Diving into Sausages

[pauli]

Hello All,

It has been quite some time since I last posted. Since then I have went from pulled pork to brisket to Fatties then on to belly bacon and lox, now a foray into sausage, first up brats and summer sausage.

I have alway used this site as reference and thank everyone for all their work. Would have been lost without it.

Now onto sausage making, I have spent the last couple weeks reading the pages of posts in the sausage forum until yesterday morning when I got to page 48 or so and Chef JJ posted biscuits and gravy. I had to make it so I did. Fell into a food coma. Thanks Chef JJ.

Anyway I have a few questions that I did not see answered.

For the SS, I plan to get some chuck and add some pork fat. I see people using back fat from the butcher, I have some uncured belly trims from bacon making Can I use this? I think so but want your thoughts.

I am going to use Lem seasoning kit. It has sodium erythorbate in it. Should I still add ECA and smoke right away or mix without the ECA, stuff, overnight in fridge and then smoke or mix, let sit overnight, add the ECA, stuff and smoke the next day?

For the brats, again using Lem fresh kit. I will make 5 lbs of a butt using the premix kit And then the other 5 lb of the WI brat recipe found on this site.

Questions, should I add some of the belly trim, if possible, see question above, to bring the fat up just a little or just make with the butt as is? I know personal preference but I do not want it too lean. I know I could trim the butt apart and accurately measure the ratio to dial in precisely.
Now the casings. They are on a roll supposedly for 25 lbs. Do I soak them all or try to separate enough for 10 lbs and only soak that much? If I soak all, should I dehydrate the remaining before bagging and storing.

Sorry for the long post. Hoping to have a long weekend next weekend.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[negolien]

Good luck lookin forward to seeing your journey

 

[jcam222]

Plenty of sausage gurus here. I expect you will get lots of answers once Easter clears

 

[chopsaw]

For the brats, again using Lem fresh kit. I will make 5 lbs of a butt using the premix kit And then the other 5 lb of the WI brat recipe found on this site.

If you're using the same pork butt to do the 10 pounds , make sure you grind it all first . Gently mix it , then divide it into the 2 batches . That way you keep the fat evened out in both . I use pork butt all the time and the fat is good for what I like .

I don't use ECA , so no input for that . I do use sodium erythorbate . It sets the color and acts as an antioxidant . I know it's used to speed the cure , but that's not why I use it .

 

[Fueling Around]

Are your casings dry packed in salt?
They all need to be soaked in brine water to hydrate. This will probably take around a week.
I rinse out more casing than I expect to use. I simply put them back in the liquid brine and store in the fridge.

 

[pauli]

Thanks Chopsaw. That is the plan. That way there is a direct comparison between the two varieties.

Fueling, I am assuming they are edible collagen. They are dry and on a tube.

 

[Fueling Around]

Sorry, I got it in my head they were natural.

From the LEM website

Take Care of Your Collagen Casings

1. Do not soak edible casings! Stuff edible casings dry. Soak non-edible casings 3-5 minutes in non-iodized salted (1 cup per gallon) water.
2. Save the bag. Return unused casings to the zip-lock bag.
3. Seal or tape the bag, as the casings must not dry or lose moisture. Refrigerate bag or place in a cooler so the casings retain moisture.
4. Do not store your casings unsealed. You won't be able to use the casings once they dry out.

Understanding Collagen Casings | LEM Products | The Leader In Game Processing

Why choose Collagen? Safety, Ease of Use, Speed of Use, Consistent Size & Appearance and Taste. We carry all the tools and equipment you need for easy Sausage making - including Collagen Casings.

www.lemproducts.com

 

[bauchjw]

I know nothing about sausages and the responses you are getting are from awesome veterans, but I’m going to tag indaswamp too!

 

[pauli]

Hey Fueling, thanks for clearing this up. I was under the impression they needed a 30 minute soak like the fiberous ones for the SS.

 

[chopsaw]

Thanks Chopsaw. That is the plan. That way there is a direct comparison between the two varieties.

Just make sure you grind it all and mix the whole together before you divide it .
Just saying it again to make sure you understand why .

 

[DougE]

If you're using the same pork butt to do the 10 pounds , make sure you grind it all first . Gently mix it , then divide it into the 2 batches . That way you keep the fat evened out in both .

This. If you're doing two different sausages from the same piece of meat, you need to grind all of it, mix to even the fat out, then divide. The other way is to separate out the fat from lean and grind separately, then add the fat back into each batch.

 

[indaswamp]

I have some uncured belly trims from bacon making Can I use this?

Can use belly, but extra care must be taken to prevent fat smear. Belly fat is much softer and easier to fat smear. Make sure your grinder knives are sharp and your plates and honed smooth to get a clean cut. Watch your temps. and make sure the fat is cold..30-32*F when grinding. I don't recommend grinding belly more than once unless first grind is very coarse...10mm or larger.

Should I still add ECA and smoke right away

Yes.

 

[DougE]

Should I still add ECA and smoke right away or mix without the ECA, stuff, overnight in fridge and then smoke or mix, let sit overnight, add the ECA, stuff and smoke the next day?

What sausages I use ECA in, I mix it in last, stuff, and straight onto the smoker. You could, I reckon, mix everything else, rest over night, add the ECA the next day, then stuff and smoke, but you don't need to do it that way. You do need to go right to smoking, or poaching (depending on how the sausages are finished) after adding the ECA and stuffing. I've seen where some mix in the ECA, stuff, and hold til the next day, but the directions on ECA say to add it last, mix enough to incorporate, and process immediately after stuffing.

 

[indaswamp]

I personally do not recommend holding after ECA is added to the sausage mince. The capsule around the acid is hydrogenated oil and if left to sit, over time it will become soft and rupture prematurely.

 

[DougE]

I personally do not recommend holding after ECA is added to the sausage mince. The capsule around the acid is hydrogenated oil and if left to sit, over time it will become soft and rupture prematurely.

I don't recommend it either. The directions on ECA use state that you should not hold after adding it, but go straight to smoking/cooking after it is added (after stuffing, of course, if you're making a cased sausage).

 

[pauli]

Thanks DougE and Indaswamp.

Mix thoroughly, add the ECA, mix again, stuff and onto the smoker it is.

In regard to the belly fat, It is frozen now so I will have to thaw, cut and freeze slightly before grinding. Once through with 5/16 plate. Get cold again.

The grinder is new. Should I home them anyway? I do this sometimes with other new knives.

Will plan to do 1 lb of this with 5 lb of chuck. Should be about 26.7% fat if the belly is 85% fat and the chuck is 15%. Is this still too much for SS?
Then hand mix with the meat which has been ground course, mixed with seasoning and ground fine, 5/16 also. Then mix all together until protein extraction occurs, stuff, dry in air for an hour or two then into the smoker.

Should I doctor the butt for the brats or just us the butt as is?

Eventually I will get better with quotes and such but not today.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[DougE]

Should I doctor the butt for the brats or just us the butt as is?

Not sure what you are asking. I use pork butt as is for all my pork sausages. The fat to lean is about perfect for sausage. If you want to make 2 separate batches off the same butt, then grind it all, mix lightly to get a somewhat even distribution of fat and divide after.

The other way to do it is to trim off the fat, separate it from the lean and grind both separately. Then divide the lean up into batches and add the ground fat back in. I usually just grind it all, mix it around a little to distribute the fat and call it good.

 

[indaswamp]

The grinder is new. Should I home them anyway?

You should be good to go if
the grinder is new. I recommend separate knives for each plate so you have a married set with the grooves that will eventually gt cut into the plates.

Is this still too much for SS?

No.

Should I doctor the butt for the brats or just us the butt as is?

Just rinse and use as is. Don't forget to cut out the glands though...should be under the fat cap. Once you find it, You will know where to look on every butt you cut up.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Don't forget to cut out the glands

Even I'm not sure what you are referring to here...

 

[tallbm]

Hello All,

It has been quite some time since I last posted. Since then I have went from pulled pork to brisket to Fatties then on to belly bacon and lox, now a foray into sausage, first up brats and summer sausage.

I have alway used this site as reference and thank everyone for all their work. Would have been lost without it.

Now onto sausage making, I have spent the last couple weeks reading the pages of posts in the sausage forum until yesterday morning when I got to page 48 or so and Chef JJ posted biscuits and gravy. I had to make it so I did. Fell into a food coma. Thanks Chef JJ.

Anyway I have a few questions that I did not see answered.

For the SS, I plan to get some chuck and add some pork fat. I see people using back fat from the butcher, I have some uncured belly trims from bacon making Can I use this? I think so but want your thoughts.

I am going to use Lem seasoning kit. It has sodium erythorbate in it. Should I still add ECA and smoke right away or mix without the ECA, stuff, overnight in fridge and then smoke or mix, let sit overnight, add the ECA, stuff and smoke the next day?

For the brats, again using Lem fresh kit. I will make 5 lbs of a butt using the premix kit And then the other 5 lb of the WI brat recipe found on this site.

Questions, should I add some of the belly trim, if possible, see question above, to bring the fat up just a little or just make with the butt as is? I know personal preference but I do not want it too lean. I know I could trim the butt apart and accurately measure the ratio to dial in precisely.
Now the casings. They are on a roll supposedly for 25 lbs. Do I soak them all or try to separate enough for 10 lbs and only soak that much? If I soak all, should I dehydrate the remaining before bagging and storing.

Sorry for the long post. Hoping to have a long weekend next weekend.

Thanks,
Paul

Can't really help you with the ECA and sodium erythorbate stuff I'm pretty sure there should be no issue with mixing mixing everything (don't break the ECA), stuffing and smoking. I'm quite sure you supposed to stuff and smoke as soon as possible when you add the ECA.
As long as you are 20% fat or better you should be good to go with SS.

For the Brats and using LEM's Fresh Brat seasoning (it's amazing!) I can help you there.
Just going with the pork but alone will be fine. They are around 80/20 or better anyhow unless you trimmed it or managed to get a lean one... which I've never seen exist.
Now I highly highly highly recommend you mix the LEM's brat seasoning by weight. Not by the volume measure they mention in the package instructions because it does not scale properly with how not standard the measuring tools are.
I use this stuff every year and have nailed the "by weight" amount per pound.
I highly recommend you use 27.3gm of LEM's Fresh Brat seasoning per pound of sausage meat you have. Still follow the same water instructions on the package but use this much per pound.
You will NEVER end up too salty or too bland BUT don't trust me by word alone. Verify it with a fry test!

When you start making sausage a major step to NEVER skip is to do a fry test after you mix the seasoning into your meat.

Fry test = get a small amount and fry it in a skillet and taste it.
The test will tell you if you are too salty or too bland. It doesn't always give you the exact final flavor but lets you know if you have messed up!!!
Do it EVERY time because sometimes you simply forget a seasoning or miss measure with everything that is going on and catching it before you stuff pounds and pounds of sausage is a life saver!

You are also doing a WI brat recipe from online here, the fry test will let you know if it's good to go or needs some additions/corrections.

As for casings, it's hard to judge who much is 10 pounds plus you want to have extra ready incase of blow outs or bad casings so I suggest you just get them all ready.
Also buying the "home packs" (in a small plastic vac sealed bag) are the worst and lowest quality casings you can buy. I believe they are the oddballs and cast offs that didnt make the cut for being packaged as the "Hank" casings offerings (usually does 100 pounds and usually stored in liquid brine solution). They will do fine for your 1st attempt just prep them well and in the future you will want to buy Hanks or tubed natural casings online because they won't be the poor quality of the home packs.

When done you can remove all the excess water. cover in salt, pack and store. I vac seal mine and freeze them though I hear you are not supposed to do that. Never had an issue with doing this and reusing them.

This post on how to prep and treat natural casings is EVERYTHING for making life easier when dealing with them. Follow this vs any instructions written on the pack. Long story short. Rinse and then Soak those casings a week before using and change out water every few days. The casings will be a million times better to work with and behave better:

How to handle natural casings

Thought I would post up what I do with natural casings. I use naturals 99.9% of the time when making sausages be it sheep or hog casings. I get compliments about how the casing are very delicate and have a perfect snap when you bite into the sausage. I believe the quality of the casings is part...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I hope all this info helps :D