Attempt to make Lockhart, TX style Beef Sausage

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tdimler

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 11, 2012
14
11
Gail, TX
I set out to re-create the beef sausages made in the famous Lockhart, TX BBQ establishments like Blacks, Smitty's, and Kreuz.  They all make a beef sausage, simply seasoned, with a unique soft texture.  There isn't a modern recipe shared for these sausages but some old information basically stating that they are 85% Beef and 15% Pork and the beef mostly comes from the brisket points.  They are simply seasoned with only salt, black pepper, and cayenne.  I can attest that they way them make them ends in an excellent, but VERY fatty sausage.  I couldn't in good conscience make a sausage that fatty, so I used both the flat and point from a whole, somewhat lean brisket.  For the pork I used simple shoulder meat.  There is also some speculation that they use a cereal binder....this may have a lot to do with the texture.  

For a 10lb batch I used:

8.5 lb beef brisket
1.5 lb pork shoulder
2.2 oz coarse Kosher salt
1t. cayenne pepper
About 3.5 T. coarse black pepper
14 grams cure #1
1.5 cups of water mixed with 2 oz dry milk powder

I was conflicted on the pepper...some mixes called for way more...like 2 oz.  Some way less.  I weighed out 2 oz. and it looked like about 2 pounds so I got scared to add this much!  I started with only about 1.5 T. but added about 2 T. more but was afraid to over spice it.

The brisket flat


The point already cubed up.


I added and mixed all seasoning minus water and milk powder to the cubed meat and put it back in the fridge to set overnight.

Pulled it out the next day and ground it twice through a medium plate then back in the fridge till later in the day.  Then I added the water and milk powder slurry and stuffed into pork casing. 

This is an older picture of stuffing some pork sausage but I thought I'd throw it in for effect!


I usually like traditional links tied with string but I thought I'd try to do something different...I thought you had to be a real old European sausage maker to link sausages but if I can now do it I am certain anyone can!


I threw the stuffed sausage back in the fridge overnight and pulled it out early the next morning to let the casings dry off at room temp for a little over an hour.


Then into my smokehouse for about 4-5 hours of oak smoke running between 120F and 140F.  I just let them roll until I liked the color.  Almost done here.


This is what works the magic!


Just out of the smokehouse.


I got one of these old roasters to use for poaching and it worked really well...I have the water set around 165F and poached these sausages to 154F internal temperature.


Then into an ice bath.


Then let them bloom for a couple hours.


Finished product after cooling again overnight.


I grilled some yesterday to test it all out and I'm very happy with the results.  The pepper was a bit light and I would put at least 6T. next time.  The texture of the Lockhart sausage is what I can't seem to get, but I may try the cereal binder next time and see what that does...but if it takes simply more fat I'm not going that direction!  The whole process was much better than any of my previous sausage.  It's beginning to get easier and more fun thanks to practice and suggestions from others that have done it a lot more than me!

Travis
 
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Oh man, those look great! The color in the picture in the smoker was over the top!

I realized you were a pro when I saw those specialized custom made rebar rods...... J/K

Great looking sausage, and I have eaten down south of Austin also, all that is sausage country for sure, all that good German influence! Next you'll be telling me its Kolachee country..... Mmmmmm
 
Sausage looks great... Nice job...........
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Great looking sausage! On beef sausage I really don't care for a lot of fat but on the other hand gotta love the fat in pork sausage.
I need to find me a local source for cure #1. I can get it from Butcher-Packer but they want more for shipping than the cure costs.
 
Great looking sausage! On beef sausage I really don't care for a lot of fat but on the other hand gotta love the fat in pork sausage.
I need to find me a local source for cure #1. I can get it from Butcher-Packer but they want more for shipping than the cure costs.
You might try Amazon...that's where I get mine.

TD
 
Great looking sausage! On beef sausage I really don't care for a lot of fat but on the other hand gotta love the fat in pork sausage.
I need to find me a local source for cure #1. I can get it from Butcher-Packer but they want more for shipping than the cure costs.
Check out The Sausage Maker, it list free shipping if you are not in a hurry.  

 http://www.sausagemaker.com/curesandcultures.aspx

Here is another with free shipping

 http://www.myspicesage.com/prague-powder-number-1-p-925.html
 
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Next time you have a go at it, grind first through your course plate, and then 2nd grind with the medium plate, that may help.  Also, some bread crumbs may assist.

Charlie
 
@ TD & Darwin-thanks for the info guys, I'll be checking them out.
 
Got me some Cure #1 ordered from sausage maker-will probably see it in about 10 days. Meanwhile in the mailbox yesterday was a book that Ma Dutch ordered for me. Ma saw me looing at it on Amazon back in October. I guess she didn't see me looking at Rytek's book. . . .
 
Do you rinse the "cure #1" after the next day!  I thought that stuff was poison if eaten....  I'm curious on this as I want to make sausage I have bought all the hardware to get started!  
 
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Nice looking links. Yall need to find some stuff at the grocery store called Morton's Tender Quick. Just use it for the salt ration. Works like a charm. Aint been no steekne modern cure..insta cure Prague powder nonsense in my pantry for many moons.
 
 
Nice looking links. Yall need to find some stuff at the grocery store called Morton's Tender Quick. Just use it for the salt ration. Works like a charm. Aint been no steekne modern cure..insta cure Prague powder nonsense in my pantry for many moons.
"Just use it for the salt ration."   Not exactly. Read the label and use the amount specified for the amount of meat or brine you're making, then alter your recipe to suit the HUGE amount of salt in MTQ.

"steekne modern cure..insta cure Prague powder nonsense" as you call it allows you to keep the original recipe and simply add the appropriate amount of cure for the amount of meat. In other words, YOU control the salt and sugar content, rather than the manufacturer of the cure.
 
That is great looking sausage. I have the book that was second choice. Learned quite a bit from it but have picked up more from these forums.

Disco
 
I grilled some yesterday to test it all out and I'm very happy with the results.  The pepper was a bit light and I would put at least 6T. next time.  The texture of the Lockhart sausage is what I can't seem to get, but I may try the cereal binder next time and see what that does...but if it takes simply more fat I'm not going that direction!  The whole process was much better than any of my previous sausage.  It's beginning to get easier and more fun thanks to practice and suggestions from others that have done it a lot more than me!
Travis
Some time ago, a friend of mine in Houston told me he came across a recipe for the sausage in an old cookbook entitled "Texas On A Half Shell", on something similar to that. From what I understand, the book is a compilation of recipes for dishes and food items famous throughout the State, and that the sausage recipe was the original submitted by Smitty himself. I've never made the sausage myself nor had the sausage my friend makes, but he considers it a close, if not exact, duplicate.

Basically, the meat ratio given is 9:1, beef cuts to pork, with the overall fat content not to exceed 20%. To the total weight of the combined meats, commercial cereal binder is added at a level of 3%. Added for each pound of meat are1 teaspoon each of salt and cracked black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne. The meat is run through the coarse plate twice, then stuffed. Beyond that, the recipe just says to barbeque the sausage for 45 minutes.

I can't verify any of this, but if you're in the mood to experiment, you may want to give it a try.
 
Here is the recipe from  Smitty's that dis 1 was referring to...

From the book, “Texas on the Half Shell” c 1982 

Smitty’s Sausage 
9 pounds assorted beef cuts 
1 pound assorted pork cuts 
1/3 pound cereal binder 
sausage casings  

“The secret to good sausage making is good meat. It’s not what you put in, but what you leave out.’ Smitty must leave out the right stuff because the sausages he sells at Kruez Market in Lockhart are some of the finest in the world. Here is his recipe as told to us: ‘The meat has to be good. Use a meat mixture of 90% beef and 10% pork. There should not be more than a 20% fat content overall. Sprinkle a liberal amount of salt and black and red pepper over the cut-up meat. For a 100 pound batch of sausages, add three pounds (3% of total weight) of commercial cereal binder (binder is made from flour, corn, wheat, rice, rye, etc. It is available from most butcher supply stores). Run the mixture through coarse ground hamburger plates twice. stuff it into sausage casings and barbecue for about 45 minutes. Good luck.”-- “Smitty”
 
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