Saucisson Sec (or dried sausage by any other name)

[grahamcprice]

I've searched the forum for a saucisson sec recipe, and have tried my usual known sources (pacbell, etc), without success.

Can anyone help, please?

What I am after is a recipe which produces something like the french saucisson sec.

Cheers
Graham

[Oddley]

Welcome to the forum grahamcprice.

Saucisson Sec is a difficult one because it just means dried salami. But here is a recipe from:

Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery
By: Jane Grigson

Saucisson de Lyon

There is not a great deal of difference between the large sausages of Lyons, Arles, Lorraine and Burgundy. Some-times beef is added to the pork, or a glass of liqueur; some-times the fat is cut in strips, sometimes minced; but the method is the same, and after a maturing period the various types are all eaten raw, in thin slices, with bread, as an hors d'oeuvre or snack.

2 lb. leg of pork, weighed without bone or fat
� lb. hard back fat (green bacon fat would do)
� teaspoon each of white peppercorns, ground white pepper, quatre-epices or spices
1 rounded tablespoon salt
3 teaspoons granulated sugar
Pinch saltpetre (MY NOTE: For 2 lb leg of pork use 0.43 gm Saltpetre)

In this saucisson the fat is cut into nice little strips, and amalgamated with the finely minced and pounded lean pork, well seasoned and mixed. If you have an electric beater, it takes the hard work out of stirring the lean meat and spices, etc., together.
See that the fat is well distributed, but take care it isn't reduced to a hash like the lean pork.
Stuff the filling well down into the large beef intestine, tying it into 18 inch lengths. Leave in a cool, airy place, hanging from a hook, for four to six months. The temperature should be a steady 60�F. or a little under � no damp, or direct sunlight � for the first three to six days.
After three or four days, take the sausages down and tie them up firmly, so that they keep straight as they mature. Before you start, push the filling of each sausage tightly together from its two ends. Put four lines of string the length of the sausage, then wind the string round and round. Don't cut it into lots of separate bands of string, because you need to pull it up tighter during the long maturing time.
Now put the saucissons away in a dry, well-aired larder, hanging from a hook so that they have a good circulation of air all round them, and forget they are there � apart, of course, from an occasional re-stringing. If you are too impatient and try to eat the sausages too soon, they will taste horrible; so leave them for six months.

If you make it please let us know what it was like, as I would be very interested.

[grahamcprice]

Many thanks Oddley.

I must get hold of Jane Grigson's book. I have it on request from the local library but maybe I should buy my own copy!

The recipe confirms what I thought, ie that saucisson sec is somewhat like salami but without the sour taste (provided by lactobacillus starter).

From what I know of "curing" (re: worms and clostridium), there seems little in the way of curing agents in the recipe. Can anyone comment on this please?

regards
Graham

[Oddley]

If you follow basic hygiene rules. Saltpetre at 500 ppm and salt should take care of the bacteria until the meat is dry.

As for worms if you are not sure freeze your pork for a couple of days before using. Although I have not seen worms as a problem in British pork. If anybody knows different please let us know.

[Shaun]

WORMS "god thats a blast from the past" as far as i'm aware british pork is now safe enough to eat pink "if that floats your boat" I can remember in the seventies, my mum warning me not eat raw sausage meat as it will give you worms. Also not to play with egg shells as they give you warts. and of course dont pull a face because if the wind changes you will stay like that.
I may be a sceptict but it has never hurt me. Saying that at present i'm here with a funny face with warts all over it, scratching my arse on the carpet.

[Epicurohn]

I've read in Rytek Kutas' and Barbara Kafka's books regarding the USDA's opinion on thrichenae control; that if pork is cooked above 128�F internal temp it's considered dead. Therefore is you cooked your pork to 140�F for good measure your meat should be safe and still retain some pink. When I cook for company my pork roasts usually go white until internal temp of 160�F.

I'm a rookie at curing but wouldn't Cure#2 be more appropiate for saucisson sec?

David

[Oddley]

Epicurohn yes a combination cure is better.

But for more advanced users not cure #2 as commercial producers like to use a combination of sodium nitrite at 120 ppm and potassium nitrate at 250 ppm.

In a product such as salami I would suggest the potassium Nitrate starts converting almost immediately into nitrite in small quantities increasing. After all this was the way salami was made for centuries.

Seeing as the original recipe was written for saltpetre I thought it best to keep it that way, so as not to confuse people.