Advice on fat content needed.

[Bangermuncher]

Before I start my beer/hop sausage I need a little more help.
My chicken sausage came out great but my first attempt at pork wasn't as good as it should have been.
I know that was an error on my part.
Yesterday I took up Morrisons offer of boned pork shoulder at £1.99 a kilo,an offer too good to refuse and it is British pork.
See pics.


As you can see it's a nice fatty joint,probably why it's on offer as they breed all the fat out of pigs nowadays and most shoppers don't want fatty meat.
Anyway,I'm planning on using it as is without any extra fat,it looks to me as if it has plenty but I'm no expert.
I don't really want to buy some belly to go with it,it'll be more than twice that price and I can't really ask my butcher for back fat as he'll know what I want it for and I didn't buy the meat from him.
No good asking the supermarket butchers for fat either,all I'd get is a vacant look.
As I said it does look to me as if it has enough fat but I'd welcome your advice and opinions.

Also can I leave the skin on when I grind the meat or should this be trimmed off?
Only I don't want to lose too much fat by trimming the skin and wondered if it could be included in the sausage meat.
A silly question probably but I am a complete novice

Plan is to make two small batches out of the meat.
A beer/hop sausage and Wheels's breakfast sausage.

[DanMcG]

I have never ground the skin into sausage but have seen recipes that include it.
Before grinding I cut up the meat into small chunks and separate it into two piles, lean meat in one, fat and fatty trimmings in another. Then I measure out the amount of each I want for my sausage and freeze any leftover for the next batch.
By the pictures you posted, it looks like it has enough fat for a good sausage.
Good Luck,
Dan

[Paul Kribs]

Bangermuncher

If you feel there is not enough fat in your shoulder joints, you can always supplement it by buying some fatty belly strips. They are normally displayed so you can see the fat/lean content.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[captain wassname]

BM
Am I right in thinking you have a small plastic grinder.If so It wont handle skin I know Ive tried.

The easiest and cheapest solution is to skin it and mince it then add 3% of either tapioca starch (from a chinese supermarket) or potato starch(potato flour from your health food shop)
Ive just done this with a shoulder I got from Morrisons The sausages were first class.
1 problem with using starch is that its impossible to say,exactly, how much water to use as it seems to vary with each batch
If you like Ill dig out my notes on the lot I just did

Jim

[Bangermuncher]

Thanks Jim,
Yes I have a small plastic grinder but it's pretty robust and surprisingly better than two old iron grinders I have.
I'm always scared I'll break it as the handle seems so flimsy but last time I used it I woke up next day wondering how I'd burned my middle finger.
It took me a while to work out it was a friction burn from the small handle!

I'll try a little bit of the skin in there but the question really was should I add it or trim it off and not add it?
I don't want to lose the fat that will come off with some of the skin and I'm still developing my knife skills.

There isn't a Chinese or Asian supermarket anywhere near me,believe it or not the first one here opens on Monday(a mate and his Vietnamese wife are opening a few doors down from their smaller shop)and by that time the meat will be past it's use by date.

Health food shop!
What does one of those look like

I'll have to try tapioca or potato starch soon though as I owe a very nice lady with food intolerances some sausages.

Please do dig out your notes Jim,I need all the help I can get

"How much water?"
There won't be much water at all going in this lot(apart from the batch of wheels's breakfast sausage I hope to make)
The only liquid I plan to use is beer,and it isn't for drinking,it's for the sausages

I have to say I'm impressed by the piece of meat I got from Morrisons and glad to hear you had a good experience with yours.

Andy

[quietwatersfarm]

Chris Cosantino has a handy tip for mincing rind.

Cut it into ribbons as this gets dragged into the mincer without clogging and cuts it 'offally' well.

[captain wassname]

Andy
I used Oddleys cumberland mix minus the sage@2.4% of meat.Im using the same mincer and I cant mince skin. I dont know that its a good idea even if you can.
The starch is to compensate for a lack of fat (I dont know the whys and wherefores but it works for shure.) I use it in turkey sausages all the time.I didnt make a lot of sausage I cut a fair size lump off and dry cured it probably for bacon

I used 1066 gms pork (skinned wheight)
32 gms tapioca starch
26 gms of spice mix
8gms phosphate (optional but may effect liquid usage)
82 gms rusk
120 gms liquid

I skinned mine and lost a lot of fat so I used the starch.
The HFS is handy fot things like the starch sodium ascorbate and other odds and sods.Must be a Holland and Barret close to you.
Best of luck mate
Jim

[wheels]

I'd skin it keeping as much fat as possible - do it in the same way as you skin a fish. I don't use skin but I believe that those that do often boil it until it's soft before mincing.

Phil

[Big Guy]

Skin it and then remove as much fat from the skin as possible by fileting it like a fish.
I don't think i would enjoy a sausage with bits of grisly skin in it.

[Terry]

I too now use tapioca as the captain does, about 3%.
I buy the tapioca pearls that you would use for puddings and get them to a fine powder in the coffee grinder, and I have made my best sausage since doing this. I only use shoulder now, but in the past used to have 50/50 shoulder and belly but find I no longer need the extra fat.
Regarding the skin, I have boiled it up and minced it up with the meat after cooling, however apart from not wasting it, it did not add anything to the mix.

Terry

[wheels]

IMO It's far better to cook it slowly in the oven, crisp it up, and then eat it. Sausage maker's perks!

[Bangermuncher]

IMO It's far better to cook it slowly in the oven, crisp it up, and then eat it. Sausage maker's perks!

I prefer mine deep fried,used to do the same with chicken skin many years ago when I made Tandoori Chook for the ex.
Me and the cats loved it!
So did she but I never told her

Anyway,I didn't lose a lot of fat from the joint after skinning,hardly any at all,maybe a couple of ounces if that including the skin.

When I got to work on it it turned out to be a piece of hidden butchery.
Inside was about 20% fat
Add that to the fat on the exterior and I'd be guessing 25-30% fat.
I guess that's why they're selling it cheap,they just don't realize that some of us like it like that

I ran out of time to make sausages,after chopping and chilling then chilling again before grinding then chilling again I knew there just wasn't enough hours left in the day so rather than give up I decided to mince twice and play with it later today.
The joint in previous pics now looks like this.



The ground meat is in the fridge and will be turned into sausages later today,much of it with beer etc.

I have a horrible feeling that something will go wrong but I won't know until later

[captain wassname]

Teery.
I got mine fron Wing Yip on the net,They have a superstore in Birmingham probabley well worth a look.

Jim

[saucisson]

I have a horrible feeling that something will go wrong but I won't know until later

When is B day?

Dave

[captain wassname]

Terry
Sorry about the typo

Jim