What cuts of pork do you guys buy to make sausage with?
I have only made sausage a few times, but I'd really like to learn to do it well. I'm having trouble getting the fat ratio right. The first batch I did a few weeks back I bought pork shoulder, but they had cut it into roasts and pretty clearly trimmed it. The sausage was way too lean. It dried out and had little taste.
This time I got country spare ribs, a shoulder butt. As I was cutting it up it looked to me like it was going to be too fatty, but I tried it anyway. These came out MUCH better. Juicy, held their shape, great taste. They're fattier than I want them, though. Frying them up dropped a lot of fat in the pan. I'd like to find that happy medium. I'm getting closer.
I have read about some folks adding fat to their meat cuts to get their ratios right. I am curious as to what people start with and how they figure it all out.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/6817194950_e8a10cb30e_o.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekhardt/6817194950/)
Its basically what you like. I have made sausages for years and not worrying about fat I add a lot of it. A good pork sausage, fresh, has at least 75% pork and 25% of beef or venison. BUt then I make beef sausage out of 80/20 ground beef and it is good also. Ithink you should do what I did experiment until you hit what you enjoy. I made a lot of sausage some good some not so good but I never threw anything out. Piker
Thanks Piker. After tasting the finished product I'm guessing that my first batch was about 10%. This batch seemed to be about 35-40% I think I'd be happy with 25%. I like fat and the flavor it brings, but this was greasy to the point that it was distracting.
If I use straight GB then I use 85/15 if making like venison sausage I use 2 venison to 1 ground pork butt.
I shoot for 30% fat. A lot cooks out and the sausage is always moist and tasty.
bek
I make 10 lbs batches and use an 80/20 mixture, thats 80% meat and 20% pork fat, I get my fat from trimmed out boston butts, I have a chef connection that saves me all of his pork fat.
Bill
When I said 75% pork I meant either 75%/25% ground pork or I use picnic shoulders which is almost the same. Piker
When i make any of my sausage i use 80/20 pork i by the trimmings in 60 pound boxes. Ground beef is just marked as regular beef not sure of the fat content. My butcher shop i use to by the beef from closed so now the guy i get it from sells 10 pound tubes of ground beef . Not the best but it works .
i was originally told about 20% fat and that was from pork jowls , and now i usally use 20-30% and that is from bacon ends from our local butcher.and then for for peppronni usally about 10% bacon ends .