Has anyone here made their own sausage?

I am about to make my first attempt at it this weekend. (I finally found a local butcher who carries sausage casings.)
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The last batch I made was a while back and they turned out a little on the lean side.
I used a whole pork shoulder and a piece of pork belly about 1/2 the weight of the shoulder after it was boned out.
Next time I make I will use 50/50 shoulder and belly.
For seasoning I just used salt and pepper to taste. I ground up a small test batch using the ratios above and did a test fry of a patty to check my seasonings.
The wife's Kitchen Aid got a good workout....:-)
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Do you think a pork shoulder alone doesn't have enough fat?
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Not the one I got from my local butcher...ymmv
I don't know how lean you supply is.
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I've done a few batches in my time. The extra fat from the pork belly will help keep it moist, but as longas you have 30% fat to lean meat, you should be ok. Make sure to mix it well. A patty sized piece should stick to your palm when turned over. Also, fry up a small piece before stuffing to check your seasoning. The rule I learned in a class was 3% of the meat weight in salt. Start with a bit less then adjust as you see fit.
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Another thing is to put the grinder pieces in the freezer for about 30 mins before you grind. That'll help keep the fat from smearing. Same for the cut up pieces of meat. The colder the better, just a bit shy of frozen.
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http://books.google.com/books?id=u_7...lls%22&f=false
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Thanks, Darryl and Bobs. :-)

I have this book.
http://books.google.com/books?id=T7p...20book&f=false
And I've done a lot of reading online as well.

Sort of looking for "lessons learned"
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I get the meat pre-ground, but all of the recipes I've tried from http://thespicysausage.com/sausagemakingrecipes.htm have been excellent.

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edit: oh, you meant cured sausage. I got nuthin.
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Good info above Peter. 30% or better fat to meat works best for me. I also talk to the butcher when I pick up butts and see if they have any good pork fat trimmings that I can use. Otherwise I grab a slap of fatback. Keeping the meat cold while grinding makes the grinding simpler and is also safer. I have a couple of stainless steel mixing bowls that nest together. I put ice in the larger, bottom bowl and then sit the smaller bowl in that one. that helps keep the ground meat cooler, especially if I am going ot be grinding 2 or 3 times.

Another trick is before you start stuffing, pull a little out, make a small patty and fry it up in a skillet. That way you can tell if your spice mix is good or if you need more (obviously it's easier to go lighter in the beginning and ad more if necessary).

Most important thing is just like mixing rubs and smoking meat, have fun and experiment. Worst case is you have to do another batch...darn!

I'm looking forward to hearing how it turns out!

:-):-)
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This is my favorite book. Lots of tips and recipes in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Sausage-M...0803183&sr=8-1
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99Ranch usually has ground pork in varying fat%. They also have belly pork and other off cuts that cant be found at the average market.
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Actually no, Adam.
I was looking to start with regular sausage. Curing it may come later after some practice.

Thanks for the link.
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Good to know, thanks Bob. My normal supplier for coarse ground pork is the university meat processing plant and while it's the same as what they use in their sausage, it's a tad on the lean side and they don't offer different fat percentages.


Ok. Nothing I can really add to all the aforementioned advice in this thread, it's been pretty well covered. All I can say is that it's really pretty easy, with the exception of using too much salt, it's a very forgiving process/recipe. After the first batch, I kind of looked back and said "That's it? That was too simple. Why the hell have I been buying it all these years?"

The recipes from that site that I happen to really like are the hot Italian, Italian fennel, Polish and especially the Bratwurst #1 with the addition of 1-2 tsp of ground mace.
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What'd you end up making Peter?

In the sausage cooking class I took a few years back, we made brats. The interesting addition we used was a lemon. Sounded strange at first but it works. Supreme and zest a lemon, putting the pieces/zest in a food pro, purée with half an onion. Add that to your ground pork and other seasonings.

Thanks for the link Adam. Going into my bookmarks.
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Bought some pork shoulder (.99/lb) cubed it. Added salt pepper and garlic. Chilling overnight. Grinding tomorrow. Adding red wine and then stuffing into casing.
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Wow, all serious responses.



I'm out. :-) :-)
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I have made a lot of fresh ground breakfast sausage (sage) in the past and have done links and brats a few times. I like 100% pork for fresh grind and I really like to add some red meat to the brats or other cased sausage. IIRC I mixed 60/40.(60% pork usually to wild game).I don't remember the source now but I got pre mixed seasonings online and really found that the best way for me as I did lots of experimenting and ultimately (IMO) wasting lots of good meat.
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Sounds good, can't wait to hear how it turns out.

If you're planning to twist into links, start at one end of the casing after you've filled it and tie it off. Measure off the first link, then pinch the casing at that point, measure off the second, pinch that end. Now grab the two pinched points, lift and flip the link over a couple of times. Repeat until youre at the end of the casing, skipping every odd link.
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Funny about the timing, Peter. I taped an old episode of "Good Eats" with Alton Brown last night that was on making your own sausage. Haven't watched it yet, but taped it in hopes of making my own sausage soon!

Good luck, keep us posted!
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