Hi everyone, today I am going to show you how to make sausages.
I guess there is a range of preferences for the flavoring of a homemade sausage.
This recipe comes from my mom, and it's my favorite.
The seasoning is quite simple. You don‘t need spicing ingredients or anything like that for extra flavor, the only condiments are salt, sugar and cooking wine.
These will make an original sausage.
You can definitely add in other ingredients to your liking.
First off, prepare the casings. They are always packaged in salty water marinade.
Wash them until clean, and then soak in water.
You can do this a day before. Soak the casings in the fridge overnight before you use them.
That helps to remove any salt clinging to them, as well as the smells.
Now, the meat. I am using a mix of ham/leg and pork belly meat.
Wash them and then cut into 3-4 cm wide and 3-4mm thick slices.
I already trimmed off the skin.
Normally, only leg meat is enough. Since I bought a leaner cut, so I add in pork belly for a better meat-to-fat ratio.
The fat content should be about 20-30% by weight.
Cut the leg and pork belly into slices, and put them together.
Now, the seasoning.
Add in salt first, and then sugar and strong distilled wine(baijiu).
Combine them together.
The salt, sugar and wine content together is about 3% by weight.
I have 2.5kg of meat, so 75g of each condiment.
Just remember the 3% ratio here.
Rub and toss with both of your hands to mix everything and help the flavor blend in.
And then cover with a piece of cling film, let them sit in the fridge for half a day.
Give them some time to marinade.
Now let me show you the tools I am going to use later.
You will need a funnel, a small rolling pin, and some threads.
And you will also need a needle.
You can use very professional equipment here, and you can always find what you need on taobao.
If you don’t have access to that, cut off the top part of a bottle, and it works just as well.
Now slip the casing onto the bottleneck. Tightly tie off the end with a piece of thread.
Stuff the meat in the funnel.
Use the rolling pin to press down the meat.
You can also tie chopsticks together to do the job. But my own experiences told me a small rolling pin is the best.
Here is how it works. Use the rolling pin to press the meat along the funnel and all the way down to the bottleneck.
Do not press too hard. Once you see the meat squeezing out and piling up at the bottleneck, you need to push them backward to release the pressure here.
Since all the meat is going to come out in this way, so if you don‘t regulate the meat, the casing won't be able to stand the pressure and it will break.
So do push the meat backward if needed.
Follow this stuff and push motion.
Again, do not push too hard or you will break the casing.
Once the sausage is long enough, tie the link with a piece of thread.
Remember to get rid of any air in it.
As for the length, 15cm for one link is recommended.
And then, regulate and push the meat in each link.
Push them as firm as possible, since the meat will shrink after they are dried.
Same goes for the other links, and tie off each link with a piece of thread.
Keep doing so to the last link.
Once done, slip off the sausages from your stuffer, the funnel.
Tie off each link, and cut off the excess casing.
Find yourself the needle, and inspect the sausages.
Look for air bubbles in the links that come with the meat when you are stuffing the sausage. And then prick them with the needle.
Doing so is because the casing will shrink and tighten up during the drying process.
If there is any air bubble inside, the casing may break, and it may also prevent the meat from drying completely.
That will make the sausage go bad.
So, do sterilize them and make sure you prick every air bubbles.
Once done, dry them in a cool place with air flowing.
It takes about 15-30 days, depending upon the weather and your personal preference.
Do not leave them directly under the sun.
Leave them to dry in a ventilated place. And this place should not be too warm either. Do not let them dry in a room with heating.
When I was making this video, my sausages have been drying for 10 days, so they are not done yet.
But the flavor is there.
Once they are done, cut off one link, steam and then slice it. And it's ready to serve.
That's all for today's homemade sausage tutorial.
It's quite simple.
As for the flavorings, as I mentioned earlier, you can add in any spices you like, such as chili, szechuan pepper, five spices powder, and so on and so forth.
My version is my personal favorite, an original sausage, with nothing but a rich pork flavor.
The ratio is accurate, so it's not so salty, and it has a touch of wine, and sweetness from the meat.
I hope you enjoy this Chinese sausage, and thanks for watching.