One of the most common things around these parts at things like Superbowl parties is sausage, cheese, and crackers. I figured I'd do something a little different, and smoke up a batch of Goteborg Summer Sausage - a little different than your typical Summer Sausage. Beef and I don't get along terribly well, so we kept this all pork.
I formulated my own recipe based on Rytek's as well as a couple of others, trying to home in on a mild sausage, moderately sour, with a nice texture and palate.
10 lbs ground pork
2 tsp #1 cure
1 Tbsp medium ground black pepper
2 Tbsp ground mustard
2 Tbsp whole mustard seed
2 Tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup non-iodized salt
7 oz Fermento
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp powdered dextrose
3 oz ice cold water to dissolve cure prior to adding to meat
This was mixed thoroughly, and stuffed into four 2.5" x 20" fibrous casings, and left in the refrigerator for about 36 hours. (I like to leave things overnight at least to "do the magic".)
For the half hour or so it took to get the smoker ready and preheated, the chubs were dried off and left hanging at room temp to normalize a bit and develop the rind (is it a pellicle still on ground meat?).
The chubs were hung in the smoker at 120F until an internal temp of 100F.
Smoker temp was increased to 140F, and a medium-heavy hickory smoke applied for 3 hours.
Smoker temp increased to 180F, and run until an internal temp of 150F was reached.
Pulled, and chilled in ice water bath until internal temp was <100F.
Dried off, hung at room temp ~65F for 2 hours to bloom.
Refrigerated overnight.
This is the result:
The resulting sausage has an excellent texture. Flavors are mild, and blended well - very mild pepper/garlic, but present, and the mustard seeds pop when bitten, adding a burst of flavor. We were really pleased with the resulting product.
A few thoughts about this batch:
* This was my first round with Fermento. One of the concerns with Fermento is that the meat can become mushy if too much is used. The instructions state 1/2 to 1 ounce per pound of meat. I split this, and went 3/4 ounce per pound. This delivered a nice sour - personally would stay with this level or increase slightly for the next batch. The zip isn't as sharp as one gets with a starter culture or ECA, but this is easy and delivers a good result.
* The pepper and garlic are supposed to be background flavors, playing subtly behind the mustard/nutmeg medley. If someone really likes garlic, this could be doubled and still have a great sausage still in this intended style. Pepper could also be increased, but maybe by half again without taking too dominant a role in the seasoning for this intended style.
* I guessed at reducing ground mustard to accommodate the added whole mustard seed - dropped 1 Tb of ground, and added 2 Tb whole. This was the right thing to do. The resulting amount of mustard seed per slice was great - not too much, not too little.
* In addition to working wonderfully with just pork, this would be great with beef (100% or mixed with pork), elk/pork, or venison/pork.
Overall, my family and friends voted this a win, and it WILL be made again. If anyone makes the same or similar, I'd love to hear your experience and review!
Thanks for looking!
(Edited to correct a wrong temperature. Thanks for pointing it out, driedstick!)
I formulated my own recipe based on Rytek's as well as a couple of others, trying to home in on a mild sausage, moderately sour, with a nice texture and palate.
10 lbs ground pork
2 tsp #1 cure
1 Tbsp medium ground black pepper
2 Tbsp ground mustard
2 Tbsp whole mustard seed
2 Tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup non-iodized salt
7 oz Fermento
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp powdered dextrose
3 oz ice cold water to dissolve cure prior to adding to meat
This was mixed thoroughly, and stuffed into four 2.5" x 20" fibrous casings, and left in the refrigerator for about 36 hours. (I like to leave things overnight at least to "do the magic".)
For the half hour or so it took to get the smoker ready and preheated, the chubs were dried off and left hanging at room temp to normalize a bit and develop the rind (is it a pellicle still on ground meat?).
The chubs were hung in the smoker at 120F until an internal temp of 100F.
Smoker temp was increased to 140F, and a medium-heavy hickory smoke applied for 3 hours.
Smoker temp increased to 180F, and run until an internal temp of 150F was reached.
Pulled, and chilled in ice water bath until internal temp was <100F.
Dried off, hung at room temp ~65F for 2 hours to bloom.
Refrigerated overnight.
This is the result:
The resulting sausage has an excellent texture. Flavors are mild, and blended well - very mild pepper/garlic, but present, and the mustard seeds pop when bitten, adding a burst of flavor. We were really pleased with the resulting product.
A few thoughts about this batch:
* This was my first round with Fermento. One of the concerns with Fermento is that the meat can become mushy if too much is used. The instructions state 1/2 to 1 ounce per pound of meat. I split this, and went 3/4 ounce per pound. This delivered a nice sour - personally would stay with this level or increase slightly for the next batch. The zip isn't as sharp as one gets with a starter culture or ECA, but this is easy and delivers a good result.
* The pepper and garlic are supposed to be background flavors, playing subtly behind the mustard/nutmeg medley. If someone really likes garlic, this could be doubled and still have a great sausage still in this intended style. Pepper could also be increased, but maybe by half again without taking too dominant a role in the seasoning for this intended style.
* I guessed at reducing ground mustard to accommodate the added whole mustard seed - dropped 1 Tb of ground, and added 2 Tb whole. This was the right thing to do. The resulting amount of mustard seed per slice was great - not too much, not too little.
* In addition to working wonderfully with just pork, this would be great with beef (100% or mixed with pork), elk/pork, or venison/pork.
Overall, my family and friends voted this a win, and it WILL be made again. If anyone makes the same or similar, I'd love to hear your experience and review!
Thanks for looking!
(Edited to correct a wrong temperature. Thanks for pointing it out, driedstick!)
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