seasonings ready for use and can be had with, or without,
salt. Those with salt are undoubtedly the best, as when
newly ground spices are mixed with salt the fine aroma is
retained. Many sausage makers do not sufficiently appre-
ciate this fact. The oils of spices are very volatile, and
when exposed to the air or kept for a long time in the
ground state the spices become weaker and weaker, and
a correspondingly larger quantity must be used to give the
same flavour. Salt is very retentive and prevents this
waste and thus, although seasonings were originally intended
for small users whose trade did not warrant them in stocking
the several spices separately, their unchanging quality has
gradually broken down the prejudices of some of the very
largest sausage manufacturers who now hardly use anything
else.
It is a safe plan to buy seasonings only from firms of
repute who grind their own spices, as the essential part
of the manufacture is the blending the various ingredients
as they come fresh from the mill. The usual list of
seasonings on the market with the quantities required per
i lb. of sausage material is as follows :—
Sausage Seasonings Complete—with Salt.
No. 1 for beef sausages (½ oz. to 1lb. meat) plain or coloured.
No. 1 for pork sausages (½ oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 2 for beef sausages (1 oz. to 1 lb. meat) plain or coloured.
No. 3 for Cambridge sausages (1 oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 4 for Yorkshire Poloney Sausage (½ oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 5 for German or Bologna sausages (1 oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 6 for ham, chicken, and tongue sausages (½ oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 7 for black puddings (black pudding spice) (1 oz. To 14 lbs. pudding material).
No. 8 special plain seasoning, without spices (1/2 oz. to 1 lb. meat).
No. 9 for pork pies (½ oz. to 1 lb. Meat).
Liver Sausage Spice.
Sausage Seasonings without Salt.
No. 1 for beef sausages (¼ oz. per lb. of meat) plain or coloured.
No. 1 for pork sausages (¼ oz. per lb. of meat).
No. 2 for beef sausages (½ oz. per lb. of meat) plain or coloured.
No. 3 for Cambridge sausages (½ oz. per lb. of meat).
It cannot be too distinctly understood that it mainly
depends on the seasoning whether goods get a ready sale
or not. The ingredients in seasonings are numerous and
there is undoubtedly an art in properly compounding them.
Sausage Varnish.—see Polselak.
Sausage Seasoning (a plain recipe).—A plain sausage
seasoning suitable for most kinds of cheap goods such as
1d.* polonies, saveloys, black puddings, savoury ducks, etc.
Of course it is only a seasoning of pepper and salt.
Judgment must serve the sausage maker in the addition of
spice, herbs, etc.
Seasoning—
2 lbs. salt.
1 lbs. Pepper.
½ oz. cayenne pepper.
3 oz. of this to every 10 lbs. meat; add 1 oz. preservative
to every 10 lbs. in winter, and 1 oz to 8 lbs. in summer.
* [1d. is monetary, i.e. - inexpensived polony sausages - SI]
Saveloys.—Saveloys are made from various common
meats, and are the vehicle by which returned sausages are
very often worked up. Such ingredients also as lights with
any inferior salted pork are sometimes added, with anything
else that would not sell without being chopped up. Thus it
happens that occasionally some unscrupulous sausage maker
adds unwholesome meat, and is called to account for so
doing. It is quite possible to make a cheap saveloy out of
wholesome food without introducing that which is not so.
16 lbs. beef.
4 lbs. fat.
8 lbs. pressed bread.
4 lbs. sausage meal.
2 ozs. food preservative (dry antiseptic).
16 ½ ozs. seasoning.
1 ozs. saltpetre.
3 ozs. smoke powder.
¼ teaspoonful Armenian Bole (No. 1).
Seasoning Recipe.—
9 lbs. salt.
6 ozs. white pepper.
4 ozs. ground coriander seed.
Cut the meat and fat into small pieces and mix the bread
with it. Put the whole through the meat cutting machine
slowly, adding the sausage meal and some water. Add the
other ingredients and chop the whole very fine. Fill into
wide pig casings, smoke in oven for a few hours, and cook
for forty minutes at a temperature of 200° Fahr. It is not
necessary to smoke them unless to dry them, as the brown
dye that is used for German sausages will give the necessary
colour. Use it exactly in the same way as for Germans.
The addition of some liquid from boiled pork rinds is said
to be a great improvement; to be added when the mixing
is nearly complete in the machine. The colour also may
be heightened by the addition of a little poloney dye to the
water in which they are boiled.
Savory.—see Culinary Herbs.
Savoury Ducks. —These articles, sometimes named
"spice balls," "spice nuts," or "faggots," are made from
the general fragments of a pork establishment. If stale
bread can be obtained cheaply it is mingled with the
fragments and seasoned, thus producing the savoury duck.
Perhaps nothing is of so very great advantage in a pork
business than this commodity, as it allows of the working
up of lungs of pigs, etc., which would otherwise be wasted.
Recipe.—
10 lbs. lungs.
6 lbs. scraps of meat, pork, etc.
5 lbs. stale bread (ground up) or sausage meal.
3 oz. food preservative (dry antiseptic).
½ lb. chopped onions.
12 oz. seasoning.
Seasoning.—
1 lb. black pepper.
½ cayenne pepper.
1 oz. rubbed sage.
1 oz. Thyme.
¾ lb. salt.
Keep this seasoning in tins, tightly covered up and ready for use.
Sheep Casings.—The best sheep casings are produced
in England and Holland, and the best market for both is in
the United States. The Colonies produce a large quantity.
Victoria casings are of medium size and good, New Zealand
strong, and of convenient size, Canadian fairly good. South
America and Russia also produce a large quantity. The
usual method of putting up Russian skins is in rings about
three inches in diameter, and ninety to one hundred feet in
the ring. Russian salt contains a large percentage of lime,
and rather spoils the skins in consequence.
Sheep casings are used for Vienna (Weiner), Frankfort,
Bratwuest, and beef sausages. The length of the intestine
of the sheep is from twenty-eight to forty yards—about one-
half being wide, while the remainder is medium and narrow.
The filling capacity of the narrow casing of a sheep is about
twenty lbs., of meat The best casings come from animals
from three to six years old ; and these should stuff sixty lbs.
to seventy lbs. of meat to one lb. of casings, and tie into
sausages holding about four ounces each.
American sheep casings are mostly twisted into strings for
different purposes. The process of preparing these is similar
to the process through which sausage casings go, viz., they
are thoroughly scraped and cleaned until all the fatty matter
and fibrous tissues are removed. While in the United
Kingdom this operation is done mostly by hand, in America
it is mostly done by machinery. A machine consisting of a
drum, which is turned by a handle or by steam-power, a set
of forks for separating the gut, and an arrangement of blunt
knives, over which the casings are drawn by the revolving
drum, being the usual apparatus. When the gut is to be
spun, it is carefully kept in clean water which has been
charged with antiseptic. Violin strings are the main outlet
for this class of gut, and the operations in manufacturing
these may be briefly summarised as follows :—The gut is
split in two by a sharp blade fixed in the table towards which
the strand is carefully guided by the expert fingers of the
operator. As the strands must be cut unifoimly, only
practised hands can do this part of the work. These
strands are then spun together, and held on frames to dry.
Violin strings have as many as six strands spun into them.
When the spun strings are thoroughly dry, they are taken off
the frames, cut into the required lengths, and packed in oiled
paper ready for marketing.
Skins (to Pickle for Sausages).—Run them out in
a tub of water when reeded, but keep them as long as you
can in lengths. Make brine out of dirty salt (to carry a
pig's foot), and then bring it down fifty per cent. by adding
cold water. Let them remain four days in pickle, and if the
skins rise sooner than that, put cold water in so as to weaken
the brine. Then take them out into cold water, and let
them remain four or five days according to the weather.
They need more water in summer than in winter, but they
must be stirred up with a stick three or four times a day.
Then put them in a tub of water containing two buckets of
cold water and one of hot at 110° Fahr. Follow on till ready for
scraping, then scrape them, and after that put them in a
strong brine for a day. Take them out on a wicker to
drain them, and rub clean dry salt into them, and put up
in bundles of about one lb., but keep them from the air as
much as possible.
Smoke Compound.—A thick liquid which gives both
the colour and the flavour of smoke to hams and other
goods. It may either be put into the copper in which the
goods are boiled (which is the correct style for sausages,
etc.) or painted on hams with a brush. When the latter
method is adopted it should be painted on very lightly, and
as each application dries, a fresh coat should be painted on
for two or three applications. Where convenient, it is
always better to finish off the goods by hanging for a short
time in the smoke oven, although this is not essential.
Smoked Beef.—see Beef (smoked).
Smoked Ham.—(German Recipe).—Cut the two fore
legs from a pig from the neck bone to the first joint of the
leg, back to the fifth rib, so that the whole back fillet comes
in with the leg. Remove the bones, and lay the two hams
for six days in a salt pickle. Then take them out, wash
them, lay the two pieces tightly against each other, and roll
them up. Now wind thin string round about the roll,
leaving each round of string half an inch from the last.
The whole length of the ham should be about 15 inches.
Let them hang outside for several days to dry, and then
smoke them gently from six to eight hours with juniper-
berries until they are of a light-brown colour.
Smoke Flavouring Powder.—A powder used for
imparting a smoky flavour to sausages, etc., such as is
produced by smoking with oak or other hardwood sawdust.
The process of smoking resolves itself into the eliminating
by combustion of the fine particles of tarry matter present
in the wood; it is therefore reasonable to suppose that if by
chemical processes this matter can be collected as a distinct
article, the same flavour can be imparted without the trouble
and loss of smoking. The heat produced during smoking
very often acts injuriously on hams and sausages unless very
carefully regulated ; but even with regulation a certain loss
is sure to take place, which by the use of smoke powder
can be avoided. The conventional colour of the smoking
can easily be given to the skin by the use of dyes such as
"Smoke Dye," etc. Smoke powder should be used at the
rate of 1 oz. to 10 lbs. sausage material.
Smoked Pork Sausage—see Pork Sausage
Smoked Sausage.—
16 lbs. pork.
5 lbs. fat.
7 lbs. bread.
3 lbs. sausage meal.
2 ozs. dry antiseptic.
9 ozs. salt.
3 ozs. Pepper.
½ oz. grated nutmeg.
1 oz. saltpetre.
1 teaspoonful smoke powder.
After cooking, smoke lightly in smoke hole.
Smoked Sausage or Knackwurst.—Take 60 lbs. of
raw lean cut from the fore-quarters of a hog, 14 lbs. of raw
beef, 26 lbs. of raw fat pork. Chop until made very fine,
then add 16 oz. Salt, 5½ oz. ground pepper, 1½ oz. Saltpetre,
2½ oz. caraway seeds (whole); a small amount of finely
chopped garlic may be added if desired. Stuff in beef
rounds or hog casings. Should be hung in an open place
from 4 to 8 days, and when well dried smoke for 6 days.
They may then be preserved in a cool dry place.
Smokeless Hams.—see Hams.
Smoke Oven (German style)...In Germany the smoke
oven is used for many other purposes besides smoking
sausages, and the description of one design much in use
is as follows :—
The best course in dealing with meat or fish, which it is
desired to smoke or cure, is—after drying it well in the air
—to place it in the smoking chamber. When the oven is
thus charged, the hinged door or trap is opened and the
fire-box removed. The bottom of such fire-box is then
littered with wood shavings, and the clear space above these
is filled up with sawdust. The wood shavings serve to keep
the sawdust loose, or prevent it from settling into a concrete
mass, this being the main condition upon which an even
and satisfactory combustion of the whole of the mixed fuel
depends. The heat may be controlled or regulated by
means of the sliding lid or damper, with which the fire-
box is fitted for the purpose. In smoking herring, the
large sliding lid should be removed from the fire-box. The
same applies to hot sausage meat. Besides, in the case of
the last-mentioned commodity, it is advisable to heat the
stove with hardwood. In smoking meat, however, the large
lid should be replaced upon the fire-box, and the smaller
slide or damper alone opened.
When it is desired to inspect the goods in process of being
smoked the flue is closed, and the damper of the main door
opened. The chamber will then rapidly clear of smoke,
and the provisions may be examined without inconvenience ;
whereupon the damper just mentioned is closed again, the
flue damper re-opened, and the stove or oven allowed to
resume its operations as before. At the top of the stove
pipe, which should, of course, be connected with the
chimney by means of an additional length of pipe, there
is arranged a hinged damper or door, which is adjustable
according to the requirements of the draught to be created
through the chimney.
Smoke stoves may be made of many designs. The above
illustration shows one which is extensively adopted. An-
other is made with the stove separate, and this is a very
convenient form.
Smoke Stoves.—In sausage factories it is necessary to
have an iron smoke stove for such goods as smoked saveloys,
Frankfort sausage, Vienna sausage, and others of a similar
character. Small manufacturers can also use such a stove
for all their work, namely, the smoking of hams and bacon,
German sausages, and all other goods.
The great advantage in having an iron stove seems to lie
in the fact arrived at by experience, that a finer "gloss" or
"bloom" is put on to the sausages especially, than would be
the case if they were smoked in a built stove. Whether
this is so or not is quite immaterial, as the advantage of a
small stove to many people is very great. The temperature
to be aimed at is 85° Fahr., and this temperature will be
found the correct one for most things.
The material used for smoking is oak or any other hardware
sawdust, together with some fine chips of the same wood.
It is lit and allowed to smoulder away, the while it gives off
the smoke which contains the pyroligneous acid necessary
for flavouring the goods. The heat ascends upwards, and
effects the drying.
Souse.—Scrape and well clean the pig's feet and ears,
put in cold water, place over the fire and boil. When
tender, put them in a jar, covering with a pickle of cider
vinegar in which whole black pepper, mace, and cloves
have been boiled. Then pour the liquor over the meat in
the jar. Let it stand for two or three days, when it will
then be ready for use. Keep the meat below the brine by
means of a weight.
Spanish Sucking-Pig Sausage.—Take a sucking-
pig, about eight weeks old, and remove all the bones and
rind, and chop up all the meat pretty fine. Add to this an
ox tongue, or several pigs' tongues, which have been skinned
and cut into dice, also three or four well beaten eggs—salt,
pepper, and mace to taste—some grated lemon rind, one or
two tablespoonfuls of capers, some ginger, and a glass of
good Madeira. Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, and,
if the paste is too stiff, add a little water. Cut some large
slices, about one-sixth of an inch thick, from the breast of a
pig, and lay them all over the paste, then sew them together,
making one large sausage. Roll the sausage in a clean
cloth, fasten at both ends, and at the middle. Boil from
one to two hours, according to size, boiling gently. Lay on
a table to cool, letting the string and cloth remain for
twenty-four hours.
Spearmint.—see Culinary Herbs.
Spegepolse or Danish Smoked Sausage —see Bacon Curing in Denmark.
Spiced Beef.—Procure an oak pickling tub and a salino-
meter, with which to test the strength of pickle, also a small
pickle pump.
Prepare a pickle from following recipe :—
55 lbs. salt.
5 lbs. saltpetre.
5 lbs. sugar.
5 lbs. dry antiseptic.
Make the bulk up to 20 gallons with water, boil and skim till
clear. It should test 100° on Douglas's salinometer. When
the pickle is ready, add to it a cotton
bag, in which is placed one lb. bay
leaves, one lb. juniper berries, and
one lb. coriander seeds, or ½ lb. bag
"Amaryl." Occasionally drag this
bag through the pickle so that its
contents get properly extracted.
Lay the beef to be pickled on a
bench or board just over the
pickling tub, and pump it in a
good many places with the pickle.
Drop the beef into the pickle, and
keep it weighted down by means
of a big clean stone. There is a
perforated board supplied with
each tub so as to cover the meat
and keep it all under the pickle.
Leave the meat in the pickle for
from seven to ten days according
to the size of the pieces of meat.
When the meat is cured, either
send it out as it is, or fasten it
up neatly with skewers, previously
dusting some Jamaica pepper all
over the inside parts. If it is
desired to roll the meat, first lay
it out flat, and dust all over with
a mixture of Jamaica pepper and
ordinary black pepper. Then pro-
ceed to roll.
If the rolls, etc., have to be sent out cooked, cook them
till soft in water at 180° F., and allow to cool. Then trim
off any ragged pieces, and dust all over with some fine bread
crumbs. The rolls, etc., are then ready to send out.
Spice Balls.—see Savoury Ducks.
Spiced Corn Beef.—Take 20 lbs. of corn beef, fat and
lean mixed, boil until nearly cooked, then add two ounces
of each of the following named spices :—allspice, coriander,
pepper, and one ounce of cloves (spices must all be whole);
boil for half-an-hour and then take out the meat, leaving the
spices in the pot liquor, as the meat will be sufficiently
flavoured.
Spice Nuts.—see Savoury Ducks.
