Does anyone use the skin from the chicken in the sausage? I've read in a few books that tell you to grind the skin along with the meat. This doesn't sound all that great but what do I know. I want to try some chicken sausages this weekend since I just got my 5# stuffer. Thanks for any comments!
Chicken Sausage question
- Thread starter Branon S.
- Start date
Branon,
Yes, I grind the chicken skin in with the meat. Poultry is so lean that you need some additional fat. Many will recommend adding pork fat, which works as long as you don't want a pure poultry sausage. If you grind only the meat and no skin, then the sausage will be very dry. Even if you use thighs it will come out dry. Freezing the skin helps the grinding process. I did some chicken sausage a short time ago and it came out pretty good. A little on the dry side, but not too bad.
Paul
Yes, I grind the chicken skin in with the meat. Poultry is so lean that you need some additional fat. Many will recommend adding pork fat, which works as long as you don't want a pure poultry sausage. If you grind only the meat and no skin, then the sausage will be very dry. Even if you use thighs it will come out dry. Freezing the skin helps the grinding process. I did some chicken sausage a short time ago and it came out pretty good. A little on the dry side, but not too bad.
Paul
Dave from Denver
TVWBB Wizard
Animal skin contains a lot of collagen and can actually result in a firmer textured sausage when ground (see for example the Italian sausage cotechino which contains lots of pork skin). It's as noted a good source of fat for otherwise lean sausage.