can someone offer some advice on how to "de fluff" my emulsi

[cutlass1972]

I make a sausage fairly often that is akin to mortadella. I use a Ninja food processor to get the texture of the met and fat fine enough. The problem I have is in the end I have something akin to a mousse. After I poach my sausage it has a spongy sort of texture. I have thought about using my foodsaver to vacuum the air out of the mixture but am unsure this will work.

[DanMcG]

The spongy might be from over working the meat, But that's more of a rubbery texture. The pros who chop with a buffalo chopper will cut and mix on high then reduce the speed to low for a bit to remove the air. I can't offer anymore then that. good luck.

[wheels]

All I can suggest is to emulate what the pros do and stir it with a spoon to try to 'let the air out'.

I've had similar, although maybe not to the same extent:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=648

Phil

[RodinBangkok]

Those blenders are are way too fast in a small area to use for meat emulsions, but I'd try pulsing it on a lower speed and mix it with a spoon or something between pulses. They set up a vortex that will just spin the contents and force air into the mix. You could use vacuum, a lot of very high end bowl cutters are vacuum capable, but used mostly to insure very consistent batch consistency. Best to pulse slow to keep from developing a vortex and mix mix mix.

[EnriqueB]

Haven't tried it, but have read in some texts that emulsified sausages are better processed in three steps: first chop the most lean meat with one third of the almost-frozen liquid, then add the remaining meat with one more third of the almost-frozen liquid, and only then add and chop the fat with the final one third of almost-frozen liquid. Maybe this helps, but just speculating.

[NCPaul]

The last time I made hot dogs I ran the meat and fat through the grinder four times chilling between passes. I would suggest using the grinder more so the meat has the least amount of time in the processor.

[cutlass1972]

I think you guys are right. Too fast. Man, I wish I could afford a buffalo chopper. I am going to have to experiment. I have just been adding semi frozen chunks of meat to my ninja, and pureeing to a paste. I wonder if a few passes through my grinder then pulses in the ninja would be better? Maybe just 4 passes through the grinder as previously mentioned.

[wheels]

I always grind the meat first - 3 grinds through progressively smaller plates down to a 4.5mm plate (a 3mm would be better) for the last grind. Only then do I use the food processor (Magimix).

HTH

Phil

[JerBear]

For a vacuum to work you might need to use a chamber sealer, I'm not sure that a standard vacuum will have the power to do what you're looking for.

[crustyo44]

Cutlass,
I make Dutch Rookworst on a regular basis now and NOW only uses my # 22 grinder with a 3mm plate.I mince everything beforehand through a 6 mm plate, mix in the spices and cure etc, Than mince once through a 3 mm plate and semi freeze this in chunks that fit through the mincer inlet, than again through the 3 mm plate and fill the casings.
This results in the consistency of a slightly courser frankfurt mix.
I used to vitamise but didn't like the end result.
My 2 cents worth.
Good Luck,
Jan.

[This Little Piggy]

As JerBear says, a vacuum sealer will work to extract the air bubbles from your mortadella mix and make it denser, but you will need a chamber sealer, ie one that pulls air from the entire chamber and not just air from the bag as a FoodSaver does.

This technique can be great for achieving a denser texture in a pâté. Instead of putting a board on top of the pâté pan and weighting it down with cans, etc, you can just vacuum-seal it in a chamber unit and use the atmospheric pressure to compress it.