sausage cooking, fat loss, and use of casings

[adrianm]

I've tried to make various types of sausages a few times, and lately decided to try again. In the past I've been frustrated by the casings. They would break, and stuffing the sausage into the casings seemed to be an enormous labor, dwarfing the whole rest of the process, and leading to great frustration. So I wonder, why are they necessary?

I made an emulsified sausage from Ruhlman's book, Weisswurst, and instead of putting it in a casing I put it in a sous vide bag and cooked it at 150. That seemed to work reasonably well. Some fat came out in the bag, but not a lot, and the sausage was delicious--better than anything I've made before. But when I tried the same thing with a non-emulsified sausage, an enormous amount of fat came out of the meat in the bag. Why put that fat in there if it won't stay? I tried another recipe ("veal terrine") that was emulsified and I think the entire amount of backfat the recipe called for ended up pooled up in the bag rather than on my plate. I also wonder also if I lose the same amount of the fat when pan frying bulk sausage---often times quite a lot of fat comes out on the pan.

Is it reasonable to try to avoid using normal casings and instead using the sous vide bags? And how can I keep the fat from separating from the meat?

[Wunderdave]

welcome to the forum adrianm

Are you sure that the liquid contents of your sous vide bag are pure fat? It is normal for both fat and gelatin to leach out of any product cooked sous vide. Especially with sausages where it has been mechanically broken down (i.e. ground) this is not surprising to me.

Some fat loss is to be expected. Casings however add a lot to the sausage experience: portioning, texture, presentation, and so forth.

Cooking sous vide is a good way to minimize the loss of fat from within your forcemeat but the truth is that in order to cook to safe temperatures you're bound to melt some of the fat no matter what method you use.

[adrianm]

In the veal terrine there was a tablespoon or two of broth/juices and more than a cup of liquid fat. The broth was dark, so it was easy to tell them apart. The recipe called for 10 oz of fatback and I think I had about 10 oz of liquid fat that came out. The resulting cooked meat had a kind of dry, mealy texture. This was a big contrast to the Weisswurst which exuded less fat and had a delightful juicy texture. I was wondering if powdered milk in the Weisswurst somehow helped bind it.

[Wunderdave]

Maybe you can describe your process and we can see if we can't find the cause of this. Dry and mealy sounds like fat smearing to me.

[adrianm]

In the case of the "veal" terrine I ground beef chuck and pork fat through the small (1/8") die. The fat was frozen, the beef was nearly frozen. The ground meat emerged as little well defined worms as I ground. I processed the ingredients together in a food processor to emulsify. For what it's worth I chilled the food processor blade and bowl in the freezer before beginning. Because my food processor is small I had to do this in two batches. Hmm. One observation I have is that this "veal" terrine had very little added water. I mixed in an egg and a cup of wine that had been reduced to about 1/8 cup. This is for 26 oz meat. In the food processor the meat formed a smooth, uniform paste. I then placed it in a standing mixer and mixed it together to ensure that the two batches weren't different. This was the sausage that lost most of its fat and had a dry texture.

The Weisswurst was emulsified in the mixer. The recipe instructed me to grind the meat and fat through the 1/4" die and then chill the meat in the freezer. I started with frozen fat and very cold beef chuck. Then I added 8 oz crushed ice (I have 28 oz meat), and passed it through the grinder with the 1/8" die. I then placed it in the mixer and mixed with the paddle and mixed until it came together into a smooth paste (several minutes), and added powdered milk (1 oz). So one obvious difference I hadn't noticed before, in addition to the powdered milk, is that this recipe had considerably more liquid (the 8 oz ice). This sausage retained much of its fat and had a moist, juicy texture.

I also made a non-emulsified sasusage which I cooked sous vide, and which seemed to exude a lot of fat, though I didn't measure it, but I followed the same basic method, only the mixing step was slow and short, only long enough for the mixture to come together. This sausage gave up more fat than the Wiesswurst.

[Wunderdave]

Hard to say what happened, Adrianm, but it's possible that the mixture smeared/broke in your food processor or in your stand mixer. Both machines generate a lot of heat from friction. For this reason it is often recommended to add ice chips rather than liquid water when you are emulsifying a forcemeat, and to take breaks and refrigerate the mixture as necessary to ensure that your mixture never exceeds about 34-35F during processing.

Again like I said above a significant amount of fat loss is to be expected no matter what your processing or cooking methods are - you're dealing with a product that is at least 20% fat by weight (and in the case of emulsified sausages can be up to 50% fat by weight) so it's normal for some of that fat to melt out. The real test is the texture of the final product - if it has a firm, sausagey texture then your forcemeat was bound properly. Dry, mealy, crumbly all indicate problems with the bind which can be caused by a number of factors including: acid in the mix preventing bind, inadequate mixing to develop binding protiens, too much heat in grinding, mixing, or stuffing which causes fat smearing and prevents bind, or problems with your ratios (too much water, too little salt, too much fat added before bind is achieved, etc).

If you follow procedures closely and make sure that your mix is kept EXTREMELY COLD at all times you shouldn't have these issues. Take copious notes and you can be sure to learn what works for you and what doesn't.

What are you using to stuff? We see lots of bind problems caused by using an auger driven grinder with a stuffing tube attachment rather than a piston stuffer, as this generates lots of heat.

[wheels]

I've tried to make various types of sausages a few times, and lately decided to try again. In the past I've been frustrated by the casings. They would break, and stuffing the sausage into the casings seemed to be an enormous labor, dwarfing the whole rest of the process, and leading to great frustration. So I wonder, why are they necessary?

I hope I don't upset either of you. But, I think that it's maybe best to work out why you have problems making sausages, rather than circumnavigating the problem.

If you post the sausage recipe that you wanted to make, I'm sure that we can advise how to do it successfully...

..but sausages have casings!

Phil

[adrianm]

I got the impression from the book I was using that if my emulsion failed I would be able to tell when it happened. (Like when mayonnaise breaks you know it right away.) Is that not true? I can't tell until I cook it? I think that book also claimed that 58 deg was a magic point and if you stayed under that you should be OK. That is not particularly cold. I definitely did not exceed 58 deg. But did I stay at 34? I don't know. For the (successful) Weisswurst I used crushed ice. For the unsuccessful "veal" terrine I had less liquid, and it was chilled to refrigerator temperature. Can too little liquid cause trouble with a sausage?

How is emulsification of the sausage different from fat smearing? It seems like the result of emulsification is a smooth paste.

I am stuffing the sausage into a sous vide bag with a spoon and vacuum sealing with a chamber vacuum machine. This process will not generate heat. It will compress the sausage. Since I did the same thing for the successful and unsuccessful sausage, presumably this is not the issue.

For a non-emulsified sausage, how can I tell if I've mixed it long enough? It sounds like inadequate mixing, which would give me an inadequate bind, could be problematic for this type of sausage. What would happen if I overmixed the sausage (but the temperature stayed low so no fat smearing occurred)?

wheels: I understand that it's traditional to use casings for many sausages, but there are also bulk sausages that don't use casings, so the notion of a sausage without a casing is not absurd. Based on my attempts to stuff sausages casings in various different ways in the past, I think I can say that I will make sausage without casings, or not at all. So if it can't be done without using traditional casings, it's just not going to happen. Should I just give up now? Since the Weisswurst was a big success I'm not sure why I should give up. Using a sous-vide pouch as a casing does not seem like a huge change to me---it's a different type of casing.

[wheels]

Fair comment, No problem - it just introduces an extra factor.

There seems to be two questions here: one about emulsified sausage and one about fresh.

You asked the difference between the two. In the emulsified sausage the fat and meat are 'locked' together like the fat and egg in mayonnaise: you can't separate them apart, they are no longer the individual parts of meat and fat, but are inextricably joined. In a 'fresh' sausage, the two are just mixed together: they remain as meat and fat but are mixed.

That said, too much heat will render fat from either. However, this shouldn't happen with the temp you used, 150F (65°C), particularly with the emulsified veal terrine.

How are you forming the emulsion? I ask, because I know that others have had problems with Rhulman's method using a mixer (rather than when a food processor).

You also ask how to recognise when you've turned ground meat into sausage. It's hard to describe, but a give-away is the smell: the meat will smell like sausage rather than minced meat. Hopefully, someone else can describe it better than I can.

Short of adding some form of binder, I can't really think of anything else to add.

If it helps, I did a tutorial on emulsified sausage, you can see that, on this occasion, I also had problems:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=648

Phil

[adrianm]

I described my procedure in message #5 above. The short answer is that I emulsified the successful Weisswurst using the mixer method Ruhlman describes. The unsuccessful veal terrine I emulsified using the food processor.

I took a look at your instructions and that points to another difference, which is that for the veal terrine the meat was ground once at 1/8" and for the Weisswurst it was ground twice, once at 1/4 and a second time at 1/8. (You did even more grindings than that.)

Is powdered milk a binder? What is it doing in there?

[wheels]

I used to grind it more times before I had a #3 grinder plate. It makes it easier on the processor.

Powdered milk is a binder.

Phil

[Wunderdave]

Thanks for your input on this Wheels. Adrianm I'm afraid I have no other suggestions beyond what I offered above. I agree with what wheels wrote that 150F is a relatively low cooking and finished temperature, and while some fat rendering is to be expected it shouldn't cause what you're describing.

Perhaps your best bet is to try again and see if you have better results. Take lots of notes, and you'll get it nailed eventually.

[BriCan]

Is it possible to see the recipe that you are using, I have thoughts but the recipe would be a big help.

I am pretty sure that Wunderdave has tracked it down --- over processing but again thats a guess until I see a recipe

[adrianm]

Sure, here are recipes, both from Ruhlman's Charcuterie book. When I made the veal terrine I didn't put in the bread (I wanted to make it without wheat). The veal terrine is more complicated, since it requires precooking of some ingredients, which weakens my inclination to try that one again. (I also didn't like the spice combination.) I didn't have veal but used beef. For the Weisswurst I used grass fed beef chuck which was leaner. For the terrine I used regular beef chuck that had more fat in it. I wonder if the Weisswurst will work if I make it again. I'm hoping I have time this weekend to give it another try.

I am still puzzled about the difference between emulsification and fat smearing. Is it possible to overwork an emulsified sausage even if it stays below 40 degrees the whole time? If yes, will there be any signs that I have overworked it visible before I cook it?

-----------------

Veal Terrine:

5 oz boneless pork shoulder butt, diced
1 T / 20 g kosher salt
1.5 tsp / 5 g fresh black pepper
1 T veg oil
1 oz slab bacon, diced
1 T / 18 g minced garlic
1 T / 18 g minced shallots
1 cup dry madeira
2 T brandy
10 oz boneless lean veal, diced
10 oz pork back fat, diced
2 slices white bread, crust removed
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
2 tsp pate spice

Pate spice:
1 tsp / 4 g cloves
1 tsp / 4 g nutmeg
1 tsp / 3 g ginger
1 tsp / 3 g coriander
2 tsp / 6 g cinnamon
1 T / 10 g white pepper

Freeze food processor and meat grinder bowls and blades.

Season pork shoulder with salt and pepper. Place large saute pan over
high heat and add butter or oil. When it's smoking hot add pork
shoulder and bacon and sear on all sides. Transfer to plate lined
with paper towel and chill in fridge.

Add garlic and shallots to pan and saute briefly to soften, being
careful not to brown. Add madeira and brandy and declaze and simmer
reudcing to a syrupy consistency. Transfer reduction to small bowl
and chill.

----------------

Weisswurst

1 lb / 450 g boneless veal shoulder, diced
12 oz / 350 g pork back fat, diced
3/4 oz / 20 g kosher salt
8 oz crushed ice
1 tsp / 3 g ground white pepper
1 tsp / 3 g Colman's dry mustard
1/4 tsp / 1 g ground mace
1.5 tsp / 2 g grated lemon zest
1.5 T / 10 g chopped flat leaf parsley (fresh)
1 oz / 25 g nonfat dry milk powder

Freeze grinder, mixer paddle and bowl for an hour. Meat should be
partially frozen before beginning. Very cold temps are critical for
emulsion. If necessary freeze water for the crushed ice.

Grind the meat and fat through 1/4 inch die onto baking sheet. Return
to freezer until crunchy but not frozen solid, 20 minutes or so.

Combine meat and fat with salt and crushed ice. Regrind through small
die into mixer bowl set in bowl of ice.

Fit mixer with paddle and add pepper, mustard, mace, lemon zest, and
parsley. Mix on high 3-4 minutes. Add dry milk powder and mix 2
more minutes.

[adrianm]

I wrote this a week ago and somehow forgot to actually click "submit":

Made the Weisswurst again this weekend. I measured the temperature after the mixing was complete and found 28 F. I was a bit surprised it could be that cold. One thing I noticed (and had noticed the first time) is that the meat has a kind of stringy texture. When I tried cooking at 140 instead of 150 I noticed this in the cooked product, but not when cooked at 150. I cooked the most recent batch at 150 and the fat that came out was minimal.