Hook in and follow along. I’ll try to keep things focused for the basics for quality home production and not focus on the wild side. Stay tuned. This could be a great follow along tutorial.
My First Sausage
- Thread starter Worble7
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Awesome info. If anyone has any specific questions for me, just tag me in your post and I will find it.
This will be fun and instructive Kieth. Or I hope so. Stay plugged in.
Indeed SE....and national Sausage month is October! There ought to be a sausage contest for October!
I agree! Great time to celebrate sausage and to teach those who want to know.
I've not stuffed sausage yet but have made quite a bit of brat and breakfast sausage patties. I feel like with the leaner ratio I often had to increase the spices quite a bit. For those of you who make a lot have you found you need more spices in 80/20 vs. 70/30?
Can't speak on 8/20 vs 70/30 and seasoning BUT I find that if I use 1.65% kosher Salt (not counting Cure#1) I usually nail my salt flavoring preference no matter the 80/20 sausage I make.
I also discovered that a number of the store bought seasonings (LEM, Owens, AC Leggs, High Mountain, etc.) use about 2% salt, usually a little bit more, sometimes a little less it seems.
For store bought seasoning I do a little work and figure out the seasoning amount needed (in weight) for 1pound of sausage. Mix and do a fry test and record the end seasoning weight when I nail a good tasting fry test.
Figuring out weight of seasoning 1 pound of sausage is not always so straight forward so I'll show an example.
EXAMPLE (Seasoning is a pack for 5 pounds of sausage):
1. Convert Seasoning Serving Size Amount to "per" Pound of Sausage:
Above shows, 30 servings total for pack that does 5 pounds of sausage when using the whole pack.
- 1 serving = 4.2gms (never use the tsp measures)
- 6 servings for 1 pound of sausage (30 servings / 5 pounds of sausage = 6 servings for 1 pound)
- 6 servings = 25.2gm of seasoning (6 servings x 4.2gm a serving = 25.2gm seasoning per serving)
- 25.2gm of seasoning per 1 pound of Sausage
- Mix 25.2gm of this seasoning with 1 pound of sausage
- Pinch off a little chunk of mixed sausage meat and fry in a skillet. (amount of meat should make like a 2inch/5cm round patty when smashed with a fork while frying in the skillet)
- Check taste for a "too salty"/"too bland" taste and if it has an enjoyable taste. Not too much more.
IMPORTANT: Flavor will usually not be the same here as it will be when it is cooked in it's final form and that is ok. If it's good here it will be even better when cooked in the end!
If you ever think "it could use just a little more seasoning..." THAT is the classic indicator to STOP and not add anymore. Flavors will grow from there so you don't need to add anymore, it will intensify naturally
- If bland, WEIGH OUT some more seasoning, like 2 grams in this case because serving size is 4.2gm. Mix in and fry test again! Don't worry about the little bit of meat you are fry testing messing things up.
- If too salty well it's good to have 2-3 pounds of unseasoned ground sausage meat to start with.
Reduce the seasoning amount by like a whole serving size in this case, 4.2gm, and mix that into an unseasoned 1 pound of sausage and fry test!!
Increase as needed until you hit the "it could use just a little more" which you don't add more and stop.
- IMPORANT: Note down your initial seasoning weight. Weigh out and note down the weight of seasoning every time you added more or reduced amount, until you got your magical flavor right.
WRITE DOWN the final seasoning weight for 1 pound of sausage you landed on.
I've learned this the hard way over the years. I hope it all helps :D
For breakfast sausage it’s sheep hands down. Pig casing doesn’t go small enough for traditional breakfast sausage but then again I’m fine with a good breakfast sausage that is bigger, still eats fine just not as fast to cook. I’m not a fan of collagen casings as a rule but do use them for sticks. I’m making some 16mm right now.
- Sep 18, 2023
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Thanks I will look for some breakfast sausage casing now as I'm about to place my order of the stuffer and all. Getting snack casings also hope to be making them soon. So I have everything but the meat and seasoning now should I try a seasoning from here of buy a package? check my list out and see if I'm missing anything please. Thanks Jeff
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- Sep 18, 2023
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- Sep 18, 2023
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- Sep 18, 2023
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No sure gel. ECA is up to you, that produces tang. If you want that. Many ways to finish sticks.
- Sep 18, 2023
- 88
- 57
Thanks seen that way also but will try stuffing may change up later. Jeff
Never used Sure Gel or ECA.
I also never have done collagen casing snack sticks or summer sausage that would benefit from it.
I would suggest picking a simple sausage first before going into those extra things.
LEM's Fresh Brats makes the best brats I've ever had (tried a lot of brats too) - https://www.lemproducts.com/product/backwoods-bratwurst-fresh-sausage-seasoning/sausage-seasoning
My notes have me doing 27.3gm per 1 pound for their Brats (that's a little higher than their instructions per pound, so if you want to do 5lbs buy the 25 pound pack because the 5 pound pack will leave you short a few grams and you will bland).
You grill these.
Lem's Cured Franks also makes best Franks I've ever had - https://www.lemproducts.com/product/backwoods-franks-cured-sausage-seasoning/sausage-seasoning
My notes have me doing 14gm per 1 pound of Franks (that's a little lower than their instructions per pound).
You cured smoke these or grill them like they are fresh.
These are 2 options that definitely don't need sure gel or ECA.
If you figure out what kind of sausage you want to do it will help us recommend casings and other options that are best for you to start with :D
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