SAUSAGE SEASONING

[MikeD]

Having experimented with a number of differing sausage recipes, one aspect still confuses me when deciding on the quantity of home made seasoning to add, many recipes refer to a certain weight of seasoning per weight of meat and others refer to weight of sausage meat.
So I tend to err on the side of meat weight only as opposed to meat plus rusk/rice weight.
I would like to hear what other forum members see as the correct way, as my preference is to make my own seasoning mix so as to have complete control over the sausage content and thus escape the worries of added "E" numbers (msg etc.).

[NCPaul]

I try to do things on the basis of sausage meat, which can include filler and liquid. I like 1.3% salt in fresh sausage and will determine this by adding up breadcrumbs or cooked rice or grits or vegetable (all unseasoned) with the meat and fat. The seasonings all follow from this start. I do try to express the recipes on a per kilo of meat basis to make scaling easier for others. So how I develop recipes is slightly different from how I express them.

[MikeD]

That sounds about what I am also thinking regarding creating a seasoning to take account of the total weight, meat, fat, rusk or rice, the reason for my original question was that I have a number of seasoning mixes passed on to me by the son of butcher, and my experiments so far with small quantities of sausages have been fine, but the recipes were vague as regards weight of meat or total weight of all ingredients less seasoning. What I did find interesting was that the sausage recipes that date back to the war years contained considerably more rusk/bread and water than the recipes from the 1960's when he presumably retired, I have to assume that wartime rationing and scarcity of meat accounted for this difference. Thank you for your reply.

[wheels]

How long's a piece of string?

The more I argue with myself that percent of meat block is the way to go, the more that little piglet on my shoulder says it should be percent of total sausagemeat.

Funnily enough, I write finished projects as percent of meat, but when converting/amending recipe formulas, use percent of total sausagemeat.

My spreadsheets list both.

[MikeD]

That is quite an impressive spreadsheet, I am afraid it takes sausage making ingredient calculation to a new level, not sure that I would really know where to start, but have been sitting down today rewriting some of the old recipes in smaller quantities as well as converting them from Imperial to Metric, I intend to begin with a pork and beef sausage recipe that uses rice instead of rusk so that I can share the result with my gluten intolerant neighbour for her views in taste comparison to what she buys from the supermarket.

[NCPaul]

For a butcher shop using a pre-made seasoning mix, I would think that they would want a consistent taste even if they had to adjust the meat to filler ratio. We look forward to hearing about your results.

[wheels]

That is quite an impressive spreadsheet, I am afraid it takes sausage making ingredient calculation to a new level, not sure that I would really know where to start...

I have it so comprehensive as it allows me to convert old recipes (or USA recipes with Imperial measures) as well as checking that cures etc fall within acceptable levels. he seasonings are listed further down. I have another sheet that enables me to adjust the level of salt when it's included in the spice block, without affecting the balance of spices in the recipe.

Most people would be fine with a simpler set-up.

Phil