My beloved spouse picked me us a meat grinder/sausage stuffer for my birthday. It attaches to my Kitchenaid mixer. The second run with it was started on Sunday the 5th. It started with a nice 5 pounds of Ribeye roast. Ribeye was selected because it had enough fat to make some rather fine sausage. Often beef is so lean, you must add fat to it in order to achieve the right ratio of fat to muscle. The Ribeye was sliced, and then the slices were cubed to feed into the grinder. With valuable lessons learned from the previous attempt, the coarse plate was used for the grind. The ribeye had far less fibrous material in it than the pork which was previously done, and had very little clogging which happened at the plate. The freshly ground beef was mixed with the seasonings, and a bit of Merlot wine was added to make the stuffing process easier. It also added a nice flavor to the sausage. Natural casings were used. This was my second time dealing with separating, cleaning and sliding a casing over the horn. Lessons learned from the first attempt taught me to place a colander in the bottom of the sink to hold the casing while it was washed inside and out. All five pounds of stuffing went quickly and easily. The Big Joe was already fired up and stabilized at 200 with Pecan wood for the smoke. Additional smoking wood was added at this time, as the Kamado had been cooked on all day. The sausage took about 3 hours to hit the right internal temperature, which was quicker than the pork sausage made earlier in the day. The sausages were then soaked in cold water to help prevent the natural casing from shrinking and wrinkling. They went into the vacuum sealer for storage in the deep freeze, with one pack placed in the fridge for use within the next couple days.
