Making Rohesser yourself – a delicious snack

Rohesser - ready
Type
Cured sausage
Level
Medium

Today I’m going to show you how to make your own Rohesser. You can achieve a super tasty result with moderate effort.

The Rohesser is an air-dried raw sausage and is perfect as a snack or on a snack platter. It is cold-smoked. You will therefore need a smoker for my recipe. 

Here you can find the complete rohesser recipe as a video or to read through.

Have fun and good luck making it!

Rohesser – What do you need to make it?

Rohesser - all ingredients
g

Ingredients per 1 kg

Ingredient Grams Percent
lean pork 600 g 60 %
pork belly 400 g 40 %

Spices per 1 kg

Ingredient Grams
salt 23.5 g
yellow mustard seeds 4 g
dextrose / sugar 3 g
paprika 3 g
Cure #1 2.5 g
white pepper 2 g
mace 0.5 g
allspice 0.5 g

EU readers can order mace from my German store.

In principle, you can also make Rohesser with other types of meat. Just make sure that there is approx. 20 – 25 % fat in the mixture.

The equipment to make Rohesser 

Meat grinder

Meat grinder

A meat grinder cuts the meat into small pieces so it can be mixed with the seasoning. Cut the meat into pieces that fit the feed tube before grinding.

Temperature and humidity controlled maturation cabinet

Place to dry and mature the sausage

To age this raw sausage, you need an environment where both humidity and temperature are relatively constant. There are several possibilities for this. I have already matured cured sausages in the fridge or cellar without any problems.

Optional: If you want to be on the safe side, then a ripening cabinet is the best choice. My recommendation: Dry Ager DX 500

Filling sausage casings with a stainless-steel sausage stuffer

Sausage stuffer, grinder attachment or funnel

Use a sausage stuffer to fill the mixture into its casing. A stuffing attachment for your meat grinder or a hand funnel also works when you are starting out.

Smoker oven

You need the smoker to smoke your Rohesser.

Smoking auger and smoking flour

The smoking auger burns for approx. 12 hours. This saves you having to constantly refill the smoking flour. 

Natural casings

The Rohesser is stuffed into natural casings. I recommend you to use sheep seedling caliber 22/24.

Make Rohesser – Step-By-Step Instructions

1

Cut the meat and fat into mincer-sized pieces. You can vary the size depending on how big your grinder is. You should separate the meat and fat. This will help you later when cuttering.

Rohesser - cut
2

Put the pieces of meat and fat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help you later when mincing and ensures that the mixture does not get too warm.

Rohesser - freeze
3

Finely grind the spices.

Rohesser - grind spices
4

Now grind the meat. Depending on how coarse you want your final sausage meat to be, you can use different perforated disks here. I use the fine perforated disk (3 mm).

Rohesser - grind
5

Add the spices to the grinded meat. Mix the mixture into a firm sausage meat. You can do this using a machine with a dough hook or by hand.

Rohesser - mix
6

You can now fill the mixture into casings. Which one you use is up to you. I use sheep casings caliber 22/24 .

Rohesser - fill
7

Now it’s time to twist. You can decide for yourself how big you want your Rohesser to be. To do this, squeeze the sausage to the desired length with two fingers on each hand and rotate it forwards a few times. Then leave out one sausage length and repeat the process.

Rohesser - twist
8

Poke out the air holes with a needle or sausage pick. 

Rohesser - needle
9

Now hang the Rohesser for 48 hours at approx. 25 degrees for fermentation. The humidity should be approx. 90 %. This is best achieved with a damp cloth nearby. The chimney sausages should be able to dry out, but should not lose moisture too quickly, otherwise a dry edge may form. After 48 hours, leave your Rohesser to mature for one to two days at approx. 15 degrees and approx. 75% humidity.

Rohesser - smoke
10

You can now hang them in the smoker and cold smoke them. I have made 2 passes here. This means 12 hours of smoke and 12 hours of no smoke. Ideally, the temperature should be between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59–68 °F). 

Rohesser - finished
11

Your Rohesser are ready 😄. You can either eat them straight away or leave them to mature further in the cellar (< 15 degrees). The firmer you want them, the longer you need to leave them to mature. Enjoy the taste.

Rohesser - ready

Frequently asked questions

How long is the shelf life of the Rohesser?

How long is the shelf life of the Rohesser?

Thanks to smoking, your Rohesser will keep for longer. To prevent the sausages from drying out or losing their aroma, it is best to pack them in an airtight container in the fridge.

You might also like

Have you tried this recipe?

Rate it to help other sausage makers.

2 comments

  1. Breno Jones

    Exelente a publicação os livros ~são em português ? gostaria de adquirir

  2. Christie Broadhurst

    is the liver wurst shelf stable after canning in the jars or does it need to be in the refrigerator or freezer?

Leave a comment

Two homemade Bratwurst, grilled and served on a slate plate with mustard and bread

Free sausage guide

Want to make sausages at home that beat the butcher’s?

I’ll show you what you need, which sausages to start with and the recipes I make again and again.

Daniel twisting a freshly filled sausage into links

Free email course

Want to make great sausages at home, one easy lesson at a time?

Seven short lessons by email: the right equipment and meat, seasoning, and my favorite recipes. At your own pace.