Hello.
As I mentioned in a post a few days ago I was wanting to try Irish Sausage. Well I finally got around to it.
I used Rytek's recipe and pretty much followed it to the letter except for casing size (more about that later). I cut his 10# recipe in half for a 5# batch.
I also added #1 cure like I always do.
They didn't have butts at the grocery but they had boneless country style on sale. Works for me since I want to save the butt in the freezer for PP.
Cut, ground and mixed:
I was wondering about why so much water until I realized how much bread crumbs were in there!
It took a lot of mixing (and frozen hands) until I felt the crumbs were mixed evenly. Very sticky!
I let it sit in the fridge overnight.
It seemed so sticky that I thought I might need a bit more water the next day for stuffing but I just
went with it like it was. I just mixed some more before stuffing.
It flew through the stuffer like grass through a goose. Here's where I'll mention that I was using 32-34mm casings instead of 22-26mm....
Normally I'll get (+-) 15 links from 5# but I had to fill the can up twice and wound up with 25! I used up a whole sleeve of pre-tubed and I've never done that.
The instructions said to dry in the fridge for 2 days. I let them hang in the garage for a couple of hours first.
They were really wet!
But of course I couldn't wait and cooked a couple for dinner on the indoor grill.
Not dry enough and too soft, even though cooked to temp. I thought they tasted fine ( little bland), but the Mrs didn't finish hers...
So yesterday I let them air dry outside for a couple of hours (It was in the upper 30s with a little breeze) and they dried considerably and got a little color.
I cooked a couple with a couple of burgers for the Mrs. on the kettle. They came out much better:
So what have I learned from this (aside from finding another sausage that my wife won't eat)?
I wanted an authentic Irish Sausage which I figured Rytek's would be. I'm thinking all the bread crumbs were to make the meat
go a little further in the old days.
Besides easier mixing, all that water would make the sausage run through a small horn for small casings.
Don't underestimate drying time.
Mix my cure with the meat only before grinding. I was "curing" a lot of bread.
As pungent as it smelled while mixing and drying, it was a little bland actually after cooked.
It will be a while before I make more since I have 21 links to eat myself and I've run out of freezer space but when I do
I'll add a little Mace and /or Allspice and cut the bread crumbs at least in half, as well as the water.
If you've read this you're as bored as I am!
Keep grinding and keep learning!
Dan
As I mentioned in a post a few days ago I was wanting to try Irish Sausage. Well I finally got around to it.
I used Rytek's recipe and pretty much followed it to the letter except for casing size (more about that later). I cut his 10# recipe in half for a 5# batch.
I also added #1 cure like I always do.
They didn't have butts at the grocery but they had boneless country style on sale. Works for me since I want to save the butt in the freezer for PP.
Cut, ground and mixed:
I was wondering about why so much water until I realized how much bread crumbs were in there!
It took a lot of mixing (and frozen hands) until I felt the crumbs were mixed evenly. Very sticky!
I let it sit in the fridge overnight.
It seemed so sticky that I thought I might need a bit more water the next day for stuffing but I just
went with it like it was. I just mixed some more before stuffing.
It flew through the stuffer like grass through a goose. Here's where I'll mention that I was using 32-34mm casings instead of 22-26mm....
Normally I'll get (+-) 15 links from 5# but I had to fill the can up twice and wound up with 25! I used up a whole sleeve of pre-tubed and I've never done that.
The instructions said to dry in the fridge for 2 days. I let them hang in the garage for a couple of hours first.
They were really wet!
But of course I couldn't wait and cooked a couple for dinner on the indoor grill.
Not dry enough and too soft, even though cooked to temp. I thought they tasted fine ( little bland), but the Mrs didn't finish hers...
So yesterday I let them air dry outside for a couple of hours (It was in the upper 30s with a little breeze) and they dried considerably and got a little color.
I cooked a couple with a couple of burgers for the Mrs. on the kettle. They came out much better:
So what have I learned from this (aside from finding another sausage that my wife won't eat)?
I wanted an authentic Irish Sausage which I figured Rytek's would be. I'm thinking all the bread crumbs were to make the meat
go a little further in the old days.
Besides easier mixing, all that water would make the sausage run through a small horn for small casings.
Don't underestimate drying time.
Mix my cure with the meat only before grinding. I was "curing" a lot of bread.
As pungent as it smelled while mixing and drying, it was a little bland actually after cooked.
It will be a while before I make more since I have 21 links to eat myself and I've run out of freezer space but when I do
I'll add a little Mace and /or Allspice and cut the bread crumbs at least in half, as well as the water.
If you've read this you're as bored as I am!
Keep grinding and keep learning!
Dan
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