How to get less "kick"?

[radio]

I just made up a small batch of summer sausage using a store bought seasoning and cure.  It wasn't listed as "spicy", but it has a pretty good kick to it and I would like to tone it down some.  Other than cut back on the recommended amount of seasoning, is there any way to neutralize a bit of the bite?  The rest of the seasoning tastes just fine, so hate to reduce the amount as that would make the "good" flavors less noticeable along with the heat

 

[caribou89]

You can always offset heat with sweetness. Add a little brown sugar maybe?

 

[wade]

Is there one particular ingredient that is responsible for the kick? Maybe a specific chili based ingredient. If so then you could try to replace some or all of that ingredient with one that is less hot. For example, if one of the ingredients was chipotle then try replacing it with 50% chipotle and 50% Ancho - or if one was cayenne pepper then replace it with 50% cayenne and 50% smoked paprika.

 

[wade]

Sorry - I just read your post again and saw that it was shop bought. That would make it difficult to adjust. You could try to make your own based upon the list of ingredients, or suppliment the shop bought seasoning with more of the main listed ingredients - effectively diluting the hotter ones. If you are going this far though you may as well create your own from scratch.

 

[wade]

Another option is to counteract the heat as it is being eaten. It is the capsaicin in the chili pepper that is responsible for the burning sensation and this is soluble in acids and fats. The casein in dairy products such as yogurt or sour cream are very effective at reducing the "heat" as it help to dissassociate the capsaicin from the nerve receptors. Milk will also do this too, although it is less effective.

You could therefore try either serving the sausage with a dairy based (white) sauce or maybe an acidic tomato based sauce. As caribou89 says, sugar is also quite effective at reducing the heat so if the sauces are slightly sweet then this may help too.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

For eating what you have already made a slice of cheese and a cracker would work, or a sweet BBQ sauce for dipping.

There's some really good summer sausage recipes here. I'd recommend reading some of them and choosing one that doesn't have a bunch of peppers. As long as you maintain the correct amount of cure in those recipes you can adjust the spices to suit your pallete. The store bought pre mixed can be hit and miss.

 

[JckDanls 07]

as Case was saying about the correct amount of cure.. if the cure is premixed with the seasonings then you DO NOT want to cut back on the amount of seasoning the directions call for....

 

[radio]

For eating what you have already made a slice of cheese and a cracker would work, or a sweet BBQ sauce for dipping.

There's some really good summer sausage recipes here. I'd recommend reading some of them and choosing one that doesn't have a bunch of peppers. As long as you maintain the correct amount of cure in those recipes you can adjust the spices to suit your pallete. The store bought pre mixed can be hit and miss.

Crackers do help.  This is the Hi Mountain seasoning mix from Cabela's and the seasoning and cure are separate.  I really like the taste of the seasonings except for too much Cayenne.  I wouldn't want to add more sugar as it would get too sweet, so about the only option is using less of the seasoning than they recommend.

I really like Bearcarver's recipes, but the taste is completely different than the Hi Mountain Hunter's Blend which is pretty much a traditional flavor for SS.  try as I might, I can't pick out what spice or spices is in the Hi Mountain except for brown sugar, Black pepper, Cayenne and I think a touch of Anise