Dried sausages

[coquille]

Just wondering...
does anybody have experience with making dried sausages. I love the frenche and italian sausages like the Cacciatore and they must be easy to make. Lately if I buy them they are way to fat and greasy. Does anyone have recipes ?

 

[kitchenelf]

I am of absolutely no help here - sorry :-(

 

[carnivore]

hi coquille,
i don't have any experience making dried sausages--i've made brats, boudin and andouille from scratch, but it's a bit less involved.
i found a recipe here--look for the Salamini Cacciatore link.

 

[coquille]

Carnivore !!Now I'm in sausage heaven !!! Will you marry me ???

 

[kitchenelf]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwww................... I'm telling GF!!! :P

 

[coquille]

O d 'ont Pleaaaasss d'ont
have pity

 

[kitchenelf]

I will keep my mouth shut for homemade lobster ravioli in a lemon-infused first cold-pressing olive oil with a black truffle garnish

 

[carnivore]

coquille,
if i knew sausage making was the way to a woman's heart, i could have saved a bundle on movie tickets, restaurants, and booze! who knew all it took was some salami?....ok, i better stop now :twisted:

 

[kitchenelf]

:roll:

 

[CucumberMan]

Dried sausages? Hmmm, I can tell you how to make smoked sausages but dried ones are made only in factories, I guess.

 

[coquille]

smoking

How do you smoke them??

 

[carnivore]

hi Coquille,
you can either cold smoke or hot smoke sausages--i haven't done the cold smoking yet, but in either case you need some type of a smoker, or even a grill with a cover (lid) works great. You work with indirect heat--the food cooks away from the direct heat source, adding chunks or chips of wood over the heat source, thus emitting smoke.
The cold smoking is something you don't want to mess around with unless you know what you're doing (which is probably why i haven't done it yet). There are certain amounts of cure that you need to mix in with your sausage meat, and certain temps you must maintain during the smoking process. Failure to do these can result in a nasty case of food poisoning--sausages are great environments for botulism because of the lack of air that gets to the meat.
I don't know if i answered your question or not--if not let me know!

 

[coquille]

I must admit I'm getting a little itchy about the poisoning bit. How can you ascertain that??? :roll:

 

[carnivore]

hi Coquille,
didn't mean to scare you--just be aware that if you are drying or smoking sausages you need a recipe that specifically states that this is how they are to be prepared, and accounts for this by using the proper amount of cure in the recipe. you wouldn't want to use a recipe for a sausage that was meant to be cooked and try to cold-smoke or dry them.

 

[jimmie]

Hi all, Well here goes. The best way to make them is in the casings. You season your sausage. Then put them in casings. Then you take them to a cool place and cover them with salt and pepper (equal amounts) P.S. lay them on news paper they will weep as they dry. you need to check them about once a week and add salt and pepper mixure as needed. After six weeks they are done. Just hang them till you want them. this is how most county folks make them or what they call summer sausage, the same thing most the times. It is also the way they make county ham ist the curing process they use Jim hope this helps

 

[coquille]

jimmi, thanks. I didn't know this one. If the sausages lay on newspapers, won't the mould creep in?? and how big may the casings be, like only lam or pork?