Cumberland Recipe

[SGK]

Thanks. I decided to stick to the original recipe and bought some breadcrumbs. I also couldn't wait for the phosphate to arrive and so I left it out. I made 2.3kg meat content worth of sausage (2.9kg total). My God this is good. First decent sausage since arriving in the US three years ago. A couple of questions:

1. Do you mix the breadcrumbs with the water first? I did this and found it hard to then mix the crumbs with the meat. In the end I put it all through the mincer again and so probably broke the coarse ground rule.

2. I seem to have a problem over-stuffing my casings. I purchased 35-38mm casings. I have 3 filler tubes for my stuffer. The smallest is 1cm, the medium 2cm and the large about 24mm (ID). I used the medium. While I'm out of practice I split the casing twice and I'm a little worried the sausages will burst on cooking. (I cooked only the residual mix as a patties.) Any tips on avoiding over-stuffing?

TIA

Steve

[NCPaul]

I add water then sprinkle in the breadcrumbs. Make sure your casings have soaked in cold water for a couple of hours and that you have flushed the insides a couple of times with water. Casing quality is a variable as well.

[SGK]

I cooked up some of these sausages last night. They all split their casings so I definitely need to remedy that. Double mincing the stuffing was a big mistake. Basically I lost any meat-like texture. I’m not going to make that mistake again. Also, I think my mix was WAY too fatty. I used a “butt” roast of pork shoulder. I’ve not heard of this cut in the UK but it is also called the “money muscle” in the shoulder here in the US. I’d say it was as lean as any shoulder could be. For the “bellies” I used pork belly and simply removed the skin keeping all the fat. I’d say the mix had twice the fat it should have had. I didn’t have the phosphate at that time and so left it out but I’d be surprised if that was responsible. The seasoning is good but perhaps I little too much in percentage terms. Although maybe that’s because the meat/fat ratio was off. Thoughts?

[wheels]

Sorry to hear this. Hopefully, it will be better next time.

[shanew]

Try using a Picnic cut.
I've made these a number of times and have never added belly as I found UK pork shoulder to be the right ratio of meat the fat. I suggested a Picnic as I spent a lot of time in Australia who tend to use the same cuts as the US and this was the closest I found to a UK shoulder cut.

The phosphate will help with water retention but wouldn't be the cause of bursting, my though is that it's either over stuffing with the bread swelling more as it soaks up fat and expands or cases. I had a batch with two dodgy lengths that burst every time.

[SGK]

Yes both the “picnic” cut and Boston “butt” are cuts from the shoulder. The picnic cut is the cheaper of the two. So people keep all the fat from the pork bellies? I thought this might have been where I went wrong. I might just cut the belly in half, replacing it with more shoulder, next time. I also think the wider filling tube may allow me ease the casing off with less pressure from the filling. I guess it’s a case of giving it a go and seeing how it turns out.

[SGK]

So I took another crack at this. I made a small batch with the following changes:

1. My fat bellies as a percentage of meat content was 12% (versus 21.6% in the original recipe). Pork shoulder was 88% (of meat). This just happened to be the ratio of some meat left over from my last attempt. This was the only change to the original recipe percentages. (Once again, my fat bellies were pork belly retaining all the fat; I merely removed the skin.)

2. Now I have ammophos and so added that in (as per the original recipe %)

3. I mixed all the dry ingredients (incl the bread crumbs) prior to adding to the meat (which was par frozen prior to grinding) and added the dry ingredients slowly to the chilled ground meat while tossing with large spoons. Only towards the very end did I begin to add just a little of the water. Finally, I added the remainder of the water (well more than half the prescribed amount) and mixed everything by hand. I did NOT grind the mix again.

4. I used the largest funnel/spout (?) for my sausage stuffer and pulled the filled casing off steadily rather than using the fed meat to pressure it off. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but it led to much less heavily stuffed casings.

I'm extremely pleased with the results. The sausage had a much more "meatier", firmer texture. The flavour/herb/spice balance remained extremely good. I had no issue with split casings on the couple I barbecued. My "fat test" is to eat them cold (chilled after cooking). Here, again, I was very pleased. The chilled sausage had that nice, slightly wrinkled exterior which was not the case with the first attempt.

Everyone's taste is different but I would suggest one can lower the fat belly percentage by a very good amount. (And perhaps have a slightly healthier end product!) Certainly I don't think it is a good idea to twice grind the meat mixture.

Thanks again!

[SGK]

Here ya go Jonnie, I think this is what Wheels is referring to


Oddleys Bonza Burgers

Chuck Steak Minced on 4.5 mm Plate

Of meat
3 % Breadcrumbs
10 % Finely chopped onion
1.54 % Spice Mix

Spice mix
76.9231 % - 30 parts salt
10.2564 % - 4 parts black pepper
5.1282 % - 2 parts Sweet smoked paprika
5.1282 % - 2 part onion salt
2.5641 % - 1 part cumin seed powder

Method
Mince cold chuck steak (only as it gives the burger just the right taste) through the 4.5mm plate of a mincer, then add spice mix and knead thoroughly, until slightly sticky. Add onion and mix add breadcrumb and mix. Shape into 4 - 5 oz burgers, and use or freeze.

I’d like to try this. Onion salt? I can find onion powder, granulated onion, onion flakes but I’m struggling with onion salt.

[SGK]

Ignore above. I found it. Made a batch and did a taste test Delicious!