Offseason fun - sausage....

tod osier

tod osier

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One of my favorite non-sporting activities these days – making fermented sausages. These are indestructible and a staple camping/adventure lunch for us.

Nice couple batches that we packaged today. On the left is a venison peperone and on the right is an elk salami. We tried for two very different batches and were really happy with what we got. We started these back in January and have been drying since. Both started as 30 pound batches (25 pounds meat and 5 pounds fat).

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For the elkalami, we ground the fat really coarse, which is a really nice look and great for flavor and texture.

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The deererone

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Couple shots of the food prep room we put in the basement – one of the best things I’ve done. We have a couple three freezers and a chiller for garden produce or meat when it is too warm to hang. Big deep sink will fit anything. Chamber vac is a great thing to have. Just really nice to be able to process fish and game in a dedicated area.

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Tod those look really good. I bet it's nice having that dedicated room for food prep/processing.

How much weight do the sausages lose during drying?

Tim
 
Tod those look really good. I bet it's nice having that dedicated room for food prep/processing.

How much weight do the sausages lose during drying?

Tim
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Thanks! Somewhere in the 20-30% weight loss range. These are pretty dry, you wouldn't want to be wacked in the head with one.
 
Tod those look really good. I bet it's nice having that dedicated room for food prep/processing.

How much weight do the sausages lose during drying?

Tim
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Thanks! Somewhere in the 20-30% weight loss range. These are pretty dry, you wouldn't want to be wacked in the head with one.
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I don't know, if you let me keep the sausage, I'd probably be willing to take a wack to the head with one!
 
Tod, nice looking sausage. Do you use beef fat? Wife and I did our own butchering for years. Bad back and age stopped that.
What vacuum sealer do you use, I still use a foodsaver. What do you use to stuff the casing, they look uniform.
 
Tod, nice looking sausage. Do you use beef fat? Wife and I did our own butchering for years. Bad back and age stopped that.
What vacuum sealer do you use, I still use a foodsaver. What do you use to stuff the casing, they look uniform.
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Thanks Rich, fat is Pork. The sealer is a Vacmaster VP112. We use a vertical sausage stuffer, works great!

I hear you on the back!
 
Tod

Awesome addition to the house. How long does a batch typically take to dry? I assume you need to have control over temp & humidity?
 
Tod

Awesome addition to the house. How long does a batch typically take to dry? I assume you need to have control over temp & humidity?
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Thanks, It is really nice to have a space to work on meat and not have to stop and clean up to make dinner (or work out in the cold).

Sausage like that takes over a month, but I've never hung it for a full 2 months. The thing is to keep the humidity high enough so that it doesn't dry on the outside and then rot in the inside - it has to dry slowly enough that the moisture works it way out evenly. Humidity in the 70+ percent range early on and 60 later on has worked for me.
 
I have been toying with the idea of making curing chamber from an old fridge for several years now but don't have the space for it. Closest I have come is Lebenaon Bologna. I did 2 batches one with ducks and pork fat and one with Beef. but that is a summer sausage so no long drying time. I also do a fair amount of linguica every year but that is just fresh or smoked not shelf stable like what you got going on. Looks delicious! How do you control the humidity?
 
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