Texas style beef sausage


 
Dustin Dorsey

Dustin Dorsey

TVWBB Hall of Fame
I've been trying to come up with a Texas style beef sausage. I think I'm getting pretty close. I followed the same basic rules as my post on sausage ratios, but I toned down the fat to account for the fat in the meat I'm using. So roughly

4 parts chuck roast.
2 part pork shoulder
1 part brisket fat.

Then everything else is calculated as a percentage of that combined meat and fat weight.. Other ingredients were
10% Water
1.5% Kosher salt
1.5% Tallicherry Pepper
0.25% cure #1 (neccessary for slow smoking but I think it adds to the flavor)
0.05% cayenne pepper
0.05% marjoram (completely optional)
0.025% sage (completely optional)

I used a digital scale for the measurements in grams. This makes everything a lot easier and allows me to scale the recipe however I want.

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My ground meat. I cut up the meat into 1 inch cubes and I added the seasoning and the cure and let that sit in the fridge overnight. Then I ground the meat with the kitchen aid grinder attachment with the larger die.

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I added the water and hand mixed til the mixture got tacky and stuffed into hog casings.

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Made some links.

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Some prettier links.

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I decided to cook them offset on the OTG with some pecan and oak. I think I like hot cooking the sausage better than the slowly ramped up cold smoke.

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A puppy!

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Sausages taking on some nice color. A couple near the back I bought at a butcher for comparison. I like mine better even those the butcher ones are jalapeno and cheese.

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Links cut up.

These sausages turned out great! I could probably tweak my process some. I didn't have quite the amount of pork I planned for, the sausages didn't bind quite as well as I wanted, but I actually think I prefer the texture. I prefer hot smoking because I think its more authentic to what you'd find in a bbq joint. The warm smoking process makes something more akin to a summer sausage, but also very tasty. I added some herbs to add some a little something to the taste. Obviously one could go higher on the cayenne but the fresh ground tallicherry pepper seemed plenty spicy.
Most people won't give away sausage recipes but this info is so hard to dig up.
 
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Dustin, Your are a sausage Master.
Those have got a nice color and I bet they taste great.
I was a L&S italian sausage cooker, but apart the great color they ended horribly dry because the fat did not melt and season the meat.
 
Sage and marjoram seem odd to me. I know you said optional, did you use it in those and how's it taste?

Also not all joints seem to use a binder, so you can keep that users choice.

Looks good!
 
SteveCK said:
Sage and marjoram seem odd to me. I know you said optional, did you use it in those and how's it taste?

Also not all joints seem to use a binder, so you can keep that users choice.

Looks good!
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It's odd as far as in keeping with Texas tradition, but I did use them and I liked that they added a little extra interest to the flavor. Too much sage gets too breakfast sausage like. Notice I kept the measurements small. It was about 4 lbs beef, pork and fat and I probably had a tablespoon and maybe a little more of marjoram and maybe a teaspoon of sage, both the dry powdered stuff. All the other ingredients I'd say are mandatory even the cure #1 in my thinking. After that I think there is room to play around without getting too crazy. Maybe add some onion powder and garlic, for example, and of course the water can be replaced with any liquid within reason. This was just a way for me to make it my own. In this case, the pork is there to help the binding. I know a lot of central Texas joints use all beef and just bull flour to bind, but I'm personally trying to cut my carb intake.
 
I made a version I have been playing with last week. I miss that Central Texas Sausage. Yours look great. You might try dry milk as a binder.
 
I posted this here instead of the photo section to basically invite criticism and get ideas. If I'm super off base let me know! Thanks for the idea, Dwain. I may try that. I think I may just need to mix the sausage better. That instinct of not wanting to over work the meat kicked in from making burgers.
 
I just made another batch of this same recipe. I think I had slightly more pork this time than last time and slightly more fat just because I'm using what I have. I used the exact same seasonings. I'm cooking the sausage, a 15 lb prime brisket and some burgers and dogs for a cookout we have for my birthday every year. I must have been blessed because this is the first time I've had blowouts on the sausage. I just had a weak casing, I know I didn't overstuff. I wanted to do Lockhart style rings, but it didn't happen this time. My hope is that the brisket is done and resting in plenty of time to cook the sausage. I've got my offset cleaned up and ready to go just in case. I usually wind up searing the burgers and putting them on the smoker, too.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I just made another batch of this same recipe. I think I had slightly more pork this time than last time and slightly more fat just because I'm using what I have. I used the exact same seasonings.
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Thanks for reminding us about this recipe. I've been wanting to make some Texas style beef sausage for some time.
 
Mark Barton said:
Thanks for reminding us about this recipe. I've been wanting to make some Texas style beef sausage for some time.
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Keep in mind the herbs were me goofing around. I still used them in my last batch which turned out really good. I'm still kind of influenced by all the Czech sausages you find in Texas as well as a nearby town that's famous for a pork sausage that has some garlic and sage. Im wanting to try making some East Texas style Beef Links.
 
Looking good !!!

And +1 for using a digital scale (now I just have to go and convince eceryone to go metric ;) )
 
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