dry sausage

[starfighter51]

Hi, Jim here. I've tried to make sausage three times now and it comes out dry. I need some guidance here !. I eat some but most go to the dogs.  help.

 

[mdboatbum]

From your post all I can come up with is that you need to add more moisture to your sausage, or subtract some dryness. Try adding a few more details like what recipe you're using, whether you're smoking it and how, what kind of grill, smoker or equipment you're using etc...

There are a lot of reasons for dry sausages, most of which involve too little fat and/or too high a cooking temperature. Give more details and someone will be able to help you.

 

[starfighter51]

smoke on TMLE Brinkman, I'm a complete novice never made sausage before don't have a recipe that's why I'm here looking to the experts for help.

 

[wade]

Too low a fat content is a major reason for sausages turning out too dry. Also as Mdboatbum says you could also add more moisture before you stuff the casings. I usually add a good glug* or two of either wine or water in my mix before stuffing.

* A glug is an SI measurement of wine volume. 5 sips = 1 slurp; 5 slurps = 1 glug; 2 glugs = 1 glass; 3 glasses = 1 bottle (in our house anyway!)

 

[starfighter51]

how wet should it be ! I never thought about that. I thought it was suppose to be like a meat ball.

 

[mdboatbum]

Here's a link to Pop's country breakfast sausage. It's a good place to start.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/73350/country-style-breakfast-sausage

And here's a video of one of our members making a similar sausage:

 

[bigbob73]

how wet should it be ! I never thought about that. I thought it was suppose to be like a meat ball.

Too firm, you want it to flow.

 

[smoking b]

Are you making loose sausage or links? What style sausage are you making?

 

[s24smoove]

hey starfighter,

so i'm going to assume you have a kitchenaid w/ the sausage attachment, w/ a 3/16, plate.

if you want to lesrn how to make sausage, start out simple and basic, 1st, get a scale, preferably a digital scale which measure to .00 ounces, this way you can train your eyes and palate to think in terms of pounds and ounces.

also, start out w/ pork shoulder, it has the right fat content and it absorbs flavor well. so, cut up the 3# of shoulder into 1inch cubes, so they go thru the openong of ur mixer delivery pan.

start out w/ a simple recipe, for instance if you have a sage bush or rosemary bush in your backyard, just go get some, rinse it off, cut it up w/ a knife or scissors, incorporate w/ meat. for sage in 3# of pork use like 10 sage leaves, chop them up,add to meat.

or even easier, if you have some peppercorns wiegh out about a 1/4 oz., or for simplicity sake, use 1t, w/ a knife rough chop the pcorns,add to 3# of pork, add .75oz, or 2T salt, add 12 oz of water and a shot of whiskey, mix it together, try to coat all the meat w/ the pcorn, salt whiskey mixture, run thru the grinder, and make patties, also keep a note book and record all your weights, i weigh everything, that way you can capture the info, but more importantly u r training your hand, eye, palate coordination, good luck.

 

[DanMcG]

Welcome to the forums Jim. Your dryness issue could be a number of things. Please share the recipe you used and how you cooked them. with out that info it's just a guessing game for us. And if you could post some pic's of the sausage it also could help.