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Basic smoked sausage
The all-purpose smoked sausage most home sausage makers start with: pork at 70/30, black pepper, garlic, paprika and a little mustard. Easy to get right, and a good base for your own twists.
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30%fat
1.8%total salt
18 gspices per kg
86″ links per kg
Ingredients
Pork shoulder (Boston butt) with pork back fat works well. Beef chuck or a pork and beef mix also work.
| Ingredient | Per 1 kg meat | Per 5 lb meat | % of meat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat block (lean + fat), 30% fat | 1 kg | 5 lb (2.27 kg) | 100% |
| Salt (plain) | 15.8 g | 35.7 g (1.3 oz) | 1.57% |
| Cure #1 (Prague Powder #1, 6.25% sodium nitrite) | 2.4 g | 5.4 g | 0.24% |
| · Black pepper | 6 g | 13.6 g | 6 g/kg |
| · Garlic granules | 5 g | 11.3 g | 5 g/kg |
| · Paprika | 4 g | 9.1 g | 4 g/kg |
| · Mustard powder | 3 g | 6.8 g | 3 g/kg |
| Milk powder | 30 g | 68 g (2.4 oz) | 3% |
| Ice-cold water | 80 g | 181 g (6.4 oz) | 8% |
Makes about 8 links (6″ / 15 cm, in 32–35 mm hog casing) per kg of meat.
Curing salt by country (per 1 kg of meat): USA 2.4 g of Cure #1 (150 ppm, under the USDA limit of 156 ppm). Ireland/EU 1.8 g of Cure #1 or 19.2 g of European curing salt (115 ppm, under the EU limit of 80 mg/kg nitrite). UK 1.8 g of Cure #1 in Basic mode. Linkulator picks the right one for where you are. How much curing salt?
Method
- Chill the meat, fat and grinder parts until very cold, close to freezing (0–2 °C / 32–35 °F).
- Grind the lean and fat through a medium (6 mm) plate.
- Weigh the salt, curing salt, spices and milk powder on a scale. Weigh the curing salt on a gram scale, never by spoon.
- Add them to the meat with the ice-cold water and mix for 2–5 minutes, until the mix is tacky and sticks to your hand.
- Stuff into 32–35 mm hog casings, pushing out air pockets, and twist into 6″ (15 cm) links.
- Rest the links uncovered in the fridge overnight (at least 12 hours). The curing salt needs this time, and the casings dry for a better colour.
- Smoke low, around 70–80 °C (160–180 °F), raising the heat gradually. Cook until the centre of the thickest link reaches your cooking temperature: at least 71 °C (160 °F, the USDA minimum for ground meat); 75 °C is the usual target in Ireland. Check with a probe thermometer.
- Cool the links in iced water to stop the cooking and keep the casings snappy, then refrigerate. Reheat to serve.
- Keep the meat and fat close to freezing the whole time. Warm fat smears and makes a greasy, crumbly sausage.
- Mix until the meat turns tacky and sticks to your hand. That protein bind is what gives a smoked sausage its snap.
Safety: curing salt is toxic in large amounts. Weigh it on a gram scale and keep it away from children. The cure amounts here follow each country's rules as Linkulator applies them; check your own sheet before you weigh. More on safety.
Work it out for your batch
Load this recipe into the calculator →
Opens Linkulator with this recipe ready. Enter your own meat weight and it works out every amount.