DanB
is One Chatty Farker
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2012
- Location
- Paramus New Jersey
Hi All OK so what are your thoughts/idea's on my smoked sausage that went wrong.? What should I do next time?
Thanks DanB.
Thanks DanB.
What’s would you say your meat to fat ratio was ?
Hi All OK so what are your thoughts/idea's on my smoked sausage that went wrong.? What should I do next time?
Thanks DanB.
The cure % was on the package instructions.
The Phosphate was recommended by the owner of the company.
Here is what he had to say about the phosphate.
There’s wiggle room, though. The more you use, the more it goes from juicy to bouncy to rubbery, so you may need to experiment with your particular meat mix, but I’d start with about 1%, then adjust up or down. By weight, that’s 4.5 grams per pound. That can be hard to weigh precisely. I would think you’re working in larger batches, and with five pounds or more of meat, you should be able to use volumetric measures, like teaspoons. I can get you a volumetric measure this afternoon if you let me know your batch size.
I did make sure everything was ice cold.The grinder parts & meat were in the freezer.
If there is a next time I will do a small test fry for taste.
Thanks Dan
PS Maybe next time I should just concentrate on just one type.one.
In the United States the % of Cure #1 is fixed at 0.25%, which is 2.5 grams per kilogram to arrive at 156 parts per million. Using grams is the easiest and most accurate method because measuring spoons can have up to a 25% error. With sodium nitrite making up only 6.25% of Cure #1 you want to be as accurate as possible.
With all due respect there is very little wiggle room with phosphates. The recommended amount is 0.3% to 0.5% (which is 3 grams to 5 grams per kilogram or 2.2 pounds) and I just verified this with three sources, the AmesPhos site, the Marianski brothers book 'Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausage and the "Additives" page from Sausage Maker Supplies.
Anyways, keep us posted on your progress, I hope you get the bugs worked out because it has to be something simple.
Hi So what u are saying is the Phosphate is way too much for my 1lb sausage mix.
I don't have a gram scale.I was using teaspoons & tablespoons. So with the cure It will be 0.25% of 1 lb? The cure on the pack direction said 1.1g or a scant 1/4teaspoon.
Thanks Dan
OK all if I'm going to use beef in my smoked sausages what shoulds the fat ratio be.I would recomend pork fat over beef fat....with pork back fat as the best. I am not an expert...but have read a lot about sausage making...and don't recall anyone recomending beef fat.
All beef or a high ratio of beef to pork sausages are harder to make moist than all pork or a high ratio of pork to beef. I would start with small batch experiments, say 2 or 3 pounds, and not concentrate on casing the sausage. For your experimental links make skinnies, Any remainder you can keep in bulk or make patties for breakfast or sausage burgers. For your pork use ground pork butt, they are a perfect fat ratio, and for your beef buy bulk burger that is confirmed at 70:30.
Since you will be smoking the test run sausage.... Go ahead and add the correct amounts of Cure #1, and AmesPhos mixed with water (remember you were heavy on the phosphates), and make sure the meat is icy cold when you mix all of the ingredients. Add additional icy water until you get a sticky texture, don't follow the recipe amount, go by feel. Icy water is very important. Since you will be smoking it consider using non-fat dry milk 1% to 3%. I use NFDM on almost all of my smoked sausage. It is a binder and holds moisture.
Here is how to make skinnies: Form into 1" to 1.5" logs, wrap in clear plastic, twist one end and tie off. Hold the other end and twist the link and tie off. Let these rest in the fridge about 18 hours.
For cold smoking just use your pellet tube for 2 or 3 hours, block the door open as you want as much draft as possible. Either finish on the smoker or in the oven at 180° (if that's the lowest temp you can staTrt with), until the internal is 155°. These are all beef skinless skinnies... the cure is what makes the color bloom. They will perform almost like a cased sausage.
For reference, this is my typical grind size, if you go finer, re-chill before the second grinding.
Hi I had some blows out when making links. I think I stuffed to tight, so I made it into one of your skinnies.
Thanks DanB
Hi All The sausages have been smoked. Much better then the 1st time, they were much juicy..Even the premix ones came out good this time. I'm going to have cut down on some of the spices. The pan under the grates worked out good kept temps much lower.
Thanks Guys for all your help.
Dan
PS The redish ones where the beef