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When buying smoked sausage in a store, it is difficult to be sure of the quality and freshness of the ingredients and compliance with the manufacturing technology. Accordingly, it is impossible to guarantee its safety for health. All these disadvantages disappear if smoked sausage is prepared at home. The recipes are relatively simple, the main thing is to choose fresh raw materials and accurately observe the proportions of ingredients, follow the technology.
How to make smoked sausage at home
There are many recipes for making homemade smoked sausage; you can choose the one most suitable for yourself. Quality ingredients are quite affordable if you know what to look for when choosing. The necessary equipment is easy to buy or make yourself.
Cooking principles
Smoking sausage at home is possible both hot and cold.The principle in both cases is the same - the shells stuffed with minced meat are hung or laid out in a smoking cabinet (it can be purchased or homemade) and left to “soak” in smoke for a certain time. Its source can be a fire, barbecue or a special smoke generator. The characteristic smell of smoked sausage is given by wood chips, which are poured onto the bottom of the box.
The difference between the two methods is the temperature of the smoke. For hot smoked sausage it is 70-120 °C, cold smoked sausage it varies between 18-27 °C. In the second case, to cool the smoke, you need a long chimney.
Accordingly, cold smoking is much slower. The finished product is much denser and drier, and the natural taste of the raw materials is better preserved. Hot smoked sausage is a cross between boiled and baked meat; it is juicier and more flavorful.
Cold smoking requires strict adherence to technology, so it is better to purchase a smoke generator and a smoking cabinet
Selection and preparation of ingredients
You can prepare delicious smoked sausage at home only from fresh and high-quality raw materials. Otherwise, even adherence to technology will not save the finished product.
Only fresh (chilled) meat is suitable for homemade smoked sausage. It is not prepared from frozen (especially repeatedly) raw materials and offal. Beef is best taken from the back of the carcass (if it is not shanks). The most suitable pork is shoulder and brisket.
The animal should not be too young.Otherwise, the smoked sausage will turn out “watery” and the taste will not be particularly rich. But, if there is no alternative, meat from such carcasses is first “aired” in the open air for about a day. Another way to prepare it is to chop it finely, cover it with salt, and keep it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Fresh meat has a uniform red-pink color, and its smell does not even have faint notes of mustiness.
The best fat is cut from the neck or back. Before cooking, it is kept for at least two days at a constant temperature of 8-10 °C.
It is better to cook smoked sausage at home in the intestines, rather than in a silicone, collagen casing. They are sold in stores ready to use. If you just bought pork intestines, they are thoroughly cleaned from the inside, soaked in a strong (200 g per 1 liter) salt solution for 8-10 hours, changing it 3-4 times during this time.
The most suitable casings for cold smoked sausages are made from beef intestines: they are stronger and thicker, suitable for long-term storage
The meat is pre-divided by grade. It is also necessary to get rid of thick layers of fat, membranes of film, veins, cartilage, and tendons. Cut out those parts that become jelly when exposed to heat.
How and how much to smoke homemade sausage
The smoking time for homemade sausage depends on the cooking method, as well as on the thickness and size of the loaves and rings. The cold smoking process, taking into account the need for pre-salting or marinating, lasts about a week. Sausages should be kept directly in the smokehouse for 3-5 days.
The average time for hot smoking sausage is 1.5-2 hours. The largest loaves take 2-3 hours, small sausages – 40-50 minutes.
When hanging them in a smoking cabinet or laying them out on racks, you need to make sure that the rings and loaves do not come into contact with each other. Otherwise they will smoke unevenly. You cannot eat the finished product immediately after processing with cold smoke. First, the loaves are aired for 24 hours in the open air or in a room with good ventilation.
Sausage in the smokehouse should not be hung or laid out too tightly
Homemade hot smoked pork sausage
One of the simplest recipes, suitable for those who cannot boast of much experience in home smoking. Required ingredients:
- pork – 1 kg;
- lard – 180-200 g;
- garlic – 5-6 cloves;
- salt - to taste (1.5-2 tbsp.);
- freshly ground black pepper and paprika - 1/2 tsp each;
- any dry herbs to taste (oregano, thyme, basil, sage, marjoram, dill, parsley) - only 2-3 tbsp. l.
Step-by-step recipe for making pork sausage at home:
- Rinse meat and lard in running water. Dry on towels or paper napkins.
- Cut half the meat into thin strips, and pass the other half through a meat grinder. Chop the lard into small (2-3 mm) cubes. Or you can grind everything in a meat grinder if you have an attachment with large holes.
- Place the meat and lard in a deep bowl, add chopped garlic and other spices. Mix well. Place in the refrigerator for an hour.
- Soak the shell in water for about a quarter of an hour.
- Using a special attachment for a meat grinder, tightly fill it with minced meat. Gradually tying with threads, form loaves of the desired length.
- Hang the sausage to hang in the open air, balcony, or any room with good ventilation. In the first two cases, protection from flies and other insects will be required.
- Smoke hot smoked sausage in a smokehouse at a temperature of 80-85 °C for 1.5-2 hours.
Important! Readiness can be checked by piercing the shell with a pointed wooden stick or knitting needle. If the puncture site remains dry and no almost clear liquid comes out, it is time to remove the product from the smokehouse.
Homemade spicy smoked sausage recipe
For preparation you will need:
- pork belly – 600 g;
- lean pork – 2 kg;
- lean beef – 600 g:
- nitrate salt – 40 g;
- ground hot pepper (chili will also work, but pink is better) - 1-2 tbsp. l.;
- ground ginger, nutmeg, dry marjoram - 1 tsp each.
Recipe for making spicy smoked sausage at home:
- Pass the washed and dried meat through a meat grinder with a large-hole attachment.
- Add all the spices to the minced meat, mix thoroughly for ten minutes, put in the refrigerator for three hours.
- First fill the casing soaked in water with minced meat for 5-7 minutes, forming sausages. Pierce each one several times with a needle.
- Cook the sausages in hot (80-85 °C) water, without letting it boil, for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool. Dry for about an hour.
- Smoke for 30-40 minutes at a temperature of about 90 °C. Then remove the smoking cabinet from the heat and wait another 15-20 minutes.
Important! Forming small sausages makes the perfect picnic dish. Their readiness is determined by the appearance of a beautiful golden brown crust and pronounced aroma.
DIY smoked sausage like “Krakow”
To prepare Krakow smoked sausage with your own hands at home, you will need:
- pork tenderloin (with lard, but not too fatty) – 1.6 kg;
- pork belly – 1.2 kg;
- lean beef – 1.2 kg;
- nitrite salt – 75 g;
- glucose – 6 g;
- dry garlic – 1 tbsp. l.;
- ground black and red pepper - 1/2 tsp each.
It’s easy to make this sausage yourself:
- Trim the fat from the pork and set aside temporarily. Cut all the meat, except the brisket, into pieces and pass through a meat grinder with a large grid.
- Pour nitrite salt into the minced meat and knead vigorously for 10-15 minutes. Keep in the refrigerator for a day.
- Place the brisket and cut lard in the freezer for about half an hour, cut into medium (5-6 cm) cubes.
- Pour all the spices into the minced meat removed from the refrigerator and stir. Pass through the meat grinder again, but with a fine grid. Add lard and brisket, distributing them evenly in the minced meat.
- Form sausages and leave to settle for five hours at 10°C. Then raise it to 18-20 °C and wait another eight hours.
- Smoke for 3-4 hours, gradually lowering the temperature from 90 °C to 50-60 °C.
Important! Krakow sausage can also be cold smoked; in this case, the processing time increases to 4-5 days. Then they spend another day for airing.
Hot smoked pork sausage with mustard seeds
Another very simple recipe. Ingredients:
- pork – 1 kg;
- lard – 200 g;
- garlic – 3-4 cloves;
- salt – 2 tbsp. l.;
- ground black pepper - to taste (about 1 tsp);
- mustard seeds – 2 tbsp. l.
Prepare smoked sausage like this:
- Pass the meat and lard through a meat grinder with a large wire rack. Add spices and chopped garlic into a pulp, knead the minced meat. Let cool for 1-1.5 hours.
- Using a special attachment for a meat grinder, form sausages. The shell must first be soaked for 7-10 minutes.
- Allow the minced meat to settle by hanging the sausages in a well-ventilated area for 1.5-2 hours.
- Hot smoke at a temperature of 85-90 °C.The sausage will be ready in a maximum of two hours.
Important! The readiness of the product is determined by its characteristic darkish color and pronounced smoky aroma.
How to cook smoked-baked sausage in the oven
Required ingredients:
- pork tenderloin – 2 kg;
- beef tenderloin – 1 kg;
- lard – 100 g;
- olive oil – 2 tbsp. l.;
- dry marjoram - 1 tbsp. l.;
- ground black and red pepper – 1 tsp each;
- cumin, chopped bay leaf, fennel seeds, paprika - 1/2 tsp each.
Prepare the brine separately. For 1 liter of water you need:
- nitrate salt – 10 g;
- table salt – 35 g;
- sugar – 7-8 g.
Procedure:
- Prepare the brine. Add sugar and salt to the water and heat until all ingredients are completely dissolved. The liquid is then cooled to room temperature.
- Cut the meat into pieces, rub thoroughly with pepper. Place it in a large bowl along with the lard and cover with brine. Place in the refrigerator for 1.5-2 days.
- Pass the meat and lard through a meat grinder 2-3 times. Add oil and spices, mix well. Keep in the refrigerator for another two days.
- Stuff the shell with minced meat. Hang the sausages to settle for 2-3 days.
- Cold smoke for 3-4 days.
- Transfer the sausage to a greased baking sheet and bake for an hour in an oven preheated to 180°C.
Important! It is recommended to cool the finished sausage completely and keep it in the refrigerator for 3-5 days before eating.
Useful tips
Knowing certain nuances always helps when cooking. There are some tricks to smoking sausage at home:
- A universal option for smoking is alder, beech, and oak wood chips. Chips from fruit trees (apple, pear, plum, cherry) will give the finished product a more pronounced aroma.Any conifers are strictly not suitable - smoked sausage is saturated with resins and tastes unpleasantly bitter.
- If you add 1-2 sprigs of fresh mint or juniper to the wood chips, the smoked sausage will acquire a very original aroma.
- To enhance the flavor, just a little (literally a pinch per 1 kg) of powdered cloves, star anise, and coriander seeds is mixed into the minced meat.
- To make hot smoked sausage more juicy, fatty and rich meat broth is added to the minced meat. About 100 ml per 1 kg is enough, the exact volume is determined experimentally.
When smoking, the decisive factor is not the intensity, but the consistency of the flame. It is recommended to start processing with weak smoke, gradually increasing its density. You must constantly ensure that its temperature does not exceed the values specified in the recipe.
Conclusion
Smoked sausage at home is not as difficult as it might seem to a beginner in cooking. All ingredients and equipment are available, step-by-step recipe descriptions allow you to follow the technology exactly. The finished product is tasty and safe for health. It is served both as an independent appetizer and as a meat dish with a side dish.
