Breakfast Sausage texture question

[uncle eddie]

I have been making breakfast sausage for a while now. I have been unsuccessfully experimenting with different grinds to get the texture close the what you experience with eating Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. My breakfast sausage seems to have close to the firmness of a cooked pork-burger. I have not tried a fine grind yet.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[chopsaw]

firmness of a cooked pork-burger.

How's your lean to fat , and what salt percentage ? Mixing enough ?
These are pork butt . One grind through the 1/4" plate . Mixed until it gets sticky .
18 grams of salt for 2 1/2 pounds of ground pork butt .


Also if you're using pork butt , grind the whole butt and mix it into itself before seasoning or breaking into batches . Keeps the fat evened out .
If you do more than one , grind them separate .

 

[Brokenhandle]

How's your lean to fat , and what salt percentage ? Mixing enough ?
These are pork butt . One grind through the 1/4" plate . Mixed until it gets sticky .
18 grams of salt for 2 1/2 pounds of ground pork butt .
View attachment 680340
View attachment 680341
Also if you're using pork butt , grind the whole butt and mix it into itself before seasoning or breaking into batches . Keeps the fat evened out .
If you do more than one , grind them separate .

Think I'm gonna follow your weight watcher diet... looks delicious!

I'd follow his advice... he's been a great help to me with texture issues!

Ryan

 

[zwiller]

Agree it's likely the meat:fat. Commercial stuff is much fattier than ours. I bet JD approaches 60:40. I think the cheaper stuff like Morell/generic is like 51:49. I've not played with it but believe there is point where more fat IMPROVES texture but then too much and it declines. 80/20 butt sausage is knife and fork eating. Burger is a good descriptor. Then you start going toward 60/40 and then fork only eating etc. Other stuff at play as well but think fat ratio is the big one.

 

[SmokinEdge]

JD is a fairly small grind IIRCC, so try grinding all the meat through a 3/16 or 1/4” plate then take 20-25% of that meat and regrind through the 1/8” plate. This will firm the sausage up but still have a good bite feel. I do this often with a lot of my different sausages and is very common in Polish recipes.

 

[uncle eddie]

Agree with fat content being low. I have been keeping it lean for sure. Will try that next.

 

[chopsaw]

Agree with fat content being low. I have been keeping it lean for sure. Will try that next.

If you get the lean to fat good , and the salt it should bind . The other thing to watch is the amount of moisture added . To much water can ruin sausage fast .
That's why I grind , add the seasonings and mix . I see if it wants to come together . If it doesn't , I'll add water or whatever liquid just a bit at a time , and mix again . I keep going like that until it comes together , then I stop .
I never go by percentages or amounts listed for this .

 

[mike243]

Are you making links or bulk? sounds like your over mixing it maybe, when you do that with beef it can make a tough burger, fat content low can also affect it.

 

[uncle eddie]

If you get the lean to fat good , and the salt it should bind . The other thing to watch is the amount of moisture added . To much water can ruin sausage fast .
That's why I grind , add the seasonings and mix . I see if it wants to come together . If it doesn't , I'll add water or whatever liquid just a bit at a time , and mix again . I keep going like that until it comes together , then I stop .
I never go by percentages or amounts listed for this .

This is what I do as well. I only use water as a last resort and with bulk-breakfast sausage, I rarely add any.

mike243 - I am not over mixing but thanks for mentioning.

 

[indaswamp]

I have been making breakfast sausage for a while now. I have been unsuccessfully experimenting with different grinds to get the texture close the what you experience with eating Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage. My breakfast sausage seems to have close to the firmness of a cooked pork-burger. I have not tried a fine grind yet.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

How much salt are you using? Salt percentage affects protein extraction and that affects the ability of the sausage to bind...

 

[uncle eddie]

I am using a pre-mix from Home Butchering Supply - so - whatever is in the mix. It is not overly salty like some of the other pre-mixes I have tried.