First Pork Breakfast Sausage

[SunnyDC]

This morning I fried up my first attempt at making breakfast sausage. I was hampered by two realities: I don't have a meat grinder yet (used my food processor) and I couldn't decide on any sort of binder for them, so there were some less-than-desirable chunks of fat that didn't get ground enough to suit me (didn't faze my better half or the grandboys, I should add) and it was sort of crumbly, but the flavor was good!

I guess I'm going to have to face the fact that I'm now too addicted to playing with meat that I need a proper meat grinder. My KitchenAid is ailing (I used to make bread twice a day for years and it's just *tired* now!) and I don't want to overtax it, so that means a standalone unit. But I'd love to hear from anyone who uses binders or some other method to help the crumbly problem. Maybe I just didn't get it all homogeneous enough... but I was afraid I'd turn it into a paste and wind up with breakfast Krystals...

This is what it looked like before cooking:



At any rate, it was gobbled up around here, so I guess it was at least a partial success!

Sunny

 

[chopsaw]

Try buying some ground pork and try again while you are waiting / thinking about a grinder . You didn't say what spice you used . I have a couple pre mixed , but the pop's sausage is a good one . Season it up and mix until sticky . I add binder to other types of sausage but leave it out of the breakfast .
This might help you with both questions , give it a look . The recipe is in there .
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/nfdm-in-breakfast-sausage-links.247866/

 

[motocrash]

Maybe I just didn't get it all homogeneous enough

Not sure what cut of meat you used or fat/muscle ratio?Maybe next time,try trimming and "grinding" the muscle and fat separately.This would allow you to get the consistency you want without making a paste or emulsion.Your binding problems would likely be solved.

 

[DanMcG]

In addition to what's already been mentioned, salt plays an important part in binding use 1.5-2% and mix till sticky.
Binders aren't usually used in fresh sausage.

 

[SunnyDC]

Try buying some ground pork and try again while you are waiting / thinking about a grinder . You didn't say what spice you used .

Yeah, that's a good idea. The reason I made this was that when I made boudin a couple of weeks ago, I had too much of the cured/marinated cubed pork butt, so I stuck it in the freezer, then decided to use it to try and make sausage. For the spices, I just winged it, then once I thought I had it right, fried up a tiny piece to check. The pork had been swimming with a bunch of jalapenos, so I left all those in the mix, then I added some crushed red peppers, black and white pepper, sage, onion powder, and on final examination, a bunch more cayenne for good measure. Thanks!

Not sure what cut of meat you used or fat/muscle ratio?Maybe next time,try trimming and "grinding" the muscle and fat separately.This would allow you to get the consistency you want without making a paste or emulsion.Your binding problems would likely be solved.

That was sort of what I had thought... glad to hear this! This was all from cubed up pork butt leftover from making boudin, as I said, and that came out perfect... but then again, all of it got cooked before I ground it, so... yeah. I had cut away the obviously hard fat to use for something else, but still some of it just didn't grind up raw. Your idea would probably fix it, though. Thanks!

 

[SunnyDC]

In addition to what's already been mentioned, salt plays an important part in binding use 1.5-2% and mix till sticky. Binders aren't usually used in fresh sausage.

Hmm, yeah, ok; that makes sense. I couldn't have added any more salt to this, though, given the fact that the meat had already been sitting in an MTQ brine and was already highly seasoned. I guess the bottom line here would be not to start with that next time!! Thanks!