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Hello All: I was recently appointed my family's sausage maker. My family had a good deer hunt this year and so there are seven deer to process this weekend. The shoulder and older deer will be made into sausage. We will probably make about 150 lbs. of venison sausage. However, due to religious reasons, pork cannot be used in the sausages. As of right now, I intend to use beef fat in lieu of pork fat. Does anyone have any suggestions how to make a tasty, juicy venison-beef sausage? I will probably add more liquid than usual and if I make any smoked sausages, I will add a good amount of powdered milk. Is there anything else I can do to make a good sausage? Lastly, any good recipes? I made the smoked venison sausage recipe in Charcuterie and will try the recipe again this weekend with beef fat. Thank you in advance! David

I bought a whole Mennonite elk summer sausage at the farmer's market. A vendor from a semi-local elk farm always has a booth at the market and I buy a lot of meat from them (She's bringing me some elk bones for the next market to use for stock, she always has smoked bones but the stock from them was too smoky so I asked her if I could get some unsmoked as well.). I usually buy a couple packs of the pre-sliced sausage to munch on because it's really tasty but this time I decided to grab a whole one. I've never dealt with one of these before. After I peel the cloth bag off, is there anything else to peel or do I just wash it off (or not?) and munch? I cut a piece off and peeled it because it's kinda fuzzy looking once you remove the bag (not mold) but that seems to lead to a bit of waste so I won't peel it if it's not necessary.

Still bothered from last night. I am writing to you all for your opinion. Was at a very popular BBQ place in Brooklyn (will leave nameless for now) that sells meat by the pound. In addition to my brisket and pork belly order, I ordered a 1/2 pound of raw house-cured bacon. I have ordered this before and loved, loved, loved it. On my last order of the bacon, they sliced the meat long and thick, ala Peter Luger's (fried up, it was unreal). Now this time, the BBQ slicer/counter guy called the back of the house guy and summoned the bacon. It weighed 1lb so he cut the rectangle in half, making 2 squares, one of which was supposed to be mine. Well, who orders a 4"x5" block of raw BACON that when sliced up and cooked would be nothing more than niblets. Still wanting the goodness I acquiesced and watched as he began to wrap the block unsliced. I said "Bud, could you slice that?" He said "NO" straight out. I was like WTF, are you F-ing kidding me? The bacon sells for $10.50 a pound, which to me is a price that warrants slicing if I so choose. My favorite butcher, Fiacco's in Brooklyn, charges $5.99 a pound and we all know the Oscar Meyer stuff is $3-$5 a pound. Back to the counter guy, so after he said "NO" he said "Why, you can't slice it yourself," to which I replied "No, for the price I would like it sliced." He said, "Can't do it." I said, "Don't want it." I ate my cue, which was amazing, but was bothered by the attitude and still am. Shouldn't the paying customer have a legitimate say? Am I way off here people? What's up with these BROOKLYNY HIPSTER attitudes? FYI: I will attempt a bacon purchase again and will preface my wants and needs. Sad I didn't have it this AM when I woke up.

I am a relative newcomer to merguez sausage and have become very fond of it. So fond of it, I would like to make my own. Does anyone have a tried & true recipe for this? I don't think I would have any trouble finding ingredients as we have a large number of ethnic stores in this city. Thank you.

I brought back lots of professionally made whole salami, coppa, bresaola etc. from Italy. The idea was to cut them as needed on my meat slicer and enjoy piles of fresh charcuterie. However I find cleaning the meat slicer each time a real pain so I've gone ahead and sliced everything into the appropriate cuts. I've then packed the meats into separate vacuum bags. Each one weighs about 200g. The salamis were about 3 months opened at the point where I sliced them, and in good condition. I was wondering what people thought would be the best way to store them? I was thinking of freezing them in the vacuum bags but wasn't sure how well they would freeze. Anyone have any practical experience or tips?

I want to make peameal bacon and have it for Christmas. It seems possible but there is no definitive recipe on the net and I'd love a little coaching from someone who has done it. Horrors - some recipes call for smoking - those people obviously don't know what they are talking about. I can get something called Morton's Tenderquick - is this going to give me the right texture? This expat thanks all who might help.

Way back when, in my early college days, there was a small startup deli whose salami sandwiches I absolutely loved. Just white bread, some mustard, and a nice mound of very tender, moist salami. I've been looking for that meat ever since. I would say the texture most resembled the better deli corned beef or pastrami - but of course with the salami flavor. But all the salami I've sampled since is simply not going for that effect, whether it be called Cotto, Genoa, Hard Salami, etc. Is there a name for this sort of salami, or is it just one particular maker, or what?

Hi all, I'm new to Austin. I think tomorrow I'm going to drive out to Elgin to try the sausage. Do you guys know of any places that sell packaged sausage that will survive a 5 hour flight? Thanks.

I had dinner last night at a restaurant whose charcuterie plate had, among other selections, something they just called "spiced orange": it was a relatively homogeneous pork salume with little visible fat, and a really interesting herbal note to it. Is anyone aware of a precedent for this type of salami, and does anyone have a recipe for something that might fit this description?

I'd like to try my hand at making lomo. Does anyone here have suggestions for seasoning percentages or quantities? From what I have seen online, garlic and smoked paprika are common seasonings, but is there anything else I should be considering?

I've just had a great lunch featuring poached Lyon sausage on a bed of lentils (Hélène Darroze at the Connaught, London). So now I'd like to make some Lyon sausage AKA Saucisse de Lyon. This is a fresh sausage for cooking, not the Jesus de Lyon salami style product. Sometimes it has pistachio nuts in it. I can't find a recipe: can anyone help? I've tried all the usual sources including sausagemaking.org & Len Poli's site plus internet searches. I believe the sausage contains pork, wine & seasoning but beyond that I have no idea. The one I ate was about 50mm dia so I'd need some large casings: suggestions please. Thanks.

We all know you can brine a bird, smoke a turkey, etc... I am looking for info on preserving turkey & chicken through a curing process. The googlenet has suprisingly little info on the subject. Any knowledge would be appreciated.

So this will be the first time I take on a project of this type. As a kid I did some butchering of hogs and beef, and I have plenty of experience processing and handling wild game. I've never dry cured anything, however, and would appreciate any help any more experienced folks might be able to give. I'm planning to use a slightly modified version of the pepperoni recipe at the following link. http://homecooking.about.com/od/porkrecipes/r/blpork85.htm I live in Missouri and right now it's nice and cold outside. I have a concrete basement and a dirt-floor crawl space. The basement is used for storage and laundry. The crawl space isn't used for anything, is about 4 feet tall, and about 100 square feet. I have a dehumidifier in the basement which I can regulate the humidity with. It stays at about 50% right now. Without the dehumidifier it hangs around 75%. The temp in the basement is in the high 40s/low 50s now. I expect it to get into the high 50s/low 60s by mid April, but no higher. My main question is whether either the basement or the crawl space would be a suitable location to hang these pepperonis for 2 months, and what, if anything, I might want to do to make sure this first attempt goes well. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any advice. Neil

The Wife® and I recently discovered a little Eastern European/Russian deli in town and we've been exploring their coolcase filled with all kinds of sausages and salamis. A repeat favorite is Karpatskaya and I've decided that I'd like to add it to my repertoire. My reference books are mute on this variety and I haven't had any luck online, either. Can anyone help?

I was working on the WikiGullet Project article on jagerwurst this afternoon and was unable to find any good information on it under that name: the only stuff in Wikipedia is called "Jadgwurst" but it sounds like the same thing. Does anyone know for sure if that is the case? Also, in the Ruhlman Charcuterie book it's a pork sausage, but the Wikipedia article seems to indicate it's beef and pork. Naturally, neither the WP article nor Ruhlman cite any sources for this info. Does anyone know anything about it? Have you ever made it? What are the seasonings you think exemplify it?

I consider myself an advanced beginner, sometimes intermediate type cook. I can make a mean risotto and have no problem cooking steak to temp. I'm good at the fairly straightforward stuff. When I cook pancetta, the only thing I do with it is brown it in a frying pan then add it to whatever I'm using. However I had dinner at a pretty good restaurant the other night and had a dish that had pancetta that melted like butter when it hit my tongue. I just sat there dumbfounded like "damn, I wish I could make pancetta like that..." I'm thinking that soft, meltingly tender pancetta mixed into risotto or mashed potatoes would be nothing short of sublime. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Simply this-I've been making many kinds for a while and they are really good, but the texture of the (always natural)casing when cooked never pleases me-a damp bend rather than the crisp yielding I'm looking for. Ideas, anyone? Thanks!

[Moderator note: The original Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 5)] As all readers of the massive Charcuterie topic topic know, it has become unwieldy. Thus we offer this new index, to aid readers in finding all of the information our members have contributed over the years. We ask that, as discussion continues in this new topic/section, posters keep their posts focused on recipes and techniques from the book itself, and small modifications to those recipes. For general charcuterie discussions that are not focused on recipes from this book, you will find many other topics devoted to them. Thank you for participating! We look forward to more great contributions in this topic!

(NB: This comprehensive index was prepared by Chris Hennes.) CharcuterieThe Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn Published by W. W. Norton (November 21, 2005) Forward by Thomas Keller The original "Cooking (or curing) from Charcuterie" topic is one of the all-time most popular topics on the eGullet forums, and the depth and breadth of information in it is truly astonishing. What follows is a list of commonly asked questions with links to the post (or posts) that best answer the inquiry. In addition we are providing a table of contents below with links to some of the most thorough results posts for each recipe. The original topic has been closed, and as discussion continues on this new topic, we ask that posters keep their posts focused on recipes and techniques from the book itself, and small modifications to those recipes. As this book seems to have sparked (or at least fanned the flames!) of a tremendous amount of interest in charcuterie, most individual charcuterie items have other topics devoted to them: you can use the eGullet forums search engine top help you find the best place for your post. Thanks, and happy curing! Other Charcuterie-related Topics to Consult Making Bacon Making Sausage Making Guanciale Smoking Brisket Making Pastrami Smoking Turkey Making pork butt (a.k.a. "Behold my Butt!") Smoking Misc. Meats Meat Grinders Meat Slicers Sausage Stuffers Smokers Cellars and Chambers for Curing and Aging Food safety Topic Index Frequently Asked Questions Salt Curing FAQs How long do I cure a Salmon filet? Can I salt cure whitefish other than Cod? How do I use wine in a cure? Can I add booze to my cures? How much salt should I use for a five pound pork belly? How much liquid should my belly give off when curing? Can I make bacon with skin-off pork bellies? I ran out of time to smoke my bacon: can it wait a few more days? My belly is soft, what do I do? What size bags should I use for curing bacon? What's the deal with "nitrite free" bacon? How long can I store cured bacon before I have to smoke it? General Sausage FAQs When is it most critical to keep the meat cold? When can I be more relaxed? My forcemeat seems "gritty" -- what's that all about? What does a broken sausage look like? Can I mix stuff together today and grind it up tomorrow? Is it really critical to cook sausages to only 150 degrees F? Why do I get "cracks" between the meat inside my stuffed sausages? What are the white "spider" lines on the surface of my natural casings? See also this. When I stuff casings they puff up with air: how do I prevent this? Should I twist the links as I stuff, or wait until the end? How do I use sheep casings without tearing them? How do I get collagen casings to form links? What holds the sausage in the casing once they've been cut apart? How full should I stuff the casings? How should I store my finished sausages? Can I use rendered/cooked fat instead of fatback? Can I use frozen, salt-added blood for my boudin noir? What makes a good hot dog? Do I have to use fresh pork for the sausages, or can it be frozen? Do I have to poach Boudin Noir before freezing it? Should I use phosphates in my sausages to help with emulsion? Do I have to use shoulder in my sausages? Dry-Curing FAQs Can I dry-cure in a regular refrigerator, next to last week's chicken salad? Are there any dry-cured products I can make in a regular refrigerator? Can I cure my pancetta with the skin still on? What do I do if the outside of my sausage is hard but the inside is soft? Why is my jowl turning green? How do I measure the pH of cased sausages that are dry curing? What controls the level of acidity in dry-cured sausages? See also this. Why do the recipes call for so much Bactoferm? Can I leave out the Bactoferm? How should I store my Bactoferm? How long will Bactoferm keep in a household freezer? See also this. What is the difference between the various Bactoferms (LHP, F-RM and M-EK)? My fermented sausages taste funny: do I have to use a starter culture? What role do sugars play in dry-curing sausages? What size casings should I use for Coppa? What is the secret to Armandino Batali's guanciale? My dry cured salame never firmed up and looks weird, what's going on? My house is cold, where can I incubate my salame? I added M-EK-4 to the outside of my salame, and now I've got hairy white mold: what do I do? Can I use cheap supermarket pork for dry-curing whole muscles? Do I really have to let stuff dry for months on end? My ham still seems raw inside, what did I do wrong? Equipment FAQs Should I use a PID controller in my homebrew curing/smoking chamber? What is the best way to use the KitchenAid stuffing attachment? What do kids think about the KitchenAid stuffer? What do I do with the little plastic thingy that came with the KitchenAid stuffing attachment? Five pounds of sausage doesn't fit in my stand mixer bowl, what do I do? Do I really need one of those expensive hygrometers for dry curing? How can I humidify my curing chamber using a humidifier? How do I use a salt-water solution to control humidity in my curing chamber? See also this. Should I lube up my sausage stuffer? Can I use a FoodSaver to cure my bacon? Do I need a fan in my curing chamber? Mold FAQs Is there any way to save my sausage with the fuzzy green mold? I just panicked and wipe off some of the good white mold: did I hurt anything? What does the good mold look like? See also this. Can I use a cheese rind mold to inoculate the outside of my dry-cured sausages? What does the bad mold look like? Smoking FAQs Isn't bacon supposed to be cold smoked? What temperature does smoke absorption stop at? What kind of wood should I use to smoke? Can I hot- and cold-smoke at the same time with my homebrew smoking rig? Misc. FAQs Is it really worth doing this at home? Don't I need an advanced degree or something? What is a good online source for sodium nitrite/nitrate/pink salt? Where can I get cheap pork back fat? How do I "harvest" the coppa from the shoulder? What do I do with a broken terrine? What's a good way to weigh down my pâté? Is "pork back fat" the same thing as "fatback"? How long can I freeze fatback? How long does fatback keep in the refrigerator? What do the jowl glands look like? Can I use wild hogs to do this stuff? What temperature do I need to reach to destroy butulism-related organisms/toxins? When do I need to use Nitrites and/or Nitrates? What are the nitrite concentrations in D.Q. Curing Salt #1 and #2? What is the UK equivalent to "Pink Salt"? How long does duck fat keep? Can I make any of this stuff Kosher? Miscellaneous Information Other useful books Homebrew curing box Tips for using the KitchenAid grinder Improvised hot-plate smoker Ideal curing chamber suggestions Humidity explanation Improvised cold-smoker setup Grinder analysis Curing a country-style ham Improvised cold smoker Prescribed treatment of pork and products containing pork to destroy trichinae. Brine Calculations Table of Contents (with links to a few detailed posts) NOTE ABOUT POST SELECTION: The most appropriate post from the original topic was chosen to represent each recipe. Criteria for selection: 1) Includes photos, 2) is a recipe from Charcuterie with only minor modifications, and 3) is well-documented. Nominations for recipe analysis posts (from either the original topic or the new one) should be PM'ed to Chris Hennes or any other Kitchen Forum host. 1. Introduction 2. Recipes for Salt-Cured Food Fresh bacon (p. 41) Pancetta (finished product) (p. 44) Guanciale (p. 47) Salt Pork (p. 48) Salt Cod (p. 49) Fennel-cured salmon (finished product) (p. 50) Duck prosciutto (p. 54) Beef jerky (p. 55) Lemon Confit (p. 56) Herb-brined roasted chicken (p. 63) Garlic-sage-brined pork chops (p. 65) Corned beef (p. 67) The Natural Pickle (p. 69) Traditional dill pickles (p. 71) Home-cured sauerkraut (p. 72) 3. Recipes for Smoked Food Herb-brined smoked turkey breast (p.80) Whiskey-glazed smoked chicken (p. 81) Hot-smoked duck ham (p. 82) Maple-cured smoked bacon (p. 83) Smoked ham hocks (p. 85) Tasso ham (p. 86) Canadian bacon (p. 88) Spicy-smoke-roasted port loin (p. 89) Pastrami (p. 91) Carolina-style smoked barbeque (p. 92) American-style brown-sugar-glazed holiday ham (p. 93) Smoked jalapeños (p. 94) Spicy smoked almonds (p. 95) Smoked salmon (p. 96) Smoked scallops (p. 97) 4. Sausages Garlic sausage (p. 117) Kielbasa with marjoram (p. 118) Breakfast sausage (p. 120) Bratwurst (p. 121) Italian sausage (p. 122) Chicken sausage with basil and tomatoes (p. 124) Duck, sage and roasted garlic sausage (p. 125) Mexican chorizo (p. 127) Merguez (p. 129) Spicy roasted poblano sausage (p. 131) Turkey Sausage with Dried Tart Cherries (p. 132) Weiswurst (p. 140) Mortadella (p. 142) Boudin Blanc (p. 143) Boudin Noir (finished product) (p. 145) Shrimp, lobster and leek sausage (p. 147) Foie Gras and sweetbread sausage (p. 149) Braised sweetbreads (p. 150) Knackwurst (p. 153) Jagerwurst (p. 155) Smoked Andouille (p. 156) Venison Sausage (p. 157) Summer Sausage (p. 159) Thuringer (p. 160) Smoked chicken and roasted garlic sausage (p. 162) Kielbasa (p. 163) Hot dogs (p. 164) Hungarian paprika sausage (p. 166) Cold-smoked andouille (finished product) (p. 167) Cold-smoked chorizo (finished product) (p. 169) 5. Recipes for Dry-Cured Food Tuscan salami (p. 183) Peperone (finished product) (p. 185) Sopressata (finished product) (p. 186) Coppa (p. 188) Spanish chorizo (p. 190) Hungarian salami (p. 191) Sucisson Sec (p. 193) Landjager (p. 194) Salted air-dried ham (p. 197) Blackstrap Molasses Country Ham (p. 198) Bresaola (finished product) (p. 200) Lardo and Cured pork belly (p. 201) 6. Pâtés and Terrines Pâté de Campagne (p. 213) Pâté Gradmère (p. 214) English Pork Pie (p. 217) Pork Terrine with Pork Tenderloin Inlay (p. 219) 1 Venison Terrine with Dried Cherries (p. 221) Chicken Galantine (p. 223) Roasted Duck Roulade ( finished product) (p. 229) Pork Pâté en Croûte (p. 231) Veal Terrine Gratin (p. 237) Shrimp and Salmon Terrine with Spinach and Mushrooms (p. 239) Maryland Crab, Scallop, and Saffron Terrine (p. 241) Salmon Pâté in Basil Cornmeal Crust (p. 242) Grilled Vegetable Terrine with Goat Cheese (p. 247) Avocado and Artichoke Terrine with Poached Chicken (p. 250) Headcheese (p. 253) 7. The Confit Technique Duck confit with clove (p. 259) Duck confit with star anise and ginger (p. 261) Goose confit (p. 261) Pork confit (p. 263) Pork belly confit (p. 264) Classic pork rillettes (p. 267) Smoked trout rillettes (p. 269) Mediteranean olive and vegetable rillettes (p. 270) Rillettes from confit (p. 272) Onion confit (p. 273) Tomato confit (p. 274) 8. Recipes to Accompany Charcuterie Basic Mayonnaise (p. 277) Aïoli (p. 278) Rémoulade (p. 279) Sauce Gribiche (p. 280) Cucumber Dill Relish (p. 281) Smoked Tomato and Corn Salsa (p. 282) Tart Cherry Mustard (p. 283) Green Chile Mustard (p. 284) Caraway-Beer Mustard (p. 284) Basic Vinaigrette (p. 285) Russian Dressing (p. 287) Chipotle Barbeque Sauce (p. 287) Carolina-Style Barbecue Sauce (p. 288) Cumberland Sauce (p. 289) Orange-Ginger Sauce (p. 290) Horseradish Cream Sauce (p. 290) Basil Cream Sauce (p. 291) Spicy Tomato Chutney (p. 292) Corn Relish (p. 293) Green Tomato Relish (p. 294) Onion-Raisin Chutney (p. 295) Bourbon Glaze (p. 295) Marinated Olives (p. 296) German Potato Salad (p. 297) Sweet Pickle Chips (p. 298)

The Ferry Building has the shiny new Boccalone shop, they've got all sorts of delicious stuff available and a beautiful display fridge full of cured meats. Go check it out. Immediately. I'll try and take some pictures on Saturday when I'm back at the Ferry Plaza for the Farmers Market.

Last night on the FoodNetwork Micheal Symon did chocolate covered bacon on Dinner Impossible segment. I guess he's the new host. Anyway, everyone loved it. Has anyone done this before? I'm thinking of doing it for the Holidays. I'm worried about the shelf life though. Would probably have to do it on a made to order and not in advance.... Any thoughts? Thanks, Rena

I'm originally from Chicago, living in New Orleans for the time being. A coworker, also originally from Illinois, asked me to pick her up some Polish Sausage on my upcoming trip home. I'll be based in the south suburbs, but I should be in the city a fair amount, and I'm willing to travel wherever. So where can I find the absolute best -bar none- Polish Sausage?

Does anyone know where I can order some vegetarian sausage casings that are comparable to the natural, edible ones? Ones that have that snap when you bite into them.

I had a friend who was living down in Natchez, MS bring back 20 lbs of Garlic Sausage from Passbach meats. It's a smoked beef sausage made with beef and offal meats (heart, tongue, head meat, glands...etc) It has a stronger offal type flavor and the couple links I have cooked have a more mealy texture. I am supposed to make red beans and rice with it. I have a good recipe for red beans and rice, but I can find no recipes using this type of sausage. I am either afraid of it being too overpowering, or turning to mush. Is anyone familiar with this type of sausage that could offer a couple tips in using it.

From the same folks who brought us BaconSalt. Should be at QFCs in Seattle and at Pike Place Market soon, new website up by October 11th (in the Seattle Times this morning).