Comments on
California Farm Smoked Wine Sausage
wingmaster835 @wingmaster
I would like to make this, but I have a question about the cure. You listed pink #1 and saltpeter. That is 2 different products. Pink #1 is sodium nitrate, and saltpeter is sodium nitrite... obviously either can be used. But nitrite needs to be used more sparingly than nitrate. Nitrite can over cure and the product can go bad but still appear to be good.
Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman
Good question. I have both nitrate and nitrite, and use both, very sparingly.For wet marinades and wet brines, i use sodium nitrite, 6.25%, to be used for wet applications. Called #1. It is pink. IncreaseI use 4 ounces per hundred pounds of meat. For dry cures, I use #2, it is 5.67% sodium nitrite plus 3.63% sodium nitrate. Also 4 ounces per 100 pounds of meat. This sausage uses a pound of water as a filler, so I increased the amount to treat from 7 pounds to eight pounds. I treated this sausage as a wet brine.
wingmaster835 @wingmaster
@HobbyHorseman thank you that helps.... I prefer the Prague powder or pink salt. I find it works best for curing hams, bacon, and corned beef. But I haven't really jumped out of the realm of fresh cased sausage. Mostly because my attempts at cured sausage have not come out as planned....
Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman
I live in a low humidity desert climate, I prefer dry curing recipes over brining recipes, I use stone weights to press meats and fish and then dry cure with wine and tequila, old recipes.
wingmaster835 @wingmaster
@HobbyHorseman I wish I could. I am in a high humidity coastal climate. Dry curing usually creates mold issues... making summer sausages salami and snack sticks hard to pull off without climate control. I dry brine salmon and other fish, but im stuck with wet brining most meats.
Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman
Wingmaster, you might want to google mold on salami. Some molds can beneficial. I wash sausage casings with vinegar and then oil them, other people leave the mold on.
wingmaster835 @wingmaster
@HobbyHorseman ya, I know that you need the good types, but I just feel like 80 to 90 percent humidity most of the time is what is making my attempts not come out right. I follow a couple of sausage making sites... but I just can't get it to turn out right. Sometimes it's texture issues, sometimes other things.
Hobby Horseman @HobbyHorseman
I use red wine, tequila and sherry wine as fillers for dry meat sausages with cure #2
