saussisson sec

[coquille]

Anyone have experience with making dried sausages ????
I really like to do this, the old fashion way. I can't seem to find right recipes. I think I grasp the techniques though

[cape chef]

Not sure which style your looking for exactly,

But here is one I make on occasion and is very easy.

It's a French style dry sausage, but I forget the name of it.

2 pounds cured ground beef
2 pounds cured ground pork
1 pound cured ground bacon
1 small grated onion
6 cloves pressed garlic
1 & 1/2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons salt
1 cup dry white wine

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Allow to cure 48 hours in the refrigerator. Stuff into casing. Tie about 4 or 5 inches in length. Dry from 3-4 weeks. Boil a mixture of white wine, thyme, sage and bay leaf. Rub the sausage with this and allow to dry another 4 weeks.

I serve this simply with coarse mustard, cornichons, pickled onions and slivers of a dry aged cheese.

I love the wines of the Provence with dry sausages.

[coquille]

thanks, I'll try that. How wide are the casings ? Cow/pork or lam??And where do you dry them??

[Suzanne]

The casings to use depend on the size of sausage you want: lamb for small, pig for small or medium, cow for large.

The main consideration for drying is that wherever you hang the sausages to dry, the area should have low humidity itself and good air circulation.

[coquille]

thanks a lot for your help
I think I have a good drying area in my basement if I can keep it bug free..
Any recipes on italian, french or spanish dried sausages are more then welcome. I'll keep you posted

[dano1]

I've dabbled with making Italian dry cured coppacolla. Most important aspect is the curing room-besides the use of curing agents of course . I have hung sausage in my garage but couldn't control humidity well enough. Too low a humidity causes "case hardening" where the oustide dries and forms a barrier to prevent further drying of the inside of the sausage. Too high humidity gets your sauasage funky with molds and such. I'm looking for a cheap used fridge or two to turn into a hanging cabinet/cheese cave/wine cellar . Sausage cures at ~50F, 70% relative humidity optimally. The less change in conditions the better.
For recipes in the U.S. the sausage guru Rytek Kutas and his book "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" is the most exhaustive I've found on the subject. If you would like individual recipes e-mail me and i can scan and send them to you.

hth, danny