First timer with questions!

Beginners FAQ on sausage making, meat curing etc may often be found at the head of each relevant section, but here is the place to ask experienced users for advice if you are still stuck or need more information...we're here to help!

First timer with questions!

Postby Kim » Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:14 pm

Hi from California, USA!
Yesterday I tried sausage making for the first time. What fun! It was a little scary, but not too painful! I am so glad to have found this forum, I'm hoping to learn from you all!

I made breakfast sausage for my first try. I used 3 pounds of pork shoulder. When I started to grind it, gristle immediately clogged up the grinder. Have any of you had this happen? It was really stringy and tough and I kept having to take the grinder apart and cut it off the blades. It made the grinding really tedious, and I think the meat got ground too fine as a result. I persevered tho!

Next was stuffing, that went fine, but I see there is definitely a learning curve! I don't know how fat to make them. Do you stuff the casing till it is stretched tight? So I did my best. I pricked them all over then twisted them up. I evidently didn't twist them enough tho, because they had "blow outs" when I cooked them!

Oh well, it was fun! And they were tasty! So I'm ready to try again. I have another 3 pounds of the same pork shoulder, but I'm worried I will encounter the same problem. I'm hoping some of you can offer advice?
I"m using a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, with the grinder attachment, and sausage stuffer attachment. I have ground beef on it before and it worked fine. It was just the gristle in this meat that seemed to be the problem. I had cut it into one inch chunks and let it sit in the freezer for a half hour to firm up.

Here are pictures of my efforts. Please feel free to critique, I want to learn!

Image

Image
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby NCPaul » Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:00 pm

Welcome to the forum. :D I use the same grinder and I find that the meat needs to be well trimed of all sinew for the grinder to do a decent job. I found this out the same way you did. Now when I disassemble the grinder the cutting blade looks like this:

Image

The meat should be dry to the touch, but not frozen, before grinding. In order for the sausage to have the right amount of fat I add either fresh fatback (preferred) of fresh pork belly to the pork shoulder. Your sausages look to be stuffed just a little too tight. Remenber that linking them will also tighten them. Prick out air pockets after the linking. The sausages will also hold their shape and linking if they are allowed to rest ouernight in the fridge on a rack uncovered (this is called "blooming"). You are off to a fine start and will get a lot of help here.
Fashionably late will be stylishly hungry.
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby Kim » Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:51 am

Yep, that's what the knife looked like! Only much more gistle! Ok, so I have another 3 pounds from the same cut of meat. So I will trim all the sinew I can see off it. I can't wait to try again!
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby DiggingDogFarm » Mon Feb 25, 2013 5:23 am

California? :shock:

:wink:

Not bad for a first try!
Looks good.

You may want to consider another grinder if you plan to make sausage on a regular basis.
There's a lot of friction happening in a Kitchen Aid and that's not a good thing.

Aggressive trimming and chilling, as Paul mentioned, and cutting the meat in to small cubes will certainly help.

~Martin 8)
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby Kim » Mon Feb 25, 2013 12:50 pm

DiggingDogFarm wrote:California? :shock:


:wink:

HA! yep!
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby NCPaul » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:57 pm

There is a guide you can download here:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3986

It has a lot of information as well as a number of recipes.
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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby wheels » Mon Feb 25, 2013 8:47 pm

One tip is to check that the flat of the blade is against the mincer/grinder plate (the metal plate with the holes!).

Like these:
Image
Image

Then make sure that the ring holding the plate in is tight.

Sometimes, putting the meat through a larger-holed plate twice is easier than using a smaller-holed plate. Or, once through a larger-holed plate followed by once through a smaller-holed one. When it has been minced/ground once, dropping the meat down the mincer/grinder in small balls helps it to go through. It also helps to have the meat as near to freezing as possible, without it being frozen.

(Sorry, I forgot that what we call a mincer, you call a grinder!)

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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby vagreys » Mon Feb 25, 2013 11:57 pm

I cut the meat into 1.5-2" cubes and par-freeze. In an average residential freezer, that is about 20-30 minutes in the freezer, until the meat is stiff, but still gives, and hasn't frozen through. I do a primary grind through a 1/2" plate, season, and then form the meat into fingers smaller in diameter than the grinder chute, and put them back in the freezer to chill again. I change the plate to the final grind size I want, and then feed the chilled logs of seasoned meat into the grinder. Cubing the meat, initially, limits the size of any sinew. Seasoning after the primary grind distributes the seasonings well during the final grind. Forming it into par-frozen logs before the second grind makes it easier to feed and faster to get through the second grind. That's just my approach.

Casing and linking are an art acquired through practice. You want the skins full, but not stretched tight, or you get blowouts when you link. You'll learn with experience, and finally get to the point where you can tell by look and feel when it's right.
- tom

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Re: First timer with questions!

Postby DiggingDogFarm » Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:36 am

Tom's frozen fingers idea is a good one.
I use a small disher scoop to do basically the same thing.
I quickly run off a bunch of small balls that'll easily fit into the chute and re-chill.

Disher scoops....
Image

~Martin
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