My Second Sausage Attempt!

[KonaRich]

I graduated from my 10mm caseless meat gun experiment...which was a success...to my 16mm caseless meat gun production. I attempted a cured, smoked slim jim clone, but the resulting flavor left much to be desired. I'm sure I'll get it dialed in over time, using small batches for experiments.

The size and texture were prefect, however! I got 10 12-inch sticks from 1 lb of meat. If I had known this before, I wouldn't have bought 19mm collagen casings. My sausage sticks were close enough to actual slim jim size that the diff doesn't matter. No snap, of course, but great bite and chew, even though I overcooked them (a lot) being diverted with a computer problem.

One more 1 lb pack of ground pork to go in my "training wheels" work before I must grind up my first pork butt! I have decided, though, to experiment with flavor profiles in small 1 lb or less batches before I commit a lot of meat to something that we may not totally love.

 

[sandyut]

Rich, where are the pics man?

 

[forktender]

You're going about it the smart way, Rich.

Now me, LOL!!!
I'll grind up 40 lbs and go for it all in one shot.
Maybe, 20 at a time, but most likely not, as I'm going to make it all hot Sicilian fennel sausage.
I'll most likely leave 10 lbs. out for a Jimmy Dean style breakfast sausage for biscuits, and gravy, one of my favorite winter meals for either breakfast or supper.

I just need to figure out a safe method to defrost 40 lbs of meat at the same time.

I have butts, belly and rib scrap saved in the deep freezer, not a frost free freezer, they suck for long term meat storage.
Defrosting the deep freezer twice a year is totally worth it to me, instead of loosing meat to freezer burn.

Keep at it, you'll have it dialed in in no time at all.
Dan.