A Hunter’s Sausage. Landjäger is an amazing piece of charcuterie. It’s delicious, extremely portable, and keeps very well. In this recipe we will be cold smoking for about 8 hours using Bella’s Cold Smoke Generator by Smokin-it. This cold smoker can generate up to 10 hours of true cold smoke which will be perfect for our project here.
Landjäger is a fermented sausage. This means that we will be using some advances sausage making techniques to make this German sausage. For one we will be adding some beneficial bacteria to ferment our meat mix. These bacteria will lower the Ph, develop the flavor, color, and aroma. Each starter culture is different but the one we will be using today (Flavor of Italy) drops the ph very fast and develops incredible flavor.
When fermenting any sausage you’ll want to end up with a pH below 5.3. This is one of the safety hurdles that you must achieve when making salami. If the pH drops below 4.8 then it’s still safe to eat it’s just going to have a slight tangy flavor (think pepperoni or summer sausage). Ph drop is controlled by adding dextrose. Dextrose is a sugar that feeds the bacteria. The more dextrose you add the more lactic acid they produce. By limiting their food, you can control how low the pH drops. It does take a little practice to dial it in but once you get it you’ll get fairly close each time. The absolute best way to monitor and check the ph is with a pH meter. The Apera Instruments PH60S-Z Smart Spear pH Tester has got to me my absolute favorite. It a worthy investment for this craft as it not only provides accurate and reliable readings but priceless peace of mind,
After we ferment this sausage we will be hanging it to dry. This is where the it all comes together. I have a modified refrigerator where I can control the humidity and temperature. At 55F and 80% humidity this sausage will hang till it’s lost about 40% of it’s weight. If you are planning on using a 32-35mm natural hog casing then I suggest drying it for about 4-5 weeks.
Enjoy the recipe and if you have any questions let me know.
Here are a few items I found helpful in this project
- Natural Hog Casings (32-38mm)
- Flavor of Italy Starter Culture
- Apera pH Meter with Bluetooth
- Dextrose
- Cure #2
- Sausage Stuffers
- Meat Grinder
- Spice Grinder
- PH Meter for Meat/Cheese
- InkBird Controllers Temp & Humidity
- Dehumidifier Eva Dry 2200
- TaoTronics Humidifier
- Cold Smoke Generator
- Kitchen Chef Torch
- Sausage Pricker
If you want to see the different things that we use in operation our be sure to check out our new Amazon Store.
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Landjäger
Ingredients
- 817 g lean beef
- 545 g lean pork
- 454 g pork back fat
- 46 g kosher salt
- 4.5 g Insta cure #2
- 2 g caraway powder
- 2 g coriander powder
- .5 g mace
- 1.5 g black pepper
- 3.6 g dextrose
- Flavor of Italy starter culture 1/2 tsp dissolved in 1/4 cup of distilled water for every 5 pounds
Instructions
- Grind chilled pork, beef, and back fat through the 6mm plate. Let chill again before mixing. You want the temp of the meat to be around 35F or 1C (or below).
- Prepare all the seasonings and prepare the starter culture and set to the side. You starter culture needs about 30 minutes to “wake-up” before use.
- Mix the meat, seasonings, and re-hydrated culture together. You mince meat will be very sticky when finished
- Stuff your mince loosely into a 30-35mm natural hog casing making sure there are no air pockets. Tie the end with some butchers twine. Weigh your salami and record the weight
- Prick your salami to get rid of any air pockets. To ferment, place the Landjager in between 2 screens with a weight on it to achieve that "pressed" look and ferment your salami at 75F (24c) with 90% humidity for 12-24 hours (these parameters are for this culture, other culture require different parameters).
- While this sausage is fermenting we will be cold smoking it as well. Cold smoke for 4-8 hours with an applewood, pecan, or cherry wood.
- Test the pH at 9 hours to see where you are at. You are aiming for a ph between 4.9 and 5.29.
- Once you have reached your target pH place your salami in your drying chamber at 55F (13c) with 80% Humidity. Let it dry in this chamber until you have reached a 38%-40% weight loss.
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Very Cool, will be giving this a try….no mold 600 correct and assuming it’s ok if it grows anyway
That is correct. The smoke will keep mold from growing (for the most part) but if mold 600 is in your chamber and it grows of this sausage then that’s ok too 🙂
A childhood favorite. This recipe took me back to sharing a pair of Landjagers with my bother on a fall afternoon walking around our neighborhood. Thanks Eric!
I made landjagger for the first time and it won’t be the last ! It turned out better than I expected !
I’ve only tried the store bought this was better with the cold smoke flavour.
I cold smoked it for 12hrs and dry cured for 28 days to 38% weight-loss. I can’t eat enough in a day.
Thanks Eric for a great recipe 👍
Excellent!!!
If I don’t have a cold smoke generator, can I warm (90° F) smoke it some other time during the drying or before? When would you recommend?
perhaps after its finished drying. It won’t be the same, still tasty but not quite the same..
Just curious about storage and shelf life. Does this have to be stored in a refrigerator after it’s done?
How long does it last if it’s vacuum sealed?
You say ferment at 90% humidity. Did you achieve this in your smoker just by adding the water pan?
Thanks for the help. Will be trying this soon.
Hi Dan. The shelf life is very long. If oyu vac seal it then store in your fridge it will last at least a year maybe longer. You can keep it outside of refrigeration but the quality degrades. I achieve that humidity by adding water (in a pan) to my smoker). Pretty low tec…
Eric, pork butts are available by the case in my area so I bought one, how would you change the fat ratio to use pork butt and beef eye of round? Still need some pork fat to bump up the ratio?
I would still add pork fat. If the butt is fatty (with the fat cap on) then it should have a good 25-30% ratio but you would still have to add some to make up for the added beef..
Does anyone know where I can buy landjaegers in the GTA?
Anne in stouffville ontario
granted this is 2022! but I had a question? are the weight correct for spices and cure? 4,5 grams, .5 grams Mace, 1,5 grams black pepper, 3.6 grams Dextrose? Lol. my scale will not read that low.. thanks John Love your site
LOL. Yes. They are correct. When making small amounts of salami the weights are very small. I generally use a “spice” scale for small measurements.. One that can at least weight .1 grams.. Of course you could always increase the quantity to 2270g (5 pounds) or even 4540g (10 pounds) and the spices will be much easier to weigh..
Can I use liquid smoke?
My concern is , it will affect the starter culture.
If ok, what amount and at which stage it can be added?
Thanks!
liquid smoke works. In small amounts everything should be fine.
Thank you Eric for the great content, coaching and recipes! I just pulled the first of my landjaeger out of my chamber this afternoon, and what a treat! It turned out fantastic!
I discovered landjaeger while bicycle touring through Austria in 1988 and have longed for that flavor ever since.
I am really enjoying going deeper and deeper into cured and fermented meats and your web site and YouTube videos have made me much more comfortable and confident with what I am doing and what issues are most important. I’ve happily referred several friends to your web site.
Looking forward to more!
Scott
Nice. Thanks!
I’ve had great success with your other recipes. Looking forward to making this soon.
I don’t have Flavor of Italy culture, but I do have Bactoferm T-SPX can I use it instead of FoI?
Hi Eric, I have Bactoferm T-SPX on hand, but not Flavor of Italy. Can I substitute the starter I have? Thanks
yes. Just ferment it for 48-72 hours at 65f-75f Everything else stays the same
I;m going to try out you recipe. Working on getting my ducks in a row. I guess I’m stuck on a curing chamber. Not sure I have the drive to create my own from a fridge and not looking to spend a fortune on one….any suggestions?
First Build is hopefully going to be coming out with a small chamber for making charcuterie. That might be an option.
Love the channel – I’ve learned SO MUCH!
The recipe states to smoke during the fermentation stage. Would it matter if it’s before or after the fermentation stage?
It would be best during the fermentation stage. You can’t do it before because as soon as you add the culture to the meat it starts fermenting. If oyu wait till after you run the risk of over fermenting the meat. Unless you have temps in 40’sf. If that’s the case, it would be ok
Hi Eric, I am going to try this recipe as I love landjager. Question about dextrose amount. I see so much variation in different recipes ranging from 0.1% to over 1% dextrose per pound of meat. Any clarification on this subject? I appreciate the help!
When you want a rapid drop in ph (usually reserved for acidic sausages like summer sausage or pepperoni) you will add 1% roughly. When you want a slow calculated drop in ph you will limit the dextrose to .1%-.2%. This limits the food the bacteria have to eat and will be easier to hit your target of 4.9-5.2ph. The more dextrose you add the more food you give the bacteria which means the more lactic acid they will produce. Hope that makes sense