Just exploring possibilities here.
Would like to make a milder Summer Sausage with less lactic acid twang. Shelf stability will not be a consideration as the final product will be frozen after being made and kept in a refrigerator when being consumed.
While I'm happy for simple and direct answers, I'm really more interested in the whys and why-nots...in other words, the science behind your thoughts and answers. So, with that in mind...
To reduce the tanginess I'm thinking I would follow Marianski's recipe for summer sausage (we use pork and venison) to the letter except that I'd lower the amount of dextrose by a percentage (let's say 50% for discussion) thus reducing the amount of lactic acid produced. I'd be using these temps: 89*f-+ for fermenting (<24hrs) and 68*f+- for drying. (<48 hrs) and we'd be using F-LC.
Our meat batter typically comes in at an initial pH of 5.5 - 5.7 and we consistently end up with 4.2 to 4.4 after fermentation using Marianski's recipe. I'm expecting that in order to reduce the tanginess we'd probably be looking at a final pH of around 5.0.
This leads to a couple questions, essentially around food safety during the processing.
As long as I'm using a good F-LC culture and Cure #1 does the final pH really matter for food safety during processing? Nearest I can understand is that the Cure #1 will provide plenty of Botulinum protection as well as some protection from Salmonella. But will the F-LC be enough to provide the additional listeria protection given the proposed final pH, or does that really matter?
In a "what-if" scenario: Would there be any benefit/need to perhaps use use Cure #2 instead and ferment for a few extra days at lower temps before warm smoking and bringing to log7 temps?
Thanks for your thoughtful input.
Would like to make a milder Summer Sausage with less lactic acid twang. Shelf stability will not be a consideration as the final product will be frozen after being made and kept in a refrigerator when being consumed.
While I'm happy for simple and direct answers, I'm really more interested in the whys and why-nots...in other words, the science behind your thoughts and answers. So, with that in mind...
To reduce the tanginess I'm thinking I would follow Marianski's recipe for summer sausage (we use pork and venison) to the letter except that I'd lower the amount of dextrose by a percentage (let's say 50% for discussion) thus reducing the amount of lactic acid produced. I'd be using these temps: 89*f-+ for fermenting (<24hrs) and 68*f+- for drying. (<48 hrs) and we'd be using F-LC.
Our meat batter typically comes in at an initial pH of 5.5 - 5.7 and we consistently end up with 4.2 to 4.4 after fermentation using Marianski's recipe. I'm expecting that in order to reduce the tanginess we'd probably be looking at a final pH of around 5.0.
This leads to a couple questions, essentially around food safety during the processing.
As long as I'm using a good F-LC culture and Cure #1 does the final pH really matter for food safety during processing? Nearest I can understand is that the Cure #1 will provide plenty of Botulinum protection as well as some protection from Salmonella. But will the F-LC be enough to provide the additional listeria protection given the proposed final pH, or does that really matter?
In a "what-if" scenario: Would there be any benefit/need to perhaps use use Cure #2 instead and ferment for a few extra days at lower temps before warm smoking and bringing to log7 temps?
Thanks for your thoughtful input.