Newbie Questions

[swiing]

I made Swedish Potato Sausage and breakfast sausage using pork butt which turned out OK. The pork had a somewhat thick (1/4 inch) layer of fat on one side is it best to remove that? I did removed most of it but wasn't sure.

I also used a KitchenAid as the sausage stuffer. It works fine as a meat grinder but seemed extremely tedious as a stuffer. It was real slow trying to feed the sticky sausage into the hopper (not sure if there is a trick to this). One thing I thought was less than ideal with the way my sausage turned out was it was not dense enough. I'm not sure if it was my technique or if using the KitchenAid contributed to that. Any thoughts?

 

[DanMcG]

I'd leave the fat and even add some. And the KA is really not recommended for stuffing from what I've heard... grinding yes, many use it for that.
You want at least 20% fat to get a taste sausage.

 

[smokerjim]

it sounds like your pork was just over worked trying to stuff it with your kitchen aid, you could try putting your mix in the freezer for a while to stiffen it up some, you should look into a hand crank stuffer.

 

[thirdeye]

I agree with DanMcG , the KA stuffing attachment is terrible, but the grinder works fine as long as you prep your meat then par-freeze it before grinding. I have an older lower watt KA model and setting 4 is the sweet spot for grinding. I can grind 1# per minute and although I can not feel the mixer getting hot I give it a rest after 10 or 15 minutes. Which is fine because I need to transfer my ground meat back to the fridge anyway, and I like to clean any silverskin or fat off of the knife. Over the years I have ground hundreds of pounds of meat with no issues at all.

There are aftermarket plates available which can give you options for a 'chili grind' which is also good for taco meat or bulk coarse Italian sausage used in spaghetti, lasagna, or on pizza. And in some cases two sizes of grind can help with binding your sausage. Most plate sets come with a knife, but you have to be very careful before using the knife as the grinder housing may NOT have the clearance. I had to modify the new knife that came with this set.

 

[swiing]

I'd leave the fat and even add some. And the KA is really not recommended for stuffing from what I've heard... grinding yes, many use it for that.
You want at least 20% fat to get a taste sausage.

Thanks DanMcG. Next time I will leave on all the fat.

 

[swiing]

it sounds like your pork was just over worked trying to stuff it with your kitchen aid, you could try putting your mix in the freezer for a while to stiffen it up some, you should look into a hand crank stuffer.

Thanks. Next time I'm getting a hand crank stuffer.

 

[old sarge]

I made Swedish Potato Sausage and breakfast sausage using pork butt which turned out OK. The pork had a somewhat thick (1/4 inch) layer of fat on one side is it best to remove that? I did removed most of it but wasn't sure.

I also used a KitchenAid as the sausage stuffer. It works fine as a meat grinder but seemed extremely tedious as a stuffer. It was real slow trying to feed the sticky sausage into the hopper (not sure if there is a trick to this). One thing I thought was less than ideal with the way my sausage turned out was it was not dense enough. I'm not sure if it was my technique or if using the KitchenAid contributed to that. Any thoughts?

When I am grinding pork, or beef for that matter, I make sure to cut away the large thick portions of fat and leave just a nice layer on the meat to be ground. The trimmed off fat is cut into strips to feed into the grinder with the leaner/less fatty pieces of meat. I also do two grinds, one coarse and one fine. Admittedly I do not make casing stuffed sausage. I used a kitchen aid grinder attachment for years. Being plastic, both housings cracked after years of use and got a dedicated grinder. The link below from America's Test Kitchen is interesting if you begin to think about getting a dedicated unit. It only shows the grinding of beef and I am in no way advocating buying their winning grinder.

 

[swiing]

I agree with DanMcG , the KA stuffing attachment is terrible, but the grinder works fine as long as you prep your meat then par-freeze it before grinding. I have an older lower watt KA model and setting 4 is the sweet spot for grinding. I can grind 1# per minute and although I can not feel the mixer getting hot I give it a rest after 10 or 15 minutes. Which is fine because I need to transfer my ground meat back to the fridge anyway, and I like to clean any silverskin or fat off of the knife. Over the years I have ground hundreds of pounds of meat with no issues at all.

There are aftermarket plates available which can give you options for a 'chili grind' which is also good for taco meat or bulk coarse Italian sausage used in spaghetti, lasagna, or on pizza. And in some cases two sizes of grind can help with binding your sausage. Most plate sets come with a knife, but you have to be very careful before using the knife as the grinder housing may NOT have the clearance. I had to modify the new knife that came with this set.
View attachment 478128

Totally agree regarding KA. So when you are removing silver skin is the wild game? Venison?

 

[thirdeye]

Totally agree regarding KA. So when you are removing silver skin is the wild game? Venison?

I was talking about the stuff that wraps itself around the shaft and knife on the grinder. So it may be silver skin or some tendon, slimy fat or a combination. And yes I will remove muscle sheath and heavy silver skin on any kind of meat I'm grinding.

 

[old sarge]

I was talking about the stuff that wraps itself around the shaft and knife on the grinder. So it may be silver skin or some tendon, slimy fat or a combination. And yes I will remove muscle sheath and heavy silver skin on any kind of meat I'm grinding.

Something I did not mention in my comment above is that even though I remove heavy fat and incorporate it with lean meat is that when cutting to size for the grinder I cut across the grain which reduces the wrap around you are talking about. And the last meat in, at the end, is either waste or can be pushed out with a couple slices of dry bread and fed to the pups.

 

[thirdeye]

Something I did not mention in my comment above is that even though I remove heavy fat and incorporate it with lean meat is that when cutting to size for the grinder I cut across the grain which reduces the wrap around you are talking about. And the last meat in, at the end, is either waste or can be pushed out with a couple slices of dry bread and fed to the pups.

I might try that next time. For grinding prep I generally cut my strips of meat with the grain, thinking that the grinder knife would be cutting against the grain.

 

[old sarge]

I hadn't thought about it that way. Now you have me wondering!