Using trim from pork bellies for sausage-making


 
Monty House

Monty House

TVWBB Pro
I've got three gi-normous pork bellies (14.6-16.0 lbs each) that, as soon as they're thawed (4 days and counting....), I'm going to trim and square up. I'm imagining I'm going to have a fair amount of trim left over. I thought it was Ruhlman who suggested that trim can be saved and used in fresh sausage recipes. Anyone done this? If so, is it roughly a 1:1 substitution for pork fat that is often in these recipes?

Merry Christmas.
 
16 lbs belly? Are you sure that it is from a pig, and not an elephant? :cool:

I'm not quite sure why you need to trim and square up your bellies?

Anyways, that's not my business. I've made sausages many times, where the ingredient is ground pork belly and nothing else except for spices. Pork belly contains approx. 30% fat, so it is not a subsitute for pork fat, but becomes wonderful sausages.
 
Last edited:
Wife and I keep trimmings from pork belly and ribs to use in sausage all the time, pending what style of sausage you are making you may want to add additional pork fat.
 
I never thought to square them off before curing. I do it when they're finished and before I slice, and then save the odd end pieces to use in cooking.
 
I used to have a butcher here where I would buy my meat from. He would often grind in some pork belly. It's a common ingredient of sausage.
 
Postscript: Started with 45 lbs. from three bellies. For those of us who've never seen untrimmed bellies before, they're huge. Ended up with 28 lbs of trimmed, squared bellies across 12 pieces. (Doing 6 top and 6 lower using IKEA pot lid organizers in my 18.5".) Had 13.5 lbs. of trim (after cutting off rind) and 3.5 lbs into garbage. I then cubed the 13.5 lbs. of trim and placed them into three categories: Lean (approx 70/30), semi-lean (50/50) and fatty (30/70). For those three categories, I had approx. 3 lbs of lean, 1.5 lbs semi and 4.5 lbs fatty. I started with 13.5 lbs, so threw about 1/3 (4.5 lbs) into garbage. (No, I didn't save any pure fat--sorta wish I had.) I vacuum packed the 9 lbs. in 1.25-1.50 lb packages.

bacon28.jpg

bacontrim.jpg

baconpkgs.jpg


Thinking about Ruhlman's garlic sausage recipe for next weekend. Given the configuration of different leanness belly I'm thinking of using, it should come out to about a 40% fat content.
 
Last edited:
Postscript to my last postscript.....this one on price. I paid $2.10/lb for the untrimmed bellies. 45 lbs = $94.50. $94.50/28 lbs = $3.38/lb if it were only for the bellies. An okay, but not phenomenal, deal. If you factor in the 9 final lbs. of sausage trim, $94.50/(28 + 9) = $2.55/lb.

Prior to this, I was paying $3.69/lb for trimmed bellies at an Asian market. And, for sausage, I was using boneless butts at about $1.80/lb. So, under the old pricing, 28 lbs of bellies and 9 lbs of sausage making raw material would have been (28 * $3.69)+(9 * $1.80) = $119.52 or $3.23/lb. hmmm.....
 
40% fat content is pretty high in my opinion but it depends on what variety and ethnic blend you are making. I like to stay in the 25% range, 30% at most, but that's me. With Breakfast sausage you might go a little higher. Pork butts all by themselves have a pretty good fat percentage. I've tended to experiment with leaner grinds in the range of 20%. You have to have fat for flavor and moisture but 40% is a lot of fat.
 
Last edited:
Nice work on this Monty. I find you can get away with 30% for sausages or higher especially if you intend to dry it. I find for my tastes that 20-25% is the easiest and is accomplished easily with butts.

That stash of trim you have will be very versatile for all kinds of forcemeat products. If you are going to dry any of it for example that 70% fat trim diced would make great show fat in a salami made from lean loin or leg.
 
when using belly for sausage, it's usually combined with loin. It's not as cheap as just using butts, but a more precise way to dial in the fat ratio
 
Monty House said:
Postscript: Started with 45 lbs. from three bellies. For those of us who've never seen untrimmed bellies before, they're huge. Ended up with 28 lbs of trimmed, squared bellies across 12 pieces. (Doing 6 top and 6 lower using IKEA pot lid organizers in my 18.5".)
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting this! I have an Ikea pot lid rack that we haven't had a home for since getting new (Ikea, too) cabinets. I've been using a rib rack but that still limits the amount of bacon I can get on one grate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top