Suzie's Tips ... Delicious Food and Keeping it Safe

Tell us About Dry Sausages Dry sausages may or may not be characterized by a bacterial fermentation. When fermented, the intentional encouragement of a lactic acid bacteria growth is useful as a meat preservative as well as producing the typical tangy flavor. The ingredients are mixed with spices and curing materials, stuffed into casings, and put through a carefully controlled, long, continuous air-drying process. Dry sausages require more production time than other types of sausages and results in a concentrated form of meat. Medium-dry sausage is about 70% of its "green" weight when sold. Green weight is the weight of the raw article before addition of added substances or before cooking. Less-dry and fully-dried sausages range from 80% to 60% of original weight at completion. Dry sausages include: chorizo (Spanish, smoked, highly spiced) Frizzes (similar to pepperoni but not smoked) pepperoni (not cooked, air dried) Lola or Lolita and Lyons sausage (mildly seasoned pork with garlic) Genoa Salami (Italian, usually made from pork but may have a small amount of beef; it is moistened with wine or grape juice and seasoned with garlic. Semi-dry sausages are usually heated in the smokehouse to fully cook the product and partially dry it. Semi-dry sausages are semi-soft sausages with good keeping qualities due to their lactic acid fermentation. "Summer Sausage" (another word for cervelat) is the general classification for mildly seasoned, smoked, semi-dry sausages like Mortadella and Lebanon bologna. Cookware for the Home? Take a look at: Necessary Kitchen CookWare See you here tomorrow, Suzie Suzie's Food Blog - Eating Safely Posted: Sunday 8th May 2005, 12:45 AM

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