Great deep dive sausage video by Leroy and Lewis

[Dustin Dorsey]

Leroy and Lewis is Top 50 barbecue joint in Texas. They are actually ranked number 5. An interview with Evan Leroy in Texas Monthly is where I first started understanding ratios in sausage. This is a specific sausage recipe, but the main takeaways are the ratio of lean to fat, amount of salt, amount of cure, and amount of liquid they add. They also started using milk powder as a binder at about 2%.

They were doing 3 to 1 lean to fat, 1.67% salt, .25% cure and 10% liquid (can be anything

Now it's 4 to 1 lean to fat, 1.67% salt, .25% cure and 5% liquid.

They use ice as a liquid because they don't have the freezer space. I wouldn't do that unless you have monster grinder (#12 or higher probably). I just freeze my meat for 30 minutes before grinding and use whatever liquid, sometimes just water.

Also they use a really coarse grinding plate at 11mm. I use a 6mm mainly because that's what the kitchen aid had as a coarse plate. I don't do 2 grinds with my sausage usually.

 

[Rich G]

Great video, Dustin, thanks for sharing that! I've always tried to shoot for 25-30% fat in my sausages, but of course that's pretty much a guesstimate! My salt and cure ratios are pretty much the same, but I find that I like 7-8% water. I've tried the larger plate for sausages before, and while they turned out fine, I found that I prefer a smaller grind, so I do a single, 7mm grind these days for most stuff.

I have the #12 version of the same #22 grinder they had in the video (Cabela's Carnivore), and one of the things that I thought was neat with that grinder is the ice pack collar that comes with it to keep the throat/grinding mechanism nice and cold. I throw all that in the freezer at least an hour before grinding, too!

If I get off my butt, I may make some fresh brats today (no time to cure/smoke) for a gathering tomorrow.

Rich

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I throw the grinder head into the freezer as well. That ice pack is really a cool idea.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Evan mentioned they were reluctant to use milk powder because of lactose intolerant customers. There's also C-bind out there that might be a good alternative. I've never tried it since the milk powder works for me.

 

[Wil A]

Thanks for sharing this video. I’ve never watched a “how-to” on sausage making so this was super informative. I’ve most certainly bookmarked this video.