Rusk or Breadcrumbs

[deb]

Seeing Shaun's remark on another thread about adding more meat and rusk to a recipe it set me thinking. Do you prefer to use Rusk or Breadcrumbs in your sausages? I am not an experienced sausage maker but have gleaned a few tips/recipe ideas from a food board I visit. It seems that amongst the sausage makers there breadcrumbs are preferred mainly I think for their texture. What is your preference and why? What is the difference in texture, can anyone explain it? I have only made one batch of sausages and to be honest I think they were too meaty, next time I will use more "filler" but am toying with the idea of changing to rusk so I'm trying to get an idea of the difference.
Thanks.

[Shaun]

deb
I'm a rusk fan it may be because i'm lazy or that it just reminds me of when I was a bearn chompimng on those biscuits . Can you still get Farleys rusks . When my kids where babys I used to pinch the odd rusk when nobody was looking
Franco
Is it you or your wife to be that has to sit crimbling them into 5k bags for hour on end

[Oddley]

Sorry deb only tried breadcrumbs. Mainly because I have them laying around (Frozen). Whenever I have a stale loaf I let it get as hard as a brick then magimix it.

[Parson Snows]

I personally do not have a preference to either, they both have their uses. For commercial sausage making they are also both used. Musk�s Newmarket Sausages use bread as do Dickinson & Morris, and Stroff�s Specialty Sausages. O�Hagan�s use rolled oats. Bread is made using yeast and rusk is made with raising agents, however, their are other differences. The main one being the amount of water/liquid that they absorb.

Sausage and Small Goods Production � Frank Gerrard (1955 edition)
�The absorption figure will depend to some extent on the staleness of the bread, but 1 lb of stale bread should be permitted to absorb 1-1 � lbs of water, and bread so treated will have a moisture content approaching that of lean meat�

Basically a pound of bread a pint (Imperial) of water, as a rule of thumb.
My modified bread recipe follows

U.K. Traditional Bread
Based on Eliza Acton�s �Excellent Suffolk Bread� from �The English Bread Book� Published in 1857

Ingredients
100 ml +150 ml Warm water (blood heat)
100 ml warm Milk (blood heat)
1 heaped tspn dried yeast
1 heaped tspn brown sugar
500 g Bread Flour/strong flour
1 tspn salt
15 ml (1 Tblspn) Salad Oil

Method
� Sprinkle yeast over 100 ml of warm water whisk in sugar and allow to stand for 15 minutes or until frothy.
� Put flour and salt into food processor and mix.
� Stir in warm milk and salad oil into yeast mixture.
� With food processor running slowly pour yeast mixture into flour/salt mixture.
� With the Food processor on �Setting 2� for 15 seconds add remaining water as necessary. (all flour is slightly different).
� Shape dough into ball and allow to prove in a covered bowl for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
� Punch dough down and shape into loaf (swiss roll style, placing seam on the bottom).
� Place into lightly greased 4 �� x 8 �� loaf pan.
� Let rise until almost doubled in bulk (30 to 45 minutes) or longer if colder.
� Preheat oven to 450 �F and bake for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 400 �F and bake for a further 10 minutes.
� Remove from loaf tin then place in oven upside down for 5 minutes more to dry out and brown off bottom.
� Allow to stand for 15 minutes on a wire rack.

Test Case 17th June 2004
When freshly baked : 785 g
Dried Weight : 760 g

As I have mentioned before if bread is being used I would recommended lightly toasting it or lightly baking it to make sure that all of the yeast has been destroyed. Otherwise you could end up with your sausages souring.

For rusk if price is not too important an absorption figure of 1 � lbs of water per lb of rusk should be aimed at however, a ratio of 2:1 is frequently employed.

Recipe for an economy rusk follows

Rusk (Economy)

Ingredients
� 1 lb (450 g) plain/all purpose flour or bread flour/strong flour
� ⅛ tspn (pinch) of salt
� 5 tspns (25 ml) DOUBLE ACTING baking powder (see note below)
� 6 � - 8 � fl oz (185 -250 ml) potable water

Note: 1 tspn (5 ml) baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and 2 � tspns (11� ml) cream of tartar may be substituted for the baking powder.

Method
� Preheat oven to 450 �F (230 �C)
� Sieve the flour, salt and DOUBLE ACTION baking powder together.
� DO NOT ADD ALL OF THE WATER but just enough to make a smooth, pliable dough (all flours vary)
� Roll out lightly to approximately �� (12 mm) thick then place on a lightly greased tray
� Place in oven on the middle shelf and bake for 10 minutes at 450 �F (230 �C)
� Remove from the oven and using the tines of a fork split in half along its thickness
� Place back on tray with the opened faces upwards
� Return to oven
� Reduce the heat to 375 �F (190 �C) and bake for a further 10 minutes.
� Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
� When cool using the large holes of a grater reduce to ⅛� (3 mm) particles.
� Store in airtight container and use as required.


Hope that this is of some use to you
Kind Regards

Parson Snows

[Fatman]

Parson Snows

Have you any experience/knowledge of using rice as a filler?

Also is it posible you could supply any isbn numbers to the titled books you mention?

Regards

Fatman

[Parson Snows]

I can certainly post the ISBN numbers for these books (give me a couple of days to get it together), though most of the books will be out of print by now. You may however, be able to find some of them on eBay but they won't be cheap. I am fortunate enough to have several that the British Library do not have copies of. Though as they have been good to me in the past I am at present taking digital photos that I will send to them for their reference section. Some of the book's I have searched for for twenty years.

As to using rice for a filler what exactly do you want to know? Once I know this then I can respond accordingly. Sorry but with xmas coming up time's going to get short.

Kind Regards

Parson Snows

[Fatman]

Parson Snows

In Maynard Davies book, he explains he used rice in his recipes back in the 50's.I wondered how the rice was prepared before stuffing the sausages.

Fatman

ps. if you get busy , then a reply can wait! no problem!

[Parson Snows]

I am not familar with the recipe (Maynard Davies ) that you mention however, to the best of my knowledge the only commonly made UK sausage that contained rice, and still does in some variations, was the Cambridge sausage, such as Palethorpe's etc.

I do have information/recipes on the inclusion of rice into sausages should any one want it

Kind regards

Parson Snows

[Bob]

Have you any experience/knowledge of using rice as a filler?
Regards
Fatman

A Cajun sausage called "Boudin". Bruce Aidells has a lengthy writeup about it, including a picture. His recipe is about the largest in the book, so bring your lunch when you prepare Boudin because it's going to take a lot of time.

His recipe uses pork, but the commercial stuff is made with liver <yuk>.

Do a Google search on keyphrase "boudin recipe" (keep the quotes) and you will get lots of recipes. I don't care for it myself so I cannot recommend any particular style.

[Parson Snows]

Fatman wrote

Parson Snows
Have you any experience/knowledge of using rice as a filler?

This is taken verbatim from the 1976 edition of "Sausage and Small Goods Production" by Frank Gerrard (ISBN 7198 2587 3)

Scalded Rice
At one time boiled rice was extensively used in fresh sausages and rice flour in other types of meat products. However, its current price, and the cost of the labour and heat involved in preparation, has resulted in its limited use in the U.K. In its uncooked state it is easy to store and after preparation it should be held in the refrigerator. Its absorption figure is about 3½ to 1, and during boiling this amount of moisture should be taken up. It will produce a good sausage which does not burst or shrink, provided reasonable care is taken. Various methods of boiling are employed, but the chief consideration is the swelling of the rice granules before the mass coagulates. During the cooking the rice should be vigorously stirred, and after the mass has thickened the cooking should be continued for about twenty-five minutes. The boiled rice is then packed down into shallow trays, and after cooling can be stored in the refrigerator. (My note: I have frozen it in pre-weighed bags and stored it in the freezer with not problem at all, as long as it's completely thawed before adding to the sausage mixture.) As the colour is dead-white some colouring matter should be added to the boiling water to provide a slightly pinky tinge if the is intended for pork sausage or a deeper shade if for beef. (My note: I add 1 tspn of paprika per 1½ pints (Imperial) (5 ml per litre) of water). Rice readily takes up colourings and flavours, and provided it is not used to excess (My note: up to 10 %) its natural taste is not obvious. The general effect of the cooked rice is to give a fairly firm sausage which on cooking will tend to retain its original size. There are of course countless types of rice available, but for this purpose and unpolished Patna is generally considered as being most suitable. My note: we use 100 % Grade A Jasmine Rice, and an electric rice cooker.

I hope that this information is of some use to you

Kind regards

Parson Snows

[Patty]

This is years on, but as I found this page helpful, perhaps others are still reading it.

Just a note on bread. When you shape the loaf and put it into the tin, put it right into a cold oven and turn it on to your intended baking temperature. (Allow about 10 minutes extra for it to come up to the full temp before timing if you're going to turn it down again.) You can bake it for about 10 minutes longer than with traditional methods, as long as it isn't over-browning.

I have been making all of our bread for about 6 years and this is the method I use exclusively. I get better and more reliable results than pre-rising. I bake my 24 oz loaves of 30% whole wheat loaves for about 50 minutes (total, including the warm-up time), which shows that they really don't need more time.

This saves a lot of time and guesswork (what does "doubled" look like?), and I hope you'll find it helpful, especially for new bakers.