Homemade Sausage Making

I wasn't sure where to put the topic, so just put it in the beginners section.
Moderators: please move it if it is in the wrong section

I am looking/thinking about making some semi- fermented /semi-dry cured sausages, but there are a couple of issues, of which the main one is that I can`t get any starter culture.

What I am looking at doing is more or less following a recipe for a fermented sausage (like chorizo or fuet), using cure #1(`cause of the short drying time) and yoghurt for the acidity and more or less treating it like Kabanosy.
With that I mean stuffing in sheep casing, cooking to the safe IMT in the oven and hanging them in the fridge to dry.
Yes, I know it is not going to be the real thing, but should still be OK (I hope)

As far as I can see it should be safe as the sticks will have cure #1 in them for protection + they will be cooked + dried + there should be a pH drop.
Am I correct in thinking it is safe?

Any idea as to how much yoghurt I should use (per kg meat)?

The yoghurts here only say that they contain approved lacto bacteria cultures, but not which ones.

An alternative should be pro-biotics. The ones available here contain:
- Lactobacillus acidophilus
- Bifidobacterium longum
- Bifidobacterium bifidom
- Bifidobacterium lactis

Any thoughts?

PS I did read the experiments with yoghurt & probiotics that Redzed did and I understand that using a starter culture would be better, but I just don't have access to them.

SB-
I am not sure if , GDL, Encapsulated Citric Acid, or Fermento are available to you but they are alternatives for flavor and lowering Ph (tang).

Thanks Bob,
Yes, I read they could be used, but unfortunately I can't get my hands on them either.

I think my main worry is, if it is safe.
If it doesn't taste good I will have to chuck it. Don't really like that idea, but it ain't a train smash.
If it doesn't smell good, I will chuck it as well (yeah, they are in the wrong order, smell first, then taste).

Just don't want to get sick.

I suppose the only difference (besides the spices) with making Kabanosy is the addition of yoghurt. That won't do any harm is it?

SB-

Since you really need a fast Ph drop for semi-dry cured sausages. You may want to consider more of a kabanosy type sausage. Just vary the spices for different flavor profiles.

Check out Devos kabanosy in larger sheep casings http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=7477

Hi Sambal,

From my experimentation with yogourt I discovered that we need to ferment at a higher temp, at least 25C and even as high as 32C. So if you use a yogourt to start fermentation you have to make sure it contains some of the strains that have been proven to be able to lower the pH and survive in the high salt and nitrite environment. Using yogourt with unknown strains can actually do more harm than good to your sausage. And none of the probiotics you listed have been known to work.

As Bob wrote in his post, you can safely make semi dry snack sticks like kabanosy without fermenting the meat. What I would recommend, is to add 5g/kg of sugar to the ground meat, add the salt and cure 1, mix well and rest in the fridge for two or 3 days. This will allow the natural lactic acids to multiply to some extent. (if you can get some dry buttermilk powder you can add that as well - it's essentially what fermento is made of) Add the rest of the spices just before stuffing. After cooking the sticks, don't cool in water, let them hang in the ambient temp for several hours and then transfer to the fridge for a few days of drying. Because you will be using a very thin diameter casing, the sausage will dry very quickly and you should not have problems with it spoiling or resulting in an unsafe product.

Which recipe are you using for this project?

Thanks Redzed and Bob:
I am looking at the recipes for fuet and possibly chorizo from Jeff Weiss book "Charcuteria, the soul of Spain" (off topic: I like the book).

I will go by Redzed's suggestions and don't use either yoghurt or probiotics and ferment in the fridge for a couple of days (and I will probably make some Kabanosy as well, may as well, while I am at it).

I normally use about 1.5 - 1.8% salt, in the fuet recipe it is quite a lot higher (can't remember the exact figures, but over 2%). Should I keep it that high to speed up the drying?

Sambal, if you are going to make the Weiss fuet and chorizo using thin casings than you should be OK. I have that book also, but don't have it handy at the moment. I remember the chorizo recipe and it is a fully fermented and dried product, not cooked. I liked the flavour panel and will be making it in the future. You can certainly make a thin semi dry cooked sausage using the spice blend' but it won't be the same. Another suggestion is to grind the meat with a medium to coarse plate so that it will dry quicker.