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Just been breaking down a seasoning for fresh pork sausage, it started off as 9 lb Salt, 6 lb Ground white pepper, 8oz Nutmeg and 8oz Mace. It suggested that i could add a small amount of either Clove, Cayenne pepper or Ginger. Because its originally in commercial size measurements I decided to use the ounce as the unit part (16 to the pound), which could easily be classed as grammes - so Salt became 144 units, Pepper 96 units, Nutmeg and Mace 8 units each. Further dropped to 18/12/1/1.
Looking at the ratio, plus now I've mixed some up, it does seem a bit 'peppery' to say the least. Its for a fresh Pork sausage using 14oz to a 25lb mix ( not including water, which is added as needed), which would equal 14g to a 4kg mix, plus water if my maths are correct (its getting late here). Before I decide to make a batch, does my maths seem right and has anybody used such a high proportion of pepper in their fresh pork mix. I'm not afraid of pepper and do like the taste, but I don't want to start something that would be destined for the bin It will be a few days before I attempt to make them, so look forward to any comments.

Cheers Ste.

i'm, going by memory here;
i usually use the marianski recipes for sauages, and if i remember correctly, for 454 g [1#] ground meat, i use about 12.5 g salt. if i am correct, it seems your salt is very low. if you shoot for about 2.5/3% salt by weight, you should be near correct. this is for a hanging product. as and for a fresh pork sausage, it is a matter of taste, but i have been using about 1 1/4- 1 1/2 tsp salt per pound of pork. you might try about 1.5% and see how it tastes. you can always add more. as for pepper, i think the amount is less than 1/5-1/6 by weight of salt; again, taste will tell.

If I've got the sums right 14 oz in 25 lb is 35 g / kg or 140 g/4kg. You are out by a factor ten!

It's 56% salt so just under 2% salt in the sausage.

Sounds OK for a fresh sausage (a bit on the high side to my taste) but very peppery (1.3%)! I'd be inclined to substitute some of the mix for salt (50/50 maybe?) and reduce the total quantity a bit.

OVMD!

Martin/

most commercial mixes are used at 2.5% (weight of sausage not meat) and would contain in excess of 50% salt. Id look at 66% which would give you 1.65% in the finished product that means 0.85% spices and herbs. it the finished product.

Jim

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry for the delay in answering, but I've been having problems with the internet connection over the last 5 weeks. The seasoning was taken from the Douglas meat encyclopedia 1901, so maybe they enjoyed their sausage more peppery then, or more than likely it was added to hide the taste of slightly off meat . If I can get hold of some fresh pork this weekend, I'll make a small batch of 500g to see what they are like and report back ( will calculate the seasoning correctly without rushing this time). Reading back on the recipe for a 40lb batch using 2 1/2% seasoning - I mentioned that the weight did not include water, however, I now realise it contained pressed bread which will have been soaked in water and probably absorbed at least its own weight.

I'm also reading 'The book of the meat trade' published in 1949 and is heavily influenced by the war and the then current rationing of meat products.

Beef sausage - Lean beef 35%, beef fat 15%, dry rusk 20%, water 27-1/2%, seasoning 2- 1/2%. Stock seasoning made up of 4lb 8oz salt (72 parts), ground white pepper 1lb (16 parts), ground cayenne 1-1/2 oz (1.5 parts) ground nutmeg 1-1/2 oz (1.5 Parts) ground ginger 1-1/2 oz (1.5 parts).

Pork sausage - Lean pork 27-1/2%, lean beef 7-1/2%, pork fat 15%, dry rusk 20%, water 27-1/2%, seasoning 2-1/2%.
Stock seasoning - Salt 4 lb (64 parts), ground white pepper (16 parts), ground mace 3 oz (3 parts), ground allspice 1-1/2 oz (1.5 parts) ground cayenne 1 oz (1 part), ground ginger 1 oz (1 part), ground mustard 1oz (1 part).

Pork sausage for the London trade - Lean pork 40%, Back fat 20%, fine white rusk 15%, water 22-1/2% seasoning 2-1/2%.
Stock seasoning - Salt 4lb 4oz (68 parts) ground white pepper 1lb (16 parts), ground mace 8 oz (8 parts), ground ginger 4oz (4 parts), ground sage 4 oz (4 parts).

Hopefully these recipes will replicate a taste of the past. They are certainly cheap to make !

ATB Yotmon.

the seasonings should be easy to make parts can be grams or multiples therof

No reason why they wouldnt be good in a "decent sausage"

Jim

Similar thoughts Jim, I'm striving to find the perfect sausage 'butty' either on toast or white bread. Some modern recipes using 80%-plus meat are fine on the plate but can be a bit too meaty when presented as a sandwich. I'm trying to copy a taste in my head from sausages I had when I was younger. Hard to describe, but I think white pepper dominated. One that has come close to the taste but failed on the filling as it was too 'pappy' was a pork sausage by 'Gills' - a big producer from Wolverhampton. I could get them from Netto before they ceased trading, but not seen them since. As I said, they had the peppery spice taste, but were only a cheap filled sausage retailing under a £1 a pound. Ah-well, the search goes on............

Ste.

There's one of mine that has pepper overtones:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=133

It may be a good starting point for your own.

Phil

Cheers Phil, hoping to pick up a full belly this weekend - thick part to be streaky bacon, middle for a slow roast with apple sauce and the thin end to be used up in sausage meat for my experimenting. Well, that's the plan...

Thanks.

Ste.