Gyulai

[gabstero]

yep - that's what I learned also from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Just curious - why the water in the ingredient list of the Gyulai?

thanks,
gabi.

[grisell]

The water is from the original recipe. I guess it helps in dissolving the salt and developing the aroma of the spices. It also makes the filling easier to work with. I can also imagine that in raising the water content, fermentation goes easier, but that's just speculation.

Maybe it could be omitted, but right now I myself am satisfied with the recipe, so, if it works, why fix it?

The increased water content is the reason that weight loss of the sausage should be 40 % instead of 35 % before consumption.

[Andreas]

I found another recipe for Guylai that looks interesting, but it is a bit different and I value your input on this. I will translate it from swedish so I hope I got all the terms correct.

* 2400 gr (80%) Lean pork
* 300 gr (10%) Pork belly without skin
* 300 gr (10%) Fat from pork
* 8 gr Ground black pepper
* 36 gr Mild paprika powder
* 5 gr Ground cumin
* 11 gr Pressed garlic
* 85 gr Salt
* 1,5 gr Nitritesalt

Grind meat and fat with a coarse disc (8mm) and mix well with the other ingridients.

Fill 28/30 mm hog casings and make them about 25-30 cm long. Cold smoke the sausages until dark red. Hang the sausages cool and dark for 5 weeks to dry

My main question is about the nitrite salt, compared to other recipies I have seen here its very little. Should I use more nitrite salt and less "ordinary" salt? This recipe does not use a starter either, should it be fine without?