Homemade Sausage Making

Thank you so much for the advice Bob K. Much appreciated. As stated before I have some wild boar I intend to use and have found these two recipes I have been thinking about. Please forgive the edits I made to them so they could fit here. Any advice about them would be gratefully received!!

Cacciatore (loosely based on the Marianski recipe from Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages)
lean pork 600 g
wild boar 100 g
back fat 300 g

Ingredients per 1000 g (1 kg) of meat:
Salt 28 g
Cure #2 2.5 g
dextrose 3.0 g
pepper 3.0 g
coriander 2.0 g
fennel 2.0 g
red pepper 1.0 g
garlic powder 1.5 g
TD-66 culture 0.12 g

Grind pork and back fat through 3/16" plate (5 mm).
Grind wild boar with 1/8" (3 mm) plate
Mix all ingredients with meat.
Stuff firmly into large diameter 36-40 mm hog casings or beef rounds. Make 6" long links.
Spray with Bactoferm™ Mold 600.
Ferment at 20° C (68° F) for 72 hours, 95-90% humidity.
Dry for 2 days at 18-16° C (64-60° F), 90-85% humidity.
Dry at 16-12° C (60-54° F), 85 -80% humidity.
In about 6-8 weeks a shrink of 30% should be achieved.


Cacciatore (loosely based on Chuckwagon`s simulated salamini alla cacciatore recipe)
1.4 kg pork shoulder 1-1/2" dice
700g wild boar 1-1/2" dice
500g pork backfat, (3/8" small dice)
0.3 g. Bactoferm™ TD-66
6 g. Instacure #2
50 g. kosher salt
5 g. powdered dextrose
7.5 g. sugar
3 g. pulverized garlic
1.5 g. coarse black pepper
1 g. ground allspice
1 g. ground ginger
39 ml dry, red wine (chianti?)
Bactoferm™ Mold-600 culture

Prepare the TD-66 and Mold-600 with distilled water.
Dice the backfat by hand into desired size and freeze it
Cut the lean pork and beef into 1" dice.
Combine the Instacure #2, salt, dextrose, sugar, garlic, pepper, allspice and ginger with water and blend all the ingredients into a soupy mixture.
Pour the mixture over the meat and toss the diced meat to coat the pieces.
Place the meat into a non reactive container, cover it, and refrigerate it overnight.
Grind the pork and beef through a 3/16" plate
Add the TD-66 and mix the sausage
Spray the wine into the blend with a spritzer until it is evenly combined and the mass becomes sticky.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and evenly fold in the frozen, diced, backfat by hand. Stuff the sausage into casings and tie 6" links
Spray the links with the Bactoferm™ Mold-600 solution.
Place them into a fermentation chamber at 68°F. in 90% relative humidity
Reduced to 85% after three days.
Finally air-dry the sausage in a dry-room at 55°F. (13°C.) in 80% humidity for four to six weeks.

I would:

Increase the culture to .5 gram per kilo. For home production this helps to insure complete fermentation. Too much culture won't hurt too little will.

Since you are using all pork grind it all through the 3/16 (5mm) plate.

Unless you like larger chunks of fat in the sausage grind the fat with the meat instead of hand dicing. This will also insure better distribution of the added fat.

Increase the ferment temp to 70-72 f , Again to insure better fermentation.

Do you have a curing/fermentation chamber ?

I have a device/contraption known here as a Biltong box (with inbuilt fan and light), a humidifier and a hygrometer/thermometer. The Biltong box is not massive but I think for a first attempt, its size will suffice. In terms of being able to regulate temperature and humidity I have been "dry" testing the box and I will definitely be able to control both aspects within the target ranges.
Your advice about the fat is well received... I will try both (two different portions of sausage) to see how it turns out.

I might be repeating myself on a question I asked elsewhere but do you still say that skim/nonfat milk powder isn't strictly necessary for a first timer?

Thanks again Bob. Your advice is proving invaluable.

Fillers like powdered milk and soy protein are definitely not needed or desired in a dry cured sausage. They also help to retain moisture. In dry cured sausage we want to remove moisture.

A 3/16 plate will give fat chunks the size of the ones in the pepperoni below.

Both recipes look good. The only thing I would do different in the first one is grind with a larger plate. No reason to use a 3mm plate on the boar meat. In the second recipe there is mention of combining the ingredients with water and then adding them into the meat. I would avoid adding any extra water into any dry cured product. And Bob is right about about the amount of culture. Marianski and CW base the amounts on what the contents of the package will ferment, but you need to add more when you are working with small amounts. I add a minimum of 1/2 teaspoon when I make a 3kg batch. And if you can, don't dry at the upper end of the suggested temps. You risk having case hardening and with high humidity you will have too much mould growth, including moulds that you don't want. For me a temp of of 12C seems to work best.

Good luck!