How shelf stable will cured summer sausage be and adding jalapeño

[bison123]

Hi All - will be trying my first batch of summer sausage this weekend and have a couple questions. I'll be using lean wild pig with domestic pig fat (figure 80-20) and a homemade spice mix I got from a friend. Will be using Cure #1, Sure Gel, and Encapsulated Citric Acid. I understand that the ECA will lower the pH and help make the sausage more shelf stable... what does that mean? Can it really be non-refrigerated?

Also I want to add dried jalapeño and cheese to the recipe. I know cheese is usually added at 10% of meat weight, how much dried jalapeño should be added per 5 lbs to give it a bit of heat but not overly so?

thx

 

[indaswamp]

I'm not sure that the addition of sure gel is necessary...

 

[JC in GB]

Hi All - will be trying my first batch of summer sausage this weekend and have a couple questions. I'll be using lean wild pig with domestic pig fat (figure 80-20) and a homemade spice mix I got from a friend. Will be using Cure #1, Sure Gel, and Encapsulated Citric Acid. I understand that the ECA will lower the pH and help make the sausage more shelf stable... what does that mean? Can it really be non-refrigerated?

Also I want to add dried jalapeño and cheese to the recipe. I know cheese is usually added at 10% of meat weight, how much dried jalapeño should be added per 5 lbs to give it a bit of heat but not overly so?

thx

Shelf stable means that bacterial activity has been stopped or slowed to the point that cooling or freezing is not necessary to keep the product from spoiling. This can be achieved by a number of methods. Canning, drying, curing, etc.

I would start out using 4 - 5 grams of peppers for 5 pounds of meat. That is about 1/4 oz. Do a fry test and see if that is the heat you want. I like kicking heat up with cayenne in sausages.

JC

 

[daveomak]

Hi All - will be trying my first batch of summer sausage this weekend and have a couple questions. I'll be using lean wild pig with domestic pig fat (figure 80-20) and a homemade spice mix I got from a friend. Will be using Cure #1, Sure Gel, and Encapsulated Citric Acid. I understand that the ECA will lower the pH and help make the sausage more shelf stable... what does that mean? Can it really be non-refrigerated?
thx

Be wary of trich... some wild pigs/bears etc. may carry the parasite... I think fermenting does not kill the parasite..
ECA "helps" but does not insure a low enough pH...
I think the meat will NOT be shelf stable... If I remember correctly, you need three things to achieve a "shelf stable" product..
A low water activity(~<9.0), a low pH(<4.8), and salt(>2.75%)..

 

[SWFLsmkr1]

You need to freeze the hog meat for 3-5 weeks before you grind or freeze the pre ground for the same.

Note that freezing will not kill them, but it will prevent the Trich from attaching to you. Keep in mind that the 20 days start when the core of the meat reaches 5°F, which can actually take several days in most freezers. That’s why I freeze for at least a month with bear or wild boar I plan on making into salami, just to be sure. All of this applies to T. murrelli also.

Salt lowers the water activity of the meat, which means that less water is available to the larvae. The fermentation bacteria produce acid which also lowers the water activity while the acid wrecks the metabolism of the larvae which, like many living things needs to be close to pH 7 (neutral) to work properly. All of that, plus the enzymes, toxic oils from the herbs, etc. plus nitric oxide from the nitrate, beat the hell out of the trich.

These processes going on should prevent you from actually getting trichinosis, which is why people have been safely making salami with wild and domesticated pigs for 2000 years. But you need to be a careful curer of meats and not take shortcuts.

The key figure here is at least 2 percent salt by weight of the total meat and fat. So if you make a 5-pound batch of salami, as I often do, you will need at least 45 grams of salt to be totally safe. I tend to use a bit more, like 50+ grams to get close to 2 1/2 percent by weight.

As Dave mentioned.

Trichinella spiralis. Humans and other animals may be infected by eating raw or undercooked meat of infected domestic pigs, wild bears, wild pigs, or other meat eating animals.

There is not just one trichinella parasite. There are many. Here in North America we have five major species: Trichinae spiralis, which is the most common and hangs out with pigs for the most part; then T. nativa, T-6 and T. murrelli, which are almost always found in wild game — chiefly bears.

You can also kill any trichinae parasite by heat. And the “kill temperature” is cooler than you might think. The origin of the odd USDA mandated internal cooking temperature of 160°F appears to be the government trying to account for inaccuracy and idiocy. (That temperature is more relevant for salmonella than trich.) The actual temperature that kills the trichinella parasite is 137°F, which happens to be medium-rare.

 

[indaswamp]

Great post Rick! You are such a wealth of knowledge on this forum, I for one appreciate your posts!

 

[bison123]

You need to freeze the hog meat for 3-5 weeks before you grind or freeze the pre ground for the same.

Note that freezing will not kill them, but it will prevent the Trich from attaching to you. Keep in mind that the 20 days start when the core of the meat reaches 5°F, which can actually take several days in most freezers. That’s why I freeze for at least a month with bear or wild boar I plan on making into salami, just to be sure. All of this applies to T. murrelli also.

Salt lowers the water activity of the meat, which means that less water is available to the larvae. The fermentation bacteria produce acid which also lowers the water activity while the acid wrecks the metabolism of the larvae which, like many living things needs to be close to pH 7 (neutral) to work properly. All of that, plus the enzymes, toxic oils from the herbs, etc. plus nitric oxide from the nitrate, beat the hell out of the trich.

These processes going on should prevent you from actually getting trichinosis, which is why people have been safely making salami with wild and domesticated pigs for 2000 years. But you need to be a careful curer of meats and not take shortcuts.

The key figure here is at least 2 percent salt by weight of the total meat and fat. So if you make a 5-pound batch of salami, as I often do, you will need at least 45 grams of salt to be totally safe. I tend to use a bit more, like 50+ grams to get close to 2 1/2 percent by weight.

As Dave mentioned.

Trichinella spiralis. Humans and other animals may be infected by eating raw or undercooked meat of infected domestic pigs, wild bears, wild pigs, or other meat eating animals.

There is not just one trichinella parasite. There are many. Here in North America we have five major species: Trichinae spiralis, which is the most common and hangs out with pigs for the most part; then T. nativa, T-6 and T. murrelli, which are almost always found in wild game — chiefly bears.

You can also kill any trichinae parasite by heat. And the “kill temperature” is cooler than you might think. The origin of the odd USDA mandated internal cooking temperature of 160°F appears to be the government trying to account for inaccuracy and idiocy. (That temperature is more relevant for salmonella than trich.) The actual temperature that kills the trichinella parasite is 137°F, which happens to be medium-rare.

Thanks for the great info - I'm a big fan of Hank Shaw too and love his recipes. I plan on freezing the meat for a month, using cure and ECA, then cooking the sausage to an internal of at least 155. All of that should kill off the bacteria... but then what should I expect in terms of "shelf stable-ness"? I have no burning need to keep it at room temp but I'm curious as to what it means and how long it can be stable (refrigerated or not).

thx

 

[zwiller]

WOW. I was gonna respond and give the basic "not a good idea to do that with wild pig" response but we get the ACTUAL reason why and MORE.

 

[SWFLsmkr1]

Thanks for the great info - I'm a big fan of Hank Shaw too and love his recipes. I plan on freezing the meat for a month, using cure and ECA, then cooking the sausage to an internal of at least 155. All of that should kill off the bacteria... but then what should I expect in terms of "shelf stable-ness"? I have no burning need to keep it at room temp but I'm curious as to what it means and how long it can be stable (refrigerated or not).

thx

Me Too

We used to talk allot but he got big and we drifted.

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks for the great info - I'm a big fan of Hank Shaw too and love his recipes. I plan on freezing the meat for a month, using cure and ECA, then cooking the sausage to an internal of at least 155. All of that should kill off the bacteria... but then what should I expect in terms of "shelf stable-ness"? I have no burning need to keep it at room temp but I'm curious as to what it means and how long it can be stable (refrigerated or not).

thx

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/FSRE_SS_7Principles.pdf?redirecthttp=true