J Hasselberger
TVWBB Pro
With most hobbies, part of the fun is to over-complicate things with fancy bits and potions and such. I've been at the sausage hobby for several months now, with some moderate success and multi-level recipes. I thought I'd try something over-simplified for a change, just to see what happens. We're moving to Texas Hill Country in a few months and the winter has sucked up here in the Northeast, so I figured to give Texas beef sausage a go.
I found lots of recipes with all sorts of ingredients, but one from an old Czech guy stood out -- Beef, a little pork, salt, pepper. I got 4lbs. net out of a smallish chuck roast and mixed in 1-1/2lbs of pork rib trimmings. (The diaphragm, flap, and some nice fatty bits from under the breastbone from a rack of spares.) That got cubed up into 3/4" pieces, into which I tossed 3 tablespoons of Kosher salt and just under 3 tablespoons of coarsely ground black pepper. I put the combined cubes on a large baking sheet and into the freezer for about 1-1/2 hours, until they were pretty firm. The Kitchen Aid grinder attachment also went into the freezer. I ground it coarsely into the Kitchen Aid bowl that was sitting in a larger bowl of ice. When it's all cold, it grinds up quickly and nicely textured.
I split the 5.5 lbs into two batches and mixed in the liquid (total of 1 cup of water + i tablespoon of Yucatan Sunshine Habanero Sauce - my wife's suggestion) using the Kitchen Aid paddle. I stuffed it into hog casings (45mm, I think), which is sort of a pain with the Kitchen Aid, but I don't have an alternative ... yet. I twisted it up into links and put most of it into the freezer. Today I threw a link on the grill (Old Weber gasser, indirect with some hickory chips) for about 18 minutes.
I gotta say, it's pretty much what you'd get in a roadside BBQ joint in Hill Country. It's nice and peppery, but not overwhelming. The habanero sauce simply wakes up the pepper taste, but doesn't add a great deal of heat. It was also very juicy with a nice bold, beefy flavor. This weekend, I'm gonna do a larger quantity in the WSM with some oak chunks to verify that it's the real deal. I was very pleased with the result -- grab a Shiner and your favorite sides, and you've got a satisfying meal.
Jeff
I found lots of recipes with all sorts of ingredients, but one from an old Czech guy stood out -- Beef, a little pork, salt, pepper. I got 4lbs. net out of a smallish chuck roast and mixed in 1-1/2lbs of pork rib trimmings. (The diaphragm, flap, and some nice fatty bits from under the breastbone from a rack of spares.) That got cubed up into 3/4" pieces, into which I tossed 3 tablespoons of Kosher salt and just under 3 tablespoons of coarsely ground black pepper. I put the combined cubes on a large baking sheet and into the freezer for about 1-1/2 hours, until they were pretty firm. The Kitchen Aid grinder attachment also went into the freezer. I ground it coarsely into the Kitchen Aid bowl that was sitting in a larger bowl of ice. When it's all cold, it grinds up quickly and nicely textured.
I split the 5.5 lbs into two batches and mixed in the liquid (total of 1 cup of water + i tablespoon of Yucatan Sunshine Habanero Sauce - my wife's suggestion) using the Kitchen Aid paddle. I stuffed it into hog casings (45mm, I think), which is sort of a pain with the Kitchen Aid, but I don't have an alternative ... yet. I twisted it up into links and put most of it into the freezer. Today I threw a link on the grill (Old Weber gasser, indirect with some hickory chips) for about 18 minutes.
I gotta say, it's pretty much what you'd get in a roadside BBQ joint in Hill Country. It's nice and peppery, but not overwhelming. The habanero sauce simply wakes up the pepper taste, but doesn't add a great deal of heat. It was also very juicy with a nice bold, beefy flavor. This weekend, I'm gonna do a larger quantity in the WSM with some oak chunks to verify that it's the real deal. I was very pleased with the result -- grab a Shiner and your favorite sides, and you've got a satisfying meal.
Jeff
