Grind plate size effect on fresh sausage?

[Fingers]

I have a number of plates ranging from 2mm all the way to 15mm, I seem to have settled for 8mm for no apparent reason. However once through 8mm seems to produce a good texture for my rusk/bread free sausage.

But I wonder what the difference of using just a 15mm plate or going for twice through a 2mm. Might a finer grind retain more moisture compared to a coarse grind, or vice versa for eg. I usually just stick to 100% pork shoulder, taking just the skin off so all the fat is used.

[wheels]

15mm will give a chopped meat texture.
I would not grind through a 2mm plate straight away; I'd work down to it.

The power of the mincer would determine the pre-grind. For a large, powerful, mincer, maybe a 5mm, cool back down, then the 2mm. For a less powerful mincer, maybe twice through a 5mm first, or even 5mm, 3mm, 2mm.

The texture of twice through the 2mm would be similar to a hot-dog.

My preferred texture for most sausage is twice through a 6mm.

Phil

[Fingers]

Cheers Phil

I got the 15mm for my pork pies, got tired of manually chopping up into small pieces. Not sure what that would be like in a sausage, I guess its all experimentation but wondered if there was any rules of thumb to the size of cut. My guess would be a finer grind might retain more moisture and produce a juicer sausage, but maybe in a sausage moisture its all held inside the skin (provided it is not burst).

The pursuit of the perfect sausage continues.

[gsevelle]

Cheers Phil

I got the 15mm for my pork pies, got tired of manually chopping up into small pieces. Not sure what that would be like in a sausage, I guess its all experimentation but wondered if there was any rules of thumb to the size of cut. My guess would be a finer grind might retain more moisture and produce a juicer sausage, but maybe in a sausage moisture its all held inside the skin (provided it is not burst).

The pursuit of the perfect sausage continues.

Unfortunately I only have two plates, big and small. That being said I find that I still need to emulsify my meat after going through through the small plate if I want a smooth texture, which is usually true for my fresh sausage. With smoked sausage I've experimented with both a combination of course grind and chopped meat and had a good result. This worked will for a rustic andouille I made and would probably work for an old fashion polish style, again both of these are smoked.

All of that being said it gets down to what texture are you looking for. Are you creating your own profile or trying to copy something you have tasted.

Best of luck.