Disclaimer... Only have one photo because my hands were gunked with sausage and casings during the process.
So I got a grinder and stuffer for Christmas and this book
.
Ordered some casings online.
Used my new turboforce grinder to grind up some pork butt for hot italian sausage. 5lbs or so. Grinder worked like a dream. Letting the meat chill in the freezer for a bit really seemed to work as the meat came through the plate with a consistent texture. From what I understand putting all the metal parts of the grinder in the fridge for a while also helps stop the meat from gumming up.
Now I followed the instructions on the package as far as handling the casings, not what I read on here or in the sausage making book. Mistake #1! Package said to soak in warm water for 45 minutes and that's it. Book and SMF seem to say 24 hours in cold water. I am assuming the soaking makes them wet, therefore more flexible. I wet the nozzle of my stuffer but still struggled while loading the casing onto the nozzle. Seemed like a lot of friction happening. Would the overnight soak help this.
Had a few blowouts and rips which I attribute mostly to the casing not being soaked long enough? Does that make sense? Well here is the final product. 5 lbs of hot italian sausage.
Not exactly even or beautiful but I can't wait to taste them.
So I got a grinder and stuffer for Christmas and this book
.
Ordered some casings online.
Used my new turboforce grinder to grind up some pork butt for hot italian sausage. 5lbs or so. Grinder worked like a dream. Letting the meat chill in the freezer for a bit really seemed to work as the meat came through the plate with a consistent texture. From what I understand putting all the metal parts of the grinder in the fridge for a while also helps stop the meat from gumming up.
Now I followed the instructions on the package as far as handling the casings, not what I read on here or in the sausage making book. Mistake #1! Package said to soak in warm water for 45 minutes and that's it. Book and SMF seem to say 24 hours in cold water. I am assuming the soaking makes them wet, therefore more flexible. I wet the nozzle of my stuffer but still struggled while loading the casing onto the nozzle. Seemed like a lot of friction happening. Would the overnight soak help this.
Had a few blowouts and rips which I attribute mostly to the casing not being soaked long enough? Does that make sense? Well here is the final product. 5 lbs of hot italian sausage.
Not exactly even or beautiful but I can't wait to taste them.