Learn how to make Chinese sausages at home with two types of flavors, spicy mala sausages and sweet Chinese sausage (lop Cheung).
Chinese sausages are our favorite New Year food and it is always satisfying to have some in the kitchen cabinet. You can easily cook them along with a pot of rice or use them in fried rice.
Each year after the winter solstice, we begin to make sausages and air cured pork belly at home. Traditionally Sichuan mala sausages are smoked. However for healthier reasons, air-cured method is much more popular than traditionally smoked way. I have introduced two types of flavors–Sichuan Mala and Cantonese sweet flavor. Both of the two types are quite popular in China now. And we usually make half Mala sausages and half sweet sausages (for the older and children).
Basic ingredients (this can make around 50 Chinese sausages, each around 20cm long)
- 5 kg pork (lean meat vs fat=7:3)
- 3 meters sausage skin (natural or synthetic)
Seasonings for sweet sausages
- 30g salt (curing salt)
- 150g rock sugar, well smashed
- 30g Chinese white spirit (In cantonese cuisine, people love to use rose wine)
- 20g ground pepper
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce
Seasonings for Mala Sausages
- 60g to 75g salt (curing salt)
- 150g chili pepper powder
- 50g freshly ground Sichuan pepper powder or whole seeds
- 50g rock sugar, well smashed
- 50g Chinese white spirit
Equipment needed
- a special sausage stuffing tool or funnel and chop stickers for stuffing the sausage
- needle (pricking the sausages to release trapped air)
- Scissors and cotton lines for tying the sausages
- Clean cloth (drying the sausages after hot water washing)
No matter what flavor you prefer, cut the pork into thin and large pieces (around 6 cm long and 4 cm wide with a thickness of 0.4cm to 0.5cm). We usually use the pork leg meat. The best ratio for Mala sausages is 7 portions of lean meat and 3 portions of fat. And the recommended ratio for sweet sausage is 2:8 (fat vs lean meat). You can slightly adjust based on your own preferences.
Then add white spirit (Chinese Baijiu) and mix well. If you cannot find Chinese baijiu, use other hard liquid to replace.
Mix all the other seasonings. For Mala sausage, mix sugar, salt, chili pepper powder and Sichuan pepper powder in. For sweet sausage, mix salt, sugar and white pepper. Massage with hands and make sure all the ingredients are well combined. Then set aside for 30 minutes.
Then soak the skin in lukewarm water.
Then set up the equipment and wrap the skin over the funnel tube. Or you can use a funnel and a chopstick as plunger. Tie one end and then cut off the remaining skin.
The machine we use is sometime like a automatic plunger. The pork meat is pushed ahead when shaking the hand shank. If you do not have this equipment, use chopstick or wood stick to push the pork..
Once finished, use a cotton line (around 10cm to 12 cm long) to tie and divide the sausage into small sections around 20cm long, so we can continue hanging and drying process.
In a large pot, add enough warm water and clean the surface. Be gentle and don’t break the sausages. You can further sterilize the sausages by brushing hard liquid (In China, we use Chinese Baijiu 白酒).
Dry with a clean cloth, then hang and dry.Left them dry outdoor during the day and hang in the kitchen at night.
We will need to wait for 10 days to 12 days for air drying.
Chinese Sausages
Ingredients
Basic ingredients (this can make around 50 Chinese sausages, each around 20cm long)
- 5 kg pork , lean meat vs fat=7:3
- 3 meters sausage skin , natural or synthetic
Seasonings for sweet sausages
- 30 g salt , curing salt
- 150 g rock sugar , well smashed
- 30 g Chinese white spirit , In cantonese cuisine, people love to use rose wine
- 20 g ground pepper
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce , Note1
Seasonings for Mala Sausages
- 60 g to 75g salt , curing salt
- 150 g chili pepper powder
- 50 g freshly ground Sichuan peppercorn powder , or whole seeds
- 50 g rock sugar , well smashed
- 50 g Chinese white spirit
Equipment needed
- a special sausage stuffing tool or funnel and chop stickers for stuffing the sausage
- needle , pricking the sausages to release trapped air
- Scissors and cotton lines for tying the sausages
- Clean cloth , drying the sausages after hot water washing
Instructions
- No matter what flavor you prefer, cut the pork into thin and large pieces (around 6 cm long and 4 cm wide with a thickness of 0.4cm to 0.5cm). We usually use the pork leg meat. The best ratio for Mala sausages is 7 portions of lean meat and 3 portions of fat. And the recommended ratio for sweet sausage is 2:8 (fat vs lean meat). You can slightly adjust based on your own preferences.
- Then add white spirit (Chinese Baijiu) and mix well. If you cannot find Chinese baijiu, use other hard liquid to replace.
- Mix all the other seasonings. For Mala sausage, mix sugar, salt, chili pepper powder and Sichuan pepper powder in. For sweet sausage, mix salt, sugar and white pepper. Massage with hands and make sure all the ingredients are well combined. Then set aside for 30 minutes.
- Soak the skin in warm water.
- Then set up the equipment and wrap the skin over the funnel tube. Or you can use a funnel and a chopstick as plunger. Tie one end and then cut off the remaining skin.
- The machine we use is sometime like a automatic plunger. The pork meat is pushed ahead when shaking the hand shank. If you do not have this equipment, use chopstick or wood stick to push the pork into the skin.
- Once finished, use a cotton line (around 10cm to 12 cm long) to tie and divide the sausage into small sections around 20cm long, so we can continue hanging and drying process.
- In a large pot, add enough warm water and clean the surface (the purpose is cleaning). Be gentle and don’t break the sausages. You can further sterilize the sausages by brushing hard liquid (In China, we use Chinese Baijiu).
- Dry with a clean cloth, then hang and dry. Use a small needle to prick the sausages to release trapped air. Left them dry outdoor during the day and hang in the kitchen at night.
Notes
Nutrition
After 12 days of air-drying in cold wind. Cut off the extra lines and place in air-tight container; freeze up for half year.
How to cook Chinese sausages
The easiest method is to cook a long log along with steamed rice in a rice cooker and thinly sliced before serving. Or you can pre-slice them and cook in clay pot rice.
Wow. Nice. Very good, simple and informative. A must read for Chinese sausage lovers. Thank you for posting this. Absolutely authentic.
thankyou mystery solved! Thus are delicious!..so MSG was optional then!
Elaine, please clarify. This sausage recipe requires no actual cooking right? The hot water is just for cleaning. This means the sausage has to be cooked before eating right?
Yes, Hermione. You need to steam the sausage for 15 minutes before serving.
You need to specify what salt to use properly, as curing salt containing sodium nitrite in quantities that high could be seriously harmful, though a smaller amount is necessary to prevent botulism.
Love your recipes! Great job.
Please be careful this amount of meat only requires 15g of curing salt! And then 3% by weight of table salt as well.
Maybe with the sugar and soya you could decrease the amount of table salt.
I am making this recipe right now. Very excited to try when ready. Thanks..
Hi Elaine,
My favourite recipe website. I recommend it to all my friends. My family love your recipes.
Also, you were right and I was wrong! My suggestions on salt and curing were incorrect for this recipe. Your way is perfect. Thank you!
Thank you, Jamie! This is such a sweet comment. I love you.
Hello, I’m Muslim and was wondering if there’s another way I could make these sausages without alcohol. Also, since I can’t eat pork, are there any other meats you would recommend instead?
You can use lamb and skip alcohol for sure.
My sausage has white powder on it after 21 days Aur drying in fridge! Has it gone off?
White powder should come from white. So clean the sausage and further check whether it is spoiled.
Hi , why is the Curing salt different ratio for Mala vs. Sweet?
Curing salt is toxic to humans. so i would like to clarify why you have stated you need 30 gr of curing salt to 5Kg of pork. Then for Mala, 70gr of Curing Salt at a ratio of 5kg port.
Are you using the curing salt as a form of seasoning??? ( this is highly toxic to humans).
I have read in many hunting guides and curing packages, and it states 70gr of curing salt will cure 50lb (22.6kg) of meat. or 4oz for 100lb meats…
Please be aware, curing salt is Toxic to humans….
Different parts of the world use different types of curing salt. While curing salts in the U.S. commonly contain 6,25% of nitrite, European ones contain only 0.6%, and I am not sure what percentages are available commerically in China where Elaine is based.
Johannes, thank you for this information. It is so helpful.
I think should place this in the Recipe. U be giving people cancer inadvertently .
Thankyou mystery solved! This
looks simple and delicious!.. MSG is optional, then Elaine?.. I’ve never tried the Mala sausages..but would love to. x
Hi Gail,
You can skip MSG for sure. The sausage will be great too. We make mala sausages each year and it is always our top choice. I hope you will like it too. Happy cooking and thanks for leaving me this comment.
Thank for this excellent recipe. As others have previously stated you need to correct/clarify the amount of curing salt in the recipe as U.S curing salt should only be added as a small percentage of the total amount you salt in a recipe. The amount stated is harmful for human consumption
Hello Elaine,
What size casing do you use?
Thank you.
Hi，Tony
it maybe 3 meters long and about 4cm in diameter.