Smoked Thuringer Sausage Recipe

Smoked Thuringer Sausage Recipe

Charcuterie, “The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing”; by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn.

Serve this delicious sausage with cheese and crackers, or by itself.

Enjoy

Ingredients

4 Lbs (1.75 kg) boneless pork shoulder, cubed

½ Cup (80 g) Fermento

1 Lb (450 g) pork back fat, diced

1½ Oz (40 g) kosher salt (3 Tbsp)

1 Tsp (6 g) pink salt (InstaCure #1; Prague Powder #1; DQ Powder; TCM)

2 Tbsp (20 g) dextrose

2 Tsp (8 g) black peppercorns, soaked for at least 1 hour in warm water

½ Tsp (2 g) dry ground mustard

2 Tsp (8 g) ground coriander

10 Feet (3 meters) 32-35mm hog casings; or 5 clear fibrous casings 1.5 x 12 inches

Preparation

Grind the pork shoulder through a large die into a bowl set in ice. Do not grind diced fat during this step.

Dissolve Fermento in just enough water, 1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 125 ml) to make a thin paste. Add to meat, along with other ingredients, including fat, and mix thoroughly by hand.

Pack the mixture in a pan or plastic container, and press out any air pockets. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down so that it touches the meat and no air gets to it.

Refrigerate for 3 days. The mixture should have a nice red color to it after 3 days.

Regrind the mixture through the small die. Saute a small piece, taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Stuff the sausage into casings. I used inedible fibrous casings.

Hang on smoke sticks and let dry for 10 hours at room temperature (65 to 70 °F/18 to 21 °C). I have a digital temperature switch on my OBS so I hung them in the smoker to dry with the top vent completely open; with the temperature switch set at 65 °F.

After drying, cold smoke the sausages at the lowest possible temperature, ideally below 100 °F/37 °C for 5 hours. I used hickory bisquettes for the entire smoke. The color change after the cold smoke is amazing.

Raise the temperature of the smoker to 180 °F/82 °C and bring the sausages to an internal temperature of 150°F/65°C.

Transfer to an ice bath to chill completely, then refrigerate.

Optional: If using fibrous casings, I like to dip the sausages in boiling water to shrink the casings and then transfer them to an ice bath.

Hickory
Wood

Hickory Wood Bisquettes

The strong and sweet flavor of Hickory Bisquettes make it one of the more popular woods for smoking, and especially pairs well with poultry, beef, pork, game, water fowl, nuts, and cheese.

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