Thread: Sausages

I do now, its taken a fair few kilo's of ok sausages but i now have a pretty consistent formula.
Take notes on what you do, and write down any changes or tweaks you make.
The biggest issue I have always had is what to use as a filler, if you dont use a filler to bulk out the sausage meat, you end up with a very heavy and hard product that shrivels a lot when cooked. It wont retain moisture so ends up as a dry uninspiring product.
Of course experience comes in to play as well, if it wasnt for the fuck ups I still wouldnt know when I had it right.

A couple of tips I have learnt.

1 When mincing your meat, firstly start with a VERY cold sliced or chunked up meat ( almost frozen ) ( and free flowed not in a big lump ).

2 Run 50 % of it back thru a fine holed mincing plate.

3 Clear any blockages on the plate / blade such as sinew or silver skin. If you dont clean it off the mince starts to become slushy. It should be coming out like big fat spaghetti.

4 Use a cake mixer with a dough hook attachment to blend all the ingredients and start the binding process. If you have a lot of meat do it in smaller batches, but aim for consistency. And add equal amounts of everything to each "batch"

The recipe

This is what you have been waiting for This makes up approximately 4 kg of sausages.

Hog skin casings .... you will need about 5 Meters of 32 to 38 mm skins ( I work on 1,25 M per kilo )

2 kg of target species meat minced.

2 x 500 gram tubes of sausage forcing meat ( from the supermarket ) I have settled on this after trying pork mince, pork back fat, mutton flaps etc
It helps to bind it all together. You could run a kilo of pork mince through the wifes kitchen whizz to make it to that paste consistancy but its a lot simpler just to get the tubes on special and freeze them untill needed.

3 T spoons PLAIN salt ( this is to my taste on a low salt diet you may want more ) not iodised salt.

2 T spoons cracked black pepper

2 T spoons mixed herbs

250 grams dry breadcrumbs ( real dry )

1/2 cup low fat milk powder

1 to 3 cups of cold water ( maybe a little wine if you feel ambitious ) Add the water as you mix it in the cake mixer, you dont want it too wet nor too dry. When its too dry its harder to put into the casings, smaller casings need more water as they dont take as much force as the larger casings and will burst.

Next time I do a batch i might do a video of making links if anyone would be interested.

Any questions just ask, I also make salami and corned venison / beef and do my own bacon. I dont claim to be an expert and a true butcher would laugh at my attempts but it keeps me interested .