Dry sausage

Tips and tecniques on dryng drying, curing etc.

Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:21 pm

Hi all,

I have recently started making sausages and am having some teething troubles with the recipe, they are ending up dry and crumbly ie the fall to bits when they are cut open after cooking. I am using an electric mincer with a stuffing attachment.
Here is my recipe

1.5kg Pork Shoulder (supermarket bought)
140g Rusk
300water
40g herbs and spices inc salt,

I chill the meat to just about frozen then mince the meat through a 10mm plate then mix the other ingrediants all at once then mix with hands for 5-10minutes before stuffing through thee 10mm plate and the stuffing attachment. I then leave the sausages to bloom on a wire rack in the fridge. The 'bloooming' phase seems to lose some water. I also lose water at the stuffing phase, when I coil the sausage on my chopping board there is always a bit of a puddle when I move the coil of sausage.

I am going to try adding more fat in the form of fatback from the local butcher.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby Wal Footrot » Tue Oct 27, 2015 1:03 am

You might be right about fat content being an issue. You need a certain amount of fat to give a 'juicy' texture. A minimum of 15% is recommended with 20%+ preferred.

I've also taken this from another thread on this forum which might affect the amount of water you add. The fact that you are losing water in the mixing and stuffing process suggest that there is too much and this will affect texture.

The ratio of breadcrumbs to water is usually 1:1 whereas for rusk it would be between 1.5:1 and 2:1. I use 1.5:1 with homemade rusk, commercially prepared will probably take more.

Take heart, just about every amateur sausage maker has had a 'dry' batch.

Good luck with the recipe changes
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby NCPaul » Wed Oct 28, 2015 2:49 pm

Welcome to the forum. :D To avoid a "dry" sausage it is necessary to get a good bind. The bind is developed by extracting, with salt, water soluble proteins from the meat. They will form a network which will hold water in the sausage. This is different than rusk which soaks up water but doesn't bind the meat, fat and water together. Two things that might be happening, are that the bind is not being well developed early on, or that it is being broken down during the stuffing. If there is a lot of water in the recipe, it becomes difficult for the salt to extract the necessary proteins. So two things you might try would be to decrease the water to 10 % of your meat and/or try salting the cut up pork shoulder overnight before mincing (this will give the salt more time to work). These should help develop the bind. The second possibility, breaking down the bind during stuffing is harder to avoid with the equipment you have. The action of the auger in the mincer over mixes and heats the sausage meat. I would certainly rest and chill the sausage meat before stuffing.
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby wheels » Wed Oct 28, 2015 4:58 pm

andrewe84 wrote:... then mix with hands for 5-10minutes before stuffing through thee 10mm plate and the stuffing attachment.


Hi, welcome. :D

10 minutes may be too long. Just mix enough until it sticks to you fingers like the proverbial to a blanket. It will even smell different - like sausage, not mince.

HTH

Phil
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Fri Oct 30, 2015 5:38 pm

Thanks fit the advice folks. I'll try both the extra fat and less water separately, half the fun is experimenting! Im eyeing up a vertical stuffer for Christmas! And just keep the mincer for mincing.
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby wheels » Sat Oct 31, 2015 12:50 am

Please keep us posted about your sausage-making exploits.

Stick around for a while and we'll have you making your own bacon!

Phil
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby gsevelle » Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:23 am

wheels wrote:Please keep us posted about your sausage-making exploits.

Stick around for a while and we'll have you making your own bacon!

Phil



:drool: YUM
The smoke is rising and the butt is brining
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Tue Nov 24, 2015 11:09 pm

NCPaul wrote:This is different than rusk which soaks up water but doesn't bind the meat, fat and water together.


Are you saying I should be leaving the rusk out? Or just that I need to get better at mixing!?
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby wheels » Wed Nov 25, 2015 12:25 am

I'd reduce the water to 250gm. Ensure that the meat looks like it has about 20 - 25 % fat in it, and mix as described above. You could also read and follow the instructions in the guide here:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11029

I hope this helps.

Phil
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:12 pm

That's great, thanks for the link, I've tried to read it before but the links were broken. Ive given it a good read and will give it a bash tonight!
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby NCPaul » Thu Nov 26, 2015 11:16 pm

That's the spirit. :D
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Thu Nov 26, 2015 11:26 pm

The leftover meat from the stuffing tube tasted awesome. Ive got high hopes!
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Re: Dry sausage

Postby wheels » Fri Nov 27, 2015 12:19 am

Sounds promising, keep us posted.

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Re: Dry sausage

Postby andrewe84 » Sun Nov 29, 2015 8:38 am

I did two small batches, one with 80\20 Pork and fat, but the same 20% water. The other was no added fat to how it comes off the joint but with 15% water. Both of them were much nicer than before, the extra fat was a bit more juicy, obviously, but the less water one still had enough juicyness to be a good sausage! The texture was great, no crumbling but I think my stuffing technique needs work, I still had holes in the middle!
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