Lap Cheong, Chinese Sausage
“Lap Cheong” (which literally means ‘cured sausage’… where ‘lap’ sounds like the word for wax) is the Cantonese name for cured, dried raw-meat sausages—a reference to their waxy look and texture.
Sausage is made from pork which is chopped or ground into small pieces, seasoned with salt, sugar, wine, soy sauce, Sichuan pepper, and other ingredients. The pork is filled in chitterlings, dried in the air or smoke cured. The finished sausage, kept in the refrigerator, usually lasts for about three months.
Lap Cheong, Chinese Sausage
The sausage is made from pork which is chopped or ground into small pieces, seasoned with salt, sugar, wine, soy sauce, Sichuan pepper, and other ingredients. The pork is filled in chitterlings, dried in the air or smoke cured. The finished sausage, kept in the refrigerator, usually lasts for about three months.
Equipment
- 1 Meat grinder with funnel and sausage stuffing pusher
- 1 Fine needle (or a sausage stick)
- Kitchen scissors
- Kitchen cotton twine
- 1 Cotton textile
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
For the stuffing:
- 4 lb fatty pork
- 6 lb lean pork
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 cup sugar
- ¾ cup chinese baijiu or rosé wine
- 2 tablespoons sichuan pepper ground or whole peppercorns
- 4 tablespoons pink salt
- 1 teaspoon MSG
- 1 tablespoons red rice yeast
- 3 oz. chili powder (or more to taste)
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 2 tablespoons grated ginger (or galangal)
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For the envelope:
- 10 feet 3 meters natural pork casings (or synthetic sausage casings)
For the sterilization:
- 1 cup chinese baijiu
Instructions
How to Make the Stuffing:
- Cut the pork into 2×1 inches (5 x 3 cm) pieces with a thickness of ¼ inch (0.6 cm) and place them in a large bowl.
- Then add the Chinese baijiu or the rosé wine and mix well.
- Then add all the other ingredients and mix well by hand for at least 5 minutes.
- Set aside in the refrigerator for 1 hour, stirring from time to time.
How to Make the Envelope:
- Soak the pork casings (or synthetic sausage casings) in a large container of lukewarm water.
- Fit the grinder with the sausage stuffer.
- Thread a few wet casings at a time on the stuffing tube, letting the last casing drop slightly or tie a knot.
- Pass a little stuffing mixture at a time through the mouthpiece, pressing down with the pusher.
- Hold the casing close to the tube to ensure good pressure as the meat fills the casing.
- Continue until the casing is almost full. Leave a set of casings empty or tie a knot.
- Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
- Using a small needle (or sausage pick), make several small holes in the sausage to prevent air bubbles from forming in the next step.
- Shape thin sausages 8 inches (20 cm) long by twisting each on itself and changing direction with each sausage.
- Twisting three times should be enough to keep the sausages in shape.
- Tie up the sausages at each intersection.
How to Clean and Sterilize:
- In a large pot, pour enough lukewarm water and immerse the sausages in it to clean them by rubbing them gently.
- Drain them and, using a pastry brush, brush with Chinese baijiu.
- Dry the sausages using a cotton cloth, then using cotton kitchen twine, hang them to dry for 10 to 12 days in a cool place and ideally where there is a little wind.
- After a maximum of 12 days, place the sausages in an airtight glass container or wrap them in plastic wrap and store them for 15 days in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
