Fat percent estimating and adding fat

[FreshGround]

My first project, now that my grinder arrived, will be breakfast sausage - patties and caseless links. I couldn't get a pork butt and settled for a bone-in shoulder roast. And I have a few questions.

1) once I have butchered out the bone, does anyone have a good method or rule of thumb for estimating the fat percent? Or is that just something I'll learn to do by eye, over time.

2) if I can't estimate the fat percent how do I determine how much pork fat to add?

3) is a target of 25% fat reasonable?

 

[DougE]

Bone in shoulder roast, pork butt, Boston butt, pork shoulder, etc, are the same thing. You should have about the right fat content, as is. A pork shoulder is around 80/20, if I remember correctly, and about perfect for breakfast sausage.

 

[indaswamp]

^^^^what DougE said...
Should run 80/20 to 75/25 meat to fat ratio.

Best way to to approach it as a beginner is to separate the lean from the fat and then weigh each. You can figure out the percentages that way. Mix up the chunks and you now have a visual reference for that ratio of meat to fat. You will get better at eyeballing it over time...and remember- anything over 20% will make great sausage. Breakfast sausages typically go 30-35%....

 

[SmokinEdge]

Theses guys have you covered.
butts are about perfect 80/20, picnics are lower in fat yield, they work fine but I usually add just a bit of back fat back in with them. If grinding lean meat like loin, just do 80/20 or 75/25 all by weight. And remember that fat weighs less than meat so it’s not a volume portion but is a weight portion when mixing fat in. It may visually look like a lot, but it’s not by weight.

 

[FreshGround]

Thanks to all of you. Butcher just called and I can pick up my fat tomorrow, so I'll be good to go.

 

[thirdeye]

So, by bone-in shoulder you mean a shoulder picnic? That is the front leg roast below the butt. If so, it's a fine roast for sausage, people's first choice is the butt, but that is because it's easier to trim out.

Older recipes might reference 'ground pork' and then list 'pork trim' or 'pork fat' as the next line item. The finished product will be closer to 65/35 instead of 80/20 or 75/25. Sure.... it will be moist and juicy but really fatty. High fat can disguise some seasonings, so always fry a test pattie in case you need to add more seasonings.

Either of the shoulder roasts (butt or picnic) are in the 20% to 25% fat range depending on the amount of fat you trim out. I remove all of the soft fat, then set the hard fat aside in strips because I freeze it for grinding. I don't weigh lean and fat, I just eyeball it in the meat tub. And for some formulations I want a fattier sausage so I might use more. Here is a ground pork butt test pattie that I'm guessing is 20% fat. It's my favorite 'eyeball' grind.

 

[FreshGround]

^^^^what DougE said...
Should run 80/20 to 75/25 meat to fat ratio.

Best way to to approach it as a beginner is to separate the lean from the fat and then weigh each. You can figure out the percentages that way. Mix up the chunks and you now have a visual reference for that ratio of meat to fat. You will get better at eyeballing it over time...and remember- anything over 20% will make great sausage. Breakfast sausages typically go 30-35%....

This turned out to be very good advice. I ended up with 73% lean and 27% fat. So I didn't need to add additional fat. We cooked the sausage patties in the oven, because of the quantity, and there wasn't much fat or grease in the baking pan but the patties were nice and juicy.

So, my thanks to you and everyone else who chimed in. You all made my first foray into grinding and making sausage patties a success. Next up I'll be doing some small batch experimenting on kielbasa, trying to recapture the flavor and texture from a lost family tradition.

 

[FreshGround]

I'm back with more questions. One of the things that confuses a novice like me is the various cuts and names of pork. Specifically, pork butt, picnic roast, shoulder roast, Boston butt. My main application will be grinding it for sausage, both cased and breakfast patties.

I've looked online and haven't really found a clear explanation of the differences from the point of suitability for grinding. So I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance or point me to a link with suitable explanation.

I see picnic roast at Costco for $1.24/lb. for approx 15 lb. pieces that seems like a good value IF it is suitable for my purposes.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

 

[radioguy]

Pork butt, pork shoulder, bone in,bone out its all the same. I will trim a little fat out depending on the cut. The % fat on a shoulder is right for most sausage recipes. Picnic roast is most likely fresh ham, lower front leg. You most likely will have to add a small amount of fat to this cut.
Talk with the butcher, it does not hurt to get to know him

RG

 

[tallbm]

I'm back with more questions. One of the things that confuses a novice like me is the various cuts and names of pork. Specifically, pork butt, picnic roast, shoulder roast, Boston butt. My main application will be grinding it for sausage, both cased and breakfast patties.

I've looked online and haven't really found a clear explanation of the differences from the point of suitability for grinding. So I'm hoping someone can give me some guidance or point me to a link with suitable explanation.

I see picnic roast at Costco for $1.24/lb. for approx 15 lb. pieces that seems like a good value IF it is suitable for my purposes.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

In short pork butt, pork shoulder, and boston butt but are the same. There are all the front leg upper sholder, not sure why they call it butt at all haha.

Anytime you see the word "Picnic" know that it is not the same and lower on the front leg of the animal. it does not have as much fast. Has shank bones, and often has skin.

Now lets talk making sausage.

You can take any pork meat and grind it up to make sausage.
The key is to also have a proper amount of fat with it.

So you can take super lean sirloin roasts or pork loins and grind them for sausage but you will have to add fat. You can treat those as like 95% meat 5% fat.

Best pork fat to buy and add is Trimmed Pork Backfat, if you can find it.

So in a case where you have lean or rando cuts of pork you just also grind in fat.

I do stuffed sausages at 80% meat and 20% fat all the time. I oftne do this with lean venison meat that has no fat and use pork back fat and my sausages come out amazing!

I've also done this with store bought pork where all they had were sirloin roasts for the meat side. Worked like a charm.

So you can weight your pure meat and eyeball guess how much fat is in it and then add fat to hit close to your ratio.

Pretty simple really.
Let me know if this makes sense :)

 

[indaswamp]

not sure why they call it butt at all haha.

It's called the boston butt because back in the day the meat use to be packed in wood barrels. They called the barrels "butts", hence the term boston butt referred to the shoulder packed in wood barrels from boston.....

 

[TNJAKE]

It's called the boston butt because back in the day the meat use to be packed in wood barrels. They called the barrels "butts", hence the term boston butt referred to the should packed in wood barrels from boston.....

Beat me to it lol......only thing I can add is they were packed in salt inside the "butts"

 

[FreshGround]

Thanks, you guys are awesome.

 

[SmokinEdge]

It's called the boston butt because back in the day the meat use to be packed in wood barrels. They called the barrels "butts", hence the term boston butt referred to the shoulder packed in wood barrels from boston.....

And this was the King of England’s share from the colonies. The upper shoulder (butt) is higher on the hog, therefore that was the king’s share. The barrels themselves were called butt barrels. And as Jake said they were packed in these butt barrels with a whole lotta salt. The lower portion of the front leg is the picnic “ham” and the do make both great ham and sausage.

 

[tallbm]

Sounds like the king got a butt load of pork :P

 

[thirdeye]

One of the things that confuses a novice like me is the various cuts and names of pork. Specifically, pork butt, picnic roast, shoulder roast, Boston but

It's a front leg (aka shoulder). From top to bottom you have a butt, a picnic, a shank, a hock, and a trotter.
Whole shoulder (butt and picnic), skin on, without a trotter. And, this is a left shoulder.

Shank

Trotter

 

[indaswamp]

Whatcha do with them smoked trotters? season beans and such?

 

[thirdeye]

Whatcha do with them smoked trotters? season beans and such?

I used to smoke trotters and jowl for a friends Mom who flavored refried beans, and also used them in some sort of Mexican soup.

I much prefer hocks or a shank for the quality (and quantity) of the meat.

 

[crazymoon]

FG, The folks have you covered on this question. When I use a pork butt for sausage I
remove ALL the back fat(and all the nasty inner fat) before grinding and end up with an excellent sausage that holds it shape but leaves very little grease in a fry pan after cooking. Most basic sausage recipes require only one grind through a 3/16 or 1/4 inch plate. P.S. I save/freeze the back fat for mixing with venison or moose meat for delicious burgers/sausage.