Hi to everyone, new to the forum and to sausage making.
My main goal is to make Saveloys, I love them and haven't had the pleasure of one for 5 long years, and I can't go on any longer. I'm not that desperate actually, well, perhaps a little bit desperate.
Right about my sausageing self; I have the following tools:
Manual meat grinder
Manual stuffer
Electronic smoker
I have the following ingredients:
More herbs and spices than you can shake a sausage at.
Readily available meats such as pork fat/belly/multiple beef cuts etc. (obviously)
Collagen saveloy skins from waschenfeild (if I got the spelling correct, someone here will probably know?)
Hog Casings (can't remember the brand/size)
Liquid smoke (hickory I believe)
Wood chips (can't remember the wood types, apple is one)
All in all, I'd say I'm ready to go.
My questions are:
1. What is a good Saveloy recipe? I've seen a few posted here that look lovely.
2. How best to calculate the amount of meat? I wouldn't like to go out and buy 10lb worth of meat, are small batches fairly easy to make? And how best to measure the percentages for the herbs/spices?
3(a). Curing, I really want to avoid the use of sodium nitrite in my food, no pickling salt.
3(b). Why is Sodium nitrite generally used for pork? I haven't even seen nitrite free ham, gammon or bacon (only those with celery i.e. natural sodium nitrite.)
3(c). Do I have to use it? And, what might happen if I don't?
4. Rusk isn't readily available here, is the economy rusk recipe on here good enough? I've also heard jacob's crackers are an excellent alternative, any reports on that?
Think that is about it, thanks for taking the time to read my thread, looking forward to posting here!