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Home Made Pork Loin sausage smoked on the #kamadoJoe Big Joe.

A

addertooth

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My beloved spouse picked me us a meat grinder/sausage stuffer for my birthday. It attaches to my Kitchenaid mixer. The first run was started on Saturday the 4th. It started with a nice 5 pound pork loin. The Loin was sliced, and then the slices were cubed to feed into the grinder. Just to play with it, the fine plate was used for the first grind. In the future the coarse plate will be used. I was also surprised by all the fine fibrous material which did its best to clog the fine plate. The freshly ground pork was mixed with the seasonings, and a bit of liquid to make the stuffing process easier. Natural casings were used. This was my first time dealing with separating, cleaning and sliding a casing over the horn. The first two pounds of stuffing went quickly and easily, but by the time the third pound was started, fibrous material started to clog the straining plate which slowed the process. The Big Joe was fired up and allowed to stabilize at 200 with Pecan wood for the smoke. The sausage took about 4 hours to hit the right internal temperature. The sausages were then soaked in cold water to help prevent the natural casing from shrinking and wrinkling. They went into the vacuum sealer for storage in the deep freeze, with one pack placed in the fridge for use within the next couple days.
 

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Well, you are off to a good start, I've used a KA grinder for many, many years. I can share a few tips that will help on your next batch.

Loin is a little lean for sausage, give butt a try, a little fat keeps the sausage moist. With all meats, after slicing move them to the freezer until the cubes are icy. This helps them cut easier and not get mealy. You are right about using the larger plate, the small one is good for something like hot dogs but not for sausage. Loin has a layer of silver skin, that was the stuff wrapping itself around the shaft downstream of the cutting blade. Keep your ground sausage very cold and use iced water... and it is easier to stuff. Not sure what internal temp you smoked them to, but the addition of pink salt or Tenderquick will allow them to finish safely at a lower temp, plus it gives the sausage a little pinkness. Following the shower, you can all allow smoked sausage to "bloom", which means darken slightly before packaging.

If you look close you can see the coarser look when using the larger plate, a coarser grind stuffs easier, there are 2 or 3 different recipes in the first photo. The second one shows some smoked and bloomed sausage.

Pj9m5Bq.jpg


4iQ8PlG.jpg
 
Looks great. Loin can be a little lean. Did you add any fat? If not, do you find the sausage to be a little dry? I've found that with my kitchen aid grinder, if I cube the pork a little smaller, then it is less likely that the plate will get clogged with the fibrous tissues. More cuts shortens them and makes it less likely that they will stick in the grind plate.

Edit: Like thirdeye said, cold helps too.
 
The pork sausage was the first use of the KA grinder/stuffer. So your suggestions are excellent. For the sake of brevity, I left out some of the small steps. The meat was put in the freezer just before initial slicing (to make slicing easy), and just before grinding and stuffing (for the same reason). Tenderquick was used and the terminal temperature of the pork was at least 155 on the coldest part of any cut. Some pieces were as hot as 165. This time, the blooming phase was skipped (due to limited time), but will be a part of future runs, as a darker color is clearly preferred. Thank you for the great pictures Thirdeye, they are downright inspirational.
 
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Thirdeyes suggestions are right on the mark. I use butts and use all the fat otherwise they come out to dry. I don't use the tenderquick though, I just make sure they cook to 175 degrees and with the kamado joe they come out perfectly moist and tasty.
I'll put a little canola or olive oil on the horn before the casings and that helps them go on easily. Also, I let the casings sit over night in water after I've run water through them to open them up. I cube my meat and add the seasonings and then let sit over night in the refrigerator. Sometimes i'll put them in the freezer to get a little hard and that will make the grinder work less to grind them. On the kamado joe I always flip them half way thru the cook so they will be uniform.
 
addertooth said:
The pork sausage was the first use of the KA grinder/stuffer. So you suggestions are excellent. For the sake of brevity, I left out some of the small steps. The meat was put in the freezer just before initial slicing (to make slicing easy), and just before grinding (for the same reason). Tenderquick was used and the terminal temperature of the pork was at least 155 on the coldest part of any cut. Some pieces were as hot as 165. This time, the blooming phase was skipped (due to limited time), but will be a part of future runs, as a darker color is clearly preferred. Thank you for the great pictures Thirdeye, they are downright inspirational.
Click to expand...

Heck, now that we know all of that all you need is a little fine tuning. I did find a couple of more photos that might better show the color and ratio of sausage, and the more coarse grind I like. I don't add additional fat like you might see called out in older recipes (just add that amount in meat), but find a butt (trimmed of the heavy fat, veins, or the gland if present) works fine for me. I'm guessing my sausage is 12% to 15% fat. Some commercial grinds are 20%+.

JwpQGLP.jpg


smRcgE6.jpg
 
Mint said:
Thirdeyes suggestions are right on the mark. I use butts and use all the fat otherwise they come out to dry. I don't use the tenderquick though, I just make sure they cook to 175 degrees and with the kamado joe they come out perfectly moist and tasty.
I'll put a little canola or olive oil on the horn before the casings and that helps them go on easily. Also, I let the casings sit over night in water after I've run water through them to open them up. I cube my meat and add the seasonings and then let sit over night in the refrigerator. Sometimes i'll put them in the freezer to get a little hard and that will make the grinder work less to grind them. On the kamado joe I always flip them half way thru the cook so they will be uniform.
Click to expand...

In addition to spraying the horn, try leaving a little nub of sausage at the end of the horn, this will help those casings go on real easy.

LeDWKLM.jpg
 
That came out well!!! You will learn as you go... Ask questions and listen to some good advice!!! You will love making sausage
 
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