Sausage Making

[chef jimmyj]

My Dad talked about making Italian Sausage in Grandpa's Shop. After cleaning the large hand cranked stuffer, there was enough meat for Sausage Patty Sandwiches for their lunch. Became a weekly, look forward too, tradition...JJ

 

[sawhorseray]

There's never any waste making sausage. One can make patties, or vac-seal the sausage bulk and when the time is right brown it and put it on a pizza, or mix the browned sausage with some spinach and ricotta and make ravioli. I was five years old and used to watch my Sicilian Noni make sausage and ravioli from scratch, I'm 68 now and do the same thing. Oooo, I found three packs of Dungeness crab meat in the freezer when making room for the batch of sausage I just made. Tomorrow I'll be making crab and ricotta ravioli with fresh semolina pasta, that'll be a different post. RAY

 

[smokininidaho]

It looks like watts aren't as important as horsepower. Seen some high end grinders with fairly low watts and cheap ones with 5 times the watts.

 

[Steve H]

It looks like watts aren't as important as horsepower. Seen some high end grinders with fairly low watts and cheap ones with 5 times the watts.

Watts and horsepower are equally important. There are 746 watts to 1 HP. What makes all this confusing. And purposely misleading by some sellers of these items is that a electric motors are designed to withstand a certain amount of start load. In some cases 150% of rated normal load momentarily. So they'll say it is a 1,100 watt motor. When it is designed to only run at 745 watts continuous run.

I mailed the stuffer. You should see it tomorrow, Friday.

 

[smokininidaho]

Watts and horsepower are equally important. There are 746 watts to 1 HP. What makes all this confusing. And purposely misleading by some sellers of these items is that a electric motors are designed to withstand a certain amount of start load. In some cases 150% of rated normal load momentarily. So they'll say it is a 1,100 watt motor. When it is designed to only run at 745 watts continuous run.

I mailed the stuffer. You should see it tomorrow, Friday.

Yes Steve, I was thinking there had to be something misleading somewhere in these descriptions for the fact it wasn't making sense. I bought a cheap hand grinder on Amazon should be here today, got some natural casings also. Hoping this will work 'till I do some more research before investing $120-$150 on something decent.Looks like I'll be trying my hand at making and smoking some sausage this weekend, so I'm psyched as I wasn't expecting to recieve the stuffer 'till next week, thanks to your generosity. Thanks once again Steve for the stuffer. Gonna get a boneless pork shoulder for the grind. Was thinking about adding a couple boneless chicken breasts in there also unless anyone has a better suggestion on what goes good with pork shoulder.

 

[chef jimmyj]

In general, Sausage is best with 20 to 40% Fat. Butts are more or less 20% Fat as is. A Chicken Breast or two won't hurt, but too much can give sausage a Grainy, Dry texture. Thighs work fine if you grind the Skin too...JJ

 

[Steve H]

Yes Steve, I was thinking there had to be something misleading somewhere in these descriptions for the fact it wasn't making sense. I bought a cheap hand grinder on Amazon should be here today, got some natural casings also. Hoping this will work 'till I do some more research before investing $120-$150 on something decent.Looks like I'll be trying my hand at making and smoking some sausage this weekend, so I'm psyched as I wasn't expecting to recieve the stuffer 'till next week, thanks to your generosity. Thanks once again Steve for the stuffer. Gonna get a boneless pork shoulder for the grind. Was thinking about adding a couple boneless chicken breasts in there also unless anyone has a better suggestion on what goes good with pork shoulder.

You're welcome. And have fun with it!

 

[PolishDeli]

My $0.02:
That kitchenaid grinder/stuffer combo is good enough for getting started. I used one for a few years. Made everything from gator burgers to kabanosy.

Dedicated equipment is always better, but there’s no need to shell out several hundred dollars to make your first bratwurst.

 

[sawhorseray]

I'll be trying my hand at making and smoking some sausage this weekend, so I'm psyched as I wasn't expecting to recieve the stuffer 'till next week, thanks to your generosity.

Should I assume you are going to make fresh sausage and cook it on your grill or smoker, nice and hot? Smoked sausage is a bit different ballgame and requires the use of Cure#1, it's a bit more involved. Only asking to ensure you stay safe. RAY

 

[chopsaw]

I agree . Was just wondering what your plan was .

 

[Capt greg]

Hey there is a lot of places to check on a grinder,I bought mine from web restaurant they have a good selection and they put scratch and dents at a great price.Depends on what you want to do,the Kitchen aid is good choice for smaller amounts.

 

[BGKYSmoker]

My XP with a KA for grinding.

Older KA grinders had a metal blade (like a dedicated grinder has) They worked good for small batches.

However the newer KA grinders have a cheap pressed out aluminum type blade. I found these cheap blades dont grind as good as the older blades. You can buy after market KA grinders on Amazn but if your going to spend the $$ on that why not just buy a dedicated grinder.

If you doing small batches 5-10 lbs a #5 or #8 grinder is great. If your going to be grinding chicken bones then go with a larger #32

 

[sawhorseray]

Smokininidaho, just as important as the gear to get started in sausage making is some basic instruction and education. Let YouTube be your friend, there's a ton of videos that'll get you headed in the right direction, if you haven't checked them out already that is. There are also some good books out there that will help you along and keep you safe, after all, you are making stuff you are going to eat. My bible for all things sausage and smoking is "Great Sausage Recipes & Meat Curing" by Rytec Kutas, Marianski also has some great books on the subject and is a bit more up to date. The pride and satisfaction you'll get from making your own sausage will be well worth the time learning how to do it properly. Get to stuffin', good luck, and keep us posted! RAY

 

[tropics]

I second the Rytec Kutas I have an old edition.
I highly recommend asking questions here! UTube helps but there are a lot of us that make sausage smoked an fresh,if you need a recipe ask.I am always willing to share.
Richie

 

[chopsaw]

I highly recommend asking questions here!

This is where I learned . Alot of knowledge here . The CORRECT knowledge . That way if you look other places , you will know what's right or not .
I have the Kutas book and Marianski . Both are good , but use Marianski the most . Formulas are for 2 1/2 lb. batches .
Just had home made brats last night .

 

[smokininidaho]

Should I assume you are going to make fresh sausage and cook it on your grill or smoker, nice and hot? Smoked sausage is a bit different ballgame and requires the use of Cure#1, it's a bit more involved. Only asking to ensure you stay safe. RAY

Thanks everyone for all the help. Gonna be making fresh sausage for now, probably a 10lb batch to start. Will be picking up a Boston Butt tomorrow. Anyone ever use a picnic shoulder for sausage, I know they have a lot of fat, or combine the two? I've been checking out a lot of youtube videos, they have been very helpful also.

 

[sawhorseray]

You really can't go wrong going with straight pork butt, I'm not much on mixing meat, but just about any part of a dead pig will work for sausage as long as it's got enough fat. Fat = Flavor, one of the golden rules. Sausage with a insufficient amount of fat will be dry to the taste. I like to be somewhere in the 25-30% neighborhood concerning fat content, but then I make a lot of sausage from wild hogs that are extremely lean. What kind of sausage are you thinking for your initial effort? Like Richie and Chop said, you need any help or a recipe all you have to do is ask, there's no such thing as a stupid question. Remember to run some water thru your natural casings before slipping them on the stuffer tube, some water on your sausage board helps, if you don't have a sausage pricker a needle will suffice. You've got a grinder, stuffer, and SMF, the world is your oyster! RAY

 

[Capt greg]

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Thanks everyone for all the help. Gonna be making fresh sausage for now, probably a 10lb batch to start. Will be picking up a Boston Butt tomorrow. Anyone ever use a picnic shoulder for sausage, I know they have a lot of fat, or combine the two? I've been checking out a lot of youtube videos, they have been very helpful also.

Stick with the pork butt it has less muscle tissues than picnic.

 

[tropics]

Thanks everyone for all the help. Gonna be making fresh sausage for now, probably a 10lb batch to start. Will be picking up a Boston Butt tomorrow. Anyone ever use a picnic shoulder for sausage, I know they have a lot of fat, or combine the two? I've been checking out a lot of youtube videos, they have been very helpful also.

A lot of waste Skin and Bone are mass weight.Get a but they are easy to bone out and have enough fat most times.
When making sausage it does not hurt to have a pound of pork fat in the freezer (learned the hard way 2 weeks ago)
Richie

 

[bregent]

Works great, but a little hard to fill with the horn on - vertical may have been a better choice.

I've the same one, and that's the only problem I've found. But it's not a big one. Due to the low center of gravity, I don't need to clamp the stuffer to the table, so if I need to refill I just put an empty food bin under it and that allows me to drop the cylinder down. Vertical would be easier in that respect.

To get most of the meat into casings, I back out the piston, tighten the release valve, and crank fast on high gear. The air pressure in the cylinder will push out most of the meat. Anything else left gets fried up in a patty.