Rice Flour as a sausage binder

[indaswamp]

I used the search function and nothing came up. Anyone ever use it? Do you guys think it would function as a good sausage binder/water retainer?

*edit to add: Is rusk the same as rice flour? I know the British use rusk in their sausages.

Thanks in advance...

 

[chef jimmyj]

Rusk is a dry baked bread/cracker. MelbaToast or Zwiebazk Bread is similar and common in America. Rice Flour works perfectly fine...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks jj!!!

 

[chef jimmyj]

I forgot to mention. There are two types of Asian rice flour. All Purpose Rice Flour, Red Label. And Glutenous or Sweet Rice Flour, Green Label. It not actually sweet, but it is sticky used for rice bals and dumplings. It's great binder...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

I was thinking of making my own from cajun medium grain rice....seems easy to do.

 

[indaswamp]

The reason for my curiosity is that when I made the 75# batch of boudin this weekend, my uncle wanted to use parboiled rice in his portion of the boudin. So I cooked enough regular rice for 2/3 of the mix and he cooked par-boiled rice for his portion of 1/3.
The regular rice tightened up nicely and absorbed all the liquid in the recipe, the parboiled rice did not. I assume the reason for this is the lack of rice starch in the parboiled rice. I thought maybe adding rice flour might help it tighten up, but it may defeat the purpose of using parboiled rice in the first place....

 

[chef jimmyj]

Parboiled is precooked then dried. Most of the Starch Granules have already burst, resulting in less ability to absorb and hold moisture. Grinding what you have will be fine...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks jj...
I went to wiki to read all about parboiled rice. I knew it was steamed, just did not know it had already cooked the starches out. I do not cook with parboiled rice and was thrown for a loop using it to make the boudin. I will need to reduce the amount of water in the mix if I ever use parboiled rice again.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I never thought of this and I want to try it in a asian style summer sausage now... uh oh, ideas!

 

[smokininthegarden]

Inda
I personally have never used it but I know from researching countless sausage recipes
On the net that it is a traditional ingredient for a sausage binder.
Par boiled rice may not be the best choice since it is already cooked, the whole starch thing
etc. If I were to try it I would probably go to my local health food store and get some
rice flour, that might work well.

Cal