Sausage Party

[NulloModo]

Hi,

I am interested in starting to make my own sausages. Preferably, I would like to make nice stuffed ones in casings (natural, artificial, whatever).

Problem is, all of the websites I have found lead me to believe I would need to invest nearly $100, or much more, into a grinder/stuffer machine. I would ideally like to start out as cheaply as possible and just see if I even like doing it before investing in serious machinery.

I am thinking about using a food processor to grind the meat, but I have been told that perhaps that will grind it too fine, and the texture would be off. I also thought that perhaps it would be possible to buy a funnel and just stuff them through that by hand.

Has anyone else tried sausage making without the specialty equipment? Do you have recommendations about types/sources of casings? Am I just setting myself up for stress and dissapointing by doing this without a grinder/stuffer? Thanks.

[Andrew Fenton]

A food processor will work fine to make sausage; you need to make sure you don't over- or under-process it, but you have more control over the product. It won't, however, do you a lick of good for stuffing the sausage into casings.

If you have a Kitchenaid mixer, the grinder/stuffer attachments work great and can be had for not too much.

[Jensen]

Why not make sausage patties to start out?

[NulloModo]

No stand mixer here, and while patties could be good I suppose, they just bore me ;) They don't have that nice snap and juicy explosion of flavor that you get from a good link sausage.

[jsolomon]

I just made 4 different sausage recipes over christmas from Bruce Aidell's book. My family and I used a kitchen-aid sausage stuffer attachment, and pre-frozen ground meats in our freezer (beef, pork, and some lovely venison). We got some beef fat and fat back for free from our local meat counters and a local meat packer.

I think you can get the KA sausage stuffer for about $10 US + S&H from amazon.

Then, if you get everything ground at your local meat locker or butcher counter, you should be able to get by pretty cheaply. Then, with your first experience, you can decide whether you want to invest more.

My suggestions are going to quite closely mirror Mr. Aidell's: start making small batches. Mix your meat, fat, and seasonings, then fry a patty and taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary, then stuff.

My family was greatly impressed with everything we tried, though. I think you'll be quite pleased with your results.

[andiesenji]

Get an inexpensive electric grinder/stuffer, you will save yourself a great deal of time and have a much better result in the end. Rival makes a couple of small ones that are great.

I get my supplies from this vendor. I think they are very good to deal with for a novice.

This little Rival with the sausage stuffing attachment,

is perfectly adequate for normal home use. In fact, I would venture to guess that you could find one local to you at a discount store for the same price.

I doubt that you could burn it out working alone and making sausage for personal consumption.

I have a large grinder made by Northern Industrial Tools because I do a lot of meat grinding and need one that handle large amounts but my situation is rather unusual, only because I process game for hunters who don't have their own equipment.

I have made some fantastic sausage from venison, elk, boar, and especially duck and goose.

Duck sausage is a category all its own and is absolutely wonderful. If you make it you will be hooked for life and will not want to part with your meat grinder and sausage stuffer.

[andiesenji]

I have to add a caveat. Creating sausage recipes can become quite addicting and one can go a bit overboard and begin dredging for things to add to the sausage in various stores and run up some major charges.

One of my neighbors is now on an allowance as he got a bit out of hand after buying a new smoker and discovering the joys of home-smoked sausage.

He found a local source for buffalo and ostrich and spent a bundle on meat for sausage. His wife was furious when she found that some of the holiday pastries she had in their big freezer had been transferred to the smaller one in their refrigerator to make room for his sausage-making ingredients.

[Andrew Fenton]

I think you can get the KA sausage stuffer for about $10 US + S&H from amazon.

Of course, that's just for the sausage horns (two wee pieces of plastic); you've also gotta buy the grinder, which is significantly more.

I second Aidell's book; I've made several recipes from it, and they're pretty good. But once you've made a batch or two, it's pretty easy to experiment and turn out some good stuff. What I've discovered is that it's not really worth it to make basic kinds of sausage (e.g. kielbasa or hot Italian); if you have a decent butcher near you, you can get a product that's as good, and as cheap. I'm all about the more unusual varieties (buffalo-apricot, chicken pesto) right now.

In fact this:

Duck sausage is a category all its own and is absolutely wonderful.  If you make it  you will be hooked for life and will not want to part with your meat grinder and sausage stuffer.

reminds me that I want to do duck sausage next. Do you have a good recipe, andiesenji?

[snowangel]

You should probably talk to chrisamarualt on the recent thread about an egullet cookoff where they are doing cassoulet. chris made sausages.

Should you choose to smoke them, its time for Klink to add something.

[jsolomon]

I think you can get the KA sausage stuffer for about $10 US + S&H from amazon.

Of course, that's just for the sausage horns (two wee pieces of plastic); you've also gotta buy the grinder, which is significantly more.

Mea culpa. You are quite correct.

[andiesenji]

This is the recipe I have used for several years. It has been modified several times from the original which I think came from an old, out of print phamplet on using up game meat.

I have used the same recipe to make turkey sausage with leg and thigh meat and also to make sausage from ostrich, venison, elk and boar. It is a good and simple basic recipe.

If you wish you can add dried fruits to part of the mixture. I have added cranberries, cherries, apricots, apple and various combinations as well as various nuts.

DUCK SAUSAGE

2 pounds ground duck meat

4 ounces ground duck, turkey or chicken fat

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon red chilli flakes

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

(Mix the spices together and toast in a dry iron skillet.

1 tablespoon sugar (granulated maple sugar is best, if you can get it)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 cup dark carmelized onions

1/2 cup finely ground bread crumbs (whole wheat is best)

1/4 cup port plus 2 tablespoons brandy.

Combine all ingredients and knead until completely mixed.

Chill for at least 3 hours.

Using the medium die and small stuffer, stuff small casings with the mixture, tying off at 6-inch intervals.

Refrigerate immediately and cook within a day or freeze.

For smoked sausage, have smoker ready, hang sausages in middle of smoker and hot smoke until temperature probe in center of sausage reaches 145 degrees.

Keep refrigerated and use within a week, otherwise freeze in airtight package, vacuum seal if possible, Will keep in freezer for 3 months.

Edited January 4, 2005 by andiesenji (log)

[Ling]

I thought of something else when I read "Sausage Party". I thought you were having a bunch of guys over to watch football or something.

[mrbigjas]

No stand mixer here, and while patties could be good I suppose, they just bore me ;)  They don't have that nice snap and juicy explosion of flavor that you get from a good link sausage.

←

perhaps a use for those williams-sonoma and amex gift certificates you got this year? just a thought.

[Busboy]

This website, posted by jpdchef on another thread, has as many sausage recipes as I've ever seen in one place.

I'd respectfully disagree with Mr. Fenton regarding the utility of making standard sausage varieties at home. While I've yet to construct the perfect spicy Italian sausage, since I've been making my own, I've noticed that even specimens from the most respected sources lack the snap and spice of home-made. 'Course, DC's Italian butcher supply is relatively thin, but I did recently have a friend of Italian descent -- not knowing that we'd made the sausage -- interrupt a minor feeding frenzy to rave about them and ask where we'd found them.

On the other hand, it's nice to have a few buffalo-apricot links lying around, too, I'll wager.

[fiftydollars]

You will absolutely need a grinder, if you want to make sausages. Of course you can use a food processor to "grind" the meat, but, as noted, it won't stuff it in the casings. I can imagine you could stuff casings by hand with a funnel or something, but that's not any kind of operation I want any kind of part in. And for various reasons that will become evident to you later, you don't want to handle the meat too much, especially not with your hot dirty paws.

So the grinder is your best bet and you can find a hand-cranked model for about $25 (saw this on Amazon for $15). These are simple, table-clamped devices that will grind the meat and force it into a casing. If you have any suspicion that maybe sausages might be a long-term interest, spend a little more and get something nice.

[NulloModo]

No stand mixer here, and while patties could be good I suppose, they just bore me ;)  They don't have that nice snap and juicy explosion of flavor that you get from a good link sausage.

←

perhaps a use for those williams-sonoma and amex gift certificates you got this year? just a thought.

←

Possibly, but I don't know what all else I would do with a stand mixer... My food processor kneads dough quite well enough for me (although it is sort of a PITA to clean all the little pieces, and that the dough blade tends to ride up the shaft and get gunk in all its little underside nooks and crannies), and I have a hand mixer for the rare occasions I need to mix something and a spoon won't do. Maybe though....

I don't think WS sells a stand alone stuffer/grinder.

[bleudauvergne]

This thread reminds me of certain sausages I miss from home, a sausage with fennel that my sister's mother-in-law used to make... It looks like a nice idea.

Nullomodo, there must be some relatively lo-tech methods for stuffing them, what did people do before kitchen aid? I saw somewhere a device where they fill a tube upon which they have affixed the casing, and then plunge it down, forcing the meat inside. I have no doubt that you could rig something like this up with a wide funnel extended with a pipe of some kind. I have found that even the most trying tasks become much easier once you've got a system going. I may be simplifying things too much, though.

[Chris Amirault]

You should probably talk to chrisamarualt on the recent thread about an egullet cookoff where they are doing cassoulet.  chris made sausages.

←

That event involved my standing KA grinding and stuffing attachment, which NulloModo doesn't have or want to buy for this. So I'll harken back to the olden days....

Let's be honest: as bleudauvergne said while I was writing this tome, people did make sausages before the arrival of counter-top appliances. All you need to make sausage save the ingredients is a way to cut them up and a way to stuff those ingredients into casings. You can do these two things with, respectively, a knife and cutting board, and a decent canvas pastry/sausage bag with a stuffing nozzle. I'll bet you've got most of these things right now, and the bag and nozzle can be had pretty much anywhere.

It is a pain in the neck, however, to use a bag to stuff sausages: having too many moving parts around makes the squishy filling and the slippery casings hard to manage unless you're equipped with an extra set of hands somehow. If you think you'll get the jones (and, my friend, it sounds like you have it), I'd urge you to take the plunge and get a cheap machine a la andiesenji's suggestions. (I also believe that everyone should have a standing mixer, too, but that's another issue.)

A few other tips, in case they're useful. I find that lower end grocery stores often have better ingredients for pork sausage; I can find salted pork anywhere but unsalted pork fat is hard to find at Whole Foods. Last time I got a whole shoulder at Stop and Shop and used every bit of it (the bone went into the bean liquid for cassoulet, and the scraps went to Zeke -- on the left up there).

That's also where I found, after a long search, hog casings. They're typically packed in salt, and you need to rinse then soak them in multiple changes of water for a few hours, so build that time into your planning. I also read long ago that the enzymes in papaya help to break down tougher casings, which is useful if you're making, say, lobster and scallop sausages. You will be tempted to snip the casings into smaller pieces instead of untangling them, but this is an error: you'll be happy to have long strands when you're stuffing.

The warnings about overseasoning the meat are worth noting; it's very easy to wind up with unpleasantly salty links or unbalanced ones that taste too much of an herb or spice. (However, I think that there is no such thing as too much garlic.) Until you have a sense of balance, you will want to have a pan on the heat into which you can toss seasoned filling, which will enable you to taste the cooked meat and adjust.

When you stuff, remember that you want as little air as possible, but some won't be a problem. However, you really do need to be careful to understuff the sausages a little bit. You can test the width of the casings by tieing one end, stuffing some filling in, and then squeezing the open end until you reach the limit at the tied end. You want each link to be filled about 70-80% max.

Keep us posted. Are you planning to show us your results?

[scott123]

Sausage meat should be able to be piped with a pastry bag, I would think.

How about a caulk gun? I've always been meaning to convert a caulk gun into a cookie press - far superior torque/control than the presses you find out there.

Take an empty caulk tube, wash it carefully, and then fill that with sausage meat.

[Andrew Fenton]

How about a caulk gun? I've always been meaning to convert a caulk gun into a cookie press - far superior torque/control than the presses you find out there.

Take an empty caulk tube, wash it carefully, and then fill that with sausage meat.

I like the concept (especially for cookies); but reusing a caulk tube? Yuck, yuck, yuck.

[Andrew Fenton]

I'd respectfully disagree with Mr. Fenton regarding the utility of making standard sausage varieties at home.  While I've yet to construct the perfect spicy Italian sausage, since I've been making my own, I've noticed that even specimens from the most respected sources lack the snap and spice of home-made.  'Course, DC's Italian butcher supply is relatively thin, but I did recently have a friend of Italian descent -- not knowing that we'd made the sausage -- interrupt a minor feeding frenzy to rave about them and ask where we'd found them.

Well, I'm spitting distance from South Philadelphia, and an abundance of Italian butchers. Agreed that if you don't have a good supply then it's better to make your own. And there's definitely a virtue in being able to design the product to your exact specifications.

[NulloModo]

Hmm, I will definately document and photograph the process when I get started. That $15 stuffer/grinder on Amazon doesn't bad at all, but for a not that much more, the one Andiesenji posted also has some draw.

[Peter B Wolf]

You should probably talk to chrisamarualt on the recent thread about an egullet cookoff where they are doing cassoulet.  chris made sausages.

←

That event involved my standing KA grinding and stuffing attachment, which NulloModo doesn't have or want to buy for this. So I'll harken back to the olden days....

Let's be honest: as bleudauvergne said while I was writing this tome, people did make sausages before the arrival of counter-top appliances. All you need to make sausage save the ingredients is a way to cut them up and a way to stuff those ingredients into casings. You can do these two things with, respectively, a knife and cutting board, and a decent canvas pastry/sausage bag with a stuffing nozzle. I'll bet you've got most of these things right now, and the bag and nozzle can be had pretty much anywhere.

It is a pain in the neck, however, to use a bag to stuff sausages: having too many moving parts around makes the squishy filling and the slippery casings hard to manage unless you're equipped with an extra set of hands somehow. If you think you'll get the jones (and, my friend, it sounds like you have it), I'd urge you to take the plunge and get a cheap machine a la andiesenji's suggestions. (I also believe that everyone should have a standing mixer, too, but that's another issue.)

A few other tips, in case they're useful. I find that lower end grocery stores often have better ingredients for pork sausage; I can find salted pork anywhere but unsalted pork fat is hard to find at Whole Foods. Last time I got a whole shoulder at Stop and Shop and used every bit of it (the bone went into the bean liquid for cassoulet, and the scraps went to Zeke -- on the left up there).

That's also where I found, after a long search, hog casings. They're typically packed in salt, and you need to rinse then soak them in multiple changes of water for a few hours, so build that time into your planning. I also read long ago that the enzymes in papaya help to break down tougher casings, which is useful if you're making, say, lobster and scallop sausages. You will be tempted to snip the casings into smaller pieces instead of untangling them, but this is an error: you'll be happy to have long strands when you're stuffing.

The warnings about overseasoning the meat are worth noting; it's very easy to wind up with unpleasantly salty links or unbalanced ones that taste too much of an herb or spice. (However, I think that there is no such thing as too much garlic.) Until you have a sense of balance, you will want to have a pan on the heat into which you can toss seasoned filling, which will enable you to taste the cooked meat and adjust.

When you stuff, remember that you want as little air as possible, but some won't be a problem. However, you really do need to be careful to understuff the sausages a little bit. You can test the width of the casings by tieing one end, stuffing some filling in, and then squeezing the open end until you reach the limit at the tied end. You want each link to be filled about 70-80% max.

Keep us posted. Are you planning to show us your results?

←

chrisamirault is right. One more 'help', when rinsing, do it under running water, open the casing, fill and let out on the other end. wash-out the inside. This will also lubricate the casing and you can stuff easier. Furthermore, tying should be done after you filled the whole strand, this will allow you to gage amount of stuffing, length and width.

Anyone interested in my seasonings? But can't give no measurements, as everything goes by 'Finger-tips' and 'Hand-fulls'

[polack]

I've been doing it for 15+ years, that's making both fresh and smoked sausage. When I first started out I used to get my meat ground from the butcher and would use an enterprise sausage stuffer to make the sausage rings. I would put them in a smoker that I built and smoke about 30 rings at a time. Since then I bought a used store grinder, another stuffer, and built a much larger smoker that's capable of handling at least 120+ rings. Let me tell you once you get started there's no stopping because the quality of the sausage is much better than store bought. I usually can get whole pork butt, that I grind, for $.99 a pound. The casings I buy are from the local supermarket and I usually get a hank for $10, a hank will do anywhere from 60 to over 100lbs, depending on the diameter of the casing. So as you can see for a little over $1.00 a pound, and some of your time, is what it would cost you to make sausage. Kielbasi is going for around $3.50 a pound around these parts and you won't get the quality like homemade. I would advise you to go to ebay and enter sausage stuffer and see what types of stuffers are available, and the cost of them. Yeh you can stuff with a funnel like someone has mentioned but if you do it that way you probably won't make sausage again. Also they have the stuffer for a KA mixer, but you need the grinder, and they want a pretty penny for one. So check for a used stuffer if you're serious and you won't be sorry.

Polack

[ScorchedPalate]

I never would have guessed how much I use my KA stand mixer. Even if you're not a baker, it's worth having.

Check eBay for used KA grinders, but make sure you get a relatively modern one; one of my friends has an ancient KA mixer and its grinder has an (intentionally) dull blade. It makes terrible sausage and won't stuff worth a damn.

And -- slightly off-topic -- in case anyone was wondering: the pasta plates for the KA grinder are utterly useless.

~Anita