Hi from Cumbria..

[Oddbod]

....OK, so I'm in New Mexico right now but I live in West Cumbria.
Totally new to sausage making but have bitten the bullet after some research & whilst in the US have picked up a new #12 Chop Rite 2 meat grinder with several plates & knives & some stuffing tubes to suit.
I shall now go somewhat silent & get to reading as much as I can here before starting on doing.

[NCPaul]

Welcome to the forum.

A good place to start your study would be here:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3986

If you make Cumberland sausage, remember not to link it.

[wheels]

Welcome to the forum.

Phil

[Oddbod]

Welcome to the forum.

A good place to start your study would be here:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3986

Ta much.

If you make Cumberland sausage, remember not to link it.

As if.....

[DanMcG]

Welcome to the forums Oddbod

[Oddbod]

Courtesy of £250 compensation from a well known high street bank for making my time in the US a tad fraught, I decided to splash out & now have one of these http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Pro_5L_Stainless_Steel_Stuffer.html, a large supply of herbs, spices, salt, rusk & hog casings to hand.
As soon as I get sorted with a supply of pork shoulder at reasonable prices (missed Morrison's deal the other week: £2 a kilo ), I'll get started on my first attempt at Cumberland sausage, using the recipe elsewhere on the board.
One apparent advantage of the horizontal stuffer is the direct route into the stuffing tube; should lead to less leftover mix compared to the vertical ones.

[wheels]

I look forward to reading your exploits.

Phil

[Oddbod]

Finally got myself organised enough, so this afternoon I set to & have achieved sausage - Cumberland to be precise & done using the Polly Perkins recipe, only I halved the sage as I've had overly sagey Cumberland in the past - needn't have going by the taste, so I'll trickle it up next time.


1.2kg of pork shoulder, minced coarsely. Herbs, spices, water, breadcrumb then thoroughly mixed in (I forgot to take a fotie...)



The sausage stuffer ready to go - how do i stop air getting in the casings?


I have achieved sausage.
It's not perfectly even but I had no breaks or big air bubbles.


Prettied up for the camera - about six feet of sausage I reckon.



Guess where the scrapings out of the stuffer went....

....bloody superb even if I do say so myself.

On the meat side; the recipe called for 80% pork shoulder & 20% pork belly for the necessary fat to stop the sausage being too dry. I looked at the shoulder & decided there was plenty enough fat to keep things moist & going by the samples I was right.

[NCPaul]

Well done. A needle will help with air pockets, I keep mine on the windowsill. You will find I think that the flavor changes (mellows) after "blooming" overnight on a rack in the fridge.

[yotmon]

Re the air, try pummeling the sausage meat in the chamber with your closed fist as you place it in, this will force a lot of the air out and give a better fill. Also, seeing as they weren't going to be linked, you could have afforded to fill them a bit tighter.

Good result though.

HTH. Yotmon.