Our first try at curing our own sausages.

Believe me, I was a bit skeptical that this recipe would work out. But I was pleasantly surprised.

I will give a pound for pound option here, and what I did. Either way works, but some may not wish to make as large a quantity as we did.

I used three large roasts, two beef rump roasts and one pork shoulder. I thawed and cut them into chunks before grinding them together in my industrial meat grinder. Was just a bit more that 14 lbs.

If you do not have access to a meat grinder you can ask the store in which you purchase your meat, to grind them for you, if they offer that service. Or you can simply purchase already ground meat of quality and mix them 2 to 1.

There are many other ratios that can be used, it will really depend on your taste choice. We chose to do two parts beef to one part pork. It worked quite well.

I put garlic, pepper, dill, mustard seeds, liquid hickory smoke, Italian seasonings, and onion powder in. You can really just use whatever flavors you prefer. One good way to test if you have the right amount mixed in, is to fry up a tiny portion of the meat and give it the taste test. I would recommend about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of each seasonging per pound of meat. But really just go with common sense and a taste test.

Now the recipe we were looking at, but chose not to follow, wanted 3 tsp of salt for each pound. We decided that was way too much and halved it. So 1 1/2 tsp per pound. This was plenty salty for our taste. And like I said before, you can fry up a small bit to make sure it fits your personal taste. You do want it a bit salty for curing,  but not so salty that it’s hard to eat.

Once you have your preferred spices and all the salt mixed in, and you’ve given it the good old taste test, place your raw ground mixture in a bowl or container and cover. Refrigerate for 48 hours to allow the meat to ferment slightly.

After 48 hours, pull it out and form it into sausages. We chose to make 1 pound sausages. We formed them into rolls similar to packaged sausage or ground beef in a store.

Our method does not call for the stuffing of sausage casings, as that can be pricey. But feel free to go that route if you like. We will probably try it next time so that we can compare them.

Pack the meat as tightly as possible,  and wrap your individual sausages in parchment paper to hold their form. Then wrap them in tin foil. Be sure the foil does not touch the meat.

We cured them 2 different ways.

#1 Oven Curing

First we put some wrapped sausages in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour. Let them cool on their own before refrigerating

I was really skeptical about this one. I figured it might end up like a bunch of meatloaves. But it actually worked. The picture at the top of the blog is this version.

Now it’s not pink, like store bought summer sausage, because we chose not to use the Prague Power, which contains chemicals and is actually poisonous, but is used to make store bought sausages pink. If you wish for a more classic look, and don’t have issues with using such things, be my guest.

#2 smoke curing

We smoked the rest of the wrapped sausages at 250 degrees for 4 hours. Let them cool on their own, before refrigerating.

This left us with slightly darker sausages, a smokier flavor, but a bit drier than the oven cured sausages. But it was a tasty option.

Conclusion:

For a chemical free sausage that was not expensive to make (no casings etc.) This is a fantastic option. I was amazed that it turned out like sausage instead of meatloaf.

Both curing methods have their benefits. The oven curing was easier and faster, with a more moist sausage as the result. The smoke curing was definitely smokier and drier. Both were tasty, even kid approved! We will be doing this again.

Check back to find our experiment with casings.