Homemade Sausage Making

I am going to make some more fermentated sausages and am mulling over a number of ideas.

Has anyone made any Salami Crespone? According to Len Poli "this salami is softer than most Americans are use to eating. . ." (http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Sal ... espone.pdf). It is an interesting recipe. It is about 1/3 pork belly and 2/3 fresh pork. It also contains no dextrose or sugar. He ferments it at 30 degrees for 24 hours (without humidity control) and then at 21 degrees with a humidity of 75%. This is very different to any recipe that I have seen before. Still I doubt that Len would sell a pig in a poke.

Ruhlman and Polcyn (2012, Salumi. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York) has a recipe which is similar, but only incubate it at 27 degrees and 80% humidity for 12 hours. This also contains no dextrose or sugar. The incubation period is quite different. I wonder if the lack of dextrose requires the high incubation period? I also wonder if this would be acidic because of this. However Ruhlman and Polcyn claim that it is delicately sweet. Poli uses T-SPX starter, Ruhlman uses Bactofern (still have not got my head around the types of cultures). I have Biobak Ultra which can be used up to 28 degrees. I am not sure which fermentation method to use. I now have a good quality Ph measurer.

Mark

So this is just my two cents. Ruhlman typically calls for bactoferm f-rm-52 which is a quicker fermenting agent. Hence it only needs to ferment for half of the time. When I first started fermenting salami I used a lot of bactoferm f-rm-52 but it produces a really tangy acidy sausage. I now use TPSX which has longer ferment times but gives a better well rounded tang in my opinion. I am not able to source biobak so I am ignorant on the product and unfortuneatly I do not know what Salami Crespone is supposed to taste like or what the flavor profile is.

Bottom line your main concern is using that culture to get to an acceptable ph level. Sorry that this isn't much help.

Thank you workingpoor. On the contary your comments are useful. I dislike a strong tang and prefer a slightly more mellow taste. I am thinking of adapting these recipes. I am thinking of following the dextrose and temperature 21 degrees for 72 hrs (will measure the ph) formular that I used for the Chorizos. I have no idea if this will effect the texture/density. At the moment I am stuck with Biobak ultra, A mail order NZ company is getting Sacco Lyocarni VMB-02 in November. The technical sheet talks of fast fermentated salami, where as BioBak is for medium to clasic salami. I may be better off sticking with what I have got.

Mark

Hi guys!

I´d like to ask you workingpoor, how much dextrose (or whatever sugar you use) you usually add pr. lb (or kg.) in your fermented sausages? With a low-level addition the bactoferm f-rm-52 ought not to become that tangy - but please let me know - I´m curious

My personal thumb rule is: always make the first test with the lowest recommendable amount which is usually be 3 gr. dextrose pr. kg. as this will trigger the fermentation process and bring the pH below 5,3 (eventually lower, depending on the glucogen content in the meat itself etc.).

I wonder if you have ever tried the bactoferm f-rm-53 which is the "slow" or "traditional" version of the bactoferm f-rm-52 ?
The bacteria strains of the two are actually idential but by adding a quite harmless "magic powder" you suddently end up having a "fast" culture instead of a "slow" one.
And I won´t reveal any more than this, or I´ll have the Men in Black of the Starter Culture industry waiting outside my front door tomorrow morning

For a standard calibre Salami Crespone both a T-SPX or the BioBak Ultra would seem to me to be the natural choice as they are both "slow" but why Len Poli should leave out dextrose is a bit of a riddle (to me at least)
In order to initiate the fermentation process caused by the starter culture you do need a minimum addition of fermentable sugar, otherwise the startup phase will last so long that you won´t be able to know if other ingenious "wild" bacteria will overtake the fermentation instead. And then you could just as well have made the salami without addition of culture (as they actually do in Italy in the countryside).

But then again: the original Salami Crespone should be made in a large incestine of diametre 8 to 10 cm. And if you want stick to that rather large calibre I would certainly go for a slightly faster culture like the SACCO VBM-02 which is reasonably mildly acidifying even if is labelled "fast".
The slower "traditional" version of VBM-02 is designated SBM-11 but I´m not sure if that´s also distributed down´unda´.

Thank you for your comments. I will make it in standard size artifical salami casings as I cannot get middles or bungs.

I notice that Len Poli uses milk powder, Ruhlman does not. Is the milk powder just for binding? Any thoughts on using milk powder in fermentated sausages?

Mark

Found this on http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... /additives

Non fat dry milk powder can bind water and is often used in making sausages, including fermented types. Dry milk powder contains 50% lactose (sugar) and is used in fermented sausages as a source of food for lactic acid producing bacteria (may be this is why Poli does not use dextrose). It also contains around 35% of protein, about 0.6 - 1% fat and may be considered a healthy high energy product. Dry milk powder greatly improves the taste of low fat sausages. Non fat dry milk powder is a good natural product and it does not affect the flavor of the product. It is added at about 3% and effectively binds water and emulsifies fats. Its action is very similar to that of soy protein concentrate.

Mark

There are pro´s and cons regarding the addition of dry milk powder and, sorry to say, but the statement:
"...Dry milk powder contains 50% lactose (sugar) and is used in fermented sausages as a source of food for lactic acid producing bacteria"
is simply incorrect and should never have found its way to this otherwise reliable website because it is a hard fact that the following lactic acid bacteria does NOT ferment lactose:

Pediococcus pentosaceus (the lactic acid bacteria strain in T-SPX)
Lactobacillus curvatus (one of the most common lactic acid bacteria strains)
Lactobacillus sakei (do)

which means that these strains will be "undernurished" if there are no other kinds of sugars around that they can ferment, apart from what´s present in the meat (but that can be an unpredictable factor).

So the lactose will provide a lot of nutricion for the Staphylococcus as they usually ferment lactose with no problems (and high Staphyloccocus activity is not a drawback - on the contrary) but the lactose may also feed other ingenious bacteria that in (worst case scenario) could overtake the undernurished Pediococcus or curvatus and this may cause some unwanted taste notes or even faulty fermentation (...worst case scenario).

This said I would always wastly prefer milk powder to soy proteine if the objective is to bring down water activity and hence facilitate the drying out phase. But I´d be carefull about leaving out dextrose entirely, unless you use a starter culture that contains Lactobacillus plantarum as acidifier - as plantarum does ferment lactose.

Without your and other peoples help my first batch of fermentated sausages would not have worked out as well. I was really concerned about inflicting harm on others. So much so that I had a good few tastings and then left it at least 10 days before I let anyone taste the salami. I had a mate who was almost baying at the door of my curing chamber. No one got unwell and the feedback was fantastic. You know how you always get the nodders, the ultra critiques and the vast majority between. Well I got positive feedback from them all. The recipes will be slightly changed (spices), my preferance and next time I will make much larger batches. What has blown me away is subtle nature of the acidic taste. It was balanced with the other flavours and the texture. I am so surprised about that.

Anyway back to the topic. I think I will use about 2% dextrose and 3 % sugar and ferment the sausage at about 22 degrees. The only other thing that I need to sort out is the amount of salt. The Marianski`s use 28 g/kg and Poli and uses between 22 and 26 g/kg. Do you have any suggestions?

Mark

Mark - I´m happy if I can provide some info that you´ll find usefull in practice, and I´ve got a notion that with the care and devotion you invest in the process you´re already on a path that will bring home a lot of accolades and approving nods from those who degustate your output.
Not to say that you should stop worrying about the product safety topic, but the way you handle things gives me the feel that a bite or two of one of your (hopefully many to come) fermented sausages will be a much less hazardous experience than what I am sometimes exposed to in Poland at what ought to be experienced sausage makers.

Now for topic: I hope very much that you meant 0,2% dextrose and 0,3% sugar! Or as I usually write it, to exclude percentual errors: 2 grams dextrose and 3 grams sugar pr. kg mass. A total of 5 percent sugar would probably make you think of vinegar rather than salami at first bite

I´d even say that those five grams fermentable sugar represent the top limit if you appreciate a subtle acidity. I would personally turn it around to 0,3% dextrose and 0,2% sugar, because, as dextrose is the easiest fermentable type of sugar for lactic acid bacteria, you will be sure that the lag phase (before the pH starts dropping) is not drawn into lenghts.
However, practically speaking I doubt there will be much difference in swopping as you go for a relatively low fermentation temperature leaving plenty of time for the staphyloccocus to do their work with the curing process and aroma formation

Just remember that the more fermentable sugar you add the lower pH drop you´ll obtain. And when it gets well below 5,0 you can start to wawe your staphyloccocus Goodbye (...where is the R.I.P. emoticon when I most need it ???).

The salt issue is a highly personal matter and, as often in this intricate process of fermenting meat, dependens on a vasteland of factors. The foremost in my eyes being:
To what extend do you wish to dry out your sausage? My experience is usually, for a well hung dry salami that lost 35 to 40% it will be be enough with a 22gr/kg addition.
But if you are content with a 25 - 30% loss in weight then up to 25 g/kg will probably do it.

Another factor to take into consideration is the salt tolerance of the starter culture strains:
Most tolerant is the, sometimes tough acidifying, Lactobacillus plantarum which can handle up to a 12% salt concentration before it starts resigning, whereas the mellowly acidifying Pediococcus pentosaceus can stand only 7% before it loses breath.
This won´t really be a problem unless you use a lot of fat in your sausages. Reason being that fat doesn´t absorb salt - and therefore in a fatty sausage the meat part will eventually end up with a higher salt concentration

If we return to the milk powder issue, the addition of this may serve to "mellow out" the salty sensation on the palate. That´s at least one of the arguments why Germans often added lactose blends in sausages until the allergene issue became imminent; "It removes the salt-peak" as they used to say.
Could be that a similar effect is obtainable with the eventually unfermented residue lactose in italian style salami.....

Thanks Igor

I have done some work in infectious diseases and infection control. I may never be able to kick it out of my system. Better be safe than sorry.

II did mean 2 grams dextrose and 3 grams sugar pr. kg mass. What I want is a very subtle acidic taste.

The salt issue is a highly personal matter and, as often in this intricate process of fermenting meat, dependens on a vasteland of factors. The foremost in my eyes being:
To what extend do you wish to dry out your sausage? My experience is usually, for a well hung dry salami that lost 35 to 40% it will be be enough with a 22gr/kg addition.
But if you are content with a 25 - 30% loss in weight then up to 25 g/kg will probably do it.

This is a revelation to me. Providing it is safe to eat the weight loss issue is not that important to me. However I do prefer the subtle taste of salt (to me my salt intake of salami is of little importance as the only processed food I eat is the food that I make) The taste, texture and how chewy it is are the important issue. I do not want shoe leather tough salami. I tend to make small batches because I go for variety rather than quantity. So I had much rather make 1 kg of 3 different types of salami than 3 kg of one type of salami. I know it is more faffing about but that is not the issue.

My ideal is a slightly soft salami that has a subtle acidic bite; as long as it does not break my knife when I cut it. It needs to be balanced, but can have prenounced flavours. I do not want a tough, acidic, salty kick in the mouth.

I took the clasic peperoni recipe from this web page, got rid of the ferment, changed the cure to No. 1 and smoked and cooked the sausage. To me that is the best pepperoni that I have tasted.

Mark - you are free to count me among the low-salt-dosage diciples, though more of taste reasons than because of the everlasting "cut down sodium" topic which, as far as I´ve noticed, is currently going a bit beserk in the US, where the "reduce-by-all-means lobby" are advocating values so low that it would eventually cause bacteriological hazards in cured meat products. And what these war-mongers against salt eventually get their way? Then remains only to compensate by allowing even more chemical preservatives Well... "Thank´s for the coffee" as we say with a snarl in Denmark!

In many average german products that are supposed to loose 30% moisture the salt-addition will frequently be around 26 gr. pr. kg.
It also leaves a bit of headroom for further drying out before things may get too salty (for my taste at least ).

To achieve the "subtle acidic bite" you call for just keep on using a low content of fermentable sugar, keep fermentation temperature somewhere above 20 and below 25 degrees and be careful with which starter culture you use. Some of the fast cultures based on curvatus or plantarum can give you an acidious mule-kick, because certain (unfortunate) conditions may cause these strains to produce acetic acid alongside the lactic acid.
If looking for "softer" lactic acid producing starter cultures you will usually be on safe ground with those based on Pediococcus pentosaceus or Lactobacillus Sakei. But, again, even within these two groups you will find many diverse variations with individual characteristics. And combinations, as for instance a Pediococcus together with a plantarum (like the SACCO Lyocarni SHI-59) may also give you really fine aromatic results (...I know it cause´I´ve tried it ).

Chuckwagon wrote:

lactose may also feed other ingenious bacteria

All very interesting, I'm sure, but what is "ingenious" bacteria?

Cw I am sure that was supposed to be Indiginous : produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region.

and Indiginous it is!

Thanks for being the rescuing 7th cavalery Bob!
I promise hereafter to correct whatever orthographical mistakes you´d be making when writing in Danish or Polish

Hope I´m forgiven -and don´t forget to be carefull about them i n d i g i n o u s bacteria