Leaky Booze Based Banger

[frazzler]

Hello!

So I've been making sausage for a couple of months now and although they're pretty good, there's always room for improvement! With that in mind, I'd appreciate some opinions on the following...

I love to cook with booze, and as such I'm keen to sneak some into all my recipes. I'm having a couple of problems at the moment.

1. The sausages kick out a lot of liquid when cooked (I bake them for 25 mins or so at 180c)
2. I can't really taste the booze

I have had some success with a black pepper and vermouth recipe, in which I could really taste the vermouth when I fried up a quick pre-stuff taster, however a couple of days later that flavour was just about there, but had mostly faded from the sausage. I then also tried a cider and apple recipe, in which I reduced the cider by about 50% - but it was not nice, and still not really very ciderish. I'm not convinced that reducing alcohol is a great idea as it probably affects the flavour too much. I've also tried vodka which, much like the vermouth, was amazing when fried straight away, but had faded by the next day. Am trying a spiced rum later today...

In order to help the flavour, I have upped the (chilled) fluid to 15% of the mix weight. Ideally I want to use polenta as the rusk in order to keep the sausages gluten free - I have tried anything between 6-8% polenta - but if I'm using more fluid should I also use more polenta? Would this help them leak less? What sort of % ratio is good when using 15% fluid? That said, if 'normal' rusk would be better I'd happily switch.

I generally use a 50/50 shoulder/belly mix and occasionally add a little extra back fat if the pre-grind meat looks on the lean side. I use 1.5% salt and am fairly sure I'm mixing properly as I do seem to get a nice sticky mix. I use a medium grind at the moment, so am also wondering if a finer grind for half (or more) of the mix would help?

I see on the home page, under 'essential ingredients' there is a product called Supaphos, a phosphate cutter that says it helps retain water - what are the thoughts on such products, could a pinch of this stop my sausage from leaking (so to speak!). Is it acceptable in sausage making circles, or frowned upon in the same way MSG (probably) is?

Thanks in advance sausage gurus!

[captain wassname]

My usual sausage has 25% beer content.I use soya protein (will soak up 5 times its own weight) or pea protein Up to 10 times
I may try whey protein .
I tend to either fry or bake and have no problems with liquid loss.

Jim

[frazzler]

Thanks Jim - I see in other posts of your's you discussed milk powder - have you tried this in your beer recipe? How did it compare to the soy protein?

Do you use these ingredients instead of polenta/rusk/breadcrumbs, or do you use both? If its a substitute, what % do you find works best with that much beer?

To be honest I think I'm going to ditch the polenta as I find it a little gritty - I also see Tongmaster sell potato starch as a gluten free alternative - have you (or anyone else) ever tried that?

[captain wassname]

the milk powder was used by someone else I would go with whey protein which should lack taste.It may be the polenta is part of the problem in that it may give up the liquid,hence the gritty texture.If you use protein then you should just need meat,protien,liquid and herbs and spices.
I never had a lot of luck with cider reduction but that was when I was using rusk.With protein especially pea you can get an awful lot of liquid in your sausage and retain a decent meat content.So You should maybe give cider another go or even apple juice.If you want an apple taste then apples work best but that's not a cider taste
Just my opinion but if your adding booze,fruit or cheese you need to be able to taste it,or whats the point.
You need to be careful when you source protein as most of it for body builders and comes flavoured to make into drinks.
Jim