry/semi-dry sausages fall into this category, we need to take extra precautions to make sure we do not produce something that will make us ill.

The nitrite you add prevents bacteria from growing while you keep it for an extended period of time in the refrigerator, and then smoke it in the temperature "danger zone" for another extended period of time. But as Michael Ruhlman says in the article, they're not bad for you, so why risk it? Botulism would be a lot worse. Nitrites and nitrates are perfectly safe when used only in the proper quantities as directed by a reliable formulation/recipe. The cure prevents illness or death from deadly bacteria, due to prolonged exposure at low temperatures, which could result in food-borne illnesses.

Nitrites and nitrates are perfectly safe when used in the proper quantities. What most people don't realize is that nitrites and nitrates are used to prevent botulism when cold smoking or curing meats, because both provide the perfect environment for the formation of botulism toxin. It's better to be safe, rather than sorry.


https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/farmer%27s_sausage

[thirdeye]

Until I read the label in your post I was wondering if you got your sausage from this shop in Dickinson, but you are from way up north. I've tried a lot of sausage in North Dakota and eastern Montana, and the recipe you describe goes by many names, one of which is "German", not Bratwurst-like, more a farm style like you described. The ingredients are salt, black pepper, white pepper and garlic. Sometimes it is a mix of beef and pork, and sometimes it will have some pink salt for color as it's often sold fresh and not smoked.

In the list of ingredients you posted, I'll bet the curing salt is pink salt (aka Cure #1) as most butchers use that and not Morton's Tender Quick. The sugar used is to basically knock the edge off the salt. I have some of the bakers sugar (super fine grind) which dissolves well into sausage. You can mix in all your known ingredients and test fry a pattie. Then add some sugar and test again. In a 5# batch, try 1 tablespoon and do another test pattle, then go from there. Here is a recipe that might get you in the ball park. If you mix wild game with the pork, 50:50 will work fine, but if you want to retain some of the game taste try 60:40 (pork). Remember, you can always tweak sausage recipes to suit your taste, the only ingredient you need to be consistent with is the curing salt, and that is when smoking the sausage longer than the 4 hour window of safety.

German Sausage

5 pounds (2240g) coarse ground pork butt, heavy fat removed
29 grams Kosher salt (1.3%)
10grams black pepper (.45%)
7 grams white pepper (.31%)
3.5 Tablespoons minced garlic (to taste) (can be pureed and mixed into iced water)
Iced water for desired texture (can substitute iced beer)
1/2 teaspoon of Pink salt for color.(maximum of 1 level teaspoon if sausage is cold smoked)

[Swede]

Like you referenced, here's my recipe below, its a dead ringer for the Mennonite sausage I grew up with.

The stuff always cooked up pink, so definitely had cure 1 in it...
Skip the sugar, just my opinion.
I used minced garlic from a jar at the store. Just go easy on it unless your after kielbasa (garlic sausage). The recommended amount in my recipe is subtle and tastes like Mennonite farmer sausage, not like Ukrainian kielbasa (which I also love).

Farmer Sausage

Per 1 Kg pork
• 18.5 gm coarse salt
• 3gm black pepper
• 5gm minced garlic (fresh)
• 2.5gm cure # 1
• 1/4-1/2 cup cold water (start with 1/4 cup per kg and add more if needed.)

Chill cubed up pork pieces until almost frozen. Mince pork through 3/8” plate.

Combine water, salt, cure, and spices to dissolve. Pour over pork and mix well. Meat should be sticky which indicates proper mixing has been achieved.

Regrind through 3/8” plate and stuff 35-38mm hog casings.

Hang in smokehouse and dry for 20 min (casings not wet anymore). Apply heavy smoke and keep smokehouse BELOW 130f. You don’t want to cook the sausage, just keep the smokehouse warm enough to get good convection to carry the smoke through it quickly. Smoke with apple and/or hickory for 3-6 hours depending on how much smoke flavor you want.

Remove sausage from smokehouse and rinse with cold water. Vac pack and freeze immediately.

This sausage is NOT cooked, you must cook it to a safe internal temperature prior to eating.

[Whisky]

Thanks guys. Looks like I got some good starting points. Yup Swede, subtle garlic is what I'm looking for. Not kielbasa.

Third eye I drive right by that Wurst Shop multiple times a year when I travel west for hunts. I have never stopped there but always wanted to. I will this year make it a priority.

[Whisky]

Do you guys think burning pellets in an Amazn tube inside a cold Yoder would suffice for smoking? 2-3 hours tops.

[Swede]

Originally Posted by Whisky

Do you guys think burning pellets in an Amazn tube inside a cold Yoder would suffice for smoking? 2-3 hours tops.

Id give it a shot, just make sure the casings are dry so they can take the smoke. Wet casings tend to sweat the smoke out and dont make very nice sausage. Its why I run my smokehouse with a bit of heat so the casings stay dry (120-130f)