Stuffing technique

[Paul Kribs]

Being new to sausage making, I need to find out if there are any hints or tips on stuffing the casings as I found it a bit hit or miss. The sausages came out pretty well for a first attempt I think, but I did burst some of the casings because they had small holes in them. I feel maybe my mix was not 'loose' enough, and found that the casings did not flow off the tube evenly whilst filling. Would it be possible and of benefit to lightly oil the tube prior to feeding the casings on

The recipe was my own, and the final taste was delicious, having made a few patties with a bit that was left over. Even the wife thought so
Although I like spicy food, the intention was to make a lamb sausage with the subtle taste of both rosemary and mint without over-powering the lamb. I did evaluate quite a few recipes on the web to see how much of certain ingredients are used in different mixes, just to get a general idea. I will give the recipe in case it was the mix that was adding to the problems whilst stuffiing.

I used a whole leg of lamb and the top half of a shoulder, the fatty part up by the neck.
This yielded 5 lbs 3 ozs of meat and fat.
I added 3 heaped teaspoons of crushed dried rosemary,
4 heaped teaspoons of dried mint,
1 flat teaspoon of dried sage,
1 flat teaspoon of dried thyme,
2 heaped teaspoons of crushed mixed peppercorns,
2 tablespoons of salt,
1/2 a teaspoon of powdered mace,
12 ozs of rusk.
I added cold water to bring the mix a bit looser, about 1 1/4 pints.

As I say, I thought it was loose enough but maybe I was wrong. Also, would it be easier to use calogen casings rather than hog casings, would they slide on and off the nozzle easier. After mixing I put the mix into the plastic sausage filler I purchased from Ascott Smallholdings and used the medium nozzle.

Also, with the BBQ season fast approaching, do sausages made with hog casings cook on the BBQ better than calogen or do they burst.

I was intending to make some pork sausages as well but when phoning around the area, it appears that pork back fat is impossible to buy. I get the impression after reading some of the posts on this forum that I could get away just using fat pork belly and fat shoulder. Don't know if the butchers I phoned were just trying to put me off, but I do realise that they do make their own bangers so that could be the reason. It's difficult enough just trying to find a butcher nowadays let alone get him to part with his precious fat.

I have been visiting this forum for a few weeks and it was the general positive attitude that made me take the first steps in what I hope will be an interesting hobby with a satisfying end product. [/b]

[Oddley]

Hi Paul Kribs welcome to the forum.

I had a look at the recipe. your rusk content seems a little high at 14.6%. May I suggest 5 - 10% I would personally go with 5%. The water to rusk ratio seems ok. Recommended is rusk 1 part water 1.5 parts.

I had a look a the ascott stuffer. With plastic it might be an idea to coat the inside with water before putting the meat in.

I have in the past had some problems with skins when I bought them from butchers, Franco's seem OK. Did you soak the casings for a couple of hours before use, Then flush the inside of them.

Try to space the casings evenly along the stuffer tube you can use a little oil if you wish. I don't find this normally necessary.

[Paul Kribs]

Hi Oddley, thanks for the advice that seems like a nice easy formula to remember, 1 to 1.5. Yep, I did soak the casings for a few hours, and when flushing them through I did notice little fountains spurting out along the casings, just thought that being that small would be OK. Obviously the mix must have been a little too stiff for the friction of the casing leaving the nozzle. I shall persevere.