Sausage making tips

[miker]

your on the right track picking pork butt for the sausage.
But add some fresh raw unsmoked ham also, gives it the better texture and taste.
Grind that as the coarse meat, and the butts as the fine grind.

Don't trim the fat, unless it's very heavy. The secret to good sausage is the right blend of fat to meat, 20 % fat, 80 % meat, 25/75 is also good if you plan on smoking and curing it.

Add most of your seasonings to the fine grind, and then mix thouroughly with the coarse grind. Refrigerate overnight, then stuff casings or press to patties.

More on the finer arts tommorrow night, gotta go my friends

[miker]

On the subject of meat grinding, good quality sausage is a mixture of two grinds.

The coarse grind is used to retain the moisture of the sausage, as the coarseness of the meat will absorb the water and any liquids you add, be it egg, water or milk.

The finer grind that is almost a mash of meat, does not retain water well it is used to absorb the added flavors, spices,herbs, garlic whatever.

So to have a proper blend, again it is best to follow the rule of fat 20/80 or 25/75 to meat mixture. You would want to grind the leaner sections of meat that you have cut up for the grinder as your coarse grind, (usually a 3/16 th to a 1/4 inch plate) with rapid twists of the grinder, so a steady feed of meat is needed to prevent heat build up, from the drive screw to the plate and knives.

On the finer grind, this is the fatter parts of the meat, is best achieved by using 1/16th to 1/8th inch plate. There is no need for speed here, as a slow steady grind, will reduce heat build up, on the finer grind.
This reduces the fat to smaller particles, so during the cooking stage, this melts down quicker, dispelling the fat and retaining the water that you have added.

There is no need to seperate the meats, mix them thouroughly together, then add the remaining ingredients, mix well again then store overnight,mike

[MorelBelle]

Hey Miker! Any suggestions on where to purchase fresh casings? I have been using the dehyrated type since I do not seem to be able to locate fresh in my area.

[miker]

MB, your best bet is a local butcher shop that makes sausage, they will have some or have knowledge of where to get them, be prepared to pay extra as they are a kinda costly and do not have a long duration even if refrigerated,mike

[MorelBelle]

Thanks for the tip :)

[aml991]

for those of you who like to try to make sausage and don"t know where to get casings and supplys try the sausage source online i have delt with them for some time and they are really good people to deal with. they have all the spices and casings you could possibly need along with kits and such. (THESAUSAGESOURCE.COM)

[aml991]

also if you do try them and like brats try their hillsborough brat seasoning very mild and well blended they do have a wide variety of premixed seasonings