Using oil instead of animal fat ?

[Don Logan]

Hi everyone, first post so go easy, as I have high cholesterol which is being medicated, just to help it stay low is there any way I can use oil rather than animal fats in my recipes ?
How would this work with the liquids and rusk ?

Many thanks from a newb

[grisell]

That's a tough one. The best is to simply try a small batch. I am not very optimistical, though. Liquid fat doesn't behave like solid fat, and I can't possibly see how it could mix with the meat. But try!

Will you be making dried, smoked or fresh sausage?

There are lot of other charcuteries that are delicious and virtually fat-free like parma ham, bresaola, bündnerfleisch.

[saucisson]

Hi everyone, first post so go easy, as I have high cholesterol which is being medicated, just to help it stay low is there any way I can use oil rather than animal fats in my recipes ?
How would this work with the liquids and rusk ?

Many thanks from a newb

Many of us are in the same situation, and as grisel says there is no substitute for the real thing. There are a few low fat/vege type recipes on the forum that I can help dig out for you but on the whole the advice I give is a little of what you fancy can do no harm. So save your animal fat for special occasions and make the real thing.

Welcome to the forums,

Dave

[Bangermuncher]

As Dave says,not sure what mine is now as I've not had it tested a while but it was at 6 last time I was tested which the Doc said was okay.
Unless you're totally off the scale and have been specifically advised to avoid all animal fats I wouldn't worry too much,you should be able to see a dietician at your local surgery,I asked when I was really suffering from IBS and saw one in a couple of weeks.
If you're just planning on British type sausages then I've just had great success with just pork shoulder and no fatty belly,it gave me a leaner sausage but it was just as tasty.
I made some very nice chicken sausages as well,skin on but still not a lot of fat.
A lot of people use just shoulder,other sausages,bacon etc I'm afraid I know nothing about.
It's always good to know more about different dietary needs though so keep us posted.
Welcome on board
BM

[wheels]

Don

Welcome, I think it was member captain wassname who put a lot of work into developing a low fat sausage recipe. Lean pork can be a lower fat content than chicken and with appropriate fat replacements the sausage could easily have less fat than lean meat.

Hopefully he'll see your post and assist.

Phil

[saucisson]

Some time way back when they were allowed to feed volunteers obscene amounts of cholesterol it made no difference at all. If you are on Statins, make them work for their living Gently, I hasten to add

[DanMcG]

Here in the States The Sausage Maker sells a Fat Replacer that I used many years ago with good results. I'm not sure if it's avalible on your side of the pond but might be worth looking into. I left a link below.

fat replacer link

[Bangermuncher]

I'm probably wrong,but a small amount of fat in a low cholesterol diet can help as long as it's the right fat,that's why I suggested seeing a dietician as there is good and bad cholesterol.
And it depends on the type of fat you're consuming and I can't go into the science of it but personally I'd be wary of some of these fat replacements and stick with natural food/fats but in moderation.
Okay they say on a low cholesterol diet you should avoid red meat but if you fancy a steak you can have one,just trim off "most" of the fat,from what I've read it doesn't say trim all of it.
The trick seems to be moderation.
And if you do fancy a steak get a good one with plenty of marbling,the fat in the marbling should melt away on cooking but still leave you with a lean piece of meat with all the taste.
Just don't fraz it to death and let it rest.
Look at all the top restaurants,nearly everything is fried,if you do it properly I believe it can be perfectly healthy.
I fry nearly all my red meat but get through a MAXIMUM of one litre of oil a year,I use sunflower oil.
I eat a fair bit of liver and kidneys as well though which are almost fat free.
Back to sausages.
As Phil said chicken can be fatty but it depends what part you use.
According to the sausage making guide posted here,
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=3986
chicken and turkey are 95% lean while shoulder pork is 80% lean.
I'm not a lover of turkey myself but I love chicken,the scale doesn't say if it means skinned or unskinned chicken/turkey.
But in my personal opinion you could probably skin the red meat,thighs,drumsticks,whole legs,and be left with enough fat in the meat still to make a very good and healthy sausage.
It will need a little more mixing and more work but it won't be the alleged low fat garbage sold by supermarkets and you'll know exactly what you're eating.
Baking sausages is a good move too,that's probably why I use so little oil and it is my preferred method for cooking sausages,but sometimes you just have to fry
BM

[Don Logan]

Cheers one and all, my main reason for making sausages is to make better use of the game I get.
saucisson - Yes I`m on statins and will get them working LOL

I don`t envisage lots of sausages but it doesn`t hurt to ask if there is an alternative......perhaps I should try and work on it myself

The game I will be using will be mainly (roe) venison, rabbit, woodpigeon(excellent mince), wildfowl and I have just shot 2 hare and am looking forward to them

[captain wassname]

Hi Don and wellcome.
Ive been working on low fat sausages for about a year now.
My approach has not to be to try and clone supermarket low fat products but rather to look for decent quality meat with no visible fat. Pork leg and loin are low fat but can work out expensive once trimmed.Turkey is naturally low in fat and the breast can be used100%.Turkey leg and thigh contain a bit more fat but are still lean.Skinned and boned chicken thighs are economical
Venison,rabbit and pheasant are all vert low fat
The best place to start is a turkey breast sausage.This is almost fat free and is easy to mince and mix.
500 gms of turkey breast coarse ground.
15 gms tapioca starch (on line at Wing Yip or at any decent oriental supermarket) this is vital its the fat replacer.
78 gms water
34 gms rusk
12 gms spice mix.
If you want you can add gelatine to the water and 2gms phosphate if you have any
The spice mix is
50 gms salt
5.26 gms each black pepper,white pepper and dextrose or sugar
0.7 gms cayenne
5.4 gms each of nutmeg and ground corriander seed.
2.7 gms mace
2.0 gms thyme and parsley.
The water content varies a bit from batch to batch so have a bit more ready than you need and dont worry about exact amounts
This is a Cumberland mix.Ready made mixes are available from the shop and Weschenfelders. This will make a sausage as good as any you can buy.
None of this is original.The tapioca starch came from Richard(Sausagemaker),the gelatine came from Dave and wal footrot and the phosphate came from Oddley and the spice mix is a variation of Oddleys.
The fat replacer from the States works,Ive used it,but shipping is $70 to here.

[captain wassname]

Sorry Don I missed the point. Game sausages are easy Just add the tapioca starch at 3% of meat weight and carry on with your recipe as usual.If you search Venison I think there are a couple of sausages.Ive made Vagreys recipe (minus the pork fat )and it tuned out well.

[Ianinfrance]

Hi Don,

I have high cholesterol which is being medicated, just to help it stay low is there any way I can use oil rather than animal fats in my recipes ?

I've been following this thread, with some thoughts bubbling away in the back of my head, but not too sure how to express them.

You know - I'm sure - that cholesterol in our diet has little direct effect on blood cholesterol, I'm pretty certain my doc said 5% at most.

However, cholesterol is a fat, and all fats - both animal and vegetable are the building blocks your body uses to make cholesterol. Most of us (yes I'm on Statins too) who have an excess of blood cholesterol have it because we eat more then we use, and the body converts that into fat, some of which is cholesterol in the case of those of us whose genetic make up is that way.

So... how does that answer your question? Not really, though I do hope it puts a final nail in your idea of substituting oil for animal fat. I really can't see that doing any good. The only ways in which your diet can affect cholesterol production are 1 - make sure that your calorie input is equal to or less than your calorie usage.2 (much harder) so reduce your input of fats of all kind that your body can't make much cholesterol from what you eat - but to be honest, that's most effective because of consequent calorie reduction.

[wheels]

I may be making a fool of myself but someone told me that there are two kinds of cholesterol, a bad type and a good type. They also said to ensure that the doctor has done tests to see which one it is that's high?

Does anyone here know if this is true?

Phil

[Ianinfrance]

Hi Phil,

Yes, as Bangermuncher said earlier in this post there are indeed two types, one of which tends to reduce plaque build up in the arteries and the other increases it. Not that it helps (because it's probably in French) but I know them as LDL and HDL types. Although some people only ever rate their total cholesterol, when I have my six monthly blood tests, both are mentioned. I'm afraid there's absolutely no point in giving you figures as we (naturally) express them completely differently. (I'm at 2.76 out of a max recommended figure of 2.85. Without statins I was well over 3!!)

Up with bacon, eggs and sausages!!

[saucisson]

It certainly is Rather than drag my old text books out here's a summary on t'internet

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter. ... tifier=180

Edit: Ian beat me to it