easy simple smoked sausage ideas

[sambal badjak]

I've not been making sausages for a while due to circumstances.
I want to get back into it and it is winter now, so I can smoke at night (10-15 oC), bring back and put in the fridge during daytime (outside temp 25-30 oC).

Any good ideas?
I still got some intestines.
Got grinder, got stuffer.
Got beef (shin) & pork leg
Got a proQ smoke generator and several types of sawdust
I'll be able to figure out a nice spice mix but any help there is also appreciated.
I got sodium nitrite, but at 8 % (got a spreadsheet somewhere, where I worked out nitrite amount based on min and max allowed in different countries)

[Dave in AZ]

I've not been making sausages for a while due to circumstances.
I want to get back into it and it is winter now, so I can smoke at night (10-15 oC), bring back and put in the fridge during daytime (outside temp 25-30 oC).

Any good ideas?
I still got some intestines.

Here you go! This is Santa Rosano Chorizo, a smoked sausage from Columbia. A bunch of is at smokingMeatForums.com have made it recently, it got very popular this month. It is an excellent smoked sausage, and is something very new for American folks at least.

I posted a video and pics , don't want to retype, so here is a link:

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threa ... at.327374/

[sambal badjak]

Thanks Dave,
That sounds like spices I like. Just read the text, not watched the video yet.
I just need a refresher here:
What's the Sodium erythorbate for? And the vitamin C?
Could I leave them out?

[michi]

Sodium erythorbate is a cure accelerator. It is used to convert any residual nitrite into nitrous oxide. The basic idea is to reduce nitrite toxicity without having to wait for a week or more, so you can make, smoke, and eat the sausage within a day or two.

Vitamin C is used as an antioxidant and to stabilise the pink colour that you get from the nitrite.

You can leave them out. But, if you do, you will likely have some nitrite remaining in the sausage. Nitrite itself is toxic and, if you fry something that contains nitrite, the high heat causes formation of nitrosamines, which are a known carcinogen.

Personally, for any sausage that contains nitrite and is intended for frying, I never leave out the antioxidants because they are the lesser evil.

You could leave out the nitrite as well, but then you are flirting with botulism, which is even worse.

I would follow the recipe as written.

[Dave in AZ]

What Michi said.

Although most people making smoked sausage just add the sodium nitrite. Then they let it cure overnight for 18 hrs or so. There is no problem leaving out accelerators so long as you let it cure 18 hrs or so.

Primarily I add S.E and vitaminC to speed up the cure, so I can make sausage then smoke it in 1 day. Also helps with antioxidant and fixes color. And yeah, ensures nitrites are used up. But if you are using 156ppm or less sodium nitrite, letting it cure 15 hrs or more, then smoking for 4 or 5 hours, almost all the nitrite will be used up and gone anyways.

But I do tend to slice and fry up smoked sausage, I did on this one. And I like all the flavor, color, speed, and storage benefits I get using both these accelerators. For sure most people just use one or the other.

[sambal badjak]

Thanks all,
It's clear I gotta be reading up on everything again.
First batch most likely fresh sausages, before looking at smoked.
Or "smoking" at high temperatures

Added point is that required ingredients are hard to find here. That includes sodium nitrite.

[jcflorida]

The 2.5 grams per Kilogram "cure#1" in the recipe is a mixture that contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt. If you were to use sodium nitrite, then you would need 0.156 g/Kg sodium nitrate and 2.34 g/Kg additional salt. In the U.S. cure#1 is also called Prague powder number 1, instacure number 1, and various other names. Other countries have other cure mixtures, I have no knowledge ow what's used in Mozambique.

As explained above, the erythorbate accelerates the curing action of nitrite. If you wait around 24 hours, its completely unnecessary.

Here's what the Marianski's website says about ascorbic acid:
"Ascorbic acid is an antioxidant used to prolong the products shelf life by preventing fat rancidity and color changes that is caused by exposure in oxygen in the air. Ascorbic acid should not be added with sodium nitrite at the same time, as they react violently creating fumes."
That statement in here: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausag ... /additives

If you use Vitamin C, make sure its the sodium ascorbate version, not the ascorbic acid version

[Dave in AZ]

The 2.5 grams per Kilogram "cure#1" in the recipe is a mixture that contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt. If you were to use sodium nitrite, then you would need 0.156 g/Kg sodium nitrate and 2.34 g/Kg additional salt. In the U.S. cure#1 is also called Prague powder number 1, instacure number 1, and various other names. Other countries have other cure mixtures, I have no knowledge ow what's used in Mozambique.

As explained above, the erythorbate accelerates the curing action of nitrite. If you wait around 24 hours, its completely unnecessary.

Here's what the Marianski's website says about ascorbic acid:
"Ascorbic acid is an antioxidant used to prolong the products shelf life by preventing fat rancidity and color changes that is caused by exposure in oxygen in the air. Ascorbic acid should not be added with sodium nitrite at the same time, as they react violently creating fumes."
That statement in here: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausag ... /additives

If you use Vitamin C, make sure its the sodium ascorbate version, not the ascorbic acid version

Good info. However, I will add that the ascorbic acid part you quoted is a simplification that can easily be misinterpreted. Ascorbic acid, vitamin C, is fine to use with sodium nitrite, so long as you DON'T USE IT IN A BRINE AT SAME TIME AS sodium nitrite. If you add it separately to meat after the nitrite is well mixed in, there is no issue. It for sure is smart to highlight the safety aspect, as people DO mess this up all the time I see. You also shouldnt mix nitrite and Ascorbic acid i.e. vitaminC together in the same mix at once--basically you need to keep those chemicals separate and only mix them together inside the meat.

Marianski's books make this clear in the much more in depth treatment of accelerators than the website blurbs do. Also, the USDA FSIS Processing Inspectors Calculation Handbook is clear on using both accelerators.

So, YES, I agree don't use them mixed together or in a brine, but they CAN be used in the same sausage project at once

[michi]

To add to this, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is used for sausages that are consumed pretty much straight away, such as Bratwurst. Sodium ascorbate is preferred for sausages that are cured for some time, such as salami, because it is slower acting.

[sambal badjak]

Thanks all.
As said, I'm going to pick up the books again as a refresher. (esp that green one, home production etc)
I still have sodium nitrite, it just is no longer pink (and yes, it is marked properly and can't be used as salt by accident).
First step: reading
2nd step: fresh sausages, checking if all equipment still works
3rd step: smoked sausage.
Again, thanks all, just very rusty