splitting sausages

[spenrex]

I have just made my first batch using the recipe recommended in your beginners section. I cooked these in the oven at a low temperature and they split down the length of the sausage. What am I doing wrong. Also you could see dots of the rusk when they were cooked.

ANy help would be welcome

Cheers

Spencer

[sausagemaker]

Hi Spenrex

Firstly welcome to the forum.

The sausage splitting is almost certainly down to free water this is borne out by the fact that you still have spots of rusk present.
I would suggest that you have not mixed the sausage long enough to form the protein you need to bind the water.

Have you tried to cook them in a frying pan or grill, if so did they split, I ask this as another reason for them splitting could be oven cooking this is because the heat transfer in the oven is not the same due to them resting in one place during the cooking, if you grill or fry them you would automatically turn them which would then give them even heat all round.

Regards

Sausagemaker

[spenrex]

Thanks for that suasagemaker. I guess I was a little over eager and didn't spend enough time on the mixing. I will be trying again this weekend and will be more thorough. I haven't tried grilling or frying I always tend to cook "proper" suasages in the oven.

Cheers

Spencer

[Fricandeau]

In addition to the above I'd ask if you let your sausage "rest" in the fridge for 12-24 hours before cooking? This allows any excess moisture to be picked up by the rusk.

[spenrex]

I only let the rest in the fridge for about 7 hours so I guess they could do with a little longer. Thanks for the advice

Regards


Spenrex

[dougal]

I'd also suggest that you consider how 'full' you are stuffing them. They don't want to be too tight!

BTW, how much rusk and water are you adding? (As a proportion to the meat.)



And I'm a bit mystified by the comments about concentrated heat.
My understanding was that in a domestic oven, the heating was intended to be as uniform as possible... The oven pan ought not to be any hotter than the air in the oven. Yes, liquids will move in the same direction, and sugars (and soluble proteins, etc) will therefore be concentrated - leading to sticking and localised brown bits - but I'd expect the heating itself to be rather even.
Whereas in a frying pan, or even under a grill, a strong heat is applied to a small localised part of the food, and that it was only constant agitation (french verb sauter, to jump - hence saut�), or frequent turning beneath/over a grill, that served to some incomplete extent to even out the heating...

[sausagemaker]

Hi Dougal

The reason I said about the oven is that whilst you are right in the fact that the heat may be pretty even, the pan they sit on is not this can be bourne out by the fact that if you look at the sausage once cooked the bottom will be darker than the top due to the concentrated heat on the tray, turning the sausage during cooking stops this.

Regards
Sausagemaker

[dougal]

{although} the heat may be pretty even, the pan they sit on is not this can be bourne out by the fact that if you look at the sausage once cooked the bottom will be darker than the top due to the concentrated heat on the tray, ...

Now I'd have said that the darkening was caramelisation and Maillard colouring because of juices collecting and then drying, burning even, beneath the sausage.
I've thought that it was only when un-sticking oven cooked sausages that I've ruptured their skins, whereas in the pan, ruptures rarely seem to happen exactly where the heat is being applied - it happens almost anywhere else!

Other than a black pan efficiently gathering *radiated* heat, I'm not sure how the heat might be being "concentrated". That'd be a neat trick that would come in very useful, not least in the field of renewable energy...

All that apart, I think we probably agree that in this case the probability is that the answer lies in the sausage rather than the cooking!

[saucisson]

Is it not a case of, while the temperature in the oven is fairly uniform the metal pan can conduct that heat more efficiently/quickly into the meat than hot air can? Hence I can reach into the hot oven and turn a pizza around quickly with my bare hands, but while doing this the silver chain around my neck gets unbearably hot but the blast of air itself is bearable? Similarly if I touched the pan I would burn quickly! but the air itself I can stand briefly. If I cook a chicken on a rack it cooks much more evenly than in a roasting tin, when it seems to cook from below faster than rom above in a convection oven.

Please correct any obvious scientific flaws in my thinking!

Dave

[spenrex]

Weel this is all getting very technical, but I think you are right metal is a more efficient conductor of heat than air, although you would still think the sausages would be more likely to split when fried as there is no hot air surrounding the sausage. Thank you all for your help


Regards


Spenrex

[dougal]

Yes Dave, the thermal capacity and conductivity of the pan will have an effect.
The more conductive and the higher thermal capacity of the pan the more influence it will have. Which may well be why some people use Le Creuset pans in the oven rather than thinner ones.
Air doesn't hold much heat, so to *transfer* heat more rapidly, you have a fan oven hitting the food with more air, more heat, and can cook at a lower temperature...
When you put your hand in the hot air, much less *heat* is transferred (per unit area) to your hand than when you firmly grasp something solid and conductive, like a thick metal pan.

When I cook sausages in the oven, its usually to do with ending up as a stew of some sort, with lentils or beans for example. And I tend to use a pottery dish/pot for that, which isn't particularly conductive, hence possibly explaining why I don't particularly see this 'oven frying' effect all that much.
There is a famous demo wherein a Space Shuttle tile (with phenominally low thermal conductivity) can be picked up, bare-handed, while glowing red hot... Its light weight would also minimise the contact pressure, again contributing to poor heat transfer.
So, yes, I think that you will get more heat transfer through the pan than from the air, especially if the food is sheltered from the direct blast of the fan and in a thick metal pan.


However, the main question is about splitting.
I don't use rusk or other extenders, and don't get much splitting. My recall of splitting sausages in a frying pan is that the splits don't tend to be on the contact patch, but rather seem to result from swelling of the sausage generally, and tend to occur on un-caramelised parts.
Its rather as though the cooking strengthens, or toughens, the contact patch, leading to rupture elsewhere (caused by the girth swelling).
Is there an exploration somewhere of what happens during cooking a sausage? For example, why would any sausage split rather than push out at the ends?

Still think the questioner's originally posted question relates to the sausage content (and mixing) rather than the cooking though...

[saucisson]

Yes, I agree it's the mix, sorry for the further sidetracking into thermal conductivity.

Dave

[Paul Kribs]

spencer

I always cook my sausages 'low and slow', they are either hot smoked on the BBQ, cooked ordinarily on the BBQ or in the oven... and very rarely do I get any split sausages. I don't grill or fry, so can't comment on these methods.

IMO, all the points mentioned in this thread are relevant, but personally I would look at moisture content with regard to mixing, and stuffing/over-stuffing the casings. I used to use the percentages of water added method, but now go by 'feel'. All meat differs in the amount of natural moisture it retains so using percentages is only a guide, but a good guide nonetheless. Once you have a few batches under your belt you will become familiar with the texture you seek, and add liquid accordingly. It sounds like your mix didn't contain enought liquid. This is also borne out by the rusk showing in the mix, as you explained. After a second mincing through a smaller plate, I give a vigorous mixing for a full 5 minutes, then fill the stuffer and stuff the casings. A looser mix and stuffing is preferable to a stiff mix. Also, undermixing tends to give a rather grainy texture to the 'bite'. OK I suppose if that is what you are seeking, but I must admit that I actually enjoy the texture and taste of the commercial sausages, just don't like the crap that goes into them. Just my personal preference.

When I make a bratwurst type sausage, I re-mince after the mixing, through the smaller plate, rather than do it the proper way, and I am very pleased with the end result.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[dougal]

... sorry for the further sidetracking into thermal conductivity.

No need apologise, I'm always delighted to have other aspects pointed out to me!

[Spuddy]

I'm with Paul on this one: low and slow.
Regardless of the amount of filler (personally I like 100% meat) if cooking indoors I do them like this:

Cook on high heat in a fry pan or on a griddle to caramelise for a couple of minutes.
Transfer pan to a pre-heated oven at 110C for 40 minutes or until internal temp of the meat measures 70C.
Job done, no splits.