Breakfast Sausage

1) All set to make more breakfast sausage this weekend and cannot find my recipe! I have been making Rytek Kuta's recipe for Breakfast Sausage (patties) for several years now, but I have evidently lost the recipe. Does anybody happen to have this recipe? I would sure appreciate it.

2) The last time I made sausage, I used a press from Allied Kenco and patty papers. Worked great, but when I thawed the patties to cook them, the papers stuck very agressively to the patties. How do you keep the "waxed" patty papers from sticking? Maybe I put too much meat into the press and compacted the meat too much? The wife said to butter or spray the patty press to keep this from happening??? I thought that the patty papers were to keep the patties from sticking to the press and to keep them from sticking together, etc.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance. /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

I used to have the paper sticking problem years ago on hamburger patties packaged by the local processing plant when my family would buy a side of beef. I used to wait until they were just thawed to the point where they were still hard but could be pried apart with a butter knife. Running them under cold tap water briefly would get the papers to release without meat sticking to it. Then it was just a matter of returning them to the refrigerator to continue thawing. The timing is tricky, so YMMV.

Also, since you have them before they're frozen, you could try laying them out individually on a non-stick baking sheet (if one will fit laying flat in your freezer) without the papers, freeze them solid and then package them however you want, perhaps putting papers between the already frozen patties for a little extra insurance. I do this with seasoning meat cubes all the time so I can get just a few pieces without having to thaw the entire pack. Oh, and set your oven timer for about 2 hours if you try this, so you don't open the freezer 3 days later to find freezer-burned sausage. Been there, done that. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Doug --

Thanks a million on the trick of putting the frozen patties under running water. I'll try that the next time I have the stuck paper problem.

As to the second bit of advice about laying them on the non-stick cookie sheet; if I don't use the papers, they will stick to the press. If I do use the papers, I don't need to lay them out on the cookie sheet to keep them from sticking. So, I'm kinda stuck between a paper and a patty press! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Now, I did use a paper above and below each patty, when pressing, so that they wouldn't stick to the press. So, when I stack the patties 4 high to freeze (on a cookie sheet), there are actually two pieces of patty paper between the patties. After freezing, I remove the patties from freezer and vacuum seal them 4 to bag and return to the freezer.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Hi Walt,
I have Kutas' book, so here it is. I hope it's the same one you have/had. I just might try it myself, since you think it's so good. I assume you make the 10-pound version.

I haven't figured out yet what he means in the MEAT IN POUNDS section. How does that relate to the 10-pound recipe?

Good luck,
Rita

FRESH PORK SAUSAGE
(Breakfast Sausage)

Makes 10 pounds sausage.

Ingredients for 100 pounds

2 1/2 pounds salt
4 ounces ground white pepper
2 ounces rubbed sage
1 ounce ginger **
1 ounce nutmeg
1 ounce thyme
1 ounce ground hot red pepper (optional)
5 pounds ice water

Ingredients for 10 pounds

8 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
2 tablespoons rubbed sage
1 tablespoon ginger**
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon ground hot red pepper (optional)
1 pint (2 cups) ice water

MEAT IN POUNDS

.........................................1........2

Lean pork butts................50
Lean pork trimmings..................50
Regular pork trimmings.....50.....50

...................TOTAL.........100...100

** (my book says 1 tsp ginger for the 10-pound recipe, but in the 100-pound recipe the ginger is the same as the nutmeg, thyme, and hot pepper)

All the pork used to manufacture sausage must be chilled from 32-35 degrees F without fail. Be sure that all the meat is free of blood clots, sinews, bone, skin, etc.

GRINDING AND MIXING
Grind all the meat through a 3/16" grinder plate and place in mixer. Add all the ingredients and mix well until all the spices are evenly distributed.

STUFFING
Pork sausage may be stuffed into 28-30mm hog casing or 20-22mm lamb casings. Pork sausage may also be stuffed into a cloth bag or a 3" X 28" fibrous casing.

It is very important that pork sausage not be allowed to remain in room temperature any longer than necessary. Place in cooler as soon as possible. Pork sausage should be allowed to chill and dry in 28-32 degree cooler.

- from Rytek Kutas, "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing," p. 130.

Rita --

Fantastic... All I could want...and more!!

Thanks a million! The recipe I have well hidden by U NO WHO/had was just the portion on the 10 lb., which makes about 40 - 44 patties. So, for that, I thank you.

I have no idea what is up with the notations concerning the 100s and 50s, etc... need a real sausage knowledgeable person to answer that. However comma it has no relationship to the 10 lb. version... TTVBOMK... thought I'd try to coin an acronym... "To the very best of my knowledge". /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

If you want to try it, it is very easy. What I do, in concert with my loyal helpmate and recipe storer, is to buy boned butts and just dice up the butts and grind up with the Kitchen Aid grinder attachment, using the 3/16 plate. We use the butts as is, not trying to reduce fat ratio or anything... some things just need to be fatty! Just cut and grind. Then, spread the blended spice mixture over this and mix WELL with hands. Regrind with the smaller plate - 1/8? and form into patties, with or without a patty press.

Use caution with the temperature; rechilling between all steps. We use a big SS salad bowl, which will hold all 10 lb. and just put it back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while we clean all the utensils, etc.

We stack patties 4 high on cookie sheet and then freeze. Then, the following day, we use the vacuum sealer to seal patties in these stacks of 4 and back in the freezer for storage.

Hope this helps and many thanks for scouring up that recipe for me!!

Rita --

Unless you edited (did you?) the given amounts for the 10 lb and the 100 lb recipes, I see them as correct.

ie, For 100 lb, the ginger is one ounce, as is the nutmeg, thyme and pepper. In the 10 lb version, the ginger is 1 Tbsp, as is the nutmeg, thyme and pepper. Just different units of measurement.

However, I would tend to question that if 10 lbs of pork X10 is 100 lb, how can 1 Tbsp of spice X10 equal 1 ounce? Being culinarily challenged, it just don't seem right, yaknow! /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

Just what is the recipe's rationale for 10 Tbsp of any given spice being equal to 1 ounce? I think the book may have a slight problem there. Another worthwhile project for good ol' Chris A! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Thanks, Rita!

Rita --

Mea Culpa, etc.

I, in fact, misread your kind reply and your copy of the sausage recipe. /infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif

I did find another copy of Rytek's recipe on the net, and it is identical to your 10 lb recipe and lists Ginger as one teaspoon, with the Nutmeg, Thyme and Pepper as one Tablespoon each. So, I would use the One teaspoon of Ginger for making your sausage and just assume the 100 lb recipe is just too complicated for us regalarr folk (me, that is!) to attempt!! I still don't know how they convert 10X Tablespoons to one ounce. /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif And, I don't know where to find a 100 lb butt! But (or rather, However comma), I am carrying around one up to about 75 lb, now!

Anyway, I now dismount and stable my charger. My quest is complete. I have the recipe!

Many Thanks, Rita /infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif

Hello Walt,

Sorry I couldn't get back until now. I'm glad to help. It's nothing compared to all the help you and others have given me over the past year or so! Now you have the recipe on your computer, so you can always find it???An aside to U NO WHO: The heat's off! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

I'm anxious to try the breakfast sausage recipe. When I make Italian sausage, I just cut the butt/shoulder into long strips that will fit in the feed tube of my Kitchen Aid grinder and I also use the 3/16 plate. But I only grind it once. I see the breakfast sausage recipe above calls for the larger grind - on the few times I've made breakfast sausage, I've used the smaller grind like you do.

Something I did on the last batch of Italian sausage that you might be interested in -- I added the seasonings to all the meat strips in the bowl and tossed them to coat them fairly evenly. Then, when I ground the meat, the spices were already mixed in pretty well and I only had to mix it a little by hand to make sure they were evenly distributed. I liked this method and will continue doing it.

Another tip you might already know about -- when you're finished grinding, tear off a big piece of plastic wrap and feed it into the grinder on low speed. Keep it going until you can see it through the holes in the plate and then stop the grinder. It'll get almost all of the meat out of the grinder.

Regarding the scaling of the recipe from 100 pounds to 10 pounds, I just weighed some dried thyme leaves and a tablespoon = about 3 grams, so 10 tablespoons = about 30g, just a pinch over an ounce (1 oz = 28.3495g). I'm not sure, though, that 1 tablespoon of each of the other seasonings would weigh the same thing -- I'm sure the sage would be lighter. There's probably not enough variation to make much difference, and writing a recipe with 1 tablespoon + 1/16 teaspoon of an ingredient, etc. can become unwieldy.

Chris takes such good care of us already -- let's not give him yet another job -- he's already grumbling that he doesn't have a life (just because he's been measuring the height of turkey breasts at the grocery store)!!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

The main thing is that you like it the way it was written (with 1 teaspoon of ginger). I suspect that may be a typo, but who knows? I'll use the 1 teaspoon measurement too.

I guess we can't complain about the fat in sausage. Remember the saying, "Never trust a skinny cook!"

Happy sausaging!
Rita

Rita --

Check your email. One teaspoon of ginger is correct. My recipe calls for 4 Tbsp of salt, not 8 Tbsp. I've been using 4.

Many thanks for the help. U NO WHO thanks you too. She was real anxious to go thumbing thru all of her many cookbooks! ;~) /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Have a good un! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif