Hey everyone, nice to meet you all. I just made my own sausages for the first time over the weekend. In general, I feel it went pretty well.
Anyway, I cooked a few of the sausages up the next day, and I was bit disappointed in the taste. The inner consistency looks fine, like a real sausage should. The taste, however, was very dry and unappealing. They tasted like a dried breakfast sausage that was in the oven too long. I cooked them in the over for about an hour at 180c. I actually cooked some store bought sausages at the same time, which tasted fine.
With my limited knowledge, I would guess that my subpar sausages were the result of not enough fat in my mixture. I read about adding back fat to the mixture, and trying to get to a 70/30 ration of meat to fat. I am in very new territory here, so I would like to hear what the board has to say about this.
Here are my cooking notes from that day:
-1412g of pork shoulder. I grabbed the fattiest packages I could find.
-2% salt, 28.24g
-30g fresh garlic
-6g Fennel Seeds
-5g Black Peppercorns
-1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
-¼ Cup Red Wine
-2 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
-2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
-Handful of fresh chili peppers
Two hours before starting, washed and soaked my casings. Put my pork shoulder in the freezer
Fried up the garlic and whole spices.
First pass on the meat grinder; ground the meat with the larger die.
Mixed in all the spices and peppers.
Second pass on the meat grinder; ground the mixture again using the small die.
Added ice and wine to the mixture. In general, I tried to keep the meat as cold as possible.
Mixed everything to emulsified the mixture. After that, did a taste test: It was very good, but maybe a little too salty. Generally, it tasted like an Italian sausage.
Filled the casing, twisted them up and then left them uncovered the fridge for the next 4 hours. Then I covered them. The next day, I cooked them up for dinner.
Anyway, I cooked a few of the sausages up the next day, and I was bit disappointed in the taste. The inner consistency looks fine, like a real sausage should. The taste, however, was very dry and unappealing. They tasted like a dried breakfast sausage that was in the oven too long. I cooked them in the over for about an hour at 180c. I actually cooked some store bought sausages at the same time, which tasted fine.
With my limited knowledge, I would guess that my subpar sausages were the result of not enough fat in my mixture. I read about adding back fat to the mixture, and trying to get to a 70/30 ration of meat to fat. I am in very new territory here, so I would like to hear what the board has to say about this.
Here are my cooking notes from that day:
-1412g of pork shoulder. I grabbed the fattiest packages I could find.
-2% salt, 28.24g
-30g fresh garlic
-6g Fennel Seeds
-5g Black Peppercorns
-1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
-¼ Cup Red Wine
-2 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
-2 Teaspoons Onion Powder
-Handful of fresh chili peppers
Two hours before starting, washed and soaked my casings. Put my pork shoulder in the freezer
Fried up the garlic and whole spices.
First pass on the meat grinder; ground the meat with the larger die.
Mixed in all the spices and peppers.
Second pass on the meat grinder; ground the mixture again using the small die.
Added ice and wine to the mixture. In general, I tried to keep the meat as cold as possible.
Mixed everything to emulsified the mixture. After that, did a taste test: It was very good, but maybe a little too salty. Generally, it tasted like an Italian sausage.
Filled the casing, twisted them up and then left them uncovered the fridge for the next 4 hours. Then I covered them. The next day, I cooked them up for dinner.