Hi All
Ive come across a few recipes for saussison sec (i.e Rhullmans recipe in Charcuterie amongst others) which don't require the use of a starter culture. All you do is grind the meat, add pepper, garlic, salt and curing salt #2, stuff it into the casings and hang it at 65% humidity at 12-14 deg.C untill its lost 30% of its weight or is firm/hard the whole way through (in my case 20ish days using hog casings). Ive made this sausage and its come out tasting fantastic, it has a very delicate flavor where the pork really shines and is almost sweet, but i am concerned about the safety of a product which doesn't have any acidifying bacteria. This batch obviously hasn't made me sick but i am concerned about future batches.
My question is as follows:
Is it safe to make a dry cured sausage without starter culture in the above method, provided you sufficiently dry the product in a similar fashion to dry cured whole cuts i.e have sufficient salt content, use cure #2 and reduce weight by 30% through dry curing.
The main reason i ask this instead of just using a culture in future is that i really love the almost sweet flavor of the sausage without the acidity or tang from typically fermented sausages.
Thanks for any help.