Sausage making plunge

[cal1956]

how do they come up with the fat calulation ? i thought i read somewhere that a boston butt was in the 15-18% range ?

 

[indaswamp]

how do they come up with the fat calulation ? i thought i read somewhere that a boston butt was in the 15-18% range ?

The difference is with or without the fat cap...

 

[cal1956]

ok but how is it estimated ? because based on the volume of meat vs fat i get, 25-30% seems kinda on the high side, i remove every bit of fat that i can from the meat and from what i see it just seems high but of course nobody ( including me ) gets it all
i guess i should make it clear that when i say i remove all the fat , i am talking about when i make pulled pork NOT sausage

 

[indaswamp]

The percentage is by weight-not by volume. Fat is lighter than meat so that is why it looks like a lot....

 

[indaswamp]

i guess i should make it clear that when i say i remove all the fat , i am talking about when i make pulled pork NOT sausage

Ah....well that is a different thing entirely. I assumed you were referring to sausage since this is a sausage thread.

 

[cal1956]

i agree that sausage needs "some " fat " but when it comes down to it , how is the amount of fat on a boston butt determined ? i'm sure this puzzles a lot of people, its been said here that its by weight not volume but the question remains unanswered , "how " is the "weight" of the fat arrived at ? the same question can be applied to hamburger meat we all buy at the store its 70/30 or 80/20 or 90/10 then numbers might well be correct but someone must know how they come up with the numbers no matter if its boston butts or hamburger

 

[DougE]

i agree that sausage needs "some " fat " but when it comes down to it , how is the amount of fat on a boston butt determined ?

Enough sausage makers, over time, have separated the fat from lean meat in pork butts to determine the fat percentage. That's how we know they average 25-30% fat content by weight. You could also do this, but I'm inclined to just grind whole butts knowing the approximate fat content in the meat I'm making sausage from has somewhere around 30% fat, which is about where I want to be for flavor and juiciness.

 

[indaswamp]

^^^^Exactly what DougE said...

 

[cal1956]

well it took a good bit of research, but i did learn how the % of fat is calculated
( none of the answers in this post were correct )
the way it is calculated is this : a small sample of the meat is collected , then finely ground and placed in a test tube , then a small amount of sulfuric acid is slowly added and allowed to desolve the meat ,then a measured amount of water is added , it is then placed in a centerfuge for 5 minutes then removed and the fat that has now came to the top of the test tube is held next to a scale to get the fat percentage
now as to the fat content of a boston butt it seems to vary wildly from 15% to as much as 30% from what i could dig up it changes from pig to pig and from one geographical area to another, so it would seem that none of us ( me included ) have any real idea what the fat content is in the sausage we make

 

[DougE]

so it would seem that none of us ( me included ) have any real idea what the fat content is in the sausage we make

Weighing the lean and fat absolutely will give you the percentage, if you are inclined to do it. You are conflating what's done commercially with what we do at home. And besides that, I already said that I base mine on averages, not measured fat content. With that, I'm done.

 

[indaswamp]

Are they measuring fat or fatty acids?

 

[indaswamp]

a small sample of the meat is collected

If they are collecting a sample of lean meat, then this is a measure of intramuscular fat.

 

[SmokinEdge]

now as to the fat content of a boston butt it seems to vary wildly from 15% to as much as 30% from what i could dig up it changes from pig to pig and from one geographical area to another, so it would seem that none of us ( me included ) have any real idea what the fat content is in the sausage we make

Nothing like projecting to the world your lack of experience in sausage making or meat grinding generally.

Spend the time and cut up lean meat and back fat. Weigh each until you have the desired percentage for a final grind of meat and fat. This will give you the sense of the volume by weight. Do that enough times and you can do this by eye. No butcher or processor takes the time to do the separate weighing, mostly because of experience in actually doing it. Your statements and questions throughout this thread reak of ignorance. People have tried very politely to help but still you carry on with your insistence of your own ignorance. Good grief man! Meat cutting is not performed by scientists. Rather it is carried out by skillful, knowledgeable craftsman in their trade. Have some respect, and check your dignity at the door.