General sausage knowledge exchange

[winemakers]

I thought it might be really interesting to start a dialogue about techniques used in sausage making, both right and wrong and start an idea exchange on tips and tricks.  I am a long way from an expert, but as a long standing participant in the amateur ranks I have a few ideas I would like to throw out there for a peer review, and please, feel free to throw a flag and lambaste me I if I am off base.  Well, here goes:

As generic bullet list:

• ·If it is smoked, it gets cure, no exceptions, no excuses
  
  ·I keep meat chilled as long as possible prior to either boning, cutting, slicing, etc. prior to grinding.  However, I find that sharp grinder knives trump ultimate cold when it comes to reducing smearing.  That is, if my grinder is sharp but the meat isn't at 33 degrees, I will be fine.
  
  ·If you are linking sausage, that is either breakfast links, bratwurst, wieners, or any other single serving length, stuff far more loosely than you think you should.  As you stuff, if you think you are leaving enough room, leave more.  Nothing makes more of a mess, than trying to begin linking: begin your pinch and twist routine and have casing start splitting and making a mess.  Face it, casing is cheap, and if you have 2 inches between sausages no one but the casing police will chase you down (but your clean up is easier and your sausages are more uniform and easier to handle), therefore you win.
  
  ·If you are stuffing longer lengths: kielbasa, snack sticks etc. or large diameters like summer sausage: pay very close attention to the "tightness" of your stuffing.  Some sausages are sensitive to air pockets and the mouth feel of a tightly packed sausage is the expectation for some varieties.  Eg: with salami and summer sausage: stretch the casing! Crank on the pressure, and as such selecting a fibrous casing that will take a bunch of abuse is wise thinking.
  
  ·I mix all of my spice and cure products with the water/milk or other fluids in the recipe prior to adding this solution to and mixing with the meat.  I strongly believe that there is better and more uniform distribution throughout the meat and, as a generally lazy fellow, far less energetic mixing is necessary.
  
  ·Following your mixing in of ingredient goodness, pinch a piece fry and taste for seasoning.  The caveat, remember that cure #1, cheese, and some other spices need mellowing time to complete their contribution.  It is like tasting new wine, what you get now will change with time.  It is a necessary practice to taste newly mixed meat, but you also need to train your palate to interpret what will happen with aging, smoking, curing, drying etc.  Salt content however can be judged accurately and quickly.
  
  ·Pick the casing you can handle easily.  I am lazy, and while I love the snap of natural hog casing for my brats, if I balance untangling, washing, unknotting, rinsing, and handling of the naturals vs. pulling the collagen out of the package, cramming onto the horn and stuffing away, I believe the option that allows for more free hands for drinking beer is the clear winner.
  
  ·If it moves: grind it, stuff it, smoke it, eat it.
  
  ·If it does not move: crush it, press it, ferment it, drink it.
  
  ·Make a photo copy of the sausage recipe from your favorite book prior to handling your meat ( :o).  You will not care if the grinder spits blood spots on the copy, but you may if you get crud on your fancy new smoking book that you had to beg to get for your birthday.  Although, using the photocopy prevents the unendingly entertaining game of trying to get a hard cover cookbook to stay open to the page of your choice.
  
  ·Don't skimp on the fat content.  It is better to retrain yourself to eat fewer (than perhaps four ( ::))) bratwursts than to serve dry and unappealing sausage to your guests.
  
  ·Breakfast is better with meat
  
  ·It is not pizza without meat
  
  ·Cleanliness is godliness (not merely next to) when working with meat.  My wife loves it when we have a sausage weekend.  Our kitchen is never cleaner than just before and just after I have finished making a bunch of sausage.  Everything washable gets scrubbed and sterilized before and after.  The dishwasher is run on the sterilize cycle etc.  Having said that, I am not a clean freak, it's just that you are working with meat here and bad things can happen.
  
  ·My kids love doing this with me.  Perhaps it is that I am jolly when making sausage (perhaps the refreshments?).  They get involved when making and more importantly, months later as the little tubes of goodness come out of the freezer, they love to eat them without the kidstuff of "dad....cant we have something else.......dad, I don't want that.....
  
  ·Make a bunch at a time.  In this day and age, setting the time aside to complete a project like sausage making is the killer.  Doing the work is fun, entertaining and a reward in itself, but finding the time slot between football practice, soccer practice, swimming lessons, play dates...etc. is the killer.  When you do it, do it in bulk and make enough to last.  Don't worry about issues like: what if I don't like it?  If you go to the effort to make it, you will eat it and learn a lesson.

Wow, I need another beer.  Nah, a few fingers of Knob Creek are calling my name.


mld

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Wow, I need another beer.  Nah, a few fingers of Knob Creek are calling my name.

Did I hear beverage?

All good suggestions. I would add that for smoking sausages, temperature control is important to avoid rendering and ending up with a dry sausage. For my breakfast sausages using collagen casings, I find it easier just to cut them into links rather than twist. Also makes it easy to put them in vacuum bags for sealing and freezing.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Mr Walleye]

Great job Winemakers!  8)

I'm pretty new to sausage making but I've been doing my homework and so far so good. I look forward to keeping an eye on this thread for sure.

Mike

[Gizmo]

Do you recommend cubing the meat, adding the spices, let it blend a while, then grind it all together or cube, grind, then season and mix?  I have seen both ways written.

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Gizmo,

Good question. For me, I cube, grind, season/mix, then stuff. Especially for sausages where you are adding liquid (like brats), it is easier to add to the ground mixture then stuff. Same logic for distributing cure on a liquid carrier like water.

A_n_S

[coyote]

Me too guys . Cube , grind , season , mix.  However , with venison , I add fat off and on for the first
grind and then grind it all one more time. Slowly add seasoning and water while some lucky dog
cranks the mixer ;)


Coyote

[Habanero Smoker]

I cut into strip (for my KitchenAid grinder), season (except for adding powder milk, soy protein etc), then mix.

Its early in the morning as I read this so theses may already be listed; if so excuse me:

• Make sure all liquids to be add are ice cold. Its better to use crushed ice then ice water
• Salt is your friend. It is necessary to have the right amount of salt in order to form the primary bind.
• Remove as much sinew from the meat as you are cubing or cutting into strips. The sinew can wrap around the blades and become a cause for smearing. When doing large batches, occasionally check the blade and clean any accumulated sinew.
  

[winemakers]

HS points to a real time saver.  I strip the meat when preparing to grind rather than chunk or cube.  This is a personal preference, as when you pick up one end of the meat strip, feed it into your grinder, the rest self feeds and for a brief moment, that hand is available for another task (whatever that may be).

Strips like that make short work of a butt.  I bone the butt, then slice into +/- 1 inch oval sections, then slice those ovals into 1 by 1 strips that feed like majic into the grinder.

Kudos to the temperature police!  That is the single easiest way to muck up several hours of hard work.  Make arrangements to monitor the smoker properly before hand (chair position, distance to cooler, ringer off on the phone, spouse properly advised) and make sure the temp doesnt swing or spike.  Rotate racks or hanging positions as necessary for your setup and wink wink concentrate with your efforts.

[iceman]

HS points to a real time saver.  I strip the meat when preparing to grind rather than chunk or cube.  This is a personal preference, as when you pick up one end of the meat strip, feed it into your grinder, the rest self feeds and for a brief moment, that hand is available for another task (whatever that may be).

Strips like that make short work of a butt.  I bone the butt, then slice into +/- 1 inch oval sections, then slice those ovals into 1 by 1 strips that feed like majic into the grinder.

Kudos to the temperature police!  That is the single easiest way to muck up several hours of hard work.  Make arrangements to monitor the smoker properly before hand (chair position, distance to cooler, ringer off on the phone, spouse properly advised) and make sure the temp doesnt swing or spike.  Rotate racks or hanging positions as necessary for your setup and wink wink concentrate with your efforts.

Pretty much the same here. Meat stripped and very cold at all times. Ice in beverage glass even colder! No phone calls and visitors by invitation only. Double guard on temp control and triple duty on keeping glass full. I keep true to the story on how difficult it is doing all this but I don't mind suffering so I can provide the boss lady with quality foods.
It's a tough job but somebody has to do it!  ::) :D ;)

[Mr Walleye]

That's interesting... I discovered the strip method instead of cubing it the first time I make sausage. It creates a free hand and saves time for... ahh... important things!  ;)  :D

And ya can't over emphasize keeping adequate ice in that glass either!  ;)

Mike

[coyote]

Hey Iceman , That's why I let my son enjoy cranking the mixer. That way ol'dad always has
a free hand for an Ice cold adult beverage. ;D 8)

Coyote

[LilSmoker]

Hey Iceman , That's why I let my son enjoy cranking the mixer. That way ol'dad always has
a free hand for an Ice cold adult beverage. ;D 8)

Coyote

Haha! i like your way of thinking Coyote

I think this thread is a great idea, i'm gonna be doing some sausage in the near future, i haven't made any for years, i used to make lots when i was a kid working in a butchers shop.

Mind you, the majority of those sausages contained lots of rusk, and very little meat  :o

They were very popular though, and sold out very quickly, just goes to show, there's no accounting for taste!

[coyote]

Ahhhhh for the good old days Lilsmoker. :)....It just may be time to crank up the ol' sausage mill again. ;D

Coyote

[iceman]

Couldn't take it any longer and made up 10 pounds of sweet hot Italian links Saturday. Grilled some up and sauced them up over some pasta. Whew I ate too much!!!  :P :)

[Habanero Smoker]

Couldn't take it any longer and made up 10 pounds of sweet hot Italian links Saturday. Grilled some up and sauced them up over some pasta. Whew I ate too much!!!  :P :)

Yeah! I know what you mean. This weekend I made 10 pounds of bratwurst, of which I smoked 5 pounds and sauteed the other 5. That is just too much sausage to be available at one time. :)