Sausage recipe--am I on the right track?

[smokehawk]

Just a little help friends if you don't mind!  I have been thinking about working a sausage recipe in the smoker but I would at least have it come out good so I can tweak it to my taste.


I want to do a 3-4lb run.  I am thinking of either using ground ribeye or sirloin as the base with about 25%-50% ground pork for the additional fat content. 

For the seasoning, I intend to use some balance of:

Coarse ground black pepper
Ground garlic
Red Pepper flakes
Ground fennel seed
Salt
Sage (instead of anise since I'm not fond of this spice)
Sugar (small amount)
A small amount of cayenne

Any tips, thoughts, or recipes that you have as a suggestion?  It helps to look at things to see what works.  I appreciate the help as always!

[pensrock]

Depending on how lean the beef you plan to use is will help with how much pork butt to use. When I make my venison smoked sausage I do 50-50 venison to pork butt and it comes out great. if you get too little fat it will be dry and you do not want that. I would probably go with a 50-50 mix, you can always cut it back on the next batch if you want but you do not want it dry. Do not forget to add some water when mixing in the spices. It will stuff easier and mix in better. You will need cure if you plan to smoke it, if it is going to be used as a fresh sausage than you will not need the cure unless you want to add it for the taste. You may want to look over several other similar recipes to see if the spices you selected are what you want and for the amount to use. At least then you will have something to start off with then you can change things more to your own liking.

[TedEbear]

Any tips, thoughts, or recipes that you have as a suggestion?  It helps to look at things to see what works.  I appreciate the help as always!

Looks good.  Here's a link to the sausage section on the forum recipe site if you'd like to try a few more.

Sausage Recipes

[Tenpoint5]

What flavor or type of sausage you looking formaybe one of us might already have a recipe you can start with like Pensrock mentioned. Then you can tweek it from there to your wifes liking. Yes your wifes liking cause we all know If momma ain't happy nobody is happy!

[Habanero Smoker]

When I work on a sausage recipe and after I have an idea of what I want to do, I go to Sausage Recipe Secrets; and use Marianski's guidelines. I find it a great help.