Bologna is not baloney.

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe: Bologna Sausages.

Take lean beef and pork, as much of one as of the other, a pound of each. Remove the skin, chop very fine with one pound of rich fresh lard, and to assemble take five ounces of whole pepper, one ounce or so of fine salt, mix all well together, then stuff into cleaned beef bungs quite tight, and press and tie them at good half-foot lengths, each by itself. Put them in salt for a space of two days, then put them to dry in the chimney. (Livre Fort Excellent, 1542)

1 pound beef
1 pound pork shoulder butt
1 pound pork back fat
1 ounce salt
1 ounce pepper, slightly cracked
1/2 teaspoon curing salt #2 (sodium nitrite)
casings: beef middles
coarse sea salt
1/4 teaspoon Mold-600 Bactoferm Sausage Mould
1/2 cup distilled water

Chop or grind the meats and the back fat together. Mix in the 1 ounce salt, pepper, and curing salt and continue to mix until the meat becomes tacky. Wash the casings thoroughly and knot the bottom of each casing used. Stuff and tie off at six-inch lengths, piercing with a needle or pin as necessary to fill evenly. Knot to finish.

Pour some of the coarse sea salt into a container just large enough to hold the sausages. Nestle the sausages in the salt and pour more salt on and around the meat. Refrigerate for two days. Rinse off the salt, pat dry, and cold smoke with moderate wood smoke for two to four hours.

Half an hour before removing the sausages from the smoke, whisk together the Bactoferm Mould culture and the distilled water. Let sit for 30 minutes to activate. Coat the sausages with the mixture and then hang them in a cool spot around 50-53° F and 75-80% humidity to dry. Depending on the texture desired, they should hang for 2-4 weeks until the sausages have lost approximately 13% of their weight; or 6-8 weeks and 30% loss. The first results in a moist summer sausage texture and the second is a harder, saltier salami.

I reduced the pepper as the original amount overpowered any other flavors. I added in the curing salt #2 for safety reasons; it helps prevent botulism bacteria from forming during the curing process and does not noticeably change the flavors.

I used a cold smoker and separated out the smoking and drying process, as I do not have a wood-fired chimney in which I can hang sausages. The drying instructions come from modern sausage and salami recipes that similarly call for smoking and then drying. The Bactoferm sausage mould is a commercial culture of harmless edible mold used in modern processes to help prevent more toxic molds from forming; it also adds flavor and aids in the drying process.
Sources
Livre Fort Excellent, Lyons 1542. Transcribed and translated by Ariane Helou, 2009.
Marianski, Stanley, and Adam Marianski. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. Seminole, FL: Bookmagic, 2010. ISBN 978-0982426739.

What worked: They sausaged up beautifully. They worked much better than my last attempt at this recipe, but they should - I know a lot more now. The smaller amount of pepper was about right. I ended up taking these out before they lost the 30% I was looking for, but I needed the oubliette for other projects. The Bactoferm dip was a thing of beauty as they developed a thick coat of powdery non-toxic white salami mold quite quickly.

What didn't: Still on the salty side, especially now that they're denser. They will probably need some pickled garlic or cornichons (or wine...) to help balance the flavor. Also I used 1/2 tsp of the Bactoferm powder, which is apparently too much for this size batch - the sausages were covered in mold like wool. The stuff's expensive so I'm cutting it back to 1/4 tsp.

Will I make it again? I'm planning to start another batch next week that I will take out after 13% weight loss so that we can compare and contrast them side-by-side at Beltane. The recipe is silent on how far they should go.

The bresaola (air-cured beef) is developing nicely; it should be ready next week or so. I had to take down the Lombard sausages, scrub with a salt rinse, and re-hang them. With all the rain we've had not only have they not dried at all, but they developed a few mold spots over the powdery sausage mold.

Comments

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Your upstairs neighbor said I should add you as a friend :) She also mentioned your google doc, but when I tried to email you there I got a bounce.

I recently transcribed and translated a series of sausage recipes from Rontzier's 1598 cookbook here on LJ:

http://jillwheezul.livejournal.com/tag/sausage

I don't know much about sausage making - but did note that there is a recipe for Bolognese sausage that might interest you.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Hello and welcome. I look forward to looking at your translations!
Please send your e-mail address to me (jfletcher [at] pobox.com) and I'll give you edit rights to the charcuterie doc. I also have an LJ tag (http://madbaker.livejournal.com/tag/charcuterie) for charcuterie.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

You should have access now. Let me know if you have any questions about entering the recipes.