I get to make SAUSAGE this weekend!!!!! Care to share recipes Brethren????

Wampus · Oct 1, 2012

One of the boys' football coaches, I recently discovered, makes his own sausage!!!

My wife learned this from HIS wife at football practices, games, etc. I've gotten to know him a bit over the last several weeks. Turns out he's also a BBQ'er. He has a smoker at home and dabbles a bit! :thumb:

Right before the game, he came up and asked me what if we had plans for Saturday, which we don't (NOW! :becky

. He offered to get together and make some sausage! He has a grinder, stuffer and a case of casings. Naturally, I offered to cook BBQ for his trouble.

SOOOOOO.......

He said he just makes a pretty basic "sort of Italian" sausage recipe.

Just thought I'd check in here and see if anyone had any good recipes they'd care to share?

Thanks all!

I'm so excited!!!!!

chad · Oct 1, 2012

I use recipes from Michael Ruhlman's book with pretty good results. I'm overdue to make some sausage, too. I got a 5# stuffer for Christmas and haven't used it yet. I like to make my own andouille and Jamaican jerk sausage. The last sweet Italian sausage I made turned out pretty good and it is real easy...just keep the meat COLD all during the process. Have fun!

RL Reeves Jr · Oct 1, 2012

chad said:
I use recipes from Michael Ruhlman's book with pretty good results. I'm overdue to make some sausage, too. I got a 5# stuffer for Christmas and haven't used it yet. I like to make my own andouille and Jamaican jerk sausage. The last sweet Italian sausage I made turned out pretty good and it is real easy...just keep the meat COLD all during the process. Have fun!

Good advice above. The meat needs to be kept cold so it extrudes more efficiently. Also, soak your guts in hot water, if the water gets cold, warm it back up-it keeps the casing from rupturing. We've done a bunch of batches of Central Texas Hot Guts in the past few months.

Observations: Make sure you have a high fat content. Our best links are 50 percent fat. I know that sounds high but it helps make a juicy sausage.

Always fry up a test patty during the seasoning process and be aware that the flavor of the patty will be much stronger than the link. We go heavy, heavy on salt, coarse black pepper and cayenne.

Pork belly, ground along with the meat, makes a great fat provider. We made one batch of roasted hatch chile pork belly sausage that was pure dynamite.

Brisket and hog fat trimmings was another favorite.

KnucklHed BBQ · Oct 1, 2012

Check it - I've tried several brat recipes and was kinda disappointed in them - until I found this one! http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2009/06/homemade-wisconsin-style-bratwurst.html

I've tweaked it a little bit and I'll humbly tell you, damn they're good. Probably made and sold 100 lbs of these this summer and people loved them!

Here's my version of that recipe:

5lbs pork butt cut into strips - much easier to feed the grinder than cubes
3 TBS kosker
2 TBS sugar
1.5 tsp ground nutmeg (I've used the pre-ground stuff and it's good, haven't tried grinding whole nutmeg though... yet.)
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp whole celery seed
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground majoram
1.5 tsp dried ginger powder
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (really doesn't add heat, you could use more)
Optional - 1 tsp Accent (MSG)

Add about 3 cups crushed ice and 1 cup of water and mix the spices and meat strips up in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 min for the spices to absorb the water or allow to sit over night covered in the fridge. It will still be a little soupy, that's ok, it helps the meat slide into the grinder chute easier.

Mix it all again just before you start grinding

Grind the strips on a coarse plate - I prefer a 5/16 plate - nice sized bits for a good texture, but still tender and delicate.

Try to grind the fatty strips with the leaner strips so that your meat mixture is pretty even.
Grind the ice with the meat, it will add moisture and keep it all cold.

Once it is all ground, LIGHTLY mix the meat with your hands to distribute the fat and lean, it won't be perfect, but that's alright, it's better to treat the grind gently than have it mixed too much. I recommend folding the meat into itself to avoid mushing it. For mixing, I usually put the grind back into the soupy spice mixture bowl to absorb the remaining spices too, can't hurt right?

Load it into the stuffer and start filling casings! The recommendation about hot water is good and the longer the casings soak the more tender they will be when you cook them

I like to smoke them with lower indirect heat and then sear them once they are nearly done - farking fantastic!! :thumb:

My wife does not really care for brats very much but will chow down on these!

I've used the same recipe and added 1 lb reg cheddar cheese cubes to the strips and ground them together - very tasty too!

I think you could really adapt this recipe to any style that you wanted to try and it would be a good starting point.

Let us know how it all goes!

RL Reeves Jr · Oct 1, 2012

That ice trick is intriguing. What is the effect of adding all that water to the meat. Do you have to amp up the seasoning to mitigate? Also, when the sausage is cooking does the steam make the casings expand? Cold meat is crucial to sausage making but it never dawned on me to add ice.

Wampus · Oct 1, 2012

KnucklHed BBQ said:
Check it - I've tried several brat recipes and was kinda disappointed in them - until I found this one! http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2009/06/homemade-wisconsin-style-bratwurst.html

I've tweaked it a little bit and I'll humbly tell you, damn they're good. Probably made and sold 100 lbs of these this summer and people loved them!

Here's my version of that recipe:

5lbs pork butt cut into strips - much easier to feed the grinder than cubes
3 TBS kosker
2 TBS sugar
1.5 tsp ground nutmeg (I've used the pre-ground stuff and it's good, haven't tried grinding whole nutmeg though... yet.)
1/2 tsp ground corriander
1/4 tsp whole celery seed
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp ground majoram
1.5 tsp dried ginger powder
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (really doesn't add heat, you could use more)
Optional - 1 tsp Accent (MSG)

Add about 3 cups crushed ice and 1 cup of water and mix the spices and meat strips up in a large bowl. Let sit for 10 min for the spices to absorb the water or allow to sit over night covered in the fridge. It will still be a little soupy, that's ok, it helps the meat slide into the grinder chute easier.

Mix it all again just before you start grinding

Grind the strips on a coarse plate - I prefer a 5/16 plate - nice sized bits for a good texture, but still tender and delicate.

Try to grind the fatty strips with the leaner strips so that your meat mixture is pretty even.
Grind the ice with the meat, it will add moisture and keep it all cold.

Once it is all ground, LIGHTLY mix the meat with your hands to distribute the fat and lean, it won't be perfect, but that's alright, it's better to treat the grind gently than have it mixed too much. I recommend folding the meat into itself to avoid mushing it. For mixing, I usually put the grind back into the soupy spice mixture bowl to absorb the remaining spices too, can't hurt right?

Load it into the stuffer and start filling casings! The recommendation about hot water is good and the longer the casings soak the more tender they will be when you cook them

I like to smoke them with lower indirect heat and then sear them once they are nearly done - farking fantastic!! :thumb:

My wife does not really care for brats very much but will chow down on these!

I've used the same recipe and added 1 lb reg cheddar cheese cubes to the strips and ground them together - very tasty too!

I think you could really adapt this recipe to any style that you wanted to try and it would be a good starting point.

Let us know how it all goes!

SOOOOO glad you posted this.

A couple of questions:
You cut the pork into strips, then add spices and let sit overnight BEFORE grinding? Is this key? We're going over to his place on Saturday, but if needed, I'll do this work on Friday.

Also, he recommended just using pork butts, cut up. Does this sound right? I was thinking that the pork butts would have good fat content, plus I have some pork fat frozen too (that were the fat caps off of several butts earlier this year).

He also mentioned, too, that fat content was key, so I'm glad you all agree with him.

gtr · Oct 1, 2012

I'll dig some recipes up for ya tonight. One question - is spicy alright like hot links or are you looking for something more mild like kielbasa?

One thing I'll say right now - save some of the loose sausage for a nekkid fatty or two - this is a must!

Teamfour · Oct 1, 2012

I need to learn to make sausage. Just what I need, another hobby.

Wampus · Oct 1, 2012

gtr said:
I'll dig some recipes up for ya tonight. One question - is spicy alright like hot links or are you looking for something more mild like kielbasa?

One thing I'll say right now - save some of the loose sausage for a nekkid fatty or two - this is a must!

Actually, Jimmy and I have been talking about making a sort of "Texas Hot Link" this winter all summer long. For the family, though, I want to make a milder sausage.

I've never tried boudin (sp?) but I've always wanted to.....you made it?

---k--- · Oct 1, 2012

I got sausage making on my agenda too. I've had good success with the Italian sasuage in the past but am always looking for a recipe more like texas sausage. (I think beef is the key ingredient i'm missing.

One thing, the Rytek Kutas book strongly agrues against seasoning and letting chill over night. Grind, season, and stuff. But, i've seen people do it bothways.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2

Bourbon Barrel BBQ · Oct 1, 2012

Wampus said:
Actually, Jimmy and I have been talking about making a sort of "Texas Hot Link" this winter all summer long. For the family, though, I want to make a milder sausage.

I've never tried boudin (sp?) but I've always wanted to.....you made it?

I've been toying with the same idea all year. I wanted to wait till the off season so I wouldn't get distracted from comps.

gtr · Oct 1, 2012

I've always wanted to make Boudin. I had to look around to find a recipe that seems like the boudin I've had - seems to be several different types & I've only had the white - now that stuff is amazing.

I've had great luck with different kielbasas/Polish sausage.

I've really enjoyed these hot links - you can dial back the heat easily. Recipe is from this site, which seems to be very good.

There's a kielbasa recipe I did a couple weeks ago that turned out killer but it's at the house - I'll put it up tonight. I think one thing that made it pop was I put in strained/defatted juices from smoking a chuckie - I'll be doing that again for sure. :thumb:

I think I gotta do Knuck's brat recipe real soon! :hungry:

chad · Oct 1, 2012

RL Reeves Jr said:
That ice trick is intriguing. What is the effect of adding all that water to the meat. Do you have to amp up the seasoning to mitigate? Also, when the sausage is cooking does the steam make the casings expand? Cold meat is crucial to sausage making but it never dawned on me to add ice.

Ice makes very little difference in texture and since you don't go nuts with the ice it won't affect your seasoning. Still, keep the meat refrigerated between steps. I add ice water to my mixture when actually mixing to help improve the "stickiness" of the mixture.

Definitely test fry a pattie before casing it up.

RL Reeves Jr · Oct 1, 2012

We're tackling boudin soon for a cajun pop up restaurant we're doing. It'll be the first time for both of us but we've been eating the cream of the crop from the best boudin houses in Acadiana {Best Stop, Johnson's, Don's, NuNu's} for years so we've got an idea of what we're shooting for.

Will report back with observations.

Limp Brisket · Oct 1, 2012

Bigwheels Genuine Texas Hot Links

6-7 lbs. Boston Butt
1 bottle beer
2 T. coarse ground black pepper
2 T. crushed red pepper
2 T. Cayenne
2 T. Hungarian Paprika
2 T. Morton's Tender Quick
1 T. Kosher Salt
1 T. Whole Mustard Seeds
1/4 cup minced fresh garlic
1 T. granulated garlic
1 T. MSG
1 t. ground bay leaves
1 t. whole anise seeds
1 t. coriander
1 t. ground thyme

Mix all the spices, cure, and garlic into the beer and place in refrigerator
while you cut up the meat to fit in the grinder. Pour the spiced beer over
the meat and mix well. Run meat and spice mixture through the fine plate and mix again. Stuff into medium hog casings. Smoke or slow grill till they are done. Wrap in a piece of bread and slap on the mustard heavy.

Bludawg · Oct 1, 2012

Give this a shot

Chicken & Sun Dried Tomato Sausage

5 lbs. boneless chicken thighs with
skin
2 medium onions about 12 ounces, peeled and quartered
7 oz. red or yellow sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water to soften (15 minutes), then drained
1 Tbs each of celery seed, thyme, and kosher salt
5 oz. water to mix the spices with.
2 Tbs Coriander Seed
2 Tbs Fennel Seed
2 Tbs Rosemary
2 Tbs Oregano

Wampus · Oct 2, 2012

^^^^THAT^^^^ sounds really interesting. Have you had that bludawg?

Yellowhair42 · Oct 2, 2012

I've made thousands of tons of sausage when I worked for our families butcher shop.Fat = juciness and flavor.Grind meat,add spice then stuff.Very rarely did we add water to it.

Wampus · Oct 2, 2012

Here's another couple questions for you sausage makers out there.....

I've seen an episode of "Dirty Jobs" where a guy making boudin cooked the sausage stuffings BEFORE stuffing into the casings. Is this only typical of boudin, or is this not the only way to make boudin?

Do most sausage recipes involve stuffing raw meat and spices into casings and NOT pre-cooking them?

T-Man · Oct 2, 2012

Wampus said:
Here's another couple questions for you sausage makers out there.....

I've seen an episode of "Dirty Jobs" where a guy making boudin cooked the sausage stuffings BEFORE stuffing into the casings. Is this only typical of boudin, or is this not the only way to make boudin?

Do most sausage recipes involve stuffing raw meat and spices into casings and NOT pre-cooking them?

Yes , boudin is precooked before stuffing in casings . The pork , liver and seasonings etc , are simmered until tender , at least a hour .

I get to make SAUSAGE this weekend!!!!! Care to share recipes Brethren????

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