Cure dry sausage

[brown]

I'm looking to make sausages that I can hang to let dry.But i'm not sure how much salt to use I will be using 10 lb of meat.?? can any one help Thanks

[seabast]

Check this out, 2.5% of 10 lbs:
http://www.oodmag.com/community/show...-Bad-Fat/page2

[123chadder]

i really hope you know what you are doing cause there its a pretty complex process that has to be done perfectly

you just cant stuff casings with meat and hang them.....

[dutchhunter]

One must be very careful with cure drying meats as the temperature is never brought up high enough to kill any bad bacteria .best to learn from someone who has been at it for years ..Dutch

[johny]

Be careful of anyone who says-- we've never had a problem-- been doing this way for multiple generations. The reason that CFIA and the FDA has the standards they do is to protect the public from serious, even if rare and critical, food poisoning including nasties like Listeria.



I created my own standards for dry cured sausage based on Web Research from many different countries.
The following guidelines are based on Standards published from Canada, USA, Germany, Estonia and Australia. Some science facts and production advice also comes from Cornell University, Wikipedia and Chr. Hansen.


Meat:
Use cleanly killed animals. Animals that collapse as they are shot are preferred. Even a short run before falling gives time for wound contamination to widely circulate to the meat.
Never use waterfowl.
Chill as fast as possible to <7°C for butchering.
Hanging is a major factor leading to bacterial overgrowth. It is a dangerously unacceptable practice with wild game to be used in fermented sausage.
Freezing at least 3 weeks might kill Trichinae. The home freezer should be set as cold as possible to accomplish this. Trichinae are not a problem with Cervids.
Best grind is obtained by using frozen meat that has thawed to a tight slushy stage. Hard slushy is better. Fat should be frozen too. Have all other ingredients mixed before grinding meat. That way fat bits in meat have less time to smear or melt.

Surfaces:
All surfaces including grinder, mixer, stuffer, gloves, knives and cutting surfaces: soap, rinse and then finish with vinegar. Dry with a clean cloth.

Salt:
Salt use is Critical to suppress bacterial growth. Using less than the minimum quantity puts you at risk for food poisoning.
Use a Minimum 2.5% dry weight of salt to start. 3% is safer. Starter cultures could fail if using 4% or more.
For 5 kg meat, 2.5% salt is about 7 tbsp table salt.

Nitrites:
This is a Critical step for C. botulinum suppression.
It comes under many different names: Cure #1, Prague powder #1 etc. It is salt with 6.25% sodium nitrite by weight and usually pink.
Range of standards for Nitrite content is below.
Minimum 100ppm (Can.) Maximum 500ppm (Aus.)
Preferred 150ppm
For 5 kg meat, 150ppm represents 12gr of Cure #1.
12 grams of Cure #1 is 2 tsp


Nitrates:
This is Cure #2. It is similar to Cure #1 but has sodium nitrate added too.
Fermentation bacteria slowly reduced nitrate to nitrite during prolonged drying for Salami. It is a “slow release” nitrite.
Use Cure #2 only for dried fermented sausage. Use the same weight as Cure#1.

pH:
A critical step for suppression of bacterial growth.
Equally critical is the time it takes to reach the pH goal.
Measure a sample periodically during the fermentation process.
Minimum of 5.3 (Can.) Preferably aim for 4.7 (Est. and Hansen)

Most meat is about pH 6 at the start of fermentation.

Degree-Hour Limitation:
Calculation is vital to prevent S. aureus development.
The (number of hours at a temperature above 60°F) multiplied by (the number of degrees above 60°F) before reaching pH 5.3. Example: a product fermented at 80°F reaches pH 5.3 in 55 hours. 80°F-60°F=20°F and 20°F X 55 hours = 1100 degree-hours.
A process is acceptable if the product reaches pH 5.3 under the maximum number of degree-hours. If this does not happen- throw it out.
Fermenting less than 90°F before pH 5.3 is limited to 1200 degree-hours.
Fermenting between 90°F-100°F before pH 5.3 is limited to 1000 degree-hours.
Fermenting over 100°F before pH 5.3 is limited to 900 degree-hours.

temp in F	max hours to 5.3
75	80
80	60
85	48
90	33
95	28
100	25
105	20
110	18

Dextrose:
This is the ingredient that the Starter Culture ferments to produce lactic acid.
Total quantity is directly relates to pH reduction. Approximately 0.1 pH for every 0.1% by weight of dextrose added to meat.
Guidelines: 0.3% results in pH over 5
0.6 % results in pH under 5
1.0 % results in pH about 4.5
For 5 pound of meat use about 1 tbsp of powdered dextrose for 1% addition. Better to weigh it accurately.



Starter Culture:
Based on Chr. Hansen recommendations for maximum quantity of
meat for a full package of starter. Use minimum 2 tsp heaping per 5kg meat. Mix Starter in enough Distilled Water for thorough dispersion through the meat. Add immediately after thoroughly mixing spices, dextrose, salt and nitrates. Do not expose to prolonged heat, chlorinated water or bacteriostatic preservatives. Never mix directly with salt or nitrates or it will die.

Spices:
Radiate them. Good luck doing this at home!!

Drying:
During fermentation must be at least 90% humidity during fermenting at high temperatures.
During drying phase high humidity promotes mould. Low humidity causes case hardening. Temperature between 12-15°C.
Ideal the chamber RH will be 3-5% less than current a_w. Try to never let RH be 10% under the current water activity of the meat
Realistically, use a chamber were air can passively circulate. Use a water pan, if necessary, to keep RH 70-90% depending how far along the drying stage you are. Move sausages to different parts of the drying chamber every day in case humidity is not fully equalized throughout. Aim for 40% loss of weight and you may be safe. Water activity (a_w) is a safer way to determine self stability.



Fungi: Can be easily suppressed by spraying 33% potassium sorbate over the sausages= 8oz (wt.) sorbate + 2 cups water

Packaging:
For long term storage use either vacuum pack or an oxygen eliminated environment.

[Fox]

As johny wrote, never think that you can just use salt, you need preservatives and anyone who says the old way did not use them is wrong, they did, it was just done a little differently and less controlled than today.

Nitrites for short smoking, Nitrates (which break down into nitrites over time) for long smoking and drying.

There is lots of information on this in sausage making books and online, be safe.