That doesnt happen often

[cansmoke]

Tried converting a sausage recipe to make meatloaf. Way too much salt. The seasoning mix was good but needed a fraction of the salt. Hiss Boo, had to toss it.

 

[PPG1]

Don't you hate spending all that time and it does not turn out. I've done it a hundred times.

 

[smokerjim]

that sucks, hope ya had a back up plan. we probably all had some of those moments.

 

[indaswamp]

I recommend 0.8~1.0% salt for meat loaf. Measure it by weight. A lot of pre packaged sausage seasonings have 2.0% or more of salt...

 

[thirdeye]

I use my home-made frozen sausage in my meatloaf all the time. This doesn't sound right. Are you sure you didn't mistake teaspoons for tablespoons, or measure out the salt twice?

 

[cansmoke]

indaswampy, I do make-my-own. I'll try it again with much less salt. Somehow might have converted the seasoning mix used for 15lb of sausage to 2lb of meat. Hurmph!
Back up plan was well, call pizza joint

 

[cansmoke]

I use my home-made frozen sausage in my meatloaf all the time. This doesn't sound right. Are you sure you didn't mistake teaspoons for tablespoons, or measure out the salt twice?

The recipe called for 13 oz of salt for 15 lb of meat in making the sausage. THats 0.87 oz of salt per lb or 1.73 oz for 2 lb. Based on indaswamp's formula, it should more have been 1/4 oz which sounds better.

 

[tallbm]

The recipe called for 13 oz of salt for 15 lb of meat in making the sausage. THats 0.87 oz of salt per lb or 1.73 oz for 2 lb. Based on indaswamp's formula, it should more have been 1/4 oz which sounds better.

Salt = to 2% of the weight of your meat is a good round number I prefer. You can dial up or down from there. I do so depending on the meat like if it's ground vs thin and brined, etc. I find when I brine whole chickens or chicken breast that 2.25% works for me but with fish or thin pieces of meat I go more like 1.8%.
With ground meat it is easy to experiment with 0.8 - 2% because you can fry up a small patty and taste it. Add more meat if too salty, add more salt if too bland :)


So 15lbs of meat (240oz) x 2% (.02) = 4.8oz of salt for 15 pounds of meat

For 2lbs of meat (32oz) x 2% (.02) = 0.64oz of salt

I believe a general rule of thumb is 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of ground meat but that is not by weight so you will have to weigh out 1 teaspoon of your salt to see how much that is per pound lol :)

 

[Fueling Around]

Sorry to read it didn't work for you.
Most sausage recipes are way too salty for my taste.
For that, most recipes are way too salty for me.
Wish I could give an easy formula on salt to add but it is so much a personal taste, not a what you should be endure.

 

[SmokinAl]

I’m an old man, and we do limit the salt we eat, I used to salt everything, but now nothing gets salt, so most recipes are too salty for our taste, and I just cut it back. Once you give up salt your tolerance for salt goes way down. Although I can’t eat French fries without S&P.
Al

 

[thirdeye]

The recipe called for 13 oz of salt for 15 lb of meat in making the sausage. THats 0.87 oz of salt per lb or 1.73 oz for 2 lb. Based on indaswamp's formula, it should more have been 1/4 oz which sounds better.

That is way off. Would you mind sharing the source of this recipe?

It's not uncommon for cookbooks to have a typo, but usually they are so obvious they easily stand out. I agree with tallbm on using percents. I am more in the 1.5% salt for most sausage formulations. Here is the 'base' sausage recipe I recommend when folks are designing their own sausage.:

thirdeye's Base Sausage Recipe & Meat to Fat Ratio for Fresh Sausage:
You can use this as a base to develop your own sausage recipes. Just remember to add additional spices or seasonings, as well as different liquids to suit your personal tastes. I like to use ground pork butt, it has a ratio of approximately 70:30, the 30% is the fat. Some commercial sausages are 40% to 50% fat.

5 pounds of ground pork butt
5 to 6 teaspoons of kosher salt
2 to 3 teaspoons of white pepper, or black pepper or a mix of the two.
1/2 to 5/8 cup of ice cold water or other liquid
seasonings to taste

Next, visit THIS page, and scroll down to the Guide For Spice Usage. Pick a few signature seasonings and you are on your way.

 

[chopsaw]

5 to 6 teaspoons of kosher salt

If I'm mixing from scratch , I weigh in grams . I follow Marianski's 18 grams per 2.2 pounds of meat . Comes out to about 3 tsp . Which lines up with Thirdeye's suggestion . Since I started doing it like that , no more to salty .

 

[bill1]

Sometimes dilution is the solution. If something's too salty, mix in something that needs salt. Like mashed potatoes...make shepherd's pie. Or a stew...add unsalted beans.
Sometimes if it's just a little too salty, adding another powerful flavor can help. I had a soup get a little too salty and I added 1/3 cup of honey...the sweetness made the salt acceptable.

 

[Fueling Around]

You brought up another issue with salt.
The volume versus weight (my prefered) method of measuring.
Salt by volume goes all over the spectrum. Salt by weight is ... salt

 

[thirdeye]

If I'm mixing from scratch , I weigh in grams . I follow Marianski's 18 grams per 2.2 pounds of meat . Comes out to about 3 tsp . Which lines up with Thirdeye's suggestion . Since I started doing it like that , no more to salty .

And you can use ANY salt since size of grind does not matter when weighing.

You brought up another issue with salt.
The volume versus weight (my prefered) method of measuring.
Salt by volume goes all over the spectrum. Salt by weight is ... salt

Weighing is hands down the most accurate. An often un-noticed culprit in volume measuring are the tools themselves. Measuring spoons are notorious for being inaccurate, some by as much as 20%.

Some friends I know make a giant batch of sausage each year using a 60 year old 'family recipe'. Over the years it has grown from 500# to close to 900#. The ingredients are salt, black pepper, white pepper, and garlic and measured by volume. Each year it tastes slightly different.