Summer Sausage Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What makes a good summer sausage? ›

I like more beefy flavor and prefer a 2/3 beef to 1/3 pork ratio. The taste of summer sausage is very much dependent on freshness and quality of meat. Beef chuck is a very flavorful cut and is commonly used for making summer sausage. Butt is a very good choice for the pork cut.

Use food thermometers to ensure cooked sausage products have reached proper internal temperature of 160 F.

The Best Meat-to-Fat Ratios to Make Summer Sausages

We recommend a range of 20-25% fat and 75-80% lean for the finished product. If your ratio is too lean, the texture could be dry and crumbling; too fatty, and you can risk bleed out during processing.

Summer sausage is a type of cured meat that was developed in Europe prior to refrigeration technology. Using several types of preservation methods at once allowed people to make a sausage that would keep from spoiling without refrigeration “in the summer months.” Hence the name, summer sausage.

Pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms are generally inhibited in fermented sausages due to a combination of several hurdles: high salt, presence of nitrite curing salt, low a_w, decrease of redox potential due to removal of residual O₂ by Gram negative bacteria in the meat, growth of competitive starter culture and a ...

Bags of High Temperature Cheese should be mixed with 25 lbs. of Sausage/Burger Meat. Add the 2½ Lbs. of High Temperature Cheese per 25 lbs.

You can add ¼–½ cup of nonfat dry milk per pound of meat to help hold leaner sausage together.

There's no magic answer for how many times you should grind meat for sausages. It's really up to personal preference. If you like a coarse, chunky sausage then once should be enough. If you prefer a smoother sausage, then you probably want to grind it twice.

As it ages, moisture is lost, sausage gets harder, and flavor intensifies. Proper storage, safe thawing methods, and prompt usage will eliminate most sources of sausage spoilage. If, in spite of proper handling, sausage looks or smells spoiled, use common sense and discard.

All sausage — except dry sausage — is perishable and therefore must be kept refrigerated.

What is the white stuff on summer sausage? ›

The white coating on salami is a strain of mold called Penicillium nalgiovense. The name may sound like a disease, but don't worry; it serves an important purpose in the production of salami.

The best sausages are made from good cuts of meat with plenty of fat, which will cook quickly and be tender and juicy inside the usually narrow casing, which is why pure meat sausages with no additives are generally more expensive than cheaper varieties which are laced with preservative and other adulterants.

Pork. Butt/Shoulder: Boneless pork butt is very common for making sausages. It contains 20-30% fat so is perfect for sausages as this is the perfect fat to meat ratio (or you can add another 5% fat for extra tenderness and juiciness). If buying from the butcher, request 'boneless shoulder/butt'.

Rewrap sausage tightly to keep air out. If sausage is moist, wipe dry before repackaging. Some people like to let Summer Sausage age unwrapped in the refrigerator. As it ages, moisture is lost, sausage gets harder, and flavor intensifies.

Smooth, semi-soft cheeses like Havarti, butterkäse, or Muenster are perfect, with a neutral background that lets the sausage's seasonings shine. A sharp Cheddar (any Cheddar, really) or Swiss is also a fantastic match, with nutty notes that perfectly complement the smoke and acidity of the sausage.