Curing Sausage WITHOUT culture

[Nathan089]

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.

[NCPaul]

Fermentation is one of the safety hurdles in making dry cured sausage. It is possible to make a safe product without it. I think that a sausage that has been fermented to a pH of 5.3 does not have a lot of acidity or "tang". Fermentation cultures not only acidify, they also crowd out other bacteria for the avalible resources, improve color and aroma, and some can destroy listeria. Try doing a batch with only 0.3 % dextrose and the conditions recommended and see if this suits your tastes. Welcome to the forum.

[Nathan089]

Thanks for the reply. Would you recommend using a fast ferment culture for this purpose or something like T-SPX. Just not sure because of the relatively short drying process.

[wheels]

...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.

The simple answer to your question is Yes, it can be safe to make dry cured sausage without starter culture, and you are correct in saying that safety is achieved by drying the product - reducing the Water Activity (Aw) to a safe level. Regrettably, determining the safe level is not as simple as drying it to a certain percentage. The water activity is the water that's not 'locked in' and so is available to react with bacteria etc rather than the total water level of the product.

The problem is that the equipment to measure water activity (Aw) is extremely expensive, whereas acidity can be measured quite cheaply. Hence the reason that cultures are used.

I hope this helps.

Phil

[Weoochaun]

Long term safety is due to drying to a state where no bacteria can survive. It would therefore follow that whatever bacteria were present (read: however putrid the meat) that it becomes safe to eat when the bacteria die. I think this is true but don't take my word for it, I'm also looking for some corroboration.
Not necessarily delicious or pleasant prospect!

The other thing is that some bacteria leave toxins behind. Botulism is one, I think there are others but don't know their names; this bacteria is dealt with at the outset by using nitrites/nitrates.

I have been wondering what acidity level to expect to get when fermenting without a starter culture or sugar.

[crustyo44]

Nathan,
My Italian friends have been making Salami for many years without any culture or Cure #2.
They are still alive and well and still doing this due to the fact that all their families prefer old family recipes. I have joined them for several years making my salamis but since I shifted to a tropical area
I consider cures to be a mandatory ingredient.
I make salamis for my grandkids and friends as well and I like to sleep at night without worries.
Mind you, this winter I will be including a culture.
My 2 cents worth.
Jan

[BriCan]

I come across this tread late in the game and as everyone (most ??)have stated -- yes you can safely make salami's without starters cultures but again unless you know what you are doing and follow the rules keeping records and such in might not be worth it

I myself alway make salamis without these and have been for a very long time and these are for sale to my customers

For myself (and my customers) I love the clean taste (some say there are starters with no or very little tang -- still not my cup of tea )