Double Grinding

[floydboy69]

Hi

We made pepperoni snackin sticks yesterday in the OBS.........turned out great.....one question tho. I mixed ground pork and beef and all the cure and spices together then reground with medium plate. The ground meat looked mushy so we stopped half way through and mixed the 2 grinds together. The result was the end product had a nice smooth texture that we both liked a lot better but it appeared to move slowly through the grinder....almost gummy like.

Is it a common practice to regrind the ground meat in order to get a smoother texture.

[GusRobin]

the meat was probably warm. Next time put it in the freezer for a bit to get the meat chilled.

[devo]

What he said but if it was me I would go with the course grind as I like it better for snack sticks. Maybe just me but I prefer it that way. Double grind for hotdog type of sausage.

[tskeeter]

My sausage making partner and I routinely double grind the meat using the coarse plate.  We grind.  Blend in spices.  Then grind again to help distribute spices better.  We prefer the more rustic texture that the coarse plate provides.

I suspect that, as Gus indicated, the "mushy" texture you encountered was the result of the meat getting warm. 

The process my partner and I use is to work in 5 pound batches.  (5 pounds is the stuffer capacity, so that determined our batch size.)  And we usually make about 15 pounds of sausage during a session.  (A package of Costco pork shoulder is about 15 pounds, so that determines how much we make each session.)  As each batch completes a step of the process, it is returned to the refrigerator or freezer, if there is space.  So, cut cold pork shoulder into chunks.  Into the freezer.  First grind.  Add spices.  Into the freezer.  Second grind.  Into the freezer.  Stuff casings.  Into the refrigerator.  All told, we go from pork shoulder to stuffed sausage, with the equipment rinsed and in the dish washer for sanitizing in about three hours.  And we start with chilled equipment.  Pans, grinder assembly, and stuffer barrel spend the night before a sausage session in the refrigerator, if there is room.  If space is tight, the pans might not make it into the fridge.  But the equipment where heat is generated, and that will cool down the slowest,  the grinder assembly, is always refrigerated over night.   

[floydboy69]

The meat was cold when it was ground. I wonder if the addition of the cure caused the gummy texture of the meat when it was grinding.

[Indy Smoker]

I made snack sticks the same method of a double grind with the same results. Now I just grind once and mix by hand for the spices. I recommend only grinding once.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[renoman]

I always grind twice to mix in the seasonings. Your meat became gummy because of the cure. If you were making fresh sausage this would not happen.