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Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:04 am
by EdwinT
Hi,

One of our customers has demanded 3 types of wursts. I have read the relevant section on emulsions in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie and am worried about breaking the emulsion due to temperature. It will be impractical to use ice (we use chilled water) and/or keep chilling the meat during production. Is there a method or a safe additive that can ensure the emulsion 'works'?

We have a standard mincer with blades down 3.5mm and a 70Kg meat mixer. We do not have any automatic cutters/mixers.

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 3:29 pm
by wheels
I'm not sure how good an emulsion you can get with just a mincer and mixer; I've always used a food processor but that is obviously not practical for the amount you'll be doing. I don't know of any additive to use: ice, or near freezing water, are the only things I know.

AFAIK, a bowl chopper is the only real option for commercial scale production.

Maybe one of our members who operates commercially will advise further.

Phil

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:55 am
by EdwinT
Thanks for your advice Phil, We are unable to make further equipment investments at this point in time, so if anyone does know a method for making an emulsion from a 70Kg bowl mixer and a grinder I would be very grateful to hear them.

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:52 pm
by Wunderdave
Edwin, I was able to successfully emulsify a small quantity of forcemeat using Ruhlman's weisswurst recipe, very very cold cream, and a 5qt kitchenaid stand mixer on high, "whipping" the meat. I had to work in batches.

If your bowl mixer can produce high speed mixing you may be able to make this work. You should look into using ice chips if you can, I think it might be the difference between success and failure for the quantities and equipment you're talking about.

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:48 am
by St-Anthony
You can always put your meat in the freezer for 15 minutes after each step of the process :o)

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 4:33 pm
by johngaltsmotor
Mariankski's "Home production of quality meats and sausages" suggests egg whites and dry milk as readily available emulsion promoters for home use.
I also recall that there were several more commercial products listed, but I do not recall what they were. It might be worth looking that up as one reference.

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:24 am
by JerBear
phosphates are often used for emulsification but lots of people I've spoken to prefer not to use them...

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 2:41 pm
by St-Anthony
I tried making wieners without emulsion a few times, the product tastes good but no matter how much water I add to the product it always comes out dry. Phosphates like JerBear suggests could maybe do the trick because its their job to make the meat retain water but I have never tried it myself. Yep, I would definitely try poly phosphate.
PS. Could also be that my mix didn't have enough fat in it.

Re: Wurst emulsions

PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 12:03 am
by JerBear
With my limited equipment I decided to go a different route. I just flavored mine with my preferred spice blend, ground them a couple times through my smallest die and called them, "coarse ground hot dogs".