Sausage Question

Here's what I do: I cube all the meat consisting of lean and fat into pieces that fit my grinder. All the meat is weighed for the correct venison to pork ratio. I than process the pork through the grinder, starting with a course plate (3/8") then medium (1/4") and lastly fine plate (3/16"). My venison is passed through only the 3/8" plate. I than combine the ground venison with the pork in a large container and mix the venison/pork well. Once I have a good even distribution I add the seasoning and again mix very well. Roll up your sleaves and get right in there. I than allow the mixture to rest while I set up the stuffer, rinse the casings, and set up for stuffing. Once the sausage is stuffed into the smoker box it goes at 100 degrees with no smoke for about 1 hour or until it's dry and lightly brown, than the wood chips are added and the sausage will smoke until the sausage reaches an internal temp of 152 degrees. This may last about 3-4 hours. Using natural casing it's important to keep the temp in your smoker under 180 or you risk the casing bursting. Than everything goes into a ice cold bath for 15 minutes to stop further cooking, Than the sausage is hung to dry and allowed to bloom for several hours. I than pack the sausage loose in the fridge overnight, the next morning some of the sausage is vacuum sealed for the freezer. I'm understand once vacuum sealed it will keep for a very long time, my 10 to 20 lb batches generally only last 1-2 months. Between family and friends they disappear quickly. Then it's time to make another batch. Once you try it you'll be hooked, nothing taste like home made. Don't be afraid to experiment with your spices, start with 3 to 5lb batches and document your production. Enjoy!

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Originally Posted by GrimCity Brewer

Wow! Thanks for all the input guys...I think I am going to go the pork shoulder route.

The only question I have yet is am I only to use the fattier pieces of the shoulder for the pork filler or do I use the entire shoulder?

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I use the whole shoulder.

Yes you do want to add just pure pork fat. Or beef fat if you can find it.
Look around for a local butcher or abattoir for sources.

The reason you want pure fat is so you can precisely measure the fat content of your sausages.

Percentage of fat content is very important.
Too little and the sausage feels so "dry" that you can barely swallow it.
Too much fat can be swallowed easily enough but is a bit unhealthy. Plus, you don't want all your sausage to be like hotel style breakfast sausage--oozing fat.

For pretty much all fresh sausage-- brats, Italians, Germans--we find that 20% fat is perfect. Same for Smoked products like Kielbasa. True Salamis are better at 30%.

If you use pork shoulders, butts or flanks you will have to guess how much fat is in the pork. Then do the math and maybe arrive in the 20% range.
Using pure fat eliminates this uncertainty and gives you a predictable product each time you make it.

To make the fat into nice small chunks and not smear it in the grinder or sausage--- use it fully frozen and cut it into chunks. It your meat is de-frosted to a firm slushy stage and your fat is rock hard frozen, you will get a really nice grind that mixes well and looks good after it's cooked.

I will be trying as mentioned above. We used pork shoulder around 40% and was dryish. Pork fat will be easier to get the ratio correct.

And bacon...don't forget the bacon....

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Originally Posted by johny

Yes you do want to add just pure pork fat. Or beef fat if you can find it.
Look around for a local butcher or abattoir for sources.

The reason you want pure fat is so you can precisely measure the fat content of your sausages.

Percentage of fat content is very important.
Too little and the sausage feels so "dry" that you can barely swallow it.
Too much fat can be swallowed easily enough but is a bit unhealthy. Plus, you don't want all your sausage to be like hotel style breakfast sausage--oozing fat.

For pretty much all fresh sausage-- brats, Italians, Germans--we find that 20% fat is perfect. Same for Smoked products like Kielbasa. True Salamis are better at 30%.

If you use pork shoulders, butts or flanks you will have to guess how much fat is in the pork. Then do the math and maybe arrive in the 20% range.
Using pure fat eliminates this uncertainty and gives you a predictable product each time you make it.

To make the fat into nice small chunks and not smear it in the grinder or sausage--- use it fully frozen and cut it into chunks. It your meat is de-frosted to a firm slushy stage and your fat is rock hard frozen, you will get a really nice grind that mixes well and looks good after it's cooked.

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That's the whole reason in using more pork, but using the whole shoulder, rather than just adding pure fat. You don't need to be so exact accurate to get good results and it's far easier to mix 30%pork with 70% venison that to try to mix 10% pork fat with 90% venison.

I think a sausage that is 30% pure pork fat most people would find disgustingly greasy. And adding pure beef fat instead of pork - well that's just plain bad advice. What not just add 4 cups of cooking oil.

My suggestion: for you're first attempt follow the "KISS" principle and keep it simple. Today's pork products are leaner than in the past, most of us will agree using pork shoulder meat and fat in a ration of 60-40, that is 60% venison to pork will give you a good quality sausage weather it's fresh or smoked. Pork shoulder has almost the perfect ratio mix of lean to fat. Once you feel more comfortable with the sausage making process, by all means experiment and find what is best for you. I've made several hundreds of pounds of sausages in the past couple of years, I started off following the tips and advise from many of the same OOD contributors responding to this post, personally I have never been disappointed using pork shoulder meat and fat in the process. I only wish the capacity of my smoker was greater, 10 - 20 lbs. doesn't last very long, and once set up it doesn't take much longer to make a 50lb batch.

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

That's the whole reason in using more pork, but using the whole shoulder, rather than just adding pure fat. You don't need to be so exact accurate to get good results and it's far easier to mix 30%pork with 70% venison that to try to mix 10% pork fat with 90% venison.

I think a sausage that is 30% pure pork fat most people would find disgustingly greasy. And adding pure beef fat instead of pork - well that's just plain bad advice. What not just add 4 cups of cooking oil.

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Sorry werner but my 17 years experience of sausage making says you know little about sausage making
Accurate fat % is important.

30% fat is ideal for a Fermented Dried Salami.
30% fat is also ideal for small calibre (22-24mm) breakfast sausage
For fresh Bratwurst, Germans, Italians a 20% fat content is perfect for Bar-B Que or broiling in the oven.
I once made a 10% fat recipe. The cooked sausages were so "dry" they were almost inedible. I fed them all to my dog.

Your contention that mixing pork30 and venison70 is easy but accuracy is abysmal and depends totally on the fat content of the pork. I prefer the predictably perfect product by using pure pork fat--easily available from local abattoirs and many small town butchers.

As for beef fat, it is more difficult to find than pure pork fat. But it has a higher melting temperature. It also holds a tight self adhesive bond at lower temperatures. It will not smear or emulsify at lower temperatures encountered during mixing or stuffing of sausage. The end result, for the home sausage maker, is that beef fat makes those dainty little fat blobs that you see like in commercial salami or summer sausage. Most available pork fat does not do that. Because the best stuff is kept for big industry/commercial producers of salami. The only down side is that beef fat is slightly yellow compared to the clean white of pork.

A home processor doing salami in the kitchen has a hard time getting that nice appearance of speckling with pork fat. Beef fat looks better in salami and summer sausage.
If you only make fresh sausage for bar-b-que , grill or pan, then pork sausage is all you need because the fat melts and infiltrates the meat during cooking.

There are several considerations to take into account when making sausage, type of sausage being made and the materials available (including types of casings, availability of cures/additives etc.)

If I'm hot smoking something like pepperettes, kielbasa or smokies, I will use collagen casings or hog casings depending upon availability
I've had some problems with sheep casings. For summer sausages and others with a diameter over 1 1/2 inches, I normally use fibrous casings due to availability.
The problem with fibrous is that the melted fat will not make it's way through the fibrous casings and will congeal between the finished sausage and the casing. Is that gross or what?
To combat this I use less fat in my mixture, 70% venison/30% pork. For the pork, I use either leg or butt (shoulder). I found that this way my hot smoked sausages end up with the drier texture I desire without the fat build up inside the casing. I remove the casings and wipe down the sausages with a clean paper towel before vacuum packing and that works great. I use the same mixture for any venison sausage where a dryer consistency is desired after hot smoking (ie. pepperettes)
For Kielbassa, I use 100% pork from either the leg or butt (I don't like it too fatty)
For frying or grilling sausages it's a different story. I you go on Len Poli's site many of those types of recipes call for extra fat to achieve 20% - 30% fat content. This is easier for those who make bacon. By now those of you who make their own bacon have come to realize the meat/fat ratio varies through the pork belly, so here's what I do.
I grade my bacon such that the bacon strips with the best meat/fat ratio are packaged as bacon strips. For the remainder, I separate the rind, excess fat and meat from the strips that don't pass quality control and the ends. the fat and rind each get packaged into 1/2 pound lots, vac packed and frozen. What's let get cut into bacon bits, packaged into 1/2 pound lots and thrown into the freezer for the wife to use for cooking and salads. That will score you some points ( and a few Caesar salads).
Now you have fat to add to your sausages salvaged from your bacon making efforts. Take pure bear, venison or moose with the fat removed and now you can accurately up your fat content. For 20% fat content (which I use) add 1 lb. bacon fat to 4lbs. game meat. To properly mix, I grind it 3 times 3/8">1/4">1/8" adding the frozen fat to the first grind with the meat. Each successive grinding mixes the meat further until the last grind when the final product attains a uniform colour.
For breakfast sausages or hot Italian Sausages, I will add 1/2 lb bacon fat to 4.5 lbs. of pork. To ensure sufficient moisture after cooking, I have started experimenting with soya protein and sausage phosphates as recommended by Len Poli

Here's where you can get them;

http://www.dnrsausagesupplies.ca/index.php

These guys are located in western Canada and I have used them.

I hope this helps

Roe+

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Originally Posted by johny

Sorry werner but my 17 years experience of sausage making says you know little about sausage making
Accurate fat % is important.

30% fat is ideal for a Fermented Dried Salami.
30% fat is also ideal for small calibre (22-24mm) breakfast sausage
For fresh Bratwurst, Germans, Italians a 20% fat content is perfect for Bar-B Que or broiling in the oven.
I once made a 10% fat recipe. The cooked sausages were so "dry" they were almost inedible. I fed them all to my dog.

Your contention that mixing pork30 and venison70 is easy but accuracy is abysmal and depends totally on the fat content of the pork. I prefer the predictably perfect product by using pure pork fat--easily available from local abattoirs and many small town butchers.

As for beef fat, it is more difficult to find than pure pork fat. But it has a higher melting temperature. It also holds a tight self adhesive bond at lower temperatures. It will not smear or emulsify at lower temperatures encountered during mixing or stuffing of sausage. The end result, for the home sausage maker, is that beef fat makes those dainty little fat blobs that you see like in commercial salami or summer sausage. Most available pork fat does not do that. Because the best stuff is kept for big industry/commercial producers of salami. The only down side is that beef fat is slightly yellow compared to the clean white of pork.

A home processor doing salami in the kitchen has a hard time getting that nice appearance of speckling with pork fat. Beef fat looks better in salami and summer sausage.
If you only make fresh sausage for bar-b-que , grill or pan, then pork sausage is all you need because the fat melts and infiltrates the meat during cooking.

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Its been 35 years, since I worked there, but I spent 5 years working at a slaughterhouse and meat cutting shop making about 400-600 lbs of sausage per week, under the guidance of my uncle who was a 4th generation german sausage maker, so your 17 years of hobby sausage making, well, not so significant.

If your beef fat is yellow, you're getting it from old cows and you don't want to be eating that at all.