Sausage Party

[Jinmyo]

Just a note about skinless sausages:

The sausage meat can be squeezed out onto cling film (plastic wrap), wrapped, then pinched into links. Just spin the whole thing at the ends, pinch and twist the links and tie off with twine.

After letting it set for a few hours, just poach in the plastic, unwrap. Can be eaten as is or fried or roasted.

Personally, I like skins that pop and bang.

[bleudauvergne]

What makes a good sausage? Fat content (%)? Kinds of fat? Very good casings information, and descriptves, I'm appreciating this. Unsalted So far I've seen duck, all manner of poultry, pork, lobster and scallop... Hmmm... My defenses are melting, melting...

Peter, oh please yes do share your spice mixture with us, fingertips and handfuls included, and could you also mention how much of this you use by the kilo or pound of meat?

[Chris Amirault]

Personally, I like skins that pop and bang.

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As in "bangers and mash." I like 'em that way, too.

[polack]

Pork butt makes some of the best sausage. Has the right fat content and lean meat.

[scott123]

Pork butt makes some of the best sausage. Has the right fat content and lean meat.

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I like pork butt for some sausages but when I'm looking for a more delicate flavor, I go with a boneless rib end loin and add about 30% ground fat with that. It's very subtle, almost like veal, but a LOT cheaper than veal.

[Peter B Wolf]

What makes a good sausage?  Fat content (%)?  Kinds of fat?  Very good casings information, and descriptves, I'm appreciating this.  Unsalted So far I've seen duck, all manner of poultry, pork, lobster and scallop... Hmmm...  My defenses are melting, melting...

Peter, oh please yes do share your spice mixture with us, fingertips and handfuls included, and could you also mention how much of this you use by the kilo or pound of meat?   

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Ok, it's you funeral:

per about 10kg meat (60% fatty Pork (plus about 20% more of its fat), 20/25% Veal (Breast meat is fine), rest Beef (I like Tenderloin trim because of the tenderness)

all Table Spoons:

2 Rosemary

4 Majoram

2 Poultry Seasoning

1/2 Mace

1/2 Nutmeg

2 Sugar

2 lb Onions, blanched with 8 l. Garlic Cloves in the least amount of water

10 slices stale white Bread soaked in the cooled down Onion Water.

Important: grind all meat, Bread Onions/Garlic and Spices together for better incorporation. Salt & Pepper to taste !! After grinding blend (not furiously) with 3/4 Eggs, taste by frying small patty, It's good !!! ?, Go stuff !!

[woodburner]

If your concerned about the budget, here is what I did when I started out.

I purchased a Mirro Cookie Press, which holds about 1 1/2lbs of ground sausage meat.

I found a small stuffing horn, which attached nicely to the end of the cookie press, which in turn one could easily fit about 3 yards of flushed casings on the horn. The press is operated by screwing down on the black handle which has a nice fine thread, allowing just the right amount of ground meat to enter the casings at a fairly slow pace.

This allowed me to purchase pork butts, have my local market grind the meat to my specific grind,(course or fine) and then spice and stuff in any imaginable way.

So here I was, into the sausage market, for less than $10.00

woodburner

Edited January 4, 2005 by woodburner (log)

[NulloModo]

Interesting that all of these sausage recipes keep including 'fillers' I've always thought they were an undesirable element in sausages, which is one of the big reasons I want to make my own... (that, and so I can smoke them...)

[woodburner]

Interesting that all of these sausage recipes keep including 'fillers' I've always thought they were an undesirable element in sausages, which is one of the big reasons I want to make my own... (that, and so I can smoke them...)

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Many sausage procedures require "binder's".

Your wurst attempt at homemade will be much better than most any store bought sausages.

woodburner

[Jinmyo]

Interesting that all of these sausage recipes keep including 'fillers' I've always thought they were an undesirable element in sausages, which is one of the big reasons I want to make my own... (that, and so I can smoke them...)

As with polpotonne or meat balls, the bread is not about "filling" but about tenderness.

[polack]

Interesting that all of these sausage recipes keep including 'fillers' I've always thought they were an undesirable element in sausages, which is one of the big reasons I want to make my own... (that, and so I can smoke them...)

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On the commercial side of the house they add binders too the sausage so it will keep approximately the same weight when it comes out of the smoker. You lose 10+% of the sausage weight when it's in the smoker so when someone is selling the sausage for a profit 10% could be a huge saving. Powdered milk will help in keeping the sausage from shrinking and keep its weight, one of quite a few add-ons. As far as smoking goes, I wouldn't recommend using the back yard smoker that cooks a barbecue, the heat would definitely be too high and overcook the sausage. Also when you're ready to start your venture, ask questions from someone that does it, it will save you time and of course wasting your hard work.

[NulloModo]

As far as smoking goes, I wouldn't recommend using the back yard smoker that cooks a barbecue, the heat would definitely be too high and overcook the sausage. Also when you're ready to start your venture, ask questions from someone that does it, it will save you time and of course wasting your hard work.

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Well, my smoker has an optional attachment, a 'Cold Smoke Baffle' that supposedly allows you to cold smoke things like cheese, vegetables, etc, which too high of direct heat would hurt, I can always look into using one of these to do sausages, but from what I have read from others experience, they just set the temp fairly low on the smoker and there is no problem.

[kellytree]

To start a hand cranked meat grinder works fine- quite often you can find them at garage sales for cheapo.

You will probably have to buy a plastic stuffing tube (maybe 8 bucks). Its important that when you fill the casings no air gets in or else the sausages could be ruined.

For the casings we use to soak them in wine overnight.

If I remember right we used 2% salt sor sausages. The rest is eyeballed.

One kind of sausage we use to make was with little squares of mozzerella in them - they have to be eaten within a couple days -- on the grill those babies are wonderful!

[jsolomon]

If you're handy with potable water-grade PVC, you should be able to fashion your own stuffing tube to attach to a hand-cranked grinder. Then, you'd grind your stuffing. Mix in the seasonings, toss in the coarsest (preferably no die at all) die, attach the pvc horn and casings, and stuff.

If I had some more scratch and time, I'd probably make one just for fun and post destruction on eG.

[polack]

As far as smoking goes, I wouldn't recommend using the back yard smoker that cooks a barbecue, the heat would definitely be too high and overcook the sausage. Also when you're ready to start your venture, ask questions from someone that does it, it will save you time and of course wasting your hard work.

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Well, my smoker has an optional attachment, a 'Cold Smoke Baffle' that supposedly allows you to cold smoke things like cheese, vegetables, etc, which too high of direct heat would hurt, I can always look into using one of these to do sausages, but from what I have read from others experience, they just set the temp fairly low on the smoker and there is no problem.

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Recommended temp. of finished product is 160 degrees. Let me tell you there's many ways to get your finished sausage, find one that makes the job easy and do it. You can go for days on end on how is the best way to make and smoke sausage, the only problem is that not everyone has the same equipment when making it. So look at the tools that you have and try it, after the first batch you can make adjustments to your process.

[Peter B Wolf]

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.

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Just found the right web site for you, hope I am not too late.

http://www.hertzmann.com/articles/2001/pork/

Got nice handy pictures

[andiesenji]

Interesting that all of these sausage recipes keep including 'fillers' I've always thought they were an undesirable element in sausages, which is one of the big reasons I want to make my own... (that, and so I can smoke them...)

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The bread or cracker crumbs are not a "filler" per se. They have a purpose, which is to keep the fat distributed throughout the mixture which makes the product a little "lighter" or more tender, less dense.