A few general questions??

[fitch32]

• By grinding trimmings how accurate will the fat ratio be? How accurate is the 80/20 you by in the store?
• What is a good starting point for how many peppers to add to the mix? Someone mentioned high temp cheese is 10 percent.
• Do you hang your summer sausage or place the rolls on a rack?

Sorry guys I am just full of questions

 Thanks for the help!

 

[mballi3011]

Well to try and answer your questions. First you can do the math pretty easy 10lb meat 1lb of fat is 10% and so on. Now I think that the food markets are going to be pretty close to the 80/20 or 70/30 cause there are held to keeping things true. After all what do they care so why would they mess things up on purpose. When I'm making sausage I hang the sausages while they are smoking but you can lay them on the racks. There are alot of folks here that lay their sausages down to smoke.

 

[fitch32]

Thanks mballi3011. My main concern was buying trimmings from the local butcher. He is just eyeballing if the 50/50 he is selling me right? And in comparison to store bought 80/20 is the 80/20 more accurate. It sounds like it is.

Any comments on the peppers?

 

[down lowe]

hanging debate -

I would think that you could utilize more space by hanging as opposed to having dead space between the racks.  I also noticed that the racks leave impressions in the product if that matters to you.  Although,  if your smoker has hot spots, you could potentially rearrange more easily with racks than if all links are threaded over sticks, as opposed to hung on hooks.

I don't know how much pepper to add.

I am not seasoned pro, but with the sausage i have made, it was easy to eyeball the lean content of the trimmings.  What I mean is that if you ask your butcher for 50/50 and you look at it and it seems to be more like 75% fat, then add a little more lean.

 

[supertramp74]

I add 1cup of fresh peppers  or three TBS of crushed peppers per 5 lbs but I like my sausage on the hotter side .The high temp. cheese will let you smoke the sausage at higher temp. you should follow the recipe the first couple of times then make changes to your needs .