First attempt at sausage


 

Dan Cassaro

New member
After years of thinking about it, I finally bought the food grinder and stuffer for the KitchenAid stand mixer. For our first attempt, I used the sweet Italian sausage recipe from Ruhlman's book.
Grinding went very well, but we had a few snags while stuffing. I see now why folks don't like the KA stuffer, and recommend a dedicated unit for doing this.
Even so, we managed to get all 5lbs cased, and I just sauteed a few links, for our initial taste test. I cooked them to 150, and they carried over to about 155.
Now, this may sound strange, but on first bite, I wasn't sure I liked it. The flavor was completely different than store sausages. The meat flavors really came through, and the herbs were much more pronounced. A few bites later, I realized that I have been eating who-knows-with-what stuffed sausages, and that THIS is what a real sausage tastes like. The family each had a bite, and, needless to say, sausages for dinner tomorrow!
Thank to all on these forums for sharing what you know... I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to try this!
Dan
 
Dan, It's nice to get the flavor of real meat that doesn't have any fillers or undetermined cuts of meat added. A dedicated stuffer does work better. Congrats
 
Bill,
Thanks! We had the sausage for dinner last night, and it was OK, but not as good as freshly made. The texture was different, as was the flavor. The very pronounced meat flavor just wasn't there.
I overcooked it a bit, as I was watching the temps, but got busy doing the pasta, and the sausage went to about 165-170 under the broiler.
Are homemade sausages (or sausage in general) really that different if cooked 10-15 degrees too much?
I sauteed the first batch last night, so I'll try that again tonight and see how that works.
Still, the family enjoyed them, but for all the work involved, I'm after much more than "a bit better".
icon_smile.gif

Dan
 

 

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