Sausages--Cook-Off 17

[Chris Amirault]

I just think about those old Italian guys who probably didn't have disinfectants and figure that they made crazy-good stuff in dripping caves and moldy basements and lived into their twilight years with lots of friends. And I also remember watching the master tending his cured sausage in Barcelona who simply wiped down every stick with olive oil, regardless of the color of its mold.

[Kerry Beal]

I just think about those old Italian guys who probably didn't have disinfectants and figure that they made crazy-good stuff in dripping caves and moldy basements and lived into their twilight years with lots of friends. And I also remember watching the master tending his cured sausage in Barcelona who simply wiped down every stick with olive oil, regardless of the color of its mold.

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It's probably like sour dough in San Francisco, or vinegar in Modena - the air is full of the right yeasts and bacteria and the product has no choice but to get 'contaminated' with the right stuff.

[Chris Amirault]

Just a quick report that Aidell's hunter sausage is a keeper: 2# pork and 1# bacon plus spices, ginger, garlic, mustard. I do think that it would have benefited from more fat -- it's quite lean even with the bacon ground in.

Indeed, I'm finding consistently that I should be adding more fat than I get from a typical Coleman shoulder or butt. They trim off too much....

[HKDave]

Just a quick report that Aidell's hunter sausage is a keeper: 2# pork and 1# bacon plus spices, ginger, garlic, mustard. I do think that it would have benefited from more fat -- it's quite lean even with the bacon ground in.

Indeed, I'm finding consistently that I should be adding more fat than I get from a typical Coleman shoulder or butt. They trim off too much....

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Full recipe for Aidells hunter sausage here: http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/kgk/2002/0502/hunters.html

I'm with you on the need to add fat. Lots of sausage recipes, especially older ones, assume you can grind shoulder and you'll get a good lean/fat ratio. That was marginally true back in the days when a whole shoulder was around 25-30% fat. These days, thanks to tighter trimming and decades of lean breeding, most pork shoulder is down to around 15-18% fat, and we've got to compensate for that.

As a rule, I assume trimmed commercial shoulder is 15% and add fat to hit 35-40%. If you're over by 5% on the fat, it's pretty much unnoticeable; but if you're too low, you can end up with dry product.

In the Aidells hunter recipe, assuming that you had 2# shoulder @15% fat, and 1# bacon @50%, you would have been roughly 27% fat. That's at the low end for juicy sausage. Get that up to 35% and I bet those will be even tastier puppies...

[hummingbirdkiss]

I am stir crazy today ...so I think I will make sausage ..breakfast links ..I want them to be sweet but not , a bit spicy and smoky

I have every herb and spice on the planet so if you have some suggestions I would love to think outside my own box!

I have standards I always go to

chile, cumin and sage

curry

garlic, fennel, black pepper and rosemary

maple, red chile with lime (a great accident!)

I want new ..fresh and exciting ... the inside to be spiced up a lot ...and the outside to have a mild smoke finish..

help please?

thank you

I froze my casings you think they will be ok?

[Magictofu]

I froze my casings you think they will be ok?

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Did the same with mine and they were fine.

[Magictofu]

If you want something a little unusual, why not make fish sausage?

[Peter the eater]

If you want something a little unusual, why not make fish sausage?

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I made salmon sausages last summer. Fresh farmed Atlantic salmon trimmings seasoned with dill, stuffed in collagen casings. They were a six out of ten.

[Magictofu]

Six out of ten is not great but I did have some outstanding arctic char sausage in a restaurant a while ago.

[hummingbirdkiss]

LOOK AN OUTDOOR FRIDGE LOLOL!!!!!

OH you guys I am so going to try some fish and perhaps seafood sausage???

this sounds a little sick but dont you think a clam sausage with a little salt pork may be good?

we had a ton of thundersnow yesterday and I spent it elbow deep in ground meat kind of gross actually but productive as hell

I made some lamb sausage that was very much like kofta (the darker ones in the picture) and served it last night with babaganoosh radishes and celery ..what a great dinner!

the breakfast sausage that was a combo of the Sage Ginger one in the charcuterie thread and New Mexican red along with extra herbs and cranberries ...freaking awesome! Perfect breakfast sausage if you ask me and really really easy to make!

the cranberries/chile were the thing that recipe needed I swear it evened out the ginger and sage perfectly! now the flavors are equally loud and enjoyable!

Edited December 19, 2008 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[MarkinHouston]

Questions about your tweaks: Did you add 1 Tbsp of NM red chile to the breakfast sausage recipe? Were the cranberries dried? Did you macerate them beforehand?

Fresh or dried rosemary? Thanks for your response--pork butts are 67 cents per pound this weekend.

[Magictofu]

"clam sausage with a little salt pork may be good"

This is one of my favourite combination... never seen it in a sausage form but I assume you would need some breadcrumbs to absorb the extra moisture from the clams. These would be expensive sausages too!

[hummingbirdkiss]

Questions about your tweaks:  Did you add 1 Tbsp of NM red chile to the breakfast sausage recipe? Were the cranberries dried? Did you macerate them beforehand?

Fresh or dried rosemary? Thanks for your response--pork butts are 67 cents per pound this weekend.

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I used half dried garden herbs, and just ground a few handfuls of whole frozen cranberries with the meat .. so they blended but are still distinct in the mix

and yes I added 1 big heaping tbl of NM red (Xtra hot)

everything matched perfectly if you like a lot of excitment in your mouth then you have to try this! it is really good!

Edited December 19, 2008 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

"clam sausage with a little salt pork may be good"

This is one of my favourite combination... never seen it in a sausage form but I assume you would need some breadcrumbs to absorb the extra moisture from the clams. These would be expensive sausages too!

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you are right clams are way to much a luxury right now to even be thinking about grinding them into a sausage

I think I was having a little fantasy there for a moment !

[MarkinHouston]

Questions about your tweaks:  Did you add 1 Tbsp of NM red chile to the breakfast sausage recipe? Were the cranberries dried? Did you macerate them beforehand?

Fresh or dried rosemary? Thanks for your response--pork butts are 67 cents per pound this weekend.

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I used half dried garden herbs, and just ground a few handfuls of whole frozen cranberries with the meat .. so they blended but are still distinct in the mix

and yes I added 1 big heaping tbl of NM red (Xtra hot)

everything matched perfectly if you like a lot of excitment in your mouth then you have to try this! it is really good!

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Thanks for your quick response. I have all of those on hand and just returned from the store with the pork.

[Chris Hennes]

Today I made the Bavarian Bratwurst from the CIA's Garde Manger: they were more or less successful, though of course there are some things I will change next time.

I'm using scraps from the pig I bought last year, so the fat content is a little higher than shoulder, but not by too much. The seasonings are primarily marjoram and mace, with a bit of black pepper and lemon zest, as well as a bit of granulated sugar.

As usual, I monitored the temp a lot and tried to keep things very cold. I added the water in ice form, as recommended by the CIA book. I first crushed it in the blender so that I didn't have a lot of chunks of ice flying around in the mixing bowl: that worked quite well.

One of the things I did differently this time was to try to do a "minimal" bind, where I stopped the mixer as soon as the meat came together and was starting to look sticky.

As you can see from the definition, the meat was ground on a medium plate, which is not my favorite texture for brats. Also, unfortunately, using the very light bind created problems with the final stuffed texture of the sausage. It did not hold together as well as I prefer, and left far more air pockets than usual.

The flavor is very good: exactly what you would expect a brat to taste like if you grew up in the Midwest (i.e. Johnsonville brat country). This is nice for when you serve homemade brats at a picnic: when you tell people they are brats, this is the flavor profile they are expecting. I think the addition of the lemon zest adds an interesting component, but it is too far in the background, IMO; next time I am going to add much more zest.

[Ross Boyce]

So, my meat grinder/sausage stuffer has arrived. I've got my hog casings, curing salts and dextrose and there's a lovely rare-breed pig breeder in the next village.

But, erm... I'm not sure what to do now.

Does anyone have any advice or recipe recomendations? I'd rather try small batches 'till I know what I'm doing.

[Dave Hatfield]

So, my meat grinder/sausage stuffer has arrived. I've got my hog casings, curing salts and dextrose and there's a lovely rare-breed pig breeder in the next village.

But, erm... I'm not sure what to do now.  

Does anyone have any advice or recipe recomendations? I'd rather try small batches 'till I know what I'm doing.

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Here's a simple start:

-grind your pork adding no more than 10% fat.

- Mix well with a modicum of salt plus coarse ground pepper plus fennel seeds (about 1 tablespoon per 1 lb of meat) plus finely chopped fresh garlic to taste (you can also use garlic granules if preferred, but NOT garlic salt.) plus herbs de Provence (about 1 teaspoon per pound). Make sure the mixture is well kneaded by hand.

- Fill your grinder, mount your casing (making sure it is well rinsed and free of salt) and away you go. Be sure to hold the casing back a bit to ensure good full filling. Don't be tempted to do very long sausages at first, a foot or so is plenty until you get used to the process.

- Tie off you sausages into convenient lengths and you're ready to fry.

As a note to those who don't have a grinder/ stuffer you can buy the ground pork from a butcher/ market then mix as above. Then take a handful of the mixture, not too large & roll between your hand into a rough sausage shape. Place this on a piece of cling film & wrap the cling film around it. Now roll the cling film back & forth on a smooth surface pressing from the center. Unwrap and you have a reasonably shaped sausage.

Not quite the real thing, but they fry up pretty well.

[nickrey]

So, my meat grinder/sausage stuffer has arrived. I've got my hog casings, curing salts and dextrose and there's a lovely rare-breed pig breeder in the next village.

But, erm... I'm not sure what to do now.  

Does anyone have any advice or recipe recomendations? I'd rather try small batches 'till I know what I'm doing.

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Here's a simple start:

-grind your pork adding no more than 10% fat.

- Mix well with a modicum of salt plus coarse ground pepper plus fennel seeds (about 1 tablespoon per 1 lb of meat) plus finely chopped fresh garlic to taste (you can also use garlic granules if preferred, but NOT garlic salt.) plus herbs de Provence (about 1 teaspoon per pound). Make sure the mixture is well kneaded by hand.

- Fill your grinder, mount your casing (making sure it is well rinsed and free of salt) and away you go. Be sure to hold the casing back a bit to ensure good full filling. Don't be tempted to do very long sausages at first, a foot or so is plenty until you get used to the process.

- Tie off you sausages into convenient lengths and you're ready to fry.

As a note to those who don't have a grinder/ stuffer you can buy the ground pork from a butcher/ market then mix as above. Then take a handful of the mixture, not too large & roll between your hand into a rough sausage shape. Place this on a piece of cling film & wrap the cling film around it. Now roll the cling film back & forth on a smooth surface pressing from the center. Unwrap and you have a reasonably shaped sausage.

Not quite the real thing, but they fry up pretty well.

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One additional but vital point. Make sure the meat/mixture is cold throughout the process. If it heats up too much, the fat splits from the meat. When cooked the fat leaches off leaving behind most unpleasant chewy mince in bags.

[OliverB]

funny, an other rather timely thread to pop up, as I hope to get around to making my first ones this weekend - finally.

Now, for the whole temp thing, how long does the grinder thing stay cold if it's from the freezer? At least mine is made from aluminum, which warms up pretty quick. I'm kind of thinking about making some kind of ice sleeve wrapper thing for it. They sell those plastic bubble things for wine bottles, look like a bunch of sausages next to each other forming a tube. I think it should be possible to cut that open and modify it a bit to add more cooling to the machine.

My freezer is tiny, for some reason the former owner of our relatively large house had only an apartment size fridge planned for the kitchen. I don't have an ice maker nor do I have room for making cubes, but I can always get a bag at Safeway. Just takes more planning.

Do you semi freeze your meat after cutting but before grinding? I'm going to make some Nuremberg brats, the one and only, the king of brats. And I got a recipe from a Nuremberg area butcher and I can't wait! Have to make some Bavarian Brezeln to go along with them :-)

Now I just hope that I actually find the time to make them......

[ilikefood]

Do you semi freeze your meat after cutting but before grinding?

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Yes, I semi freeze after cutting and mixing with the salt and seasonings. Then I grind.

I'm going to make some Nuremberg brats, the one and only, the king of brats. And I got a recipe from a Nuremberg area butcher

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Sounds wonderful! I have never had a Nuremberg brat. How are they different from regular brats? Please let us know how they turn out. Could you share the recipe with another brat lover? - Thanks!

[Chris Amirault]

Does anyone have any advice or recipe recomendations? I'd rather try small batches 'till I know what I'm doing.

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There's a handy summary of Society members' advice in this post.

[OliverB]

Sounds wonderful! I have never had a Nuremberg brat. How are they different from regular brats? Please let us know how they turn out. Could you share the recipe with another brat lover? - Thanks!

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How do they differ, well, they just are different. Best brats IMO, but I'm biased as I grew up outside Nuremberg :-) Of course the recipes are a plenty, but here's what I'll be using, give to me from a person that comes from a long line of butchers in Nuremberg:

For one kg of sausages:

400g pork shoulder

600g pork belly, not too lean (or you might have to add some fatback)

16g salt

2g pepper

0.5 g mace

0.5g ginger (dried I'm sure)

1.5g majoram

You can increase mace and ginger to 1g if you like

run all this through the grinder (Fleischwolf in German, meat wolf) with a disk that has 3-4.5mm holes. Add one egg and a couple spritzes of lemon juice (important to bring the taste together). Knead until it all comes together nicely and then stuff into cases. In Germany they are rated by caliber, so here a caliber 22/24 casing is used, I have no idea what that means in English though. He ties them into 10cm long sausages, I will most likely use the smallest casing I have and the small funnel thing on my stuffer. The traditional way I know for these is the size of about a finger, a bit like breakfast links, maybe a bit larger. He also says that you can increase the salt to 18g, depending on taste.

Roast them that day or freeze. They work great on the bbq. If you can find any locally, get either some Bavarian Brezeln (which have little in common with the US kind of pretzel) or nice crunchy rolls, cut in half, add two links, yellow mustard and a beer :-) Safeway here makes nice little rolls called Dutch Crunch, they would be just about perfect IMO.

I have the meat, not sure if I'll get to it today though, if you (or anybody else here) makes these, please share pictures and stories!

Oliver

[OliverB]

by the way, I don have one question, would I take the skin off the belly and shoulder parts? My guess is yes, but as I've never made this nor ever ground any meat with a grinder, I have no idea if the skin would just be ground up fine enough to stay in there?

Thanks!

oliver

[ilikefood]

OliverB - thanks for the recipe! The ingredients you list are similar to the brat recipe in Charcuterie, minus the majoram and lemon (and nutmeg instead of mace). Let us know how they turn out! I just might have to try the recipe

My thought is to remove the skin from the belly and shoulder. Although it will be ground up, I would think it would create little hard "bits" within the soft texture of the sausage. You can always save the skin and use for body in soups/stews/beans.