Cantonese Lap Cheong (Home-made Chinese Sausages) is a traditional Hong Kong recipe for a classic dried sausage of pork with spices. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Hong Kong version of: Home-made Chinese Sausages (Cantonese Lap Cheong).
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This recipe for Homemade Chinese Sausages (Cantonese Lap Cheong) yields a firm, sweet and savory air-dried sausage, similar to ones you would find packaged in Asian grocery stores.
Ingredients:
cotton twine cut into 15cm long pieces
1kg lean minced pork 80/20 (or pork shoulder meat 80% lean pork + 20% pork belly fat)
70g granulated cane sugar
20g sea salt
20ml fish sauce or soy sauce
30ml Mei Kuei Lu minimum 54% alcohol content by volume; (substitute brandy or baijiu) +extra for sterilizing
8g sand ginger powder optional
¼ tsp ground black pepper
4g red yeast rice powder
25cm length of sheep intestine casing
Method:
Use kitchen scissors to cut some cotton twine, about 15cm in length. Set aside.
If mincing your own meat: Cut the pork shoulder meat into 1 cm cubes. Chop the pork fat into finer pieces. Add to both pork shoulder meat and pork fat into a meat grinder to grind. Continue with the recipe.
Using already minced pork: Add the minced pork to a large bowl. Using clean food-safe gloves or sterile utensils, mix all the seasoning ingredients: sugar, salt, fish sauce, Mei Kuei Lu (rose wine), sand ginger powder (if using), black pepper, red yeast rice powder into the pork meat very well. Cover the meat with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and chill in the fridge for 1 hour to overnight.
Prepare the casing: Wash the sheep casing and soak in warm water for 30 minutes (or in cold water for 4 hours+), then rinse the casing well under tap water, inside and outside the casing. Blot the casing dry with a paper towel. Pour 1 tablespoon Mei Kuei Lu (or alcohol) in a small bowl. Sterilize a thick needle in the alcohol, and also soak the sheep casing in the alcohol for 10 minutes.
Make the sausages: Fill the seasoned meat into a manual sausage filler. Grease the tube of the filler with a little oil. Slip the casing onto the tube of the filler and tie a knot at one end of the casing. Screw on the plunger to fill up the casing, making sure it is not too full or too loose. Pierce any air pockets with a needle if pressure builds up, to prevent bursting. Divide the sausages into even pieces about 5-6"in length. Tie the sausage links with a piece of cotton twine. Gently brush the surface of the sausages with the leftover Mei Kuei Lu (alcohol).
Drying the sausages: Sit the sausage links on a baking tray. Poke holes over the sausages with the thick sterilized needle. Weigh the sausages and place them onto a wire rack in the refrigerator uncovered to dry for 10-15 days, or until the sausages lose at least 35% of their initial weight (about a final weight of 620-640g). When you lightly squeeze the sausages, they should feel dry and firm, not soft. Turn over the sausages once a while during the drying process. Once dry enough, cut off the cotton strings and cut the sausage links.
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