Use pork butt for homemade sausage?

[Jim_W]

is a pork butt a good choice to make a batch of homemade sausage out of? Thinking of getting me one of those clamp on hand crank grinders from Harbor Freight Tools and tryin my hand at making some sausage. I bought a pack of seasonong on ebay today. "Country style breakfast" sausage seasoning it said. I wonder what the ratio of lean to fat would need to be? Any input?

 

[Spyro Ananiades]

it is the perfect cut for sausage.

For most sausages you want a 80% meat to 20% fat mixture, pork butt is right around that very mixture.

Besides being a good cut for sausage, you can get it very cheap if you hunt around for a deal.

I have sausage out of butts for years.

 

[Keri C]

Jim, if you let them know a day or so ahead of time, the meat market at your supermarket can grind that butt for you. That way, you don't have to wait until you find that clamp-on grinder. Almost seems like cheating, I know, but let them grind it, you mix it, season it, and stuff it, and it works great! /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Keri C
smokin on Tulsa Time

 

[Tony Weisse]

Yep, what Spyro said. Sometimes I run into a butt that's actually too lean for my taste in sausage. I tend toward about 65-70% lean. I do not like dry sausage. Keep the fat cap from a butt that you're going to BBQ for later use in sausage making.

Also, be careful to remove the tough, stringy connective tissue. This cooks down nicely during the low and slow BBQ process, but I have had it clog up my grinder if it's not removed.

Seasonings for stuff like breakfast sausage aren't very exotic, so find a recipe that looks good and develop it from there. I just made up a batch of breakfast sausage and included a couple of minced jalapeno peppers, seeded and deveined. They don't add much heat but really give a good flavor. Have fun!