Making Cervelat...

[ExpatCanadian]

Well, started my Summer Sausage adventure this morning....  except instead of Summer Sausage I'm making "Cervelat" which, like Summer Sausage, can take many different forms...  but the recipe I'm using is from "The Art of Making Fermented Sausages" by the Marianski brothers....  the recipe can be found here: http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/cervelat. It's quite similar to his Summer Sausage recipe.  I liked that this one has whole peppercorns and Paprika in it.  Was out at a Spanish restaurant last night and bought some Pimentón...  smoked Spanish paprika, so thought what the heck, might as well put it to use.

So, got started....  using 3.5kg pork shoulder steaks from Costco.  I get the butcher to cut them for me fresh from whole boneless shoulders so I know they haven't been sitting there for a while.  Also using 1.5 kg of lean beef shoulder, also from Costco.  Had a few scraps of pork belly trimmings from my last bacon, so throwing that in as well:



All sliced up and (nearly) ready to grind:



Oops...  still a bit too frozen...  my grinder said "uh uh... no way..." so I had to spread the meat out a bit to thaw down a bit more:



Meanwhile...  measuring out the spices.  Would LOVE to see the look on the old bill's face should they walk in right now, looks right dodgy...    ;D :o



All measured out...



Well....  that's it so far...  still waiting for the meat to thaw enough to grind...  more to come!

[ExpatCanadian]

DAMN...  first mistake  :-[ :-[ :-[ >:( >:( >:(  Didn't read the meat ratio closely enough....  guess I'm making Cervelat spiced Summer Sausage  :P



Ok, finally got the meat ground...  realized the problem wasn't so much the partially frozen meat, it was trying to push it through the 3/16^" plate first.  Switched to my coarse plate, ran it through once, then pushed it through again with the 3/16^":



Added the spices, including the starter culture:



All mixed up ready to stuff:



A well deserved Sunday afternoon single malt.... short break before stuffing....  :)

[NePaSmoKer]

All coming together is going to be good  ;D

[ExpatCanadian]

Ok...  all stuffed and hanging in the fermenting chamber...  AKA, the DBS cabinet sans smoke generator....

The casings...  natural beef middles:





Soaking for an hour....



Stuffer filled to the brim....  JUST made it....



Casing loaded:



First one!



All stuffed...



All tied up....



Starting the 24 hour ferment:



And finally... the most important finishing touch  ;D



More to follow at the end of the ferment and the smoke....  until tomorrow...  Expat out.

[Sailor]

Looking good.  Wish I was there to help you drink your whiskey stuff those sausages.  ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

Sausage is looking good.

It's a good thing you earmarked the page or it will take 5 - 10 minutes to find it again in that book. ;D

I have two books by those authors, and for the life of me I don't understand why they don't add an index.

Everything in the book is also located on their website.

[marauder11]

I seen Nepas  Makers Mark in his fridge in a pic. I got my in laws to bring me some back from there trip to the states it was yummy in my tummy. I will have to find those to types i seen her to try.  O ya sausage looks good too.

[squirtthecat]

Would LOVE to see the look on the old bill's face should they walk in right now, looks right dodgy...    ;D :o

'Ello 'Ello 'Ello..     ;D

[RossP]

Looking good, I love Cervelat even if the meat combo is wrong.
I have always wanted to visit London ;D

[SouthernSmoked]

Looking good!!

[ExpatCanadian]

Got a few hours left in the ferment stage, which has been done at high humidity (90-95% according to my hygrometer) to keep the casings moist.  the bottom ends of the sausages are a bit dry due to them being closer to the heating element, but hopefully that won't affect the quality of the end product too much.  Can always cut that end off I suppose.

Quick question though:  the recipe says to start applying warm smoke at the end of the 24 hour period (for 12 hours, but I'm going to cut this to 3 hours in the Bradley). Most other smoked sausage recipes I've read call for a period of drying of the casings before applying smoke.  Do you think that applies here too?  The way the recipe reads to me is that the smoking starts immediately...  but perhaps I should open the damper up and increase the heat to 120^o for an hour or so to dry the casings first?

I have two books by those authors, and for the life of me I don't understand why they don't add an index.

By the way Hab... I agree completely, the book is a wealth of information, but a nightmare to read.  It's pretty clear English is not their first language, which isn't a problem... the info is all good, it just could have used a good editor to re-organise, spell and grammar check and generally polish it up a bit.  Apparently there is a new edition from a different publisher that has an index, but this is the one Amazon sent me....

[Seminole]

Habanero Smoker,

Yes, the first editions of the books did not have indexes.

The Art of Making Fermented Sausages, Polish Sausages and Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design, were edited, revised, and indexes were added. These improved second editions were re-published in 2009 by Bookmagic, LLC.

In addition,  Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design was enlarged by about 30 pages.

In July 2010, another very large book was published by Bookmagic: Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages, 700 pages.
One can search these books inside at publisher's site www.bookmagic.com

The  www.wedlinydomowe.com web site was recently revised in order to make it user friendly and easier to navigate. The new version became operational last week. All recipes look exactly the same and more will be added on a regular basis.

[ExpatCanadian]

Seminole...  I want to publicly apologize for my insensitive comments on your book above.  As far as I am concerned it's as much of a "bible" on the subject of sausage making as Rytek Kutas book is.  I have both, and read both virtually daily to educate myself.... and without your book, I would never have even attempted to make my first fermented sausage, but as you can see from this thread, I have jumped in with both feet.

My Summer Sausage/Cervelat is smoking right now, and I will be posting photos when finished to show the results of my poor attempt at what you and your brother have deemed an "art".  Definitely an apt description, and one I look forward to perfecting.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Seminole;

I didn't know you were associated with that site and family.

I often use your site. I was on the site this morning, and notice the changes. It is now very user friendly.

Is there any chance that you can publish the indexes on your site for Meat Smoking & Smokehouse Design, 2007 V 1.0; and The Art of Making Fermented Sausage, 2008 V1.0 R2.0?

ExpatCanadian;

I would not dry the casings first. Though the casings will be moist, they will take on smoke very well. About some areas of sausage drying out. I had the same problem due to hot spots. As long as the meat is not fully cooked, that area will recover when you cook them.

[Mr Walleye]

Habs

Here is a link from their site for the book "The Art of Making Fermented Sausage" which includes the index. I'm not sure if it's the right release or not.
http://bookmagic.com/books/art-of-making-fermented-sausages

Here's the link to "Meat Smoking and Smokehouse Design" which includes the index as well.
http://bookmagic.com/books/meat-smoking-and-smokehouse-design

Mike