Polish / Italian Sausage Question

Anyone ever seen "lower sodium" versions of sausages at any butcher shops or meat markets? If so - do you recall where?

you may have a hard time finding low sodium sausage and if you do it might not be as tasty as regular,salt is an important ingredient in proper sausage making.

I'm not sure what the definition of "proper" is. If the amount of salt used in polish snausage is "proper" because it's needed to deter critters from growing, then I see your point. If the amount of salt used is for making it "tasty" as you put it, then I'd have to wholeheartedly disagree. Most, well, actually all of the Polish sausage I've had is far too salty for me to eat. It's really something that I'd probably adore if it wasn't so salty. Pork, beef, garlic, fat - what's not to love? No, I don't claim to have some kind of discerning palate, either. I love all kinds of junk. Sausage, however, for the most part, just runs way too salty for me. Italian sausages, I've found, have a range of saltiness, and usually the ones that are deemed "really good" by most of the folks I know, are usually the ones that aren't so salty. Wish I had some names, but since I rarely - actually never buy it, I don't have any names of delis. Polish sausage, however, is really always just kinda two noted - salt and garlic. If there was one that wasn't so heavily salty, I'd love to give it a try. I still have yet to get to somma them joints up near milwaukee and belmont to try their sausages, but just wondered if there were any lower sodium options avail.

Addressing question of "proper" place of salt in sausage, check eytmology:

sausage: c.1450, sawsyge, from O.N.Fr. saussiche (fr. saucisse), from V.L. *salsica "sausage," from salsicus "seasoned with salt," from L. salsus "salted" (see sauce).

salt IS an important ingredient in sausage but most sausage makers use olde school recipes that are heavy in the salt dept. because in olde times the salt was needed for preserving the meat. I've been experimenting w/ sausage for 30yrs and I used other peoples recipes but I found most of them put so much salt in them that it would actually hurt the palate , obscuring the other flavors within the sausage. I found that by using 2/3 of the recommended salt usually worked , depending on the recipe. You have to be careful not to use too little salt as it will cause the sausage to be bland. I think if you went to Bari foods and asked Frank or Ralph to make you a 10# batch of low sodium , I'm sure they'll help you out.

opentune - thnks so much. Exactly what I was trying to get at. Salt is fine. Salt is good. I'm not looking for NO salt snausage, just LESS salt snausage. Most of the snausage I've had is WAAAAY too salty. It usually has no other flavors besides salt and garlic. I'd rather have a snausage with a flavor profile of spice, garlic, salt, and meat than salt, salt, salt, garlic, spice, meat.

LOL "...spam, spam, eggs, and spam..."

seebee,

I think there are a couple of issues here. First, I don't remember seeing low-sodium versions of commercial sausages around, but I haven't really looked for them. I'm guessing they probably do exist. As was suggested above, a good place that makes sausage in-house will probably be happy to accomodate you with a custom batch, if the order size is adequate.

Secondly, the different between Polish and Italian is also an important distinction because in general terms, Polish are cured and Italian are fresh/raw. As such, the Polish relies far more heavily on (curing) salt as its identifying, distinguishing ingredient. I think it would be much easier to find lower salt Italian sausage because salt is mainly used as a seasoning in them. With Polish, while there are -- of course -- fresh varieties, the ones we commonly refer to as 'Polishes' in Chicago contain curing salt which, if omitted, would completely change the nature of the sausage.

I've been making sausage for about 5 years and it's really not a difficult thing to do. And I love being able to control not just the salt but all the ingredients that go into them. I try to use as little salt as I can without changing the profile of the product and generally speaking, the results have been very good. Even in cured sausages (that I end up cooking, like andouille, for example), I try to used as little curing salt as possible. With dry-cured, reducing the amount of curing salt can actually be dangerous, so I avoid doing so. But in many cases, going lower sodium is certainly do-able and the results actually help showcase the meat better. Ruhlman generally calls for 40g of kosher salt in a 5-pound batch of fresh sausage. I typically use about 30g -- which lines up with what some of my chef-friends do -- and find the results to be more to my liking.

As an aside, I think that more so than salt, fat is the most critical component in most encased sausages because without it, the sausages generally come out dry and crumbly. It is the fat in sausage -- and the proper emulsification of it during the process -- that give the final product the tight, moist and slightly spongy definition that makes it so satisfying to eat. But if you prefer less salt, reducing the amount of it in fresh sausage should not be a problem whatsoever.

=R=

ronnie_s -
Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense now because like I said, I have come across Italians that seemed to be less salty than others, but Polishes are usually always salty as all get out. I'm gonna hit up an Italian mkt, and ask them if they'll hook me up with a batch. As far as Polishes go, I guess I might just be outta luck.

Thanks again.

in the case of fresh italian sauasage: if the sausage needn't remain in its "encased" form (i.e., removed from its casing, crumbled or formed into a patty), perhaps you could try "diluting" the sausage meat with some plain fresh ground pork?

Yep. Depending on what quantity you would be willing to buy, there are quite a few butcher shops where they make their own sausage, who will make you "custom" batches of sausage. My extended family used to do an annual sausage fest centering around a traditional sausage that is generally totally unknown in the US. (In my opinion, for good reason ). We found a couple of different places to make custom batches of it. Give some butcher shops in your area a call. My first thought is to try Paulina Market, but you may have some local favorites.

I don't think any butcher shop could call a cured sausage "low sodium", but I would think that there would be a fair amount of demand for "less salty" versions of traditional sausages.

In the case of a fresh pork sausage, like Italian, don't be afraid to make your own small batch and skip encasing it. (I fear that Doug Sohn will reach through the Interwebs series of tubes and strangle me for saying that! Or worse - throw me out the next time I stand in line for an hour at his place!) Just mix it up, fry it up and enjoy!

TomD.arch wrote:My extended family used to do an annual sausage fest centering around a traditional sausage that is generally totally unknown in the US. (In my opinion, for good reason ).

Love to know the where, whens and whyfores of your family sausage.

When I started making sausage I used to have my butcher grind pork butt "coarse" w/ 20%+ fat and then I'd divide 10 pounds into 4 and use my recipes with 4 different amounts of salt and then test the four in a fry pan. It gave me a real time evaluation that I used to decide salt amounts in different types of sausage. Remember sausage is just a vehicle for your sense of flavor & layering of those flavors by marinating,infusing and contrasting alla sweet&hot make the possibilities endless. Too much salt distorts those layers and too little salt will leave a bland product.