Stand Mixers for Sausage Meat

[ComradeQ]

I don't have a stand mixer and most recipes for cured meats and sausages advise to mix and bind the meat in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. I know it helps because it is quick and doesn't give it time to warm up. I will get one eventually but need to save for that. Can I do this by hand or will that take too long and warm it too much? I have a hand electric mixer but it doesn't have a paddle attachment, could I use that?

[johngaltsmotor]

I've got a Kitchen-Aid 5qt stand mixer that I use for large batches of stiff bread dough. DO NOT try using one of these for sausage mixing. Even at low speeds I was able to remove the bowl from the base (thankfully I caught it before it spilled on the floor). Sausage is simply too stiff for a residential mixer. Perhaps one with the pegs on the side of the bowl, but not a base mount.
I simply mix by hand in a 20lb lug. 10lb of sausage doesn't take too long to develop the right stickiness (although your hands may go numb from the cold meat).

[vagreys]

I've got a 37-yr old KitchenAid bowl-lift stand mixer - what would be one of the 'Pro' line of home stand mixers, today - and it does ok. Even on low, it is easy to overmix with an orbital mixer, using the paddle or dough hook. I've used the mixer to mix, but the bowl doesn't have the capacity to do an entire batch of 5 lbs or more, without doing it in two passes. The paddle tends to warm the mixture, unless you thoroughly chill the bowl and paddle. Also, the sausage mixture really strains the motor as it binds.

[wheels]

I usually do it by hand, but I tend to make small batches of 2 or 3 types of sausage. I am rarely mixing more than 5lb or so of each type.

Phil

[larry]

You can mix by hand. Keep the meat cold up until the mixing. It is kind of like kneading bread dough, but more like making meatballs. You want it to get tacky and sticky. It might be necessary to mix it once, cool it back down, and mix it some more, depending on how warm your room is and how hot your hands are. I saw a video on youtube of a guy mixing a long table full of meat by hand by starting at one end, and kneading his way to the other end, then starting over. I'm not sure about the hand mixer. The one I have definitely would not work, as it's way too flimsy.

[ComradeQ]

Thanks guys, good to know! I'm gonna try my first cure, a Spanish chorizo, this weekend and if all goes well, salami is next. My in-laws cousin has some moose and deer meat that he bow hunted this year so I was thinking of curing some of that for him (50% to the curer!)

Being new to cured sausages I didn't want to mess it up, especially with his moose and venison.

[wheels]

This is the best description of how to mix sausage that I've seen in a long time:

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?p=91563

With that small of an amount of meat, you're much better off mixing it by hand. A large metal bowl set inside a larger bowl with a layer of crushed ice sandwiched between the two will offset any heat transfer from your hands. As said above, mix until homogenous, then keep going until it feels sticky or tacky. If you can shove your hand with fingers spread into the mix, pull it out and have a lot of sausage stuck to your hand, then it's ready to stuff. Stuffing before resting overnight is always a better idea as it will let the meat set into the desired casing shape and hold form better. Stuffing after the proteins have set will let the links fall apart much easier.

This ought to be a sausage-maker's quote of the year:

As said above, mix until homogenous, then keep going until it feels sticky or tacky. If you can shove your hand with fingers spread into the mix, pull it out, and have a lot of sausage stuck to your hand, then it's ready to stuff.

Classic.

Phil

[ComradeQ]

Great info wheels and larry! Thanks again! So I assume mixing fresh sausage or meat that will be used in say a Genoa or Hungarian salami would both be done using the same method?

[damienmachill]

I think using a stand mixer for most recipes are best. It helps in reducing the time of cooking and also less of burden.