Help make a chicken sausage

[jbo_c]

I’d like to make a hot chicken sausage that (generally)follows the flavor of Buffalo wings. Here’s my first run recipe:

1159 grams thigh meat/skin
680 grams breast meat
19.5 grams salt
3.5 grams black pepper
8 grams of red pepper flakes
3 grams ground cayenne
6 grams smoked paprika
4 grams garlic powder
2 grams celery seed
114 grams powdered buttermilk
5 grams butter flavoring
3 grams liquid smoke
1/2 cup Franks Hot Sauce

Pros: The flavor was almost dead on what I was hoping for. The heat level was good for most folks - spicy, but not super hot.

Cons: They were a little too “Frank’s”. The texture was grainy.

Here’s my biggest question. I don’t know if they were grainy because I underdeveloped them by not mixing enough or because the vinegar in the Frank’s denatured the meat. I’m somewhat new at this so it could have been undermixed, but I’m highly suspicious of the hot sauce being the culprit too.

What do you think? I am hoping to make another test batch soon. Would you make it the same and mix more to ensure full development or would you assume it’s the hot sauce that made it grainy and leave that out(or significantly reduce). I’ll reduce a little anyway because of the con noted above. I have wondered about using dry white wine instead.

I appreciate any input.

Jbo

 

[tx smoker]

My first guess would be that your lean to fat ratio is off. Chicken is pretty lean and you want to be at least 80/20 lean to fat.

Robert

 

[chopsaw]

I just made some Italian yesterday using Tropics recipe . If you're using thigh meat with the skin , and the addition of milk powder , mix 'til it gets sticky you should be fine on the lean to fat ratio .
Cholula hot sauce is not vinegar based so that might be an option .
I just had some buffalo chicken sausage made local . It's good . Was thinking about trying it also .

 

[sawhorseray]

I have wondered about using dry white wine instead. I appreciate any input.

I've been making a chicken Italian sausage for 15 years now that has always gotten rave reviews. Deboned thighs with the skin should give you a perfect fat ratio, I don't mix my own spices since I found this pre-mix. Check it out if you like. RAY

(1) Chicken Italian Sausage with Dried Tomato, Black Olives, & Chardonnay (heavy pics)

 

[bregent]

I agree with the others. Leave out the breast meat and your lean/fat ratio will be good, and the end result less grainy.

 

[Polka]

Yes -- I also vote to drop the breast, and use all thigh all the time. If the graininess remains -- drop Frank to 1/3 to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup -- or, as said above, switch to something like cholula, after you taste the different non-vinegar hot sauces. I save a bit of fat, and add it to my chicken sausages...no more than 1/2 pound fat to 4.5 pounds chicken thighs after de-boning them. Fat also helps to "carry" the flavor, since most of the herbs/spices have fat-soluable flavor components.

Have fun, and keep us up to date. Like the formula!

 

[flatbroke]

I think thighs would do it

 

[zwiller]

The guys have given you some great ideas so far. I have not done a chicken only sausage yet but recently did a 50/50 pork/chicken thigh weisswurst and was extremely happy and encouraged with the outcome. Approx 60% breast might be pushing it but I do want to include breast into some of my chicken sausage eventually. One thing I think that really helped my weisswurst was a double grind. Very close to emulsified texture. Also, not sure how you finished yours but I SV'd mine, so it is possible you overcooked maybe.

All this being said, no doubt the acidity is an issue to be considered and there is a limit as to how much can be used. I have researched this extensively as I am developing a tabasco flavored snack stick (test run was 5% tabasco + 1% vinegar) and have not found a clear answer, but no doubt there is point when a culture for fermentation will be needed or hack like ECA must be used to lower pH and get that flavor without fear of denaturing. I just bought some Saco to play with and have ECA coming. 1/2C = 118ml was approx that same acidity I used and I felt that I was pushing the limit.

PS- Not sure if you ran any numbers for salt contribution of the hot sauce but I did and your number is VERY much inline with mine.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

Check out Len Poli site for recipes, i have seen poultry sausage there......Google his name.
Easy to follow user friendly recipes.

 

[sawhorseray]

Check out Len Poli site for recipes, i have seen poultry sausage there......Google his name.
Easy to follow user friendly recipes.

Making Homemade Sausage Len Poli's Formulations and Recipes (50webs.com)

 

[jbo_c]

Thanks for the detailed reply swiller.

I have considered maybe using ECA or fermentation to add the acidity that would be missing without the hot sauce. But (a) Those will be new for me, so there will be a learning curve, and (b) I’m doing these as fresh-raw sausages so I’m not sure how compatible either of those would be.

I actually hadn’t thought about the salt content in the hot sauce. Pure fluke that it resembled a properly formulated recipe.

Thanks, again for the feedback all. Will probably make a second(and maybe third) attempt this weekend.

Jbo

 

[Sowsage]

Not sure if this will help but you could try the franks seasoning. It does have vinager in it but might have a different effect on the sausage. Might be something to play around with. I also agree with some of the others on using thigh meat with the skin only to get enough fat in the mix. That's what I always use and they come out nice and juicy with a good bind. Ive also used NFDM to help also.
Here is a picture of the seasoning. You may have to adjust your salt if you try using it.

 

[zwiller]

To make these unique style sausages (and for them to be good) there is almost always a hack. One time we helped a guy make pineapple sausage and come time find out he had to dehydrate canned pineapple or it would just totally denature and fail. Canning kills the bromelain and dehydration kept it from getting too wet. I find this sort of thing highly interesting... Most are not that patient.

Just realized you added BOTH buttermilk powder AND the hot sauce. Those together might be too much acid.

Took me awhile to find but I remembered someone made it: https://www.waltonsinc.com/hot-buffalo-wing-brat-seasoning

 

[jbo_c]

Tried round two last night. Used all thigh as suggested and cut out the hot sauce and just left the buttermilk powder for the ‘tang’ I want. Took longer than all pork sausage but I did finally get good extraction and the tacky consistency I need.

This will be better. I’ll report.

Jbo

 

[Polka]

good to hear your preliminaries have improved -- likely better second time around. Keep us informed. R