Wednesday, March 25, 2009

How to make Lup Cheong (Chinese Sausage)







We naturally prefer homemade lup cheong to store bought lup cheong which has preservative added to it and ingredients like monosodium glutamate, salt and sugar are added to the sausages in very high levels. Lup cheong or Chinese sausage is a dried, hard sausage usually made from pork meat and a high content of fat. Unlike western sausages Chinese sausage formulations are unique, based on long tradition method of curing the pork by air drying and usually made in winter when it is less humid. It is a commonly used ingredient in many dishes in our traditional dishes It is for example, used in fried rice, noodle and other dishes.


Ingredients:


2 ½ kg pork shoulder
5-6 metre of sausage casing.
2 ½ tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon soya sauce
1 cup sugar
¾ cup dry sherry or whisky.




Method:
· Remove skin from pork and separate fat from the lean meat and dice the meat and fat with a knife into 6mm cubes. Combine all the seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Add the meat and fat and mix well and let soak overnight in the fridge.
· Tie off one end of sausage casing and attach a funnel to other end and gather casing on funnel tube. Stuff the marinated meat mixture into the sausage casing; tie the casing into 15cm links. Prick the links all over with a skewer to allow air to escape from sausage.
· Hang them to dry in a well ventilated place until partially dehyrated.




35 comments:

  1. wow. interesting, hang for how long?

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  2. Hi BY,
    Until it loses about 30% of its original weight.Because no preservative is added, it is best kept in the fridge after drying.
    Cheers.

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  3. delicious looking sausages...

    Cherry blossoms began to bloom in Yokohama.

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  4. Hi YK chang,
    Yes, it is Hanami at this time of year in Japan again.It would be nice if I can send some of the sausages to BBQ together with the dango... and enjoy it with sake under the sakura tree.When is your hanami party?

    Cheers.

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  5. It will come into full bloom in a week.

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  6. wow i love chinese sausages. but too fatty la. the last time i had one of these was 5 years ago i think...

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  7. Hi ^2,
    We will reserve a piece for you.Be fast as many have requested for a try. haha

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  8. What is the fat to meat ratio?

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  9. Hi Rich59901,
    The beauty of making homemade sausages is that you are able to control the content of fat in them. If you are using shoulder or leg of pork you will enough fat for the sausages. Personally, I would go 30% to 40% max for fat.
    Cheers,
    Phil

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  10. how long can you keep it in the fridge for???

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  11. Hi Stephanie,
    I have kept some in the fridge since June last year but they have turn very hard. Three to four months should be ok
    Cheers.

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  12. Where can we buy sausage casing?

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  13. Hi Anonymous,
    You can buy them from your local butcher store.

    Cheers,
    Uncle Phil

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  14. I am interested in this.

    Would that be dark or light soy sauce? Thanks.

    Harry.

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  15. Hi Harry,
    I used light soy sauce for this recipe.
    Cheers.

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  16. Hi Annonymous.,
    Unfortunately it does,like all food stuff it has a used by date. As you noticed, I do not use any preservative in my recipe and I only make a small amount at a time.
    Cheers.

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  17. Hi Phil, Everything that I make is made with wildlife. I would like to make lup cheong with duck breast, should I just use pork fat with a little more meat than normal such as shoulder, or pork jowls? I had it once before when I lived in Hawaii. It wasn't as sweet as pork, but still very good!

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  18. Hi Wild Thing,
    Wow! That is very interesting. After all cooking is all about learning and using what is available where you lived. Of course, with a bit of adaptation, it should be fine. Keep us posted.
    Cheers!

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  19. When making sausage this way, what adaptions would YOU make? I've been cooking for many moons, But, I'm rather un-experienced with some sausages, especially lup cheong. "I'm all ears" I'm the wild thing

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    Replies
    1. Hi John,
      I have not used games meat in my sausage making but if you making a "less fat" sausage by using a leaner meat or cut, I say go for it and let us know the result.
      Cheers,
      Phil

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    2. What temperature do you recommend hanging the sausage at? I'm dicing the duck, & pork today and marinating it tonight. I'll case it tomorrow.

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  20. Hi John, It is nice you are doing the wild thing today :) I normally make during the cooler months where the average highest temperature in Sydney is about 65 F. Good luck on the duck sausage and let us know about the result

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    Replies
    1. Would there be any concern about the meat rotting, or going bad?

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    2. Hi John,
      It is a big concern when curing meat at home without adding any preservative. Personally I do not like to add any curing salt in my sausage making but I am in no position to advice you whether you should use my preservative free recipe for your sausage. I have read in other recipes that Nitre is sometimes used to avoid spoiling, but please follow carefully according to the instruction by the supplier, when using them.

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    3. Hi Phil, I'm all for using absolutely no preservatives, no sodium nitrites, or nitrates. Since this is my learning curve on sausage, I'm trying to understand the limitations of preserving foods. Just like when making prosciutto or ham , I still age it at about 40F at the beginning for about 2weeks before until the skin has sealed and then I'm not as concerned once the enzymes have become the preservative(if I have that right)I'm all for organic! I have a medical condition that discourages nitrites and nitrates, so I'm interested in how it works for you! I assume that you have no problems at all with ageing it at 65F then? I'll start it at 40-45F for the first 2 weeks. I'm all ears Phil :-)

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  21. Hello Again Phil, I made the sausage, and just finished tubing it. I made a piece about the size of a hamburger patty, and fried it very very slow I so could at least get a little taste of it....VERY GOOD! So, I decided to store it in a small cooler at about 50F for now with a ventilation fan to keep circulating the air, by that time I'll have a location made to store it at a higher temp on a more steady basis. My issue is that I live in Nevada here in the USA where temps can go from 30F to 75F and then back down to 30F again in one day. My butcher/wine cellar/ageing room won't be done until another 40-50 days.

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  22. Hello Phil, I just tried the Duck Lup Cheong that I made back on March 4th. It came out very good. If I was to make any change, I would add a little more sugar, and maybe some more shoyu/soy sauce. The meats that I use are not naturally sweet like pork is.

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    Replies
    1. Hi John,
      Nice to know that you are happy with the end result of your Duck Lup Cheong! Please share your recipe in details with us. Did you take a photo with it? We looking forward to your post.

      Cheers, Phil

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  23. Hi Phil, I followed your recipe all the way, except for the main meat was not pork. It was 3 parts of wild duck breast to 1 part of pork cheeks that had some muscle in it too. As you can see that I was concerned about the temperature before. That ended up not being a concern at all here in Nevada (USA) where there is virtually no humidity. The temperature varied from 20F/-10C up to 70F/20C. There was usually an air flow though, so it worked out great! I did hang the sausage in a screened box just so no insects could get to it.

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  24. Hi Phil,

    These look really interesting to try, but I'm curious about any health precautions with making a sausage like this without nitrates/nitrites? Any info that you can give is very appreciated!

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  25. Hello Uncle Phil, We recently made 3 types of Italian Sausage, 2 type Southern Sausage, plus Chorizo. I was thrilled to find your recipe. It is too warn to try it here now in SC, USA, but I can't wait to try it next year. Thank you so much.
    Cheers, Joyce

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  26. Similar process as chorizo but has red wine, salt and paprika instead of soy sauce, salt, sugar, xiaou shing wine or dry sherry

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