Sausage making session - butt to freezer

[philpom]

While I smoked beef ribs and pork belly last weekend the wife and I (mostly the wife) also broke down an 11 pound pork butt, coarse ground it and whipped up almost 10 pounds of pork sausage. Nothing cured or exotic, just your standard household staples.

2 pounds breakfast sausage
2 pounds chorizo sausage
2 pounds spicy ghost Italian sausage
4 pounds regular Italian sausage

Vacuum sealed in 1 pound portions and frozen/ready for use. I love knowing what's in our food!

I like to push them out flat after sealing them, they store in the deep freeze like a filing cabinet. Pretty easy work and we ended up with all of this sausage for $0.88 a pound.

 

[indaswamp]

Nicely done! Making sausage does not have to be complicated. I made fresh sausage like that for years before I moved up to smoke sausages....then the more advanced charcuterie of salami.

 

[philpom]

Nicely done! Making sausage does not have to be complicated. I made fresh sausage like that for years before I moved up to smoke sausages....then the more advanced charcuterie of salami.

I agree however I do enjoy making cured sausage it just takes much more time that I don't have at this point. I do manage a few batches of summer sausage, cured meat sticks, bacon and some pastrami each year. One day I'll have time for some hard salami, pepperoni etc and I'd like to deep dive in to deli meats as-well. Cold cuts will likely be the next thing I tackle in earnest...

 

[indaswamp]

... Cold cuts will likely be the next thing I tackle in earnest...

Canadian bacon is a fairly straight forward process...and oh so delicious!

 

[mike243]

Looks great, I smash flat for storage and also it thaws faster.

 

[chopsaw]

Nice work , and I agree . All the profiles you made are household staples . That bulk Chorizo makes great taco meat .
I just did a run of Italian and breakfast sausage . Did a couple chubs of SS , and I leave a couple pounds of ground pork unseasoned . That way I can thaw and mix something up short notice .
I don't store flat , but like Mike says , thawing is a big plus to that .

Cold cuts will likely be the next thing I tackle in earnest...

That's become an addiction for me . I like the whole muscle stuff , but the ground and mixed stuff is what I like the best . Len Poli has a section on lunch meats that's good .
I used an old butter tub as a mold to get started . It works good enough that I still use it , an a cheap foil bread pan .
Started with spam .

Pickle loaf

Olive loaf

Last batch I did was chopped ham

 

[Winterrider]

Those loafs look delicious chopsaw !

 

[chopsaw]

Those loafs look delicious

Thanks . That pickle loaf was amazing . Never expected it to taste so authentic . The pimento makes it , and the olive loaf . The spam was legit too . Without all the salt .

2 pounds breakfast sausage
2 pounds chorizo sausage
2 pounds spicy ghost Italian sausage
4 pounds regular Italian sausage

I love the color on that Chorizo . Is that a mix or from scratch ?

 

[philpom]

Thanks . That pickle loaf was amazing . Never expected it to taste so authentic . The pimento makes it , and the olive loaf . The spam was legit too . Without all the salt .



I love the color on that Chorizo . Is that a mix or from scratch ?

It's a scratch house mix. Happy to share if you would like.

 

[chopsaw]

Happy to share

Sure . I have an AC Leggs mix . It's ok .

 

[philpom]

Sure . I have an AC Leggs mix . It's ok .

Posted it here. Enjoy

Mi Casa Chorizo Recipe

 

[dougrkyle]

While I smoked beef ribs and pork belly last weekend the wife and I (mostly the wife) also broke down an 11 pound pork butt, coarse ground it and whipped up almost 10 pounds of pork sausage. Nothing cured or exotic, just your standard household staples.

2 pounds breakfast sausage
2 pounds chorizo sausage
2 pounds spicy ghost Italian sausage
4 pounds regular Italian sausage

Vacuum sealed in 1 pound portions and frozen/ready for use. I love knowing what's in our food!

View attachment 678875

I like to push them out flat after sealing them, they store in the deep freeze like a filing cabinet. Pretty easy work and we ended up with all of this sausage for $0.88 a pound.

Can I ask if you would share how you are getting it down to .88 cents a pound? Around me the best I can do on sale is around a dollar for a bone in butt.

Thanks

Doug

 

[Fueling Around]

Can I ask if you would share how you are getting it down to .88 cents a pound? Around me the best I can do on sale is around a dollar for a bone in butt.

Thanks

Doug

The Texas people seem to find sub $1 per pound pork butt on a regular basis.
You are fortunate to get it at $1 per pound. Best I can find both in Florida and Minnesota is around $1.80 per pound. Still better than the pre-ground price in the meat case at the market.

Welcome from a Minnesotan that snowbirds in Florida
Stop over at

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This is where all new members should begin. Tell us a little about yourself, where you live, what you do, etc. Just helps us get to know you better;-)

www.smokingmeatforums.com

and introduce yourself.

 

[philpom]

Can I ask if you would share how you are getting it down to .88 cents a pound? Around me the best I can do on sale is around a dollar for a bone in butt.

Thanks

Doug

Obviously the price point doesn't include the labor or spices but we keep those on hand in bulk. Ad mentioned above we regularly find pork shoulder and pork butt for .88 cents per pound. Choice ribeye for under $5 a pound, ribs for under $2 a pound, leg quarters for .69 cents a pound etc. We live near DFW and grocery stores are on every corner. Competition is fierce.

Albertsons and Kroger typically have the best meat prices for us.

 

[dougrkyle]

Obviously the price point doesn't include the labor or spices but we keep those on hand in bulk. Ad mentioned above we regularly find pork shoulder and pork butt for .88 cents per pound. Choice ribeye for under $5 a pound, ribs for under $2 a pound, leg quarters for .69 cents a pound etc. We live near DFW and grocery stores are on every corner. Competition is fierce.

Albertsons and Kroger typically have the best meat prices for us.

Thanks for the insight, I didn't realize how much of a difference there was in pricing by region. Its usually around 1.69-1.89 in SWFL with Winn-Dixie doing a .99 sale, (limit one) every 3-6 months. Since I just bought a grinder I guess I'm going to have to go through the checkout 10 times when it goes on sale again.... LOL

 

[philpom]

Thanks for the insight, I didn't realize how much of a difference there was in pricing by region. Its usually around 1.69-1.89 in SWFL with Winn-Dixie doing a .99 sale, (limit one) every 3-6 months. Since I just bought a grinder I guess I'm going to have to go through the checkout 10 times when it goes on sale again.... LOL

If we ever run in to a quantity limit we go together and each take a cart :)