Question about pork sausage?

[Stan41]

When I was a boy (long ago), my Grandpa used to butcher his own hogs at home. He cured hams, bacon, and made pork sausage (breakfast sausage). He stuffed the sausage in cloth bags that Grandmother sewed on her sewing machine. He had a large smokehouse and he hung these sacks on the rafters and I suppose they hung there until they used them up. The sausage were delicious, I thought, with a tangy, aged flavor. Of course I didn't ask him anything about the process, but wish I had. Has anyone here ever aged pork sausage like that? Grandpa didn't have any refrigeration except nature and didn't even have electricity. I suppose he used some type of cure, either saltpeter, cure No. 1 or 2, or Morton's tenderquick, but I have no idea which one or how much.

I have a yen to make some sausage like his was, but don't want to poison myself. If anyone can enlighten me on the process I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Stan41

[Smoked]

When I was a boy (long ago), my Grandpa used to butcher his own hogs at home. He cured hams, bacon, and made pork sausage (breakfast sausage). He stuffed the sausage in cloth bags that Grandmother sewed on her sewing machine. He had a large smokehouse and he hung these sacks on the rafters and I suppose they hung there until they used them up. The sausage were delicious, I thought, with a tangy, aged flavor. Of course I didn't ask him anything about the process, but wish I had. Has anyone here ever aged pork sausage like that? Grandpa didn't have any refrigeration except nature and didn't even have electricity. I suppose he used some type of cure, either saltpeter, cure No. 1 or 2, or Morton's tenderquick, but I have no idea which one or how much.

I have a yen to make some sausage like his was, but don't want to poison myself. If anyone can enlighten me on the process I would appreciate it.
Thanks,
Stan41

You would want to use Cure #2 (also known as Prague Powder #2 or Instacure #2) This is a mixture of Sodium Nitrite (NaNO2) and Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) with Salt. Generally 6.25% Nitrite and 4% Nitrate but in the case of the site shop's cure 5.67% Nitrite and 3.62% Nitrate. The rest is again Salt. Cure #2 is used in products with longer curing times.

Also it is very important to keep the temps and humidity levels within a close range to the type sausage you are drying... If you want to read more about this type of sausage making you should spend some time reading this... http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/page0001.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank

[DATsBBQ]

Sounds like if he was using muslin casings that he was making dry or semi-dried sausage such as hard Salami & Pepperoni.

Good advice in the above post. I've not made any of these type sausages because I lack the facilities to govern temp / humidity for the weeks/months that are required.

I'll add that it was suggested to me that when making dry or semi-dry sausages that have pork in them to only use "certified" pork. You can make you own by freezing hunks of meat at -10° F for ten days (meat less than 6" thick) / 20 days (meat more than 6" thick.)

[Stan41]

Thanks for your replies. Hopefully someone will reply who has actually made sausage like this.

Grandpa didn't make pastrami or salami. He probably didn't even know what they were. He just made ordinary pork sausage like Jimmy Dean or Owens except that his had a tangy, aged flavor. I guess he knew how to do it since he lived 84 years (1887-1970) and Grandmother lived to be 87. By the way, they fried almost everything they ate and fried it in lard they had rendered out. Cholestrol was unknown back then.

The sausage sacks were made of muslin, usually empty flour sacks that had been washed.

I may try making some sausage like this before long. If I suddenly quit posting to the forum, y'all will know what happened!

Stan41