No Succulence in sausage

[wallie]

I would like to ask a question regarding succulence and juicyness in sausages.
It seems to me every time I make sausages they tend to be dry and too firm a texture.
For example last week I made Oddley�s Lincolnshire following the recipe exactly, they looked good the taste was good but they had no juicyness when cooked, being on the dry side.

My procedure is as follows:
The meat ratio was 50% shoulder to 50% fatish Belly
I weighed everything the day before and left and left them in the fridg
To the original recipe I added 2% Superphosphate to help aid water retention and make a moister product
I place my mincer in the freezer prior to mincing then with the meat at at a temperature around 35f put in through the 3/8 mincer plate twice.
I then put it in the Kenwood add the seasoning then mix slowly for about 30seconds next add the ice cold water mix another 30seconds and finally add the rusk and mix for about 1 minute, by which time it is nice and sticky ready for the casings.

wallie

[aussieinor]

Well it sounds like you've got plenty of fat in there for retention. Did you add the recommended water also? What percentage of rusk did you add?

I know Oddley's recipe shows breadcrumbs and if you used rusk & phosphates, you may not have used enough water. That and a combination of not mixing long enough I would think.

Maybe breaking out your recipe for us will help....

[lemonD]

Wallie,
Everything looks OK, the only difference I do is mix for approx 4 mins in the kenwood.
Has this problem just started? I ask because this happened to me with a batch which turned out to be a combination of blunt mincer knife/plate and I'd changed meat supplier (tesco).
I don't use phosphate and still get a succulent sausage.

LD

[welsh wizard]

Hi Wallie

For my two penneth I think it is the amount of rusk used that mainly determines the texture of the sausage.

I used to make all my sausages totally rusk free but a number of people commented on how "solid" the sausage tasted. I then experimented adding various amounts of rusk & liquid until I got a sausage that was in my customers opinion correct. I now use 10% pin head rusk to 10% liquid in all my sausages and this seems to give a good consistency.

Cheers WW

[johnfb]

For my taste I use 13% breadcrumb and 13% water. This works for me although it might be too wet for others.

[aussieinor]

WOW that's a lot John. I like to have between 5 - 7% as any more than that seems to be very spongy

[johnfb]

I made a 10lb batch recently, with a lower percentage water and breadcrumb mix and the family said they were too meaty and lacked juciness. They are ok, but in all honesty a bit meaty for my tastes, I prefer a higher percentage myself.
Must be an Irish thing.

My usual blend, and this is perfect for us is:

8lbs of minced pork, usual fat lean ration.
1 pack of mix pre-made 226 grams
1 lb breadcrumbs
1 lb water

Edit: On another part of the forum sausagemaker commented on the high % useage of the pre-made blend.
Guess my tastes are all over the place....

[wallie]

Thanks for the reply's guys

This was the recipe I used from Sausagemaker::
1.000g Pork Shoulder
500g Pork Belly
270g Water (Chilled)
180g Rusk / Breadcrumb
50g Seasoning

With the addition of :
60g Empro (this is 2% of final product)
10g Superphos (0.5% of final product)

The water to rusk ratio of the final product is:
Water 13.5%
Rusk 9%

wallie

Assuming my calculations are correct.

[lemonD]

Have you made this recipe without the superphos & Empro?
Empro 20 absorbs up to 5 times it's own weight i.e. 300g water

LD

[sausagemaker]

Wallie

Empro is a soya / wheat mix & soaks up water like a sponge you only need this when using poor meat quality I suggest this is the problem take it out & try again.
Also if the seasoning is bought in you will not need the phosphate as it will more than likely be in the pack

Regards
Richard

[wallie]

Thanks LD and Richard.

This Empro thing was in the back of my mind, but I did not know it absorbed so much water.
I will try again without it.
The seasoning was my own mix as per recipe.

Many thanks
wallie