First "real" sausage stuff


 
Len Dennis

Len Dennis

TVWBB Diamond Member
Not a newbie to sausage as I have a favourite "old time" recipe I use. Have always done them as patties but I have recently obtained a stuffer and wanted to do casing this time.

I really like kielbossa (always from a deli) and found a recipe (or three
icon_wink.gif
) that I would try at home. For 5lb of pork, it uses 1/4C minced garlic (about 11 cloves!!)

It doesn't use cure and there is no smoking done (it's a fresh sausage). I have several (untried) recipes that use #1 and are smoked but I wanted something simple and non-time consuming for a first attempt.

Here's the end product:
IMG_1233.jpg


I only had one split on the horn (tied off with string) and one popped open as I was twisting them to finish them off.

I had some meat left over so naturally had to fry them up (as patties) for the taste test.

Well, I was a little disappointed in that they didn't turn out like the deli version I was expecting.

I would guess that was because:

a)sample was hot (normally I have it room temp)
b)it wasn't smoked
c)it wasn't the right colour (no #1)
4)for a smoke, it's plunged into cold water straight out of the WSM so I expect that would contribute to the texture of what I expect (vs what I actually got).

A fair first attempt. The stuffer worked superbly for a first attempt.

I'll suffer
icon_wink.gif
and try better the next time.

BTW, these will be frozen and cooked on the grill when I'm ready to eat again.
 
I find that fresh sausage needs time to mature. The seasonings mellow out and blend better after a few days, or after freezing.

Wait a week and then try some of the frozen.

Frank
 
Great work Len. They look great. I helped make sausage recently; what a learning experience. Some day I may invest in my own stuffer. What did you use?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Frank K:
I find that fresh sausage needs time to mature. The seasonings mellow out and blend better after a few days, or after freezing.

Wait a week and then try some of the frozen.

Frank </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

You know, I just couldn't wait to try them
icon_wink.gif


It'll definitely be a week or three before I get to all the frozen ones. I'll make sure I look for a difference.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gary H. NJ:
Great work Len. They look great. I helped make sausage recently; what a learning experience. Some day I may invest in my own stuffer. What did you use? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I purchased a Universal Plus some time ago for my bread making (it can mix 9--ya, NINE, 1 3/4 pound loaves AT ONCE--that's 17 pounds of dough). Putting 5 lb of meat in this (to mix the spices, water, etc), the unit doesn't even break a sweat.

41aWDy-y0zL.jpg


There are several attachments, two of which are a meat grinder (took about 8 minutes to put 5 1/2 pounds of pork through--vs about 90 minutes using my old hand grinder)

FoodandMeatGrinder_lg.jpg


and a sausage stuffer (basically just 3 different size "horns".
sausage_stufferlarge.jpg


I used the middle tube. The larger is for salamis, etc and the smaller is for hot dogs, etc.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make these sausages. It is a 2 person job though (one to push the meat through and the other to slowly coil the product/make sure nothing splits. If it does, the "feeder" really doesn't notice the problem as he's too busy keeping the unit full.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I purchased a Universal Plus </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks Len.
 
Wiejska.jpg

After grilling. I realized that I had used frozen (by me) pork butt so I had to cook them first then freeze 'em.

Tastes pretty good for not being as-I-expected. A little too much garlic though. I started looking for other kielbasa recipes after I used this one.

Most use 2-4 cloves. The recipe I picked used about 12 (1/4 cup).

My freezer smells like sausage now. Mmmmm.
 
what do you mean by "I had used frozen (by me) pork butt so I had to cook them first then freeze 'em"
 
I bought fresh last January, cut it up into 5.5 lb packages and froze them till needed.

Which was this past weekend when I defrosted one of the packages. Ground it, stuffed it and the first pic was the result.

I was going to freeze the uncooked sausages then remembered I had frozen the original pork once.

Had to cook them then re-freeze.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob Correll:
Great looking sausage Len!

There's a link in this post for sausage recipes, in case you haven't already seen it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Bob. Another great link to add to my collection.

It's funny, I enjoy reading recipes (thinking about how the final product would taste) as much as I enjoy reading regular books.
 
For future reference I haven't noticed any textural issues or loss of fluid when taking previously frozen meat, grinding it, binding it, stuffing it, and freezing it again before cooking.

It's like making it into sausage changes its state, so the ice crystals that one might worry about from freezing/re-freezing meat cuts don't have as much of an effect.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave from Denver:
For future reference I haven't noticed any textural issues or loss of fluid when taking previously frozen meat, grinding it, binding it, stuffing it, and freezing it again before cooking.

It's like making it into sausage changes its state, so the ice crystals that one might worry about from freezing/re-freezing meat cuts don't have as much of an effect. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It wasn't the texture I was concerned with, it was the possibility of trichinosis. Paranoid? Probably. As I said it was frozen for 5 months so I'm sure it was all dead (if there was any to begin with).

Anyways, now I just have to do a quick re-heat any time I want one
icon_biggrin.gif
 
Trichinae aren't really of concern in the modern commercial pork supply. I understand that they have mainly been eliminated. In any event the worms would die when cooked to temperatures normal for fresh sausages (160F or higher).

Trichinae are more of a concern when working with wild game, and when making air-dried meats which will never reach temperatures sufficient to kill the worms.

At normal domestic freezer temps of about 0F one would need to freeze meat for quite some time (over a month) in order to kill the larvae of the worms, if they were present.
 
from a safety standpoint, how is freezing, thawing, grinding, stuffing, freezing, thawing, and cooking any different from freezing, thawing, grinding, stuffing, cooking, freezing, and thawing?

is the 1st case, i get it that trichinosis could "wake up" during the 1st thaw, grow, and remain during the 2nd freeze, but the last step is cooking, which would kill it, right?

i ask because i remember my mom would always say to never re-freeze meat for safety reasons, and that never made sense to me, again, as long as the last step was cooking...

thanks!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
i ask because i remember my mom would always say to never re-freeze meat for safety reasons, and that never made sense to me, again, as long as the last step was cooking...

thanks! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I guess it stems from the fact that I never used to use a thermometer when cooking (till I got my WSM and started using a 732) and just went by how the meat "looked". Who knows if it was "properly cooked".

Especially pork because that's what we were told .

Some people like steak tartare. Or hamburgers that are pink.

I know, fear mongering that burgers need to be cooked to 170o by government law/statute/whatever.

I really have to sweet talk the waitress to get my meat (of any kind) medium rare because of this.
 
Len Dennis, I went to meat cutting school at Geo Brown College in TO in 1975. The lessons on pork included trichinosis. NO trichinosis in Ont pork reported for 20 years then. Only cases came from dump feeding bears. FYI Keep on stuffin'.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top