Fermented Snack Sticks

[wheels]

That's some quality cocoa powder there.

[NCPaul]

Lap Chong


Pork shoulder and jowl fat (~ 75/25). 1000 g

Ground course

Salt 10 g
Cure # 1 2.5 g
Brown sugar 20 g
Soy sauce 90 g
Sherry 25 g
Dextrose 3 g
Cinnamon 2 g
Black pepper 2 g
Monosodium glutamate 2 g
F-LC culture 0.4 g

pH initial = 5.25
pH 30 hrs. = 5.2

Weight

Initial 656 g 287 g
168 hrs. 414 g (37%). 188 g (34.5 %)
252 hrs. 373 g (43.1%) 168 g ((41.5 %)

These are used in small bits in Chinese cooking but I like them as is. The fermentation was done only for a day as the soy sauce used had already dropped the pH. The cinnamon makes these delightful.

[ped]

does MSG need to be used NCPaul ?

[NCPaul]

I'm sure you can omit it. Part of the beauty of making this yourself. Next time I may try using some Sichuan peppercorns.

[Snags]

does MSG need to be used NCPaul ?

dont be scared of msg its pretty natural and gets a bad wrap theres heaps in parmesan cheese and mothers milk and yet no one complains about it

[ped]

I agree, my wife claims some sort of reaction to it so I was just curious as to how essential it is, presumably it adds a little umami?

[NCPaul]

Coffee Rub Snacksticks

I'm not sure how barbecue rubs containing coffee got started; they seem to be used on beef more often than not. Meathead Goldwyn gives one for "Cowboy Java Rub" that has equal parts coffee and brown sugar with black pepper and a pinch of cinnamon. The one I used is typical, I'm not even sure where I found it. Tasting the rub, the coffee is in the background and the smoked paprika and New Mexico chili are front and center. The rub overall has a well balanced taste. I used it with a 50/50 mix of pork shoulder and beef chuck roast. To make a snack stick out of it, I increased the salt level, added cure #1, and gave it a starter culture with dextrose.

Pork shoulder w/ fat 500 g
Beef chuck roast 500 g

Coffee fine ground espresso. 1 T. 5.3 g
Cumin 1/2 t. 1.4 g
Smoked paprika 1 T. 8.8 g
Garlic powder 1/2 t. 2.5 g
Brown sugar 1 1/2 t 7.6 g
New Mexico chili 1 1/2 t 5.0 g
Coriander 1/4 t. 0.6 g
Salt 1 T 15.8 g
Black pepper 1/2 t 1.4 g

Cure #1 2.4 g
Salt 6.2 g
Dextrose 3 g
SafePro F-LC 0.75 g

Cold smoked 9 hrs.

pH (24 hrs.) = 5.1

Lamb casing 694 g initial. 422 g (39.2 %) 168 hrs. 374 g (46.1 %) 244 hrs.
Synthetic. 285 g initial. 186 g (34.7 %) 168 hrs. 161 g (43.5 %) 244 hrs.

Coffee used and rub blend



Finished stick



Taste result - so so. Good in a fermented salty meat way, but the bold tastes in the rub have gone into the background. Coffee taste has vanished. My co-worker said I have graded these harshly when compared to what is commonly sold. I'll have to revisit these at a later date. Again I'm glad to have been working with small amounts and a short time.

[RodinBangkok]

I've never used coffee in sausage, but have baked with it and have found that using instant versus grounds will give you a better punch in flavor. I also punch the spice quantities up quite a bit when dealing with chili, I use a very very hot dried Thai chili powder and Ancho for that deep mild chili flavor. I cook a paste of ancho/hot thai and use it a lot as the quantities of the dry ancho in a formulation can give it a mild saw dust type texture in the background.
I've found that the Thai's use pastes a lot instead of dry blends and took off in that direction after being here a few years, they seem to blend in a lot better in the final dish your cooking.

I always soak or steep my spices/pastes in just enough water or other liquids the formulation calls for to hydrate.

Was brought up doing that, as it allow for a more even mix and seems to help absorption....but who knows.
Just my 2 cents.

[NCPaul]

Thanks Rod, I'll try that in the next batch.

[NCPaul]

Chipotle with Cherries

Pork shoulder w/ back fat 75/25 1 Kg
Cherries 100 g
(Prepared by soaking 75 g of dried cherries in 75 g of brandy)

Ground through course plate then mixed with

Drained brandy 50 g
Salt 23 g
Cure #1 2.5 g
Black pepper 3 g
Dextrose 3 g
Brown sugar 3 g
Ground chipotle chili 5 g
Garlic powder 2.5 g
Red pepper flakes 2.5 g

Added last:
SafePro F-LC 0.75 g

Cold smoked 8 hrs.

pH (40 hrs. at 72F) = 4.85

0 hrs. 1328 g
168 hrs. 893 g (32.8 %)
240 hrs. 819 g (38.3 %)
276 hrs. 786 g (40.8 %)



Using both chipotle and red pepper flakes breaks up the heat, initial heat and smoke from the chipotle then heat after chewing from the red pepper flakes. These could be made much hotter but I like them about here.

[NCPaul]

Worchestershire and Cheddar

This is one of my best ones yet. The cheese goes perfectly with the cured meat. The Worchestershire sauce is present but doesn't overwhelm the overall taste (something I was concerned about). It adds a faint sweetness to balance the other flavors. Sliced thin on the bias, this makes a delightful snack. This is a great one to start off with as a small test batch.

Pork belly and loin. 1 Kg

Ground through course plate then mixed with

Salt 23 g
Cure #1 2.4 g
Black pepper 5 g
Dextrose 3 g
Ground chipotle chili 2 g
Lea & Perrins Worchestershire. 45 g
Cheddar fine dice 50 g


Added last:
SafePro F-LC 0.65 g


pH (24 hrs. at 72F) = 5.6
(48 hrs.). = 5.3

0 hrs. 974 g
168 hrs. 637 g (34.6 %)
255 hrs. 542 g (44.4 %)

Cheese:



Sticks:



Close up, bits of cheese can be seen:

[DanMcG]

Wow Paul, you got some interesting stick recipes. Great work, they all look and sound delicious.
On a side note, I visit nearly every day, but I haven't seen any new post to this thread in over a year. and my opening screen is "View New Posts". How could this be?

[NCPaul]

I'm not sure Dan, I'll check with Dave.

[DanMcG]

I'm not sure Dan, I'll check with Dave.

Don't worry about it Paul, It's probably just old age setting in.

[badjak]

Just wondering (I for one, am glad it came back on top of the posts)....
You can do this with all recipes as long as you use sheep casing, bactoferm and cure #1?

Can all types if bactoferm be used?

I finally found batteries for my pH meter (a simple gardening pH meter). Can I just stick it into one of the sausages (the same one each time) to measure, or should I take some meat, mix with water and then measure? Or not to measure at all and go by weight loss?
I do have some pH paper as well.
I also have a meter that measures soil humidity. Might be interesting to see if that measures humidity in sausages?

I also got a package for making cacciatore (from this website). Could I use that the same way, even though it contains cure #2. I am a bit scared to use it as described as I cannot control the temperatures/humidity very well and it would be my first time making dried sausahes (except for Kabanosy).

Sorry for the amount of questions. Fresh sausage and smoked sausage is not really a problem but this I have never done