Chinese Sausage

[steelchef]

Years ago, in Calgary's once extensive Chinatown, I purchased some incredible sausage that was fresh, not like Lop Cheong. It was presented in an unrefrigerated plastic tub and almost covered with a soy mixture. Very sweet, strong anise taste and perfect for steaming. The shop was shut down shortly after my chance purchase, due to health and sanitary issues. I would be eternally grateful to anyone who could steer me in the direction of a similar recipe.

[Richierich]

Not sure about quantities and ingredients, but certainly the method would be to not wash any of the utensils you are planning on using, visit the toilet during production, in fact probably worth taking the ingredients with you to the toilet. No need to worry about tissues for sneezes, use the prep bowl to catch the drips.

Hope that helps, sorry I can't be more use on the ingredients.

[steelchef]

Sorry Richie,

I don't follow. I never wash my hands or utensils and frequently visit the Loo whilst making my sausage. It would be inconvenient to take the ingedients with me but the cat does a fairly good job of covering most of your concerns.
Could you explain your point?

PS! Despite the obvious, no one suffered any illness or adverse affects from this product and it was "to die for."

This shop had unrefrigerated meat all over the place and operated for many years. Of course along with ignorance of sanitation was, (in the day) a lack of enforcement.

I just want the recipe. The hygeine, me and the cat will take care of.

[NCPaul]

Could the sausage have been one of these:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=4413 ?

I have no advice on the hygiene aspects.

[Ryan C]

Steelchef,
I recently experimented with something similar. A while back I bought some 'chinese bacon' from a chinese supermarket. It was more like a sausage in shape (can't remember if it had a casing or not), but it was a solid piece of fatty muscle(about chipolata thickness). Although it was meant to be cooked and added to dishes such as noodles and soups, I couldn't resist and I ate the whole packet raw one night (probably not advisable but the whisky in my stomach that night would have easily seen off any nasties!).

Anyhow it was bloody delicious!

After a bit of research and help from this site, I found that it was probably Lop Yuk. I tried a few recipes including Len Poli's but none were much like what I'd eaten from the chinese supermarket so I came up with my own recipe.
I'm not at home just now but if you like I'll post the recipe when I get back later in the week. It contains Soy, Honey, salt, Chinese five spice, garlic, lots of sugar and a few other things. Does this sound like it may be of any use?

Let me know

All the best

Ryan

[steelchef]

Thanks for the link Paul but ( Lap Cheung or Lop Chong or Lop Cheong) is not what I'm looking for. These resemble pepperoni hot sticks in appearance and are very hard and dry.
The one I'm seeking is a very moist, chubby (45mm) size about 6 - 7" long and very dark in colour, no doubt stained by soy sauce. Probably has a high fat content too.

[steelchef]

Hey Ryan,

Please do post your recipe. Not what I started looking for but it sounds delish,

Colin

[Ryan C]

Steelchef,

here is a recipe I came up with for the chinese bacon (Lop Yuk). I used belly pork cut into long strips about half an inch thick. I think that because it uses nice fatty belly pork it would also mince nicely if you fancy tweaking it to make sausages. Hope this helps.

1kg belly pork (cut into long strips)
23g all-purpose curing salt
2 Tbs honey
50ml dark soy sauce
50g mollasses (I'm sure sugar would be fine if you don't have this)
75g demerara sugar
1 star anise (ground)
3 heaped teaspoons chinese five spice ( I know it sounds a lot but I rinsed off later on)
1/2 teaspoon dried garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried ginger

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, put into a ziplock bag in the fridge and massage once a day for four or five days. Remove from bag and rinse under the tap before hanging in the fridge to dry for about a week. Easy-Peasy!
Cut into chunks and add to soups, rice, noodles etc. (try to avoid eating it all raw after a few whisky's:wink:)
I made another batch a few weeks ago which I cold-smoked for 3-4 hours for extra deliciousness!
Now I'm only a beginner but if you're going to make sausages I would imagine you'd need to reduce the quantities above as technically its a recipe for a marinade/brine and so all of the ingredients don't get absorbed by the pork.

I wonder if this could be altered to make a fermented sausage?. It might become a bit sour due to the amount of sugar?

Anyway, This is one of my favourite recipes so far and it's great to have a few strips of this spiced pork in the freezer to tart up a lunch or supper.

Hope this helps

Ryan

[steelchef]

Hey Ryan,

Thanks for sharing this. Will definitely try it.
Looks delicious!
"Technically", I've found, only applies to chemicals.
The rest of the ingredients are pretty much up to the creator. I should add that I made my first sausage using Amesphos. Len Polli's "California Hot Links."
It was so hot that my wife immediately filed for divorce but my son and his friends loved it. So I'm going to keep the kids.
I am about to venture into an experiment to duplicate the chinese sausage that I so enjoyed. Will share it if I can get it right.
All I need is for you to keep Richierich off my back while me and the cat prepare this.

Colin