Sausage!

[DarinM]

My brother and I made sausage over the weekend.
I went to my local Academy to buy some casings and found a .35 hp grinder/stuffer on clearance so I bought it. Previously we've used his KitchenAid mixer with a grinder attachment, and have been less than satisfied with the results. We're the 4th generation of Bachman's (on mom's side) to make this German sausage and I think we really nailed it this time.

We start off with beef, pork and for added fat and flavor, bacon. We chopped it into maybe 1.5 inch chunks and then chilled to near freezing for processing. We ran it through a coarse grinder in batches and then added coarse black pepper, sea salt, whole mustard seed and fresh ground (mortar and pestle) mustard.

Natural casings, soaked for about an hour in warm water, rinsed multiple times. Still kinda yucky to deal with.

I kinda keep my distance from my little brother Nathan when we're cooking...

Our work area. New grinder/stuffer. This thing cut our processing time by at least 50%. We ground and stuffed probably 25 pounds of meat in about an hour and 1/2.

Lots o' sausages ready to hit the smoker.

Lots o' sausages after smoking. Excellent meaty consistency, subtle flavor, moist without being overly greasy. The bacon, of course, isn't traditional. We're going to try to figure out something else to get the right fat content next time - just couldn't find anything over the weekend. One of the links, piece of bread, mustard, ice cold Abita Amber. :chef:

 

[spressomon]

Sure looks good Darin! Like you we're multi-generation sausage makers...just Italian. Isn't it funny...OK not really ...with all the sausage choices out there you still cant get one like home-made!

I know what you mean about the KA. Its slow and best suited for a few pounds max. I did have 2 of the 4 blades cut-off to get a more course cut. But it looks like you have the right tool now!

 

[DarinM]

A coworker is giving me some venison and wild boar!
Me and Nate will be making more sausage in a few weeks.
So far everyone has really liked this stuff.
It's going to be fun to try a new style.
We're thinking of adding some serranos to a few in the next batch. I love serranos - they're definitely my favorite chile.
We're also going to try some kind of chicken based sausage.
Would welcome ideas/suggestions. If you have a great idea and we make it and you happen to be coming through the Austin/San Antonio area, we'd be happy to share.
Y'all have a nice day.

 

[spressomon]

I make my Italian Sausage with fresh smoked habanero's instead of the traditional red pepper flakes and its killer. Pork fat mixed in with the venison and wild boar would be a good thing

 

[Haggis]

That sausage is making my belly rumble just lookin' at it. Nice job. Are you mixing the boar in with the venison to add some fat or are you doing two separate batches?

 

[DarinM]

We'll mix the venison and boar. It's a combination that I remember my great uncles and grandfather making - always with great results. My great uncle Otto Bachman (sound German enough?) used to trap boars in a horse trailer and then feed them out for a bit in a paddock on his farm. Cleaned up some of the taste from the nasty stuff they'd been eating.

And thanks. Y'all ever make it down to this part of the world, consider yourself invited for lunch.

 

[spressomon]

Darin: You've given me an idea with what to do with some nice venison meat a buddy gave me. Although I don't have boar I think I'll try it mixed with a little pork shoulder and see what happens!

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[spressomon]

This is my first attempt at making andouille. I had some left over shoulder meat from an Iberico hog we bought...combined with some fine venison steaks. I tasted a bulk patty and its damn tasty if I do say so myself :coffeedrink: Links are getting some pecan smoke as we speak

But this batch might have put me over the brink with using the KA again. I just might have to follow your lead on a real grinder and sausage stuffer!

 

[DarinM]

Mmmm... that stuff looks good.
We're still on track for making more within the next couple of weeks or so.
I'll post up a summary.

You will not regret stepping up to a purpose built grinder/stuffer. I have been looking at them on craigslist for some time, but when I found this one on clearance it was just too good of a price to pass up.

Happy cooking!

 

[DarinM]

Just brought home a full leg of venison and a full leg of wild boar! They're in the fridge to start thawing so I can start processing them for making sausage this weekend.
I'm going to go to my local asian market Saturday morning and buy some pork belly to add to the mix.
More to follow. Yay!

 

[DarinM]

I didn't take any pictures because the process basically looked like last time.
Ended up boning out probably 18-20 pounds of venison and wild boar. After we cleaned it up a bit we also had probably 8 or 9 pounds of pork belly.
The texture of the meat is much different than previous versions. We used the same grinder plate, but ended up with a much coarser, meatier sausage. You definitely know you're eating some serious meat with this batch.
We seasoned it once again with very basic stuff - lots of whole mustard seed - I think 2 oz, or maybe 4 oz - it was two of the little plastic jars, probably 2-3 oz of ground mustard, probably 3-4 tbs of fine sea salt, and probably 4-5 oz of coarse black pepper.
Got them all stuffed up and on the smoker Sunday morning.
Pulled them and let them cool a bit and then a bit of spicy brown mustard and a tortilla... Sooo good.
So again, any of y'all gonna be in the area give me a holler if you want to try a link.
We've figured this stuff out and are making some killer good sausage.

 

[jgeck90]

I am now seriously considering buying all the stuff to make my own sausage!:Wow1: Most of it is pretty expensive and often time it does not taste all that great!
Any suggestions on a grinder/stuffer?
Would something like this work just fine?
http://www.amazon.com/STX-TURBOFORC...JBR0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1309363403&sr=8-6

 

[Smksignals]

Darin, what smoker do you use? I just bought a Weber 22.5 Smokey Mountain about a month ago, and I am loving it !!

 

[DarinM]

We use this grinder. link to LEM
It came with a couple grinder plates as well as stuffing attachments. It works great!

I will have to check on the smoker. It's basically about the size of a 1/2 refrigerator. It has 4 shelves and an electric heating element in the base. It has a slideout hopper that you load with wood chips, insert through a port in the side and dump. It also has a water container that sits right above the heat element. We've done 20-25 pounds of meat in a run.

It's got digital controls for setting the heat and time. It seems to work pretty well. I think it's a brand they sell at Cabelas. I bought it used.

This last batch came out really, really good. We've been looking at more information online and it seems that most recipes are calling for adding cold water or ice water during processing. I think this has to do with keeping fat and connective tissue from breaking down. We're processing at very cold temperatures and with the last batch I kept a bowl of ice water handy that I put my hands in before handling the meat to keep things chilled. We keep it basic and the meat is the star.

We're going to keep working and learning and I'll post up as we learn more.

 

[spressomon]

In much the same way a little water added to ground beef, pork, etc. when making patties keeps them from becoming too dense after cooking my Mom, Uncles and Grandparents always added a little water to the sausage meat mixture before stuffing. Seems plausible to me.

I have to find a deal on that meat grinder/stuffer Darin! Thanks for the heads-up as the KA just isn't cutting it.

I tried pecan wood for smoking the venison and pork Andouille a couple weeks ago for the first time and it was incredible. But having not made Andouille before I had nothing for compare. However last weekend I smoked a bunch of baby back's over pecan and I have to say pecan is just super! I've used cherry, peach, mesquite and of course hickory for ribs but never pecan. I'll be ordering some more pecan chunks