Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

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Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby Thewitt » Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:53 am

I've encountered a strange problem after making several tons of sausage....literally.

We make fresh sausage with a dozen or so different recipes. Volumes are high for a boutique shop, with both wholesale and retail accounts.

A couple of weeks ago I started getting complaints that several of the sausages are too salty. We use a standard ratio of 18g per 1kg of meat/fat mix, and have not changed the salt supplier or type.

At first I thought maybe someone had mixed incorrectly. We mix our spice mixes in advance and so combining these in the mixer is a simple process of 20kg of meat to one spice mix. I went back and weighed the spice mix bags that have already been prepared and they are all correct.

So... I made up a small batch of fresh Chorizo using the same recipe that's we've been using for over a year. It's too salty....

Now I'm really confused....

We made one change in the process in the last month. We used to age the fresh sausage for 3 days in bulk in the refrigerator before stuffing. We changed to stuff immediately and age in the casings before freezing. Same amount of aging time, but just inside the casing rather than in bulk.

The Chorizo I made rested for an hour before stuffing and I cooked it immediately.

I'm going to reduce the salt to 15g in another test batch this afternoon, because I'm not sure what else to do... There is no Cure in these sausages.

It's possible that the batches were frozen before the 3 day aging period was over, as some employees may not have been fully briefed on the change as the old process was to stuff and then immediately freeze than vacuum pack.

Any ideas?
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby vagreys » Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:43 am

I think you should do your small batch test using the 18g salt level and the old process and compare letting the bulk sausage mass rest vs casing immediately. I think you'll find a significant difference.
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby Thewitt » Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:57 am

Thanks Tom. We are actually doing that test as well. I've also decided to stick with the 18g salt and simply switch back to the bulk resting method rather than reducing the salt for tomorrow...

Very confusing though.
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby johngaltsmotor » Mon Aug 18, 2014 5:36 pm

Out of curiosity I might be inclined to weigh the batch before the 3 day rest and after. It could be that due to the salt content it actually absorbs ambient moisture during the rest, but the casing limits the ability to do so. I wouldn't think it would make enough difference to taste, but...
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby Thewitt » Mon Aug 18, 2014 11:24 pm

That's an interesting idea...
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby BriCan » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:45 am

for what it is worth, ............... I am using 14g per kg.

If I go 16g per kg ............ :cry: :cry: too salty

My bratwurst are 10g per kg
But what do I know
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby Thewitt » Tue Aug 19, 2014 3:48 am

Thanks Bri

That's good to know.
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby vagreys » Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:30 pm

I use 9-12 g, depending on the recipe. My best sellers are 11-12 g.
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby wheels » Tue Aug 19, 2014 7:38 pm

12 - 15gm per kg here.

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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby Thewitt » Wed Aug 20, 2014 1:42 am

So these are fresh sausages, no cure right?

I make Longganisas which though fresh also use Cure #1. For these I've reduced the salt to 15gm per kg a long time ago, but I don't worry about it because of the cure.

I just got feedback from the customer who was complaining about the Chorizo and she loves them at 14g. She just placed a very large order based on the samples I sent her... got that customer back at least. These went from mix to casing, then 24 hours of resting, then the freezer. They taste great and the texture is fine as well.
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby JerBear » Sun Sep 21, 2014 6:49 pm

I'm waaaay out of the ballpark here. Depending on type of meat (cxn vs. pork) I'm in the 15-17.5 range....above that I've had complaints of saltiness. My process is that I grind, stuff and poach typically w/in an hour....
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Re: Suddenly fresh sausage too salty!

Postby welsh wizard » Tue Oct 21, 2014 7:40 pm

All the sausages I make and sell and the pork pie mixes I make are 10g salt and 2g pepper per Kg (3g pepper in the pork pies)

I believe I have read somewhere (possibly here) that 10g salt per Kg of meat acts as a good preserver. I do not use any other preserver in the sausage or pies and have had them tested by the EHO to 6 days with no problems.

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