First go at the sausage gig

[Uncle-Honky]

took the big leap into the realm of the sausage heads yesterday. Made up some hot Sicilian style links.

These are 2 boneless pork butts at 3lbs. each.
Trimmed much of the fat off of these buggers and discarded.

I used the stand mixer grinder attachment and ran it through the coarse plate.


The seasoning was 3 tbs kosher salt, 2 tbs fennel seed, 2 tbs cbp, and 3 tbs crushed red pepper. Mixed with the meat by hand and then ran through the grinder coarse plate again.

Pattied up a tad and did the fry test. Yeah buddy that was right on track. I was doubtful of the meat to spice ratio and thought it would be week. Tasted great.

Bought some collagen casings these are the 22m-3/4 in. and also bought some 32 mm casings from http://www.meatprocessingproducts.com/. The casing stuffer attachment was the only thing I didn't have in my cupboards to begin with. So I ordered them. I am going to get a lower meat grinder and stuffer. This seems to be to high from the work surface. A little trial and error on the first 3 foot casing and I caught on fairly quick, there after.

Got about 35 links ran out and twisted off.

Vaced 'em up along with a 1lb. or so chub of it for a future fattie. I think I will enjoy this sausage gig quite a bit.
Thank you for lookin' at my sausage...
Happy smokes y'all!!

[Richtee]

Not to dampen your enthuiasim, UH... but I find trimming anything but stringy crap/sinew off of the pork is asking for trouble if you plan on grilling... you need that fat for cooking. Not sayin' ya can't cut it down a BIT- but you said "Trimmed much of the fat off of these buggers and discarded.".

Looks like ya mighta went a bit far. For a cured/smoked link that would work out better tho, but I see you din't do that thing.

Nice links tho...good work for sure!

[Bassman]

Great looking sausages! Rich is right, you need the fat. Oh well, we hooked another on on making sausage.

[wutang]

Great first run.

[Kingudaroad]

I bet their good and spicy. You got it going now Uncle honk!

Keep the fat and get some hog casings and they will improve. Sometimes I even add backfat to mine if I feel I've got a lean butt. The Aardvark will be damn proud of you though.


Another convert. This is an official epedemic around here.

Points if I got em!!

[Fishawn]

I, being not even a rookie, am proud of you too. Looks great! I am trying to work a little on the leaner side of the sausage pendulum myself & plan on lots of experimentation in the future. Great work & pictorial.

[DINGLE]

I missed this thread Sorry UncHonk! From a future addicted sausagehead...Ya done good kid! Hopefully you and I and Fishawn, Tanger and the other rookie sausage makers can learn together as we go :-)

[Richtee]

I DO understand the "Keep it lean" thing. An older rule that must be considered is "fat is flavor". And the whole cookability thing.

Now, off the top of my head, I bet some oil (lo fat) could be added, and even some gelatin/moisture to help the cooking part along.

One way of being SURE of your fat % is trim up like UH did..and weigh both parts. You are gonna want at least 10% fat I'd say. Any additional needs could be addressed with the oil or whatnot. Remember, hydrogenated oils come with their own problems. You will want to use those as they congeal at low temps, and won't run out of the sausage during storage. Anyone have any experience here? I guess I should consult the "bible".

I have used olive oil in my breakfast sausage...made it about 10% fat and added another 10 in OO. It was not cased, and did need to be kneaded a bit before making patties, but it worked very well.

Most sausages are in the 15%-25% fat range, just as a general rule.

[Zeeker]

Oh Boy: another sausage head. This place is crawl'in with'em. Uncle-Honky great first attempt bud. You rock, kudos and to ya for giv'in it your all bud. All the best...

[Uncle-Honky]

Thank you for the kind words. This sausage gig will be fun to learn, especially with friends from the forum whom are doing the same. Like a friggin sausage cyber seminar ! That's the reason I like to hang out here wit' y'all. We all toss the meat ball around and somebody is bound to learn somethin' !

Maybe I should clarify Discarding much of the fat. Maybe a poor choice of wording on my part. Being that these butts were butterflied and netted, they fold open when un-netted. Upon opening them the insides were fatty. I would lean on 20 % of these being fat. I did not weigh them as Richie has suggested, but got a fair eyeball on the ordeal. I feel it very safe to say that I did use 10 % fat in the mix. By all means fat is flavor. I'm not knockin' lean creations either. Not afraid of fat, by golly we save all our bacon grease. It has many uses. I do appreciate all suggestions too. I am almost a rookie :D I enjoy listening in on some of the details that goes in to this great new passion.
Thanks again and happy smokes !!

[ShooterRick]

Oh yes they do look good. Why callogen casings if I may ask? You will probably not go back to store bought even if ya needed a bit more fat or not. Welcome to the sausage club!

[Cajunsmoke13]

Nice job Unc,,,look great. Pass me some, I will eat them up...

[Slanted88]

Real nice....fixin to lose my rookie stripe. Plan on doin something this weekend. Not sure....still in the Italian..& Irish recipe's.

[Uncle-Honky]

Oh yes they do look good. Why callogen casings if I may ask? You will probably not go back to store bought even if ya needed a bit more fat or not. Welcome to the sausage club!

I bought the collagen casings, because I wanted to get some more information on the natural casings. I thought they have to be rinsed and soaked a few before using. Unsure I guess. Although the collagen casings I used went smooth, with only 1 blow out on the first stuffing. Cut it and got the boogie on again. I will try the natural casings, 'cause y'all got me wondering what I'm missin'.

[Richtee]

Naturals are the best, dude! Review BBChev's "Inside out" post and go for it. You'll love them!