novice sausage maker

[royt]

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE THAT WAIT !!!!

[Rik vonTrense]

Jen I eat mine the next day but my fridge had a fan and it dries in there in 24 hours........ enjoy it's delish.

[jenny_haddow]

OMG! I'll never BUY bacon again!!! He's on his second bacon sandwich and is playing squash in half an hour, he wont win this one.

Jen

[Rik vonTrense]

Told yer ....na naa na naaa nah.........................

[jenny_haddow]

Well, we've come to the end of my first batch of sausages so it's time to get the mincer out. The lamb recipe was deemed to be the best of the bunch, but all were quite palatable. I've taken the plunge and got some hogs casings as we all agreed the collagen were a bit tough, so I shall make good use of all the advice on using lemon juice/vinegar to kill the whiff!
Question; the recipes usually calls for the meat to me minced twice before stuffing. I found this give a very smooth filling, a bit like a frankfurter, I'd prefer something coarser. Is it OK to mince once and then stuff?

Cheers

Jen

[Paul Kribs]

Jen

Of course it is OK to mince the meat just once. It is all down to personal preference. I usually pass the meat twice as I find I like the texture when mixed more to my liking. I find the mixing is also very important to my desired texture, and mix very well by hand. I used to under-mix, aiming for a meaty texture but found it crumbly at times with the sausage breaking up when cutting after it has been cooked.
I have recently started using phosphate in my mix to help with the succulence and texture, but have not noticed any discernable difference.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Wohoki]

I usually pass the meat through a coarse plate twice and it leaves a fairly "rustic" finish, but it ensures that you don't get any lumps. I have made sausage with the lean meat chopped by hand into 1cm cubes combined with the minced fat, rusk and water, and they were very nice.

[jenny_haddow]

I'm still classing myself as a novice with the sausage making and am about to embark on my second batch. I'm going to use the hog casings and give them a good soak with lemon juice in the water, hopefully I wont notice any lingering aroma as I did the first time I used them years ago.
The lamb variety I did were the most popular so I'll repeat the rosemary and garlic recipe and thought I'd try a cumin, coriander, little dash of chilli mix. I've got a nice fatty piece of shoulder and some belly so I'll use Franco's Lincolnshire, wild garlic and black pepper, and a herby mix of my own. Given that I'm making a fair bit cheese at the moment, has any one advice on cheese in sausages, ie pork and stilton? I'm going to mince once only and see how that goes. If I'm brave enough I might post a picture of my efforts

Cheers

Jen

[Paul Kribs]

Jen

There are sausages that utilise cheese.. the only one I have tried is the Leek and Stilton mix which Franco sells, and the meat I used was pork.
Another which utilises cheddar is the Kransky.. there is a recipe on Len Poli's site.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Wohoki]

I made a batch of pork, parmesan, garlic and basil once, and I only used the rinds of some old cheeses as well (which I freeze for stocks and wierd recipes like this).

Not bad at all with gnochi and a simple tomato sauce.

[jenny_haddow]

Home made gnocchi I hope Wohoki!

Thanks guys for the good pointers. I did Franco's leek and stilton last time and they were good, I think I'll do my own mix this time.

Cheers

Jen

[Wohoki]

Is there any other kind? I'm confused

[jenny_haddow]

I must say the hogs casings I've bought from Franco are in a different league to those I originally had that put me off sausage making. These are good uniform quality and, above all, there is no rank smell! When I open the first bucket full I bought some years ago, the smell knocked you half way across the room, and I could taste it on all the sausages. This batch I know will be fine.
Hopefully I'll get to it this afternoon, but I'm near Duxford and on a nice afternoon they take the kites up for an airing, so I have to keep rushing out to look at Flying fortresses and Spitfires stooging about, there go a couple of Mustangs, must go!

Jen

[jenny_haddow]

Here's some sausages I stuffed this morning using the hogs casings. Much better all round than the last time I used them, and easier to handle than collagen, which don't seem to stretch.

I made a straight forward batch of Franco's Lincolnshire mix, and the sage and onion mix. To the leek and stilton mix I added some of the stilton cheese I made and a few dried onions, smelled good. Last night I made lamb with rosemary and garlic, using Franco's wild garlic and black pepper mix as a base, and lamb with cumin. coriander and chilli with a couple of teaspoons of lemon pepper and salt seasoning I bought in an Indian supermarket, be interesting to see how that turns out.




I find I could do with another pair of hands stuffing with the filling attachment on my electric mincer, it's a bit of a stop, start operation. I minced just the once and am happier with the texture of these. When I minced twice I ended up with a paste which was sticky and difficult to handle. Still, it's all in the eating so tomorrow's breakfast will be the test.

Cheers

Jen

[hoggie]

jenny they look fantastic, you have made me very hungry. well done cheers. john.