An earlier post noted my effort on Russian Sausage, p432 of Marianski "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages."
I picked this recipe for a couple key reasons; no culture was called for and I didn't have any on hand, and it calls for drying in a "cool drafty area." In other words, no 60 days at 55 degrees and 75% humidity. And with no cooking, I figured to incorporate a good portion of smoked goose fat. The recipe does call for 6 days of cold smoking though, but figure I can pull that off with an Amazn tray stuffed full a couple times a day. Folks suggested I use a culture on this recipe, but with the batch made up and none on hand I decided to go with the recipe as is.
Let's take a look: Here is the goose fat; note that its a combination of fat and meat, and looks just like bacon.
And here is the lean meat; mostly goose with some pork and venison, after 4 days of chilling with the salt and cure #2. Bowl contains the goose fat.
After grinding and just before stuffing; I incorporated the diced goose fat at the end, with minimal mixing. However, note that the goose fat was mixed in with the lean meat for the 4 day cure period. I separated it out before grinding as I wanted to incorporate fat pieces as the recipe calls for and I like fat chunks in sausage. Could have also just ground it all together too.
Stuffed into LEM fibrous casings. They are nice and strong and allowed me to force out most air bubbles; I hope they will work well. I've become a big fan of natural casings but had these on hand.
The sausage has been hanging for a day now and looks okay. My first shot at a dried sausage like this. I do note just a few drops of clear fat dripping off the bottom of each sausage. They haven't been over 63 degrees but I know goose fat runs extremely easily. One more day of hanging and then 6 days of cold smoking, with a month of drying. Oh, I also like the recipe as it calls for 1/4 cup of brandy! Lets see what happens!
I picked this recipe for a couple key reasons; no culture was called for and I didn't have any on hand, and it calls for drying in a "cool drafty area." In other words, no 60 days at 55 degrees and 75% humidity. And with no cooking, I figured to incorporate a good portion of smoked goose fat. The recipe does call for 6 days of cold smoking though, but figure I can pull that off with an Amazn tray stuffed full a couple times a day. Folks suggested I use a culture on this recipe, but with the batch made up and none on hand I decided to go with the recipe as is.
Let's take a look: Here is the goose fat; note that its a combination of fat and meat, and looks just like bacon.
And here is the lean meat; mostly goose with some pork and venison, after 4 days of chilling with the salt and cure #2. Bowl contains the goose fat.
After grinding and just before stuffing; I incorporated the diced goose fat at the end, with minimal mixing. However, note that the goose fat was mixed in with the lean meat for the 4 day cure period. I separated it out before grinding as I wanted to incorporate fat pieces as the recipe calls for and I like fat chunks in sausage. Could have also just ground it all together too.
Stuffed into LEM fibrous casings. They are nice and strong and allowed me to force out most air bubbles; I hope they will work well. I've become a big fan of natural casings but had these on hand.
The sausage has been hanging for a day now and looks okay. My first shot at a dried sausage like this. I do note just a few drops of clear fat dripping off the bottom of each sausage. They haven't been over 63 degrees but I know goose fat runs extremely easily. One more day of hanging and then 6 days of cold smoking, with a month of drying. Oh, I also like the recipe as it calls for 1/4 cup of brandy! Lets see what happens!