Well no butts for my brats, but I found me some pork shoulder roast - any advice?

[Hauser]

Never used this cut to make sausage before, I usually just use butt or a combo of butt and belly, anything I should do differently to make a great brat?

 

[foamheart]

Shoulder is fine, it just has more bone to meat. The good part is I think the favor is better because of it. Its a bit more work to clean the meat for grinding, other than that I have used it before. I actually prefer a picnic for cooking. I have boned 'em and made hams, as well as pulled with them. No problems.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Foam X2...JJ

 

[Hauser]

Its a bit more work to clean the meat for grinding, other than that I have used it before.

Yeah in my case the only grinder I had available was my wife’s KitchenAid grinder attachment so I probably only got about 60-70% yield with all the connective tissue gumming up the works every few minutes.

Is there an SMF-recommended grinder that can handle tough cuts like picnic and brisket with no problems at all? Especially one that makes it easy to stuff sausages with after grinding?

 

[crazymoon]

H, IMHO I would get a grinder and a seperate stuffer when you are ready to jump into some serious sausage making.

 

[foamheart]

There are many manufacturers. Its what you want and the price ranges vary also. Personally I went with LEM. One company, fairly good name, good product, although I have heard some negative comments about their CS dept. I highly recommend you get steel gears on your stuffer, nylon or hard plastic wear and break. Make sure whatever you buy is an establish brand because you will want to buy accessories later down the road or maybe even get repair parts.

Probably these days LEM, Cabellas, and maybe Great Northern would be the most common brands.

I highly agree with Crazymoon, get two toys instead of buying the stereo, CD player, turn table, equalizer combination, unit.

 

[nanuk]

Hauser, if you're Canadian, your choices are limited.... you'll have to check around.

 

[Hauser]

Ha tell me about it, looks like the entry level LEM grinders and stuffers are probably fine for me and they’re available online so I’ll probably try those.