Chicken Breast Sausage with Pork or Beef Fat, your experiences?

[tallbm]

So I did a little searching online and found some info that says making chicken sausage with pork fat is no problem. So I guess beef fat would work too but pork fat sounds like a better match... I may try both :)

Store has $0.97/lb boneless skinless chicken breast on sale AND $1.97/lb choice grade brisket on sale.
So in my head I want to grind brisket meat for burger grind BUT I don't need all that extra brisket fat so I figured I could repurpose it by making a ground chicken breast and beef fat sausage of some time... I just don't have much input on what exactly I would make hahaha.

I also have like 20 pounds of trimmed pork back fat in the freezer so I can play with that too.

So do you guys have any experiences making chicken meat + beef fat sausage or even chicken meat + pork fat sausages? Remember this chicken meat is going to be super lean since it's all breast meat.

My thoughts on options are as follows:

• some kind of Tex-Mex or Southwest type chicken sausage flavor with that beef fat really being a bonus there (smoked or fresh)
• something like my meat loaf seasoning making this a sausage version (smoked or fresh)
• there is always Franks/Hot Dogs but I'd prefer to save my seasoning for actual pork franks I make since they are impossible to beat (smoked or fresh)
• maybe a chicken pastrami type flavor??? this sounds interesting (Smoked)
• do you think a "Texas Hot Gut" (hot link) style sausage would be possible? This could be really cool if it pans out like the vision in my head hahaha (smoked)

Let me know your experiences or what your thoughts are and if I even attempt this I will at least have some more things to consider :)

 

[DanMcG]

I can't help ya at all, but I'll be following to see what ya end up with. All the chicken sausage I've done was with thighs with no added fat.

 

[chopsaw]

I've done all thighs with the skin . Comes out great .
I have done it with all breast meat , and olive oil . That came out good also .
I made some 2 days ago that was the trim from boneless chicken breast and ground pork from spare rib trim . It was about 1 1/2 lbs chicken to 1 lb pork .
No chicken skin .
I fried a test patty it was really good . I add nfdm and cure one to mine .
Never tried beef fat .
I use Tropics chicken Italian recipe .

 

[tallbm]

I've done all thighs with the skin . Comes out great .
I have done it with all breast meat , and olive oil . That came out good also .
I made some 2 days ago that was the trim from boneless chicken breast and ground pork from spare rib trim . It was about 1 1/2 lbs chicken to 1 lb pork .
No chicken skin .
I fried a test patty it was really good . I add nfdm and cure one to mine .
Never tried beef fat .
I use Tropics chicken Italian recipe .

Sounds like I just need to find a good seasoning/recipe and I can do this thing :)
Was hoping to next weekend BUT i may not. My current weekend's plans were almost completed but now I need to do a little PVC pipe work to switch out my A/C drip pan. I tried to avoid it but I'm just gonna have to do it and 90% of the work is finding suitable pvc pipe fittings that all work together for the job hahahaha. Once that is figured out then its like 15 min of work :)

If i can knock that out during the week then maybe this chicken sausage thing can happen :)

 

[chopsaw]

I have no doubt you can do it . I'm just not sure about the beef fat . Only because I don't care for it in sausage .
I would add cure to all of it . Leave some fresh and smoke the rest .
Tropics has a great chicken Italian recipe . I make it all the time .
Keep us posted .

 

[tallbm]

I have no doubt you can do it . I'm just not sure about the beef fat . Only because I don't care for it in sausage .
I would add cure to all of it . Leave some fresh and smoke the rest .
Tropics has a great chicken Italian recipe . I make it all the time .
Keep us posted .

Hmmm may be doing pork sausage as well or instead. I think it goes on sell tomorrow for $0.97/lb and I think the boneless skinless chicken breast is also going another week for $0.97/lb

 

[chef jimmyj]

Pork Fat is fairly neutral in Poultry or Game Sausage and why it is frequently added. However, Beef Fat is much Stronger in flavor! I had HalfSmoked Bear Burger, awhile back. I could taste that it was something other than Beef, but the Beef Flavor was Very District! That Bear was the first time eating it and was, by far, some of the Greatest Tasting Meat I have ever had!...JJ

 

[chopsaw]

Hmmm may be doing pork sausage as well

I used the beef fat in SS awhile back , and didn't care for it . Probably used to much or did something wrong . I actually uncased it , and put it back in the smoker last week . Forced a fat out to some degree . it's a lot better .
I like the Marianski sausage recipes , because they are for 2.2 pounds . You could try a small batch for a couple bucks .
I just made the texas hot link from his site it's a good one . I did most of it smoked , but the fresh grilled is really good too .

 

[tallbm]

I have a bunch of options this week. $0.97/lb boneless skinless chicken breast, $0.97/lb pork butt and $1.67/lb choice brisket (1 per day digital coupon across all stores, and when spending $20).

So I may get 20 pounds chicken, 20 pounds pork butt, and like a 15pound brisket unless I can find a bigger one.

I could grind all that up and make sausage of all kind hahaha
I just need to enlist some help. I may just grind it all adding pork fat to the chicken grind, but not season and then make small 1-2 pound batches of sausage from all that grind .

I'd then have chicken sausage grind, pork sausage grind, and beef brisket burger grind :D
I just need to get away from work to go make the buy, been working too late each day hahah.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Anytime you can please a chef you have done good.

Warren

 

[HalfSmoked]

Thanks for the like tallbm it is appreciated.

Warren

 

[tallbm]

Well I was only able to get 10 pounds of chicken at one time but no biggy I'll get another 10 pounds tomorrow.
Everything else was a go!
I may have a helper on saturday.

Plan:

• 4lbs Buffalo chicken sausage - SV, skinless
• 4lbs Chicken Sausage (skinless) by tx smoker - gonna smoke these (recipe post here: https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...ar-sausage-w-pics-recipe.274652/#post-1820646)
• 4 pounds Pork Texas Hot Gut/Hot Link - smoker, skinless gonna try a recipe I wrote down
• 16 pounds Pork sausage grind unseasoned
  • Might try 4 pounds for Czech Klobasy but could save to do at a later dater
• 12 pounds Burger grind (16 pound brisket, will likely trim down and be 12 pounds burger)

We'll see how this all goes down as it may be me alone and in that case its gonna be 4 pounds of chicken sausage and then everything else ground up for sausage making at a later date :)

 

[indaswamp]

Chicken Thighs are much better for sausage than breast meat because the breast meat does not have a lot of salt soluble proteins, and you need those proteins for a good bind. If you are going to use breast meat, I suggest adding in some thigh meat and/or some eggs for added extractable proteins....can also add some NFDM powder to the paste.

Edit- I see you are adding pork butt and beef...you should be fine using breast meat as beef has a lot of extractable proteins..

 

[tallbm]

Chicken Thighs are much better for sausage than breast meat because the breast meat does not have a lot of salt soluble proteins, and you need those proteins for a good bind. If you are going to use breast meat, I suggest adding in some thigh meat and/or some eggs for added extractable proteins....can also add some NFDM powder to the paste.

Edit- I see you are adding pork butt and beef...you should be fine using breast meat as beef has a lot of extractable proteins..

Already ahead of you. I have about 25 pounds of trimmed pork backfat in the freezer. So that will be my fat for the chicken sausages. If the breast meat behaves like my no fat venison does with pork fat then I should be good to go :)

 

[indaswamp]

if adding eggs: 1 egg per 5# meat paste....

 

[chopsaw]

I cooked up some of the ones I made last week for supper tonight .
Breast meat and trim from spare ribs . Was a pretty lean mix . It was fine . I added nfdm and always add cure 1 to my chicken sausage . You know what you're doing . Gonna be good .

 

[tallbm]

Yeah I've got all the stuff to rock it... other than fennil seeds but i'm not really a fan of it so this round is going to be trial 4 pound batches before I start adding more expensive stuff, cheese, etc. as I get this nailed.
This will be good to have in the toolkit when turkey and chicken breast are super cheap :)

 

[tallbm]

Ok folks tomorrow is the big day.

I have 10 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast I will grind up with trimmed pork back fast.

Going to go with these 2 recipes which are modified versions of the original.
I modified the Buffalo Chicken one to actually make some sense and maybe turn out tasty, I didn't believe in the original recipe but thought I could tweak/fix it up to make sense.

Second chicken sausage recipe is tx smoker 's modified slightly based on what I had and to be simpler before I add cheese, etc.

Final recipe is going to be a Texas Hot Gut/Link Sausage I've had written down to try for a long while. I modified it too in the couple of areas that didnt make sense and again to be simpler with what I have on hand (like no fresh jalapenos).

Feel free to give your feedback :)

-------------
Buffalo Chicken sausage (5 pounds)
-------------

• 4 pounds ground boneless skinless chicken breast (was on sale)
• 1 pound trimmed pork backfat
• 2 Tbspoon Erythritol (in place of 1.5 heaping Tbsp brown sugar)
• 1 heaping Tbsp dried marjoram
• 6oz cups hot sauce (Tapatio brand - has no vinegar in it so no issues cased by vinegar, go me!!!)
• 2 Tbsp granulated garlic
• 1 Ttbsp paprika
• 1 TBsp chicken Tomato bullion (in place of tomato paste and- 1.5 tbsp kosher salt, also I think hot sauce will have more salt but may need to add more after fry test )
• 4 T NFDM (they had no binder in their recipe so added this)
• Omitted blue cheese, didnt want to waste money on blue cheese if this recipe sucked

------------------------
tx smoker - Turkey/Chicken Sausage 5 pounds
------------------------

• 4 lbs. Chicken breast (boneless skinless)
• 1 lbs Trimed Pork Backfat (subbed instead of bacon)
• 2.5 Tbsp salt (did 2.5 table spoons for 2% salt since not using bacon)
• 6 oz. ice water
• 1/4 t whole Anise (in place of 1.5 T Fennel seed cracked because I wasnt paying 9 for fennel seed that I have no other use for so went with stronger but lesser amount of Anise since I had on hand)
• 1 t coarse Black Pepper (crap may have added 1 Tablespoon, thats ok though)
• 1/2 Tbs Erythritol (in place of sugar)
• 1.5 t crushed red pepper
• 1/2 t caraway seeds
• 1 Tbsp. Basil
• 1 Tbsp. Oregano
• 1 Tbsp. Parsley
• 2 Tbsp granulated garlic (no fresh garlic on hand)
• 2 t onion powder
• 4 T NFDM
• 1 level tsp cure #1
• Omitted high temp cheese, i have none and didnt want to goof with it until I know how this comes out with my tweaks

---------------
Texas Hot Gut/Link 5 lbs
---------------
MODIFIED - BigWheels Texas Hot Links

• 3 pounds coarse ground pork butt (80/20)
• 2 pounds coarse ground beef (80/20)
• 1 cup cold water
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ground black pepper
• 1.5 Tablespoons crushed red pepper
• 2 paprika
• 2 Tablespoon granulated garlic
• 2.5 Tablespoon kosher salt (2% salt, no msg used)
• 1 Tablespoon Erythritol (in place of sugar)
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard (didnt have whole mustard seed)
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1 Tbsp of ground Cayenne (in place of 8 Jalapenos)
• 1 teaspoon ground bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon whole anise seeds
• 1 teaspoon cure #1
• 4 T NFDM
• Omitted 1/2 teaspoon msg

 

[dernektambura]

I did, years back, fresh chicken dark meat sausages and mixed with lamb fat.... 70/30....
in addition of 15% of red onion pure... very tasty BBQ stuff... lamb fat keeps consistency and makes BBQ smoke on double...

 

[tallbm]

I did, years back, fresh chicken dark meat sausages and mixed with lamb fat.... 70/30....
in addition of 15% of red onion pure... very tasty BBQ stuff... lamb fat keeps consistency and makes BBQ smoke on double...

Sounds like a good combo.

Much of this is an experiment for me to get into chicken sausage and I seem to lots of boneless skinless chicken breast deals here where thigh deals of any kind are rare... plus I don't want to debone thighs to make sausage hahaha.
I also have like 20 pounds of trimmed pork back fat that needs to be used :)