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Cervelat Sausage

4 servings

Ingredients

• 4 kg Lean meat, minced pork
• 1 kg Fat, preferably soft fat
• 200 g Salt, finely grated
• 20 g White pepper, coarsely crushed
• 20 g Saltpeter
• 0.5 large cup Rum

Instructions

1. For 4 kilograms of lean meat (minced pork), take 1 kilogram of fat, preferably soft fat, furthermore 200 grams of finely grated salt, 20 grams of coarsely crushed white pepper, 20 grams of saltpeter, and ½ large cup of rum.
2. Remove skin and tendons from the meat and fat and chop them very finely, preferably with a meat grinder; no solid meat parts should be found in the pressed mass, therefore chop meat and fat separately.
3. Mix fat and meat with the specified spices and let them stand for a few hours before stuffing.
4. Instead of rum, well water can be used, but then double the amount; blood makes the sausage dry and hard.
5. Before stuffing, mix everything well again and fill into well-cleaned, thick, smooth fat casings.
6. If these are not sufficient, the kidney fat membrane can be used, carefully separated, cut into not too small pieces, and tightly sewn.
7. Stuffing the casings must be done very gently: tie the casing well, pull it completely onto the sausage stuffer, carefully fill in the meat and gradually press more firmly so that the casing does not burst, but the sausages become as firm as possible; pierce air-filled spots with a needle.
8. The firmer and thicker the sausage is stuffed, the better it will keep.
9. If you lack practice, it is advisable to let the sausages rest overnight after tying, then smooth them again and press them more firmly, tie new bands around them and cut off the first ones.
10. For thick, heavy sausages, it is better to insert a wooden skewer and tie the band crosswise around it.
11. Then hang the sausages in a weakly juniper-smoked area connected to air for 10 to 14 days and then store them in an airy, frost-free place.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.