Diving into Sausages

[indaswamp]

Even I'm not sure what you are referring to here...

@ the 0:30 minute mark.....

 

[tallbm]

Also @pauli the LEM's Cured Frank seasoning makes the BEST Franks I have ever eaten just like their Fresh Brat seasoning makes the BEST Brats I have ever eaten. I've tried franks and brats all over the US and even in a few different countries (not Germany though) including in authentic German restaurants in US and overseas.

My notes have the LEM's Cured Frank seasoning (not the cure#1 itself) at 14gm per pound of sausage meat.

Figured you might like to know this. I also have notes to use the LEM's Jalapeno Bacon cure at 3% of pork belly weight and the Venison bacon cure at 3% of the pork belly weight if using it for regular bacon.

I mention all of this because I think you may become a fan and would like to cut out some guess work if you look at these various LEM's offerings :D

 

[crazymoon]

P, I just finished making 15 pounds of pork SS and 15 pounds of pork snack sticks. I used all pork butt and removed the back fat cap(you could use this with your beef) as it adds to much fat IMHO. Pork butt has enough marbled fat in it to make a very good and healthier sausage with out adding all that back fat. As the Swampman says remove that nasty looking tumor jobbie if you do end up using the back fat . I am a big fan of PS seasonings so no help on LEM products nor do I use ECA or the sodium E stuff . I do use cure # 1 though in all my smoked sausage. A good tang for summer sausage is cultured buttermilk powder at 1 cup per 10 pounds of meat .I do a double grind on the SS and a single grind on the snack sticks, 3/16 or 1/4 inch plate usually. SS was done using a 65 mm fibrous casing,soaked in lukewarm water for an hour. The snack sticks were 22 mm collagen casingsa(stored in fridge) that go straight to your stuffing tube with no prep but put them on correctly(bowl side out). Enough folks on here to fill you up with useful info and you will find what you like as you progress in your sausage making!

 

[pauli]

Wow you folks are super helpful. I cannot process all this information tonight. I will tomorrow, if all goes well I will have the time.

I will have more questions tomorrow. Thanks all.

Paul

 

[JckDanls 07]

put them on correctly(bowl side out).

For I did not know there was a difference ?

 

[chopsaw]

I am a big fan of PS seasonings so no help on LEM products nor do I use ECA or the sodium E stuff

If you have a bag of PS seasoning , or the next time you get some , check the ingredient list . I bet sodium erythorbate is listed . A lot of the better commercial mixes have it included .
Just FYI .

 

[pauli]

Tallbm, I haven’t eaten a hot dog in decades. Is a frank different? The info on the casings was great. I think I will try the ones I have first though. I may not like them. If so, I suppose, I could just de case them freeze until I get the natural casings prepared and re stuff.

Are you saying their kit for 5 lbs is not necessarily the right amount for 5 lbs? If I have slightly less I would have just used the ratio w/w and use slightly less.

Crazymoon, like the idea of leaner sausage. Will try later. I have read about the cultured buttermilk. Will have to try this later as well. Does one let it rest overnight in the fridge with it to let it develop or go right away into the smoker?

The casings I have are on tubes. Two tubes with the casing connecting them. Can you elaborate on what “bowl side out” means?

This brings me to another question. What is back fat? The fat cap on the butt sure I can see this. If I take a pound of it off the butt then I have 10-15% fat in the brats instead of the 20-30%. Am I interpreting this correctly? Seems reasonable for a leaner brat. Or as others have said use the whole butt as is but then where does the back fat come from that the butcher would have?

Indaswamp, thanks for the tip on the gland removal. Never would have done it without this tip.

Thanks,
Paul

 

[DougE]

The fat cap on a butt is pretty much the same as what they call back fat.

 

[tallbm]

Tallbm, I haven’t eaten a hot dog in decades. Is a frank different? The info on the casings was great. I think I will try the ones I have first though. I may not like them. If so, I suppose, I could just de case them freeze until I get the natural casings prepared and re stuff.

Are you saying their kit for 5 lbs is not necessarily the right amount for 5 lbs? If I have slightly less I would have just used the ratio w/w and use slightly less.

Crazymoon, like the idea of leaner sausage. Will try later. I have read about the cultured buttermilk. Will have to try this later as well. Does one let it rest overnight in the fridge with it to let it develop or go right away into the smoker?

The casings I have are on tubes. Two tubes with the casing connecting them. Can you elaborate on what “bowl side out” means?

This brings me to another question. What is back fat? The fat cap on the butt sure I can see this. If I take a pound of it off the butt then I have 10-15% fat in the brats instead of the 20-30%. Am I interpreting this correctly? Seems reasonable for a leaner brat. Or as others have said use the whole butt as is but then where does the back fat come from that the butcher would have?

Indaswamp, thanks for the tip on the gland removal. Never would have done it without this tip.

Thanks,
Paul

Franks are the sausage that hot dogs came from. It's like night and day the difference.
Just like how a can of Spaghetti-O's is nothing like an actual plate of Spaghetti and Meatballs lol.
How we got to the hot dog from the a Frank, I have no idea.

Anyhow, you can do anything with a Frank that you do with a hotdog but the Franks are soooo good that they stand up on their own as a sausage where a hotdog.... not so much.

Franks and brats you will want to do using natural castings or or using these peel off plastic/cellulose casings (super easy to use):


This is the home pack of natural casings, they are always in little sandwich sized baggies:


Tubed natural casings are good and look like this:


For the Brat seasoning and 5 pounds it should work but know according to my measure by weight, they are about 8.5 grams short for a 5 pound batch. It may not matter at 5 pounds but will start to be noticed at 10 pounds and more.
Do your fry test and confirm if it is good or a little bland. If a little bland you can add a little more salt to bring it up to snuff but you may be ok at 8.5 grams short.
ACTUALLY, if you have a 5 pound stuffer it really can't hold 5pounds, maybe 4.5 pounds so that pack of Brat seasoning may be just right on for 4.5 pounds of sausage meat. So you might be able to just mix that amount of grind with the seasoning and likely fit it all in the stuffer for 1 stuffing go instead of 2! :D

Back Fat is simply pork fat the butcher will order. I'm sure it comes from various areas of the pig where there is good excess fat but someone may have more precise input on where the fat is pulled form.
I've heard it said pork back fat is slightly slightly different than the fat cap of a pork butt though I don't know that it matters. I buy pork back fat when I process a few hundred pounds of venison and feral hog meat each year after my brother and I finish hunting. I've seen no difference between back fat sausages and 100% pork butt only sausages when it comes to fat, texture, behavior, taste.

Minimum sausage fat percentage is like 15% and often recommended not to go under 20%. I'm sure there are special cases out there but while diving into sausage it is probably best to follow a good practice on fat % to use while learning all the other ins/outs of sausage making.
As long as you are prepared you should be ok in any case, but I'd recommend reducing variables as you first start out :D


Let me know if this makes sense and keep those questions coming. You can never be too prepared! :D

 

[Fueling Around]

Back fat is basically any fat off a hog that is just under the skin and the upper half of the carcass.
No belly side as @indaswamp noted. Back fat has NO muscle streaks (striations) which turns it softer.

Brats and sausage are best in natural casings when you ask this insignificant Scandinavian and his significant German wife.

Not sure the change from wiener (Viener) to hotdog, but casings disappeared first, and the meat blends began later.
Ever see the fun dogs? Poultry, pork, and some beef. Mr. Yuck sticker for them.

I actually prefer skinless all beef hotdogs. Going to try my first time making them this summer.
My recent high blood pressure says I need to make hotdogs without a 2 days amount of sodium in a single serving.

 

[DougE]

I actually prefer skinless all beef hotdogs. Going to try my first time making them this summer.

Please share it here when you do, John. I make a lot of sausage, but have not attempted hotdogs yet. I love a good all beef dog.

 

[crazymoon]

If you have a bag of PS seasoning , or the next time you get some , check the ingredient list . I bet sodium erythorbate is listed . A lot of the better commercial mixes have it included .
Just FYI .

CS, When I say I don't use sodium E it's when I make up my Italian/breakfast sausage spices from scratch. The only thing I know isn't in the PS seasonings I use is MSG as I pick the spice packs that don't have it. :)

 

[crazymoon]

Crazymoon, like the idea of leaner sausage. Will try later. I have read about the cultured buttermilk. Will have to try this later as well. Does one let it rest overnight in the fridge with it to let it develop or go right away into the smoker

P, I always let my mix sit in the fridge for a day or two before stuffing to let the spices meld better into the meat . If the farce gets too thick to stuff I just add a bit of cold water to the mix before stuffing.

 

[crazymoon]

The casings I have are on tubes. Two tubes with the casing connecting them. Can you elaborate on what “bowl side out” means?

P, The collagen casings strand look like a cereal bowl. The side of the bowl where the milk and cereal goes faces away from the stuffing container. The casing flows off the tube easier in this direction.

 

[Danblacksher]

Hot dog it worked.

Well last weekend I made Hot Dogs for the first time. I used pork loin and brisket trim. They were fantastic. My kids won’t eat store bought hotdogs, but they were eating them every day till they ran out. I stuffed them in cellulose casings, but I forgot to take pictures I was so focused on the...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Here is the recipe I use for Franks or hot dogs and I have done them with both beef and pork and they are fantastic.

Hot dogs
3159g meat
63 g salt 2%
8 g pink curing .25% salt
20g ground mustard .62%
20g grams paprika .62%
13 g grams .41% garlic
6 g coriander .2%
9 g majorum .29%
13 g white pepper .41%
6 g mace .2%
5 g celery seed .16%
316 g water 10%
117g milk powder 3.7%

 

[BGKYSmoker]

What are you wanting to make?

Non cured (fresh) sausages are much diff than cured smoked.
As mentioned pork but is just about perfect for a cut in with the lean chuck.

 

[pauli]

My summer sausage has started.
4 lb lean sirloin, cheaper than chuck, with 1 lb of my belly trims. All ice cold, Ground the beef course at 10mm, lightly mixed the Chunks of fat and seasonings. Back to the freezer for 30 minutes, then ground through 4.5 mm plate.

Into the stand mixer and mixed until sticky. Incorporated the 22.7 gm. ECA. Into the stuffer. Stuffed into 5 soaked fibrous casings.

Into the smoker at 110F no smoke. Will open the door several times to remove moisture.

Plan to leave here for 90 minutes then to 125F smoke. Then 10 degrees every hour until 170F and smoke until IT of 152F.

Let me know if I should change anything.

Paul

 

[indaswamp]

Lookin good....

 

[crazymoon]

P, If you have a damper(s) on your smoker just leave it/them open during the drying process to remove moisture. 3-4 hours of smoke should do you and then it's just cooking time until you reach your IT. Cold shower/dunk in cold water to stop the cooking process. I try for 110-115 IT and then hang to bloom in a non drafty spot to cool down further before sticking in the fridge. Have fun !

 

[JckDanls 07]

Everything sounds good... Myself I roll smoke the whole time (after drying time)....