Fat Out Discussion.

[Brokenhandle]

I said this from the context of following a smoke temperature schedule and not just putting sausage in a bbq pit and rolling with it.

Is it possible to over cook a sausage and get fat out? Absolutely it is possible, just as it is possible to over cook any meats. Over loading your smoker, not rotating sausages if you have hot spots, using a faulty thermometer and just not paying attention to the process are some ways to over cook and fat out a batch of sausages. However, if you are following a temperature schedule and a good process and still get fat out, it’s not likely temps. I assume most everyone here follows a schedule and has good process.

Didn't want to have to get my dictionary out to look up misnomer ... now I understand what you meant! Thanks for the explanation.

Ryan

 

[70sdiver]

In my experience most fat out is caused by not enough salt or cooking at to high of temps. Fat smear is overrated as far as fat out is concerned it does degrade the sausage quality for sure . In almost every case I’ve seen and have had it happen to me it was caused by thermometers that were off of cooking to hot.

 

[SmokinEdge]

In my experience most fat out is caused by not enough salt or cooking at to high of temps. Fat smear is overrated as far as fat out is concerned it does degrade the sausage quality for sure . In almost every case I’ve seen and have had it happen to me it was caused by thermometers that were off of cooking to hot.

I’m guessing that you simply don’t understand what fat smear is and it’s effects?

 

[Boris1]

i tend to agree that following a decent smoking schedule, the process of how everything is put together, matters more than the temp. i can maintain a really tight temp in my smoker + or - 10 degrees at all times.... ive had product in with smoker temps at 190F with zero fat out because everything was cold mixing, properly, and schedule was followed. any time i had fat out i think back and some thing was probably warmer than it should of been caz i was in a hurry.

 

[DEERMAKER]

The issue of fat out in sausage is a big-ish topic always on the forum. I encourage all sausage makers both new and veteran to chime in here and hash out this topic for everyone to see and read for informational purposes.


In my experience, Fat out is generally caused by poor grinding in process. The fat is either to warm (above 32F) or you have a dull knife plate combination. This causes the fat to smear, creating lard essentially. This lard stops the proteins in the meat when mixing for protein extraction to strand and wrap around the fat particles, this is what is called “bind” in sausage making, and must have a clean pellet style grind of both meat and fat. This requires meat that is par frozen and sharp knives and plates. If this does not occur then the mix cannot effectively bind together and will leave a crumbled texture no matter how you cook the sausage.

Take for example a well made sausage smoked or not. Cook it on a grill hot with some chicken, say above 300F, the sausage if left on to long may actually split the casing, this is caused from steam inside and that requires 212F at sea level. Pretty hot sausage, but if caught early on the split sausage is still juicy and not crumbly. This is because the meat mix had proper bind to begin with. Anyone who grills sausage of any type likes them to “plump up” well that is way to hot internal (way more than 150-160F) and should “fat out” the sausage, however it does not.

Binders such as NFDM, or starches will help bind water and can help with texture in a borderline grind process, but they are not strictly needed at all.

Pay special attention to meat temps when grinding soft fat like pork belly as these will or can smear much easier. Keep it cold through the grinding and mixing process and most likely you will see the fat out disappear.

I encourage all comments here.

Very interesting and informative. Thank you!

 

[in. pred]

i havent read all this thread but i have some input from my mixes. i see mention of fat smearing. well that fat smearing is what it took to bind my lean summer sausages together. i started out trying to make the leanest summer sausages i could. im not a fan of greasy SS. nor all the chems. in commercial crap! ill mix my meat and seasonings in the kitchen aid a couple min. until i see the fat smearing on bowel. that lets me know they will bind. i dont use casings, i hand roll my logs. ive had "fat out" when cooked/smoked too hot but thats it. when it gets mixed "too much" it just comes out more bound like bologna. for mine the smear is essential.
when i cook them now i like 215*. that seems to be the highest i can get away with and still have a relative grease free pan when done. i do melt some fat/water on the outside of my logs because i see it, and wipe it off when cooled enough to handle. cant stand greasy SS. barf


that mite be irrelevant because my results could be way different than meat in a casing? i have never "stuffed" any myself. i would think that the casing would help at keeping the fat in though? maybe the casings keep the meat from expanding and that forces the fat out?