using baking powders in emulsified sausage?

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Armyguy2004

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Original poster
Aug 8, 2019
49
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has anyone ever seen something like that?

i have been making some cha lua recently. it's a kind of emulsified sausage from viet nam, those white meat you see in a banh mi. so it's made like bologna.
i checked out some of the recipes, and they all require about 1 tsp of baking powder per lb meat.
thats where i got confused. i have never seen any emulsified sausage recipes using baking powder. have you guys? does anyone know whats the purpose of doing so?

thank you.
 
I've never heard of putting baking powder in sausage. I do use a phosphate binder in mine regularly with excellent results. Either AmesPhos or Butcher & Packer special binder. A little goes a long way (a pound will last dang near forever). It looks like baking powder but is not the same.
 
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I'm not familiar with Cha Lua so I looked at a few recipes.
I was thinking if it was baking soda it might be used to counteract the acidity of the fish sauce (Which it still might) but all the recipes say baking powder. So I'm thinking it has to do with the acidic ingredients in the powder that make baked goods rise, that give the sausage the air pockets I see in the pic's I've looked at. I've also read descriptions of it being light and airy.
So thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
has anyone ever seen something like that?

i have been making some cha lua recently. it's a kind of emulsified sausage from viet nam, those white meat you see in a banh mi. so it's made like bologna.
i checked out some of the recipes, and they all require about 1 tsp of baking powder per lb meat.
thats where i got confused. i have never seen any emulsified sausage recipes using baking powder. have you guys? does anyone know whats the purpose of doing so?

thank you.
Its a leavening agent. Without it, your cha lua wont have the light springy consistency.
 
Its a leavening agent. Without it, your cha lua wont have the light springy consistency.

i was suspecting the same thing, as i have removed the baking powder once and it did nothing to the taste of the sausage.
now, i am wondering, to other emulsified sausages, like Vienna, or bologna, if i fill them with plastic or collagen casings, would the sausage pop out of the casing during cooking?
 
I am making bologna sausages and different kind of hot dogs time to time. Smoke them to approximately 130F and pouch them using SV method till 153F. Use natural and collagen casing - never had any issue with collagen casing.
 
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I making bologna sausages and different kind of hot dogs time to time. Smoke them to approximately 130F and pouch them using SV method till 153F. Use natural and collagen casing - never had any issue with collagen casing.
i am using collagen casings tomorrow for it, i guess i will find it out then. i steam the emulsified sausage, since i found boiling in water dilutes the flavour, or i have done something wrong then. i am very new to these, just trying everything in every possible way. :D
 
i was suspecting the same thing, as i have removed the baking powder once and it did nothing to the taste of the sausage.
now, i am wondering, to other emulsified sausages, like Vienna, or bologna, if i fill them with plastic or collagen casings, would the sausage pop out of the casing during cooking?
Thats a little outside of my experience. Sausage stuffing is in my near future. Please share your experience. If you are willing to experiment, do a part batch with and without the baking powder.
 
Okay -- RedBull's opa on the Videos Opa Jochen -- made a remark about added ingredients -- question was answered as phosphates, and that a phosphate based baking powder would do the same thing as adding Amesphos. I'll have to find the post and find out if they said how much. But it is not being added for leavening, but for water holding like any other phosphate for sausage. Never crossed my mind until RedBull or his opa answered me.
R
 
I have never seen baking powder used in any meat recipe, but I have seen baking soda used quite often. Cook's Illustrated uses it in many of their recipes for one of two purposes:
  • It makes the meat brown faster.
  • It tenderizes the meat.
I can see where either or both of those would be useful for sausage.

So, are you sure that it is baking powder and not baking soda?
 
Cha Lua, Meatballs, use ALSA Baking Powder. It is a Single Acting Baking Powder. This means it Foams when it gets wet but that is it. It is the Emulsification that captures the gas. American Baking Powder reacts first as it gets wet, then again as it is Heated. The result of using Double Acting Baking Powder...The sausage, aka Vietnamese Ham, will be equally Springy, but the second reaction make Holes in the Ham, instead of having a smooth look with very tiny bubbles...JJ
 
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Cha Lua, Meatballs, use ALSA Baking Powder. It is a Single Acting Baking Powder. This means it Foams when it gets wet but that is it. It is the Emulsification that captures the gas. American Baking Powder reacts first as it gets wet, then again as it is Heated. The result of using Double Acting Baking Powder...The sausage, aka Vietnamese Ham, will be equally Springy, but the second reaction make Holes in the Ham, instead of having a smooth look with very tiny bubbles...JJ
Wow, I knew none of that. Thanks!
 
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Cha Lua, Meatballs, use ALSA Baking Powder. It is a Single Acting Baking Powder. This means it Foams when it gets wet but that is it. It is the Emulsification that captures the gas. American Baking Powder reacts first as it gets wet, then again as it is Heated. The result of using Double Acting Baking Powder...The sausage, aka Vietnamese Ham, will be equally Springy, but the second reaction make Holes in the Ham, instead of having a smooth look with very tiny bubbles...JJ
thats.....where i got it wrong....i normally just use baking powder i buy in store, i guess i have to go back to alsa powder if i want to create the same affect.
you guys know a lot. you guys could solve problems that got me stock on for months.....
 
See the holes in the meat. I don't make this yet, but a couple of my asian friends make it traditional (wrapped in banana leaves).
She say that you have to use the french baking powder.
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