I love pepperoni. Unfortunately I've only made the snack stick variety with things like fermento for the tang. Have also made some italian sausage that turned out okay. The problem i had with both was that the seem underseasoned. Have adjusted spices on both recipes, but have yet to get the right level for my tastes. Guessing it is just a difference in the strength of spices between mine and the recipe writers, but who knows.
Was wanting to make some summer sausage this holiday season, even have the Bactoferm F-LC in the freezer, but have been too busy and making too much cheese.
Jim:
The books I have here are the following:
- Sausage Making by Ryan Farr - I like this book for an intro to sausage making. Its easy to follow, and they repeat the process steps in each recipe so you don't have to go back and forth for every step. The part that I really don't like is that the recipes are all very artisanal and fancy. For someone starting out who just wants to make sausages they know and can compare to a store bought favorite, it leaves a lot to be desired.
- In the Charcuterie by Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller - Has a lot of great info on meat preservation over a broad range of techniques. For sausage making, it only has a small section and not many recipes.
- Salumi by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn - Great book on Italian dry curing. Downside is that it only covers that style of sausage.
- Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages by Stanley Marianski and Adam Marianski - The Bible of sausage making in my opinion. It covers everything you need to know, and so much more, in extensive detail. It has recipes for almost every sausage you'd want to make, and possible exists. You want to get to the level where you can read this book. And that's the problem; until you know a little about whats going on, this can be like reading astrophysics proofs in greek. If you are up to it, and willing to read until it starts to make sense, then this could be the book that teaches you 95% of what you will ever need.
My recommendation would be to get Home Production and just work through it. If its too much and you just want to make sausage right away, find an intro book with a few recipes you want to make and then get Home Production if you find you like making sausages.
Couple things on equipment. The only real specific equipment you need is a grinder and a stuffer, though a mixer comes in handy when mixing larger batches with frozen hands. You can get both grinder and stuffer as attachments for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. If you already own these attachments, use them until you need something better or the heat starts affecting your sausages. If you don't own them, buying them isn't always the best plan. If you are pretty sure you are going to make average sized batches or regularly, then buying the dedicated equipment will pay off in money, time and quality. The dedicated equipment will process more meat faster and with less heating of the meat, which can ruin a sausage. If you plan on doing this, and can afford it, I'd suggest getting a grinder first and making sure they sell stuffing tubes with it. While stuffing with a grinder is not as nice as with a dedicated stuffer in my opinion, it works great in the interim so you can save money and figure out what size stuffer you need. I can't really recommend and particular brands, I think I have one of the more expensive MegaForce units, but I had never heard of them and i can't really compare it to any other brands as its the only one Ive owned. I've heard good things about the grinders LEM makes, but they seem expensive to me, but if they are quality, it could be worth it depending on your usage.
Reg has a great idea on a first batch. Once you get to were you want to use casing, I'd go with a sage breakfast sausage or italian sausage. Both will be sure to get consumed and don't require any special techniques or equipment beyond that needed for making cased sausage.
One thing that needs to be stressed. In recipes that call for a curing salt, make sure you are using the correct salt and that you get the amount right for the quantity of meat you are using. This isn't an issue with fresh sausage that don't use a curing salt, but it is extremely important on sausages that do. Botulism is deadly. But very easily prevented with a little care.
Al:
Any downsides to keeping the sausage in a cheese cave? Or is it devoid of cheese at the time?
