Sodium Bicarbonate

[Dibbs]

Ah nostalgia, it ain't what it used to be!

Canned petit pois, the height of sofistikashon!

Proper Fanny Craddock stuff.

[wheels]

I'd get banned for my Fanny Craddock joke!

But it involves: 'a pant in the country'!

[Dogfish]

I tried the sodium bicarbonate at a .075 dose on some elk sausages I made for supper. It most definitely gave the phosphate bounce to the sausages.

It also ended up being the first game sausage I've ever eaten that was not dry. The meat mix was 70% lean elk venison 30% pork back fat. I used Brican's Moroccan Lamb Sausage recipe and it translated with excellence. I've eaten many (many, many) game sausages in the 30-50% pork mix rate and this was far more moist; it didn't, in my opinion, have anything to do with the fat. I added about a cup of water. The only liquid in the pan was fat that exuded when cooking. There was no albumin foam or water present. I ran the cubed meat semi-frozen meat and fat, coated with seasonings, straight into pork casings. Typically with game or pork in general there would be albumin foam due to the large amount of muscle tissue.

Conclusion being, where bounce is required or for dry game and meat in general, it seems baking soda added roughly as per the above article is both useful and effective.

[DanMcG]

interesting ...One more thing to try.
thanks for the review Dogfish.

[yotmon]

I'd get banned for my Fanny Craddock joke!

But it involves: 'a pant in the country'!

Does it involve 'doughnuts' ?


Dogfish, - did the bi-carb give off any strange flavours, or was it invisible ?

[Dogfish]

Invisible. I tried just tasting the seasoning as well, and couldn't taste it there. Water seems to cut down its flavor a fair bit. I also aimed for the happy middle of .07 to avoid the taste. I'll up the dose to see what happens.

[BriCan]

It also ended up being the first game sausage I've ever eaten that was not dry. The meat mix was 70% lean elk venison 30% pork back fat.

Without trying to step on anyone's toes. The % are about right (IMO) it's just the fat that's wrong (that again IMO but remember to read the fine print below )

I've eaten many (many, many) game sausages in the 30-50% pork mix rate and this was far more moist; it didn't, in my opinion, have anything to do with the fat.

I believe (IMO) it has everything to do with the fat. I am assuming that we are talking 'fresh' sausage here if so in all my years of making game sausage I have never used back fat as we find this the worst to use. Using belly trim is far better as this type of fat that will keep the sausage moist every time. (please read the the fine print at the bottom)

[wheels]

Just to add another use for bicarb:

In theory it will work, however when using things like Tomato or citrus fruits like lemon or lime your meat texture can go out of the window.
To stop this you will need to buffer the acid in these products, use Bicarbonate of soda to do this

Regards
Richard

Phil

[Dogfish]

It also ended up being the first game sausage I've ever eaten that was not dry. The meat mix was 70% lean elk venison 30% pork back fat.

Without trying to step on anyone's toes. The % are about right (IMO) it's just the fat that's wrong (that again IMO but remember to read the fine print below )

Gotcha. However, there was some variance in favour of lean (I think it was 2.2 kg lean to .8 or so pure fat.

I've eaten many (many, many) game sausages in the 30-50% pork mix rate and this was far more moist; it didn't, in my opinion, have anything to do with the fat.

I believe (IMO) it has everything to do with the fat. I am assuming that we are talking 'fresh' sausage here if so in all my years of making game sausage I have never used back fat as we find this the worst to use. Using belly trim is far better as this type of fat that will keep the sausage moist every time. (please read the the fine print at the bottom)

Last night I made some chorizo as per your ingredients using the 30-70 mix with back fat and no soda. The difference between the retention of the two sausages (the one I made the other day vs. yesterdays) was incredible. The chorizo was the same usual crumbly texture of game sausage. In the same effort I also made Big Guy's breakfast links using 1.2% soda in place of phosphate mix, without using powdered milk or soy; 1% salt. It brought the texture of the cooked link up to McDonalds level.

That said, I think I'd have to agree with back fat vs belly trim. I think back fat would probably be good if thoroughly frozen, otherwise it seems to smear a bit easy.

[Dogfish]

This was the recipe, meat/fat ground half frozen:

Moroccan Infidel

(Brican's Moroccan Lamb recipe w/o marjoram, using pork fat and casings)

Elk 70%
Back Fat 30%

Salt 1%
Black Pepper 3 gm
Oregano 3 gm
Cayenne 2 gm
Smoked Paprika 1 gm
Coriander 1.25 gm
Parsley 3 gm
Soda .07%

Meat cubed with fat, spices mixed, ground straight into pork casing.

Hungarian Riff

(Grisell's Csabi/Robert's Chorizo)

70% Elk
30% Back fat

Paprika Sweet 25 gm
Chili flakes 5 gm
Garlic fresh 6 gm
Coriander 1 gm
Cinnamon .5 gm
Carraway 2 gm
Sweet wine 75 ml
#1 3 gm

Ground, mixed, stuffed separately.

[sausagedevil]

Use it for making Biltong, helps to break down the surface to allow marinade to enter meat.

[crustyo44]

This subject has certainly increased my knowledge. Thanks to everybody that contributed.
Cheers,
Jan.

[crustyo44]

Sausagedevil,
Have you got more information in regard to biltong making with Bicarb as an additional ingredient, like quantities etc.
Thanks,
Jan.