Avoiding fat smear in dried sausage

[Drentse Koster]

I believe I have some troubles with fat smear, but I don't know what else I can do to overcome.

My recipe now uses the below ingredients:

750 lean pork, cured with salt+cure, stored for 48 hours in fridge, and afterwards: minced
23 g salt + 2.5g Cure #2
250 back fat (small cubes OR through meat mincer)
Some natural yogurt as starter
2.5 g dextrose + 5 g lactose
Spices

I ferment at 75 fahrenheit for 48 hours at 90% RH, and they dry at about 55 fahrenheit at 85% - 75% RH.

When I cut the back-fat using a sharp knife, this recipe is now working reliably for me. PH after 2 days is 5-5.3, and they dry to 30% weight loss in some 2 weeks, sometimes more. The smell and taste is nice, (but they tend to be a bit dry. ) Maybe these are drying a bit fast?

I also want to try recipes where the fat is more evenly distributed. I have trouble getting there with a knife. I do get the right distribution when I instead use the meat mincer to grind the fat. However, this results in sausages that won't dry fast enough. After some two weeks they still have only lost some 10% weight. I don't really like the smell of these sausages either after two weeks. Sometimes the casing "disconnects" from the filling after a few weeks. All this happens even when the meat mincer and fat are very cold (around 38 fahrenheit).

Can anybody weigh in on this problem? Are there any tricks for making a dried sausage with evenly divided fat, but while avoiding the above problem.

[NCPaul]

What size casings are you using?

[Drentse Koster]

Natural hog casings. I think about 3.5 cm / 1.5 inch diameter.

[NCPaul]

For that size I would expect them to be farther along than 10 % lost after two weeks. Are you grinding the meat and fat mixed together or are you grinding all of the meat then all of the fat? Unlike fresh sausage, you are not trying to mix the two together enough to develop the bind; only mix until the meat mixture is uniform. The casings should be tightly stuffed (without breaking them) and air bubbles should be pricked to release the air.

[Drentse Koster]

Thanks.

I grind the fat and the meat separately. I subsequently mix them. Will try to avoid overmixing in my next batch.