SE Asian Flavored Sausage help

[Ufimizm]

I am interested in trying to make a SE Asian Flavored Sausage. I am planning on going 80% pork and 20% fat and make a 5lb batch. I am looking at using all or most of the following ingredients: fish sauce, dried shrimp, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, palm sugar, Kaffir Lime leave, Lime Juice, black pepper, bird chile's, cilantro, and coconut milk. The few recipes I have found out there seem very mild on most of the seasonings.

I am wondering if anyone else has tried this before and has some suggestions on where to start with proportions for the spices.

If nobody has really done this before I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how to balance the level of salt with the fish sauce.

I was also debating on whether to use all the seasonings raw, or to make curry paste first and then add that to the meat to make the sausage.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[nickrey]

I'd use an existing Thai recipe for something like red or green or Panang curry paste as the initial base. Use a proportion of paste to mince that fits with the recipe, reducing the spice ratio slightly to account for the lack of a sauce. Don't forget that coconut milk is pretty fatty by itself, you may need to adjust the ratio of fat to meat accordingly.

Mix the spices into the mince. Take a tablespoon or so of the mixture and fry it. Taste and adjust seasonings (just use fish sauce for salt, lime juice for sour, palm sugar for sweet, and chili for heat). Do this until you are happy with it.

Edited May 25, 2010 by nickrey (log)

[Ufimizm]

Thank you for teh response.

In talking to some other people the following was suggested.

1. Coconut milk may cause issues with the bind so I need to be careful with it.

2. Since I am playing around anyways, I should save some of the raw curry paste with the compnents more whole and see how they work. The results may be better or worse, but at least I tried it both ways.

3. I was given a suggestion to use tamarind water for sour.

I am planning on doing this on Friday, I will post about how they come out.

[KennethT]

I wouldn't add too much liquid - it won't be absorbed by the meat well, and will result in a weird texture... Also, I'd avoid lime juice or any acidic liquid as that may "ceviche" your meat... Rather than using tamarind juice for tartness, I'd use the thick pulp (seeds removed)...

Also, most SE Asian sausages that I've had didn't have tons of flavorings IN them... there's usually a lot of fat - maybe 30%? - and some dry spices and salt, but that's it - I've never seen a sausage that looked like it had curry paste in it...

Also, rereading the orig post, I think the fish sauce will give problems like the coconut milk - you'd need to add too much of it to get the salt content you'd want - liquids are typically not added to sausage components... but you can add some rehydrated fermented/dried fish for that type of flavor, and some ground coconut flakes/powder - don't know how that'll affect texture though...

Just my 2 cents...

[ChickenStu]

Sausages are basically an emulsion, adding too much (or in some cases not enough) liquid will "break" your sausage. If I were you I would find a comparable recipe and keep the amounts close.

If you dont plan on casing it then it wouldnt be as big of an issue...

[Ufimizm]

Thanks again for everyones input.

I forgot to check one of the best resources for this. Len Poli My link he has a selection of sausages under Asian Sauages that I am going to use to guide my effort. The Balinese Fried Pork Sausage is going to be what I use to guide my effort.