The Frugal Gourmet

Finally got round to making some Saucisson a couple of weeks ago and I have now got it together to do a post about it having been prevented by pressure of work and good old fashioned inertia.

Saucissons are air dried sausages, more commonly referred to in the UK as Salami. The process of making Saucisson is very similar to sausage making. Essentially you use good quality pork which is processed and stuffed into hog casings. An excellent how to is available here on the Guardian website.

Making your own Saucissons have two big advantages, one is price, the total cost per kilo is approximately 6 – 8 euros per kilo allowing compared to a quality shop bought product which is 12 – 15 euros per Kilo and an artisan saucisson considerable more. The second advantage is the fact that you have complete control over the quality of the meat being used, the flavouring and finishing of the product. The two advantages combined are frugal and gourmet, win-win

I didn’t follow the Guardian recipe exactly, I decided to make a double quantity based on about 2.5 Kilos of meat and fat but having two different flavours. It didn’t take me long to workout that life is too short to chop 2.5 kilos of meat into incy wincy pieces, the internal vision of some noble peasant earnestly chopping up their pork in to some beardy Guardian style Salami failed to resolve. Everything was going to go through the rough cut on the mincer.

Secondly I went to see my butcher…….”2 Kilo’s epaule du pork et 400gms du gras s’il tu plait” “quo” (why), so I explained making Saucisson …. recette … Guardian….

“Bonne idea” but you don’t want those cuts, this is what you need…….

So armed with the new cuts of meat, no fat, these cuts are “correct and have enough fat which has the right texture and flavour” and I was off.

Making and stuffing the Saucisson was straightforward the important thing is to get the quantity of salt correct at least 25gms to every Kilo.

So I have got on the go approximately 1.2 Kilos of Fennel and Black Pepper and 1.2 Kilos of Orange and Coriander.

Saucisson hanging in the porch

They are currently hanging to dry in my porch, it is important that they are exposed to the elements as drying action is caused by the wind rather than temperature.  Drying will take about 3 to 4 weeks, they are ready when they have lost a third of their starting weight.

They are doing well, they have firmed up and are in the process of acquire a white bloom. Heres a picture showing progress at I think is week 3, as you can see white mould is developing nicely and they are noticeably skinner.

Mould developing on my Saucissons

The plan is to give about half of them away as Christmas presents to a select group of friends that could be described as Guinea Pigs and keep the rest for ourselves. I think a second batch will be needed to see us over the summer, I’ll get that organised in January or February.

Julie my partner has been busy making some Bresola in preparation for Christmas, I wanted to do it myself but just didn’t have time. I’ll try and persuade her to do a post, watch this space.

Other breaking news is that my butcher is selling forest reared pigs for 4 euro’s a kilo, I think a frugal approach is to buy half a pig and we are currently freeing up space in our freezer. One obvious thing to make is air dried ham, if I start it off around Christmas it should be ready for Easter, hmmm can’t wait.