I want to do maple sticks using 80/20 ground beef. I talked to a butcher for seasoning and he said they use maple extract and add 1 oz of cure #1 to to 1 quart of water. I could not find maple extract at the grocery store but do have mapleine. Is this all I need to make the sausage or should I be adding some spice also? The sticks I have tasted from another butcher sure had a nice sweet maple flavor that both the wife and I liked.
How much sausage are you making?
I'm confused by the large amount of Cure #1 and water you are using in your recipe. If you give more information about how much you are making, I and others can assist you more. Other seasoning are generally added, such as salt, pepper, other seasonings. Is the mapleine a flavoring or are you talking about the syrup (which is imitation maple syrup); so to get the sweetness you may need to add a sweetener.
I am only going to make 5# so I will use 1 teaspoon of insta cure #1 to 2 cups of water. Mapleine is a liquid used to make homemade maple syrup. To make the syrup you take 1 cup of boiling water,2 cups of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of Crescent mapleine. It tastes just like syrup only thinner. Not sure how much mapleine I should add to water and cure?
Why not just use the real stuff? (maple syrup)
Lump
I thought about that too. Tell me if this sounds OK. I cup brown sugar,1 cup kosher salt,2 cups of water,1 teaspoon of cure#1 and 1 tablespoon of mapleine( I have had it sitting in a bowl and it is taking on a stronger flavor).
Personally I would back off on the brown sugar and add more maple.
Thats how I do my salmon candy.........add maple syrup in the brine and brush it on just before smoking.
Lump
WD
1 cup of salt sounds like a lot of salt for 5 lbs of sticks to me. In most of my recipes I use 1 Tbs salt to every 2 lbs of meat. This is in addition to the cure. The cure has a high salt content as well.
Mike
OK going to use this only instead of venison going to use ground beef. Also going to add 1 tsp insta cure #1.
http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/deer-sausage-recipe.html
The liquid amount in the recipe you posted is as high as you want to go for 5 pounds (1 cup = 1/2 cup Maple Syrup + 1/2 cup ice water).
If you are going to use the Mapleine flavoring and not the Maple syrup, you should mix up a small batch of Mapleine syrup then add 1/2 cup of that to your sausage. I tablespoon of Mapleine flavoring I believe would be way too much flavoring.