First time doing true sausage, what say you?

[Fire it up]

I have ground my own meats and made loose sausage before and am now going to attempt the real thing in hog casings and I hope it will be nice and tasty.

The question/dillemma I have is what kind to do.

I have no cure # anything or soy protein or such. I could order any needed ingredients but for the time being I am planning on using a butt and whatever other cuts to do a batch of fresh sausage.

I would LOVE, love, to do brats but things I have read claim it is hard to get a proper brat in flavor and texture without the right equipment (currently I will be working with a KitchenAid grinder and stuffer attachment).
Brats are my absolute favorite but am also thinking of some Ital sausages but wanted to see what some of the sausage experts on here have to say about things.

I have pages bookmarked for this and that type of sausage but along with a preference if anyone has a great recipe for a favorite sausage they care to share or link to that would be awesome.


Thanks for any help and tips on a first successful batch and thanks to the guys in chat with suggestions and tips as well.

Gotta get some sleep now but am going to go shopping tomorrow for some pork and whatever ingredients I will need so hopefully with some help and a bit of tasty luck I will be a sausage making fool tomorrow evening...

[blues_n_cues]

i never used the soy protein in mine but some people use powdered milk.

if you're going to make regular brats or italian saugage & freeze it or smoke it immediately you don't need cure. if you use a mix then most of them have some kind of preservative-usually a salt already added.

both the eastman outdoors(gander mountain & bass pro)& backwoods seasoning kits list salt as the 1st ingredient- do not add salt.


good luck & can't wait to see the pics.

[DanMcG]

I would LOVE, love, to do brats but things I have read claim it is hard to get a proper brat in flavor and texture without the right equipment (currently I will be working with a KitchenAid grinder and stuffer attachment).

I have never used the KA so there might be some truth to what you read, but I can't see how it will have any effect on the flavor Jim. But if it did it won't matter if it was brat's, Italian, kabanosy or any sausage if it did effect the flavor of one, it would do the same to the others.

As far as texture goes I'm guessing it could be a problem depending how you grind and stuff, but again I never have used one before. hopefully some KA users will chime in with their methods.

One thing to remember is to keep the meat near freezing. I'm thinking the auger action while stuffing will produce some heat and you don't want to smear the fat.
Good luck, I'll be looking for the finish pic's

[Whisky Fish]

I have never been able to successfully stuff with a grinder, but lots of folks can. I was just talking with Darrell(Checkered Past) and I think my problem was lack of moisture. He told me don't be afraid of adding ice water. Good luck, it'll be great.

[curious aardvark]

if you've got a kitchen aid food mixer then you already have the most important bit of equipment to make emulsified sausage !


If you want to make an authentic german bratwurst.
here's my recipe.

oats are optional - but do make a noticeable difference.

makes 5 lb of finished sausage.

3 lb lean pork shoulder (seriously trim as much of the fat off as you can, we're addin plenty of fat later :-)
1 lb veal or pigeon/dove breast - or just use all pork
Handful (approx 1/3 cup) oats
4 tsp seasalt
2 tsp cbp
About 1/3 bottle of beer
1 1/2 tsp smoked ginger powder (unsmoked will be fine)
1/2 - 3/4 of a nutmeg
2 large eggs lihtly beaten
1/2 pint heavy cream

Grind the meat through a medium to fine grid - as cold as you can, semi-frozen is always best.
Grind dry spices as fine as you can and mix with the beer.
mix spice slurry with the beer and then mix with the meat, add oats and mix again.
You can do this in the food mixer if you like. Plus it doesn't need sedrious mixing at this stage as we're going to do that anyway.

Put the meat into the mixing bowl for your food mixer and start mixing on a fairly low speed.
Gradually increase to medium speed and gradually add the eggs and cream.
Increase the speed of the mixer to maximum - at this point you'll realise you need the bowl guard or to claim you meant to redecorate the kitchen. Also you'll generally have to lean on the mixer to stop it from jumping about.

The mix should take on a pale colour and feel spongy/sticky when you poke it.
Only takes a couple of minutes on high to emulsify.

What it should look like:


And that's it. hands down the best bratwurst I've ever eaten (and I grew up in germany). You can stuff it into any size casing.
But don't keep it hanging around - raw eggs = mix and stuff on same day.

I generally leave the stuffed sausage in the fridge overnight, but with emulsified sausage it really doesn't matter. Rest it for an hour or so before stuffing is all it really needs.
All the liquid is bound into the mix so it doesn't dry out and it doesn't need resting before stuffing and again: raw eggs !



If you want something spicier add a tsp or 2 of ground chilli's to the spice mix. But seriously - this stuff does not need it.

Pretty sure there's some cooked pics around of these - but buggered if I can find the thread

Anyway as far as I can see you've got everything you need :-)
And these are hands down my familys favourite sausage.

[Richtee]

Ain't that a bierwurst then? ;{)

Interesting recipe. Wish dove was legal here. We have plenty :{)

[minnbill]

Any of the High mountain mixes are awsome!check out a couple of my fresh brat cheddercheeseand wild rice post's they are awsome
http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11245

[Fire it up]

Thanks for the tips, guess I will stick with doing brats.
Hell, can't perfect my favorite sausages if I am afraid to make them...
I would pick up a mix from Gander Mountain but there are none even in my state, closest is several hours away so gonna just have to season myself.

Thanks for the recipe and pics CA, looks bloody brilliant
Think I will be going the veal addition route, it's very easy to get in different forms and I don't wanna eat a dove, though my Mother has two of them. Hmmmmmmm.....


Post was awesome Bill, definitely would love to get to that level of sausage making and especially adding the cheese and rice, that would be a meal all by its self. Saved the link and gonna go online and see about ordering some mixes and getting proper seasonings like high temp cheeses and proper cures and such so I can really get into it and start playing with my sausage.

[Fishawn]

Butcher & Packer mixes are really good also. Here's some I made a while back that might give you some ideas
http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/sho...slingers+brats

[curious aardvark]

if you don't want to make what i call a bratwurst (It's a very specific sausage and recipe for me and a generic term for a larger stuffed suasage for you lot) then check out gunny's bratwurst thread.
That's the american version.

Mine's 100% authentic german bratty. Just better quality than any you can buy.

Yeah only mentioned doves because I know ken goes dove hunting. Over here it's strictly wood pigeon.
Much larger bird and a serious pest. The breast fillets (all we use) are around 2-3 oz each.

[Norm70]

Mine is similar to aardvarks recipe, I do not emulsify my brats just grind once through a fine plate. I really like this homemade recipe it gives great brat flavor. You can up the ginger and mace(or allspice) to get more of a strong brat flavor. I have also added wild rice to it and makes it taste even better!

Might have to try adding beer to it next time though.

Brats
10lbs Pork or 5lbs Venison and 5lbs Pork
3 eggs
1pint Heavy cream(or whole milk, 2% in a pinch)
1TBS Pepper(fine ground)
1TBS Mace(or allspice)
1TBS Ginger
1TBS Nugmeg
3-4 TBS salt

Whip Heavy cream and eggs. add spices to mixture. I will add ice water to mix if needed should be mushy but not soupy.

this is for 10lbs

I have found out that people that have not had true bratwurst have a tough time liking this recipe, but if you are talking a true german brat this works well and all ingredients are easy to find.

[Critterhunter]

6 oz. Salt
¾ oz. CBP
¾ oz. Garlic Powder
.25 oz. Nutmeg
1/8 oz Cloves
1.5 oz Sugar
1 oz Instacure #1
25 Pounds of Beef Chuck coarse grind
*Stuff into hog casings
Smoke at 130 for a 2-3 hours, refrigerate overnight, simmer 170 for ten minutes. Or until 155

This is a Beef Version that we like.Kind of a twist on the Traditional.

[Richtee]

This is a Beef Version that we like.Kind of a twist on the Traditional.

I like the weights instead of volumes

[DanMcG]

I like the weights instead of volumes

Now just convert them to grams and we have a winner