Fermented Snack Sticks

[wheels]

You've really got this style of sausage nailed - it's a great starter project for people.

Phil

[NCPaul]

Beef, Black Bean & Garlic Snack stick

Ground beef 93 % 450 g
Pork back fat 50 g

Black bean garlic sauce 50 g
Salt 4 g
Black pepper 2 g
Red pepper flakes 1 g
Cure #1 1.25 g
Dextrose 2 g
SafePro F-LC 0.4 g


The Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce is labeled as 1060 mg sodium / 18 g. The math of this works out to 15 % NaCl in the product. This has a strong flavor and is not for everybody (I love it). This is the first snack stick I've made with beef, I used ground beef from the store with some added back fat. It also gave me an opportunity to use my LEM jerky gun which I found easy to use. It left only 40 g behind of 565 g total.


pH (neat) = 4.6 (24 hrs) I think the black bean sauce contributed to this pH.

Weight initial 515 g
(168 hrs.) 296 g (42.5 %)
(240 hrs.). 266 g (48.3 %)

[NCPaul]

Five Spice Powder

2 t Sichuan peppercorns

5-6 Star anise

1/2 t ground cloves

1 T ground cinnamon

1 T ground fennel

Grind peppercorns, anise and fennel, then blend all.

[DanMcG]

Thanks for sharing all the great recipes Paul, I really need to try some of them sometime.

[NCPaul]

Give it a try Dan, all you need is the oven for a couple of days then some fridge space for two weeks.

[DanMcG]

Paul do you have any recommendations on ph testing? Can I get by with strips? I have a meter for liquids but it needs to be calibrated every time I use it.

[NCPaul]

I like this one:

https://hannainst.com/fc2022-halo-foodc ... ology.html

It still needs calibration however. I tried papers and couldn't make them work.

https://www.sausagemaker.com/pHydrion-p ... 1-1522.htm

They might be worth a try considering the price however.

[DanMcG]

Thanks Paul, I can't justify that meter, as much as I wish I could.
I'm also doing some pepper fermentation this year so I guess I'll buy a big box of test solutions and see if i can make mine work. I'll also need to figure how to test a meat mince with it, but I know it can be done.

[NCPaul]

I use a glass bulb probe and just wrap the meat around it and wiggle it until it settles down. Sometimes I have to wash the probe with alcohol and retest to get good readings. Making a slurry with the meat will throw off the results. I will get some of the papers above and test them myself. If nothing else, you might try the Lap Chong recipe a couple of pages back which has the pH in a good place from the acid in the soy sauce.

[NCPaul]

Five Spice Powder Snack Sticks

Pork shoulder 1000 g

Salt 23 g
Cure #1 2.4 g
Dextrose 4 g
Five Spice 4 g
SafePro F-LC 0.5 g
Honey 10 g

The pork shoulder was about 90/10 It was coarsely ground and mixed with the rest.

pH (neat) = 4.8 (41 hrs.)

Initial weight 880 g
Weight (190 hrs.) 509 g (42.2 %)
(258 hrs.) 434 g (50.7 %)


Spice level is perfect, not sure if the honey is detectable. With just pork shoulder the texture is best at this degree of moisture loss. The taste is haunting; these won't last long (normal situation).

[wheels]

NCPaul

Is the pimenton dulce in your chorizo recipe smoked (de la vera)?

Phil

[NCPaul]

Yes, but don't let not having it keep you from making something similar. Give it go.

[wheels]

It's not that - I have both the smoked de la vera and the unsmoked Murcia pimenton. Both have EU PDO status. The de la vera is readily available in the UK and is even sold in some of the major supermarkets. The Murcia is rarer; I buy it from an online supplier.

Phil

[NCPaul]

Pepperoni and Pecorino

After tasting this, I am tempted to call it the reverse since the cheese taste comes first followed by the pepperoni. Parmesan would possibly be a better choice or making it just straight pepperoni wouldn't be a bad idea either. Next time I think I might use more pork. It can of course be sliced thin and tossed on a pizza.

Beef chuck. 400 g
Pecorino Romano cheese 100 g
Pork shoulder (lean) 500 g

Salt 19 g
Cure # 1 2.5 g
Dextrose 2 g
Sugar 3 g
Aniseed 2.5 g
Hot smoked paprika 5 g
Mild smoked paprika 5 g
Cayenne 2 g
Black pepper 3 g
Red pepper flake 2 g
F-LC 0.33 g

Ground beef through very course plate (8 mm), and pork through course plate. Mixed with finely diced cheese and seasonings and stuffed into 22 mm sheep casings.


pH = 5.2 at 44 hrs.

2/25 1020 g
3/4. 594 g 144 hrs., 6 days (41.8 %)
3/6. 538 g 192 hrs., 8 days (47.3 %)

[NCPaul]

Peri-Peri Snackstick

Peri-peri sauce is well known in other parts of the world but it relatively new here in the States. What has shown up in stores is a bottled sauce from the chicken resturant chain Nando. I like it on eggs for breakfast and thought I should try it in a snackstick. This sauce has a noticeable hit of vinegar and it might be possible to skip the fermentation step. Keep in mind however that the acetic acid will be lost during drying. By doing the fermentation step lactic acid remains and keeps the flavor profile closer to the original sauce.


Meat (80/20) 650 g
Peri-peri sauce (medium) 65 g
Salt 14.95 g
Dextrose 1.95 g
Cure #1 1.56 g
SafePro F-LC 0.45 g

1/26 (3 PM) 690 g

pH = 4.85 (42 hrs.)

2/2 (96 hrs. drying) 383 g (44.5 %)
2/4 (144 hrs. drying) 364 g (47.2 %)

The taste of these was excellent, the tang from the acid and citrus followed by a perfect amount of heat.