Sausage making 101 Using fresh meats

[boykjo]

I would like to take this opportunity and share how important it is to use fresh meats when processing sausages. I found the quality of the sausage depends on the quality of the meats used. With all the time and effort that's put into the process it can become disappointing when your results become lower than expected.
I always recommend using freshly bought meats. If you plan to make sausage at a later date, Store the meats in a vacuum sealed bag to preserve its freshness. IMO the pork shoulders that are cryovaced in the store is not sufficient enough to protect the meat from the freezer and the packing should be removed and be re vacuum sealed in a bag. Here is a good example of some fresh clean quality meat that has been stored for future use. With pork shoulders now cut with almost no fat cap, adding additional fat makes a big difference in the sausages outcome when it comes to flavor, taste, feel and presentation.
Here's some fresh pork fat I just bought going to the sub zero for future use. The fresh skins get lightly salted and vacuum sealed to be smoked at a later time and made into cracklins. I was able to get my hands on 10 lbs. fresh beef fat but didn't get pics of the process.

Thanks for lookin and I hope this helps

 

[chopsaw]

Great info .
I learned the hard way with some " old pork fat " Not rancid , but if you've been around it you know .
Good points on the freezing . I'll buy fresh butts and make a few pounds . Usually breakfast and Italian .
I'll also grind , vac , and freeze unseasoned pork in either 1 pound or 2 1/2 pound batches .
That way if I need something , I can thaw , mix and use it on the fly .

 

[indaswamp]

Great info....great post! I just ordered 20# fresh beef ribeye trim fat from the local grocer butcher. Will be processing deer Soon....

 

[rjob]

Curious about the pork fat. Never see it on display or advertised at Nahunta. Is it special order?

 

[indaswamp]

I had to look up Nahunta....never heard of that shop before.

 

[hog warden]

May or may not relate, but was in Sam's on monday and noticed they had uncured pork belly in the case next to the pork butts. Not the big long slabs, but more like thick 1 foot squares. Would make a good source of fat if you had a lot of lean pork.......venison, etc.

 

[crazymoon]

B, Good info to share and that's a good charge of fat !

 

[DougE]

IMO the pork shoulders that are cryovaced in the store is not sufficient enough to protect the meat from the freezer and the packing should be removed and be re vacuum sealed in a bag.

I often take these cryovaced butts from the store, break them down, grind them once through a coarse plate and vac seal the grind in 1kg packs for the freezer if I'm not going to use it right away.

 

[boykjo]

Curious about the pork fat. Never see it on display or advertised at Nahunta. Is it special order?

Yep, special order. I order it at their pork center in Pikeville NC and have it delivered to their outlet at the farmers market. Its unavailable during the hunting season.