Beginners luck

[Johnniem]

Thought I would post my comments on the board regarding my first attempts at making sausages.

First off I'm not in any business, have any training or have any background in terms of the rearing or the preparation of food. Decided after leaving university 8 years ago (and actually having money that went beyond beans and toast) to get a bit more interested in food.

Desire came from an increasing deisre to enjoy food more - my mum was / is an excellent cook which I only appreciated after about the age of 21 and a general feeling that the food chain via the supermarket route was just too unpalatable.

Anyway about 1 year ago I bought a mincer which I thought would help making sausages, pate etc. However the experience for me was pretty awful. Combination of my inexperience and a limited machine resulted in hours of angst - unblocking the grinder plate, the meat heating up and going a horrible texture - a total nightmare.

Being a lazy and untalented chap I bought a Kenwood Chef about 6 months ago and frankly it was the best thing I've ever bought. While saving me a bucket load of time the net effect means I spend much more time in the kitchen attempting loads more things,

The Kenwood has a pretty nifty mincer / sausage maker which on the first attempt enabled me to go from having a kilogram of pork belly / shoulder to sausages in about 20 minutes.

I asked the butcher for the skins (sorry Franco I'm not keen about giving bank stuff over the net and am awaiting new cheque book to fulfill order for rusk and skins!) and he was pretty helpful.

The only moment of horror was actually getting the skin out - I thought the smell was a bit awful but Parsons has posted elsewhere on how this could be avoided - the butcher (who was making his sausages in the back shop when I was in) supplied about 2 metres in a kind of brine like liquid. To those who have a limited experience in handling food this fro me was the tricky bit. He suggested running some water at one end of the skin, then when it becomes apparent where the hole is, gently fit the skin over the nozzle where the sausage meat comes out.

For filling I followed Parsons excellent tip - get a bod to put the meat in as you support the sausage coming out. I was keen not to overfill and sometimes I gave gentle encouragement to the skin if there was a sudden increase in the amount coming out the nozzle.

There are so many great recipes on this board but for my first attempt I used one in the Kenwood book. They tasted superb!

Pork Fennel and Paprika sausages

I took the weights and multiplied by 2.2 to get a Kilo

450g Lean pork shoulder / Pork belly
1/2 tsp black / white peppercorns coarsely crushed
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Paprika
1 egg
25g Breadcrumbs

Hints and tips

Scour the content on this board and don't be afraid to ask the most elementary of questions

Find yourself a good butcher if you haven't got one already

Personally (while recognising it may take the feeling of being a true artisan in the sausage making arena) if you're a novice I would consider getting a Chef / Kitchenaid type machine

Get a running machine to run off the calories of eating some fantastic food

[Fatman]

John

Well Done !!

Regards

Fatman

[Diann]

I got a mincer attachment (and sausage nozzle thingos) for my Kenwood for Christmas. Have sourced some casings locally and am about to speed on down to the butcher to pick them up, along with other ingredients. Can't say I'm looking forward to handling the casings, but who knows? I may turn out to be the sausage queen of the whole world (or some other big place!)
Diann

[Parson Snows]

Diann wrote

I got a mincer attachment (and sausage nozzle thingos) for my Kenwood for Christmas

It's a two person job using this method. TRUST ME.
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... 7&start=28

Diann also wrote

I may turn out to be the sausage queen of the whole world (or some other big place!)

Sorry but judging be the period of the photo I'd say that you have been beaten to that particulatr title by a few years. Princess OK?

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=320

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Diann]

But there's only me at home just now, and I want to do it now. How else can I make them? Also, how do you work out what "seasoning" is? Does it come with whatever recipe you've decided to make or do you just throw in whatever you think is a fair thing? The one I'm going to try is in the message at the beginning here, but was just wondering. Also, what is rusk?

Diann (OK, princess)

[Parson Snows]

Ok Princess Diann
As you seem to be in a hurry I'll answer these quickly. First I've noticed that you seem to be posting the same items/queries/questions in different places. I have already answered what rusk is.
Rusk information and recipe
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=339

You asked

How else can I make them?

Check out the first links under beginner's section. This link should help
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... 7&start=28

Diann asked

Also, how do you work out what "seasoning" is? Does it come with whatever recipe you've decided to make or do you just throw in whatever you think is a fair thing? The one I'm going to try is in the message at the beginning here, but was just wondering.

Recipe included as reference

Pork Fennel and Paprika sausages

I took the weights and multiplied by 2.2 to get a Kilo

450g Lean pork shoulder / Pork belly
1/2 tsp black / white peppercorns coarsely crushed
1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp Paprika
1 egg
25g Breadcrumbs

The items bold/italic above are the "seasonings" for this particular sausage ONLY.
You will also find numerous other postings for "sausage seasonings" on this forum, basically this is the flavouring/taste of the sausage - herbs, spices, etc. check them out. Eventually, once you have become a bit more secure with the sausage-making basics, just like you mentioned ... throw in whatever you want (obviously within reason) and experiment.

You also asked

Also, what is rusk?

Rusk information and recipe
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=339
I have given you a link to this, however, as you want to get on and do it IMMEDIATELY, you won't have the rusk handy though the recipe that you want to try out (listed above) doesn't call for rusk, so no problem for now. It's a very simple recipe so good luck.

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Parson Snows]

Princess Diann

hopefully everything turns out well with your first batch of sausages and now you would like to expand your range of recipes. If you like garlic, I would recommend that you try making the sausage at the following link
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=347
it's easy to make any tastes really good.

kind regards

Parson Snows

PS don't forget to post your adventures on the "Beginners'" Index

[Diann]

I just LURVE garlic but wasn't going to mention it for a while.

In the recipe at the beginning where it says multiply everything by 2.2, does that mean multiply the given recipe by 2.2 or does it mean that he's already done it? I'm guessing it means multiply by 2.2 since I don't see any other way that 450 grams is going to give a kilo of snags.

Secondly, do you use whole fennel seeds or ground ones? I bought both, just to be on the safe side. Tomorrow is the big day and I have a body to push the meat in while I swing on the end of the terrifyingly expensive hog casings.

Wish me luck!!

Diann

[Johnniem]

Correct on multilplying everything by 2.2 - takes you up to c. 1kg and frankly there is no point in doing this for smaller amount - the economies of scale on doing a decent amount are huge i.e. it will only take a few minutes extra per kilo!

Regarding the fennel seeds I didn't grind them and essentially the flavours just get better with each passing day. Gave some to a friend of mine and he had some 5 days after they were made (despite refrigeration I'm unsure if this was entirely safe!) and he said they were by far and away the best in every department (texture and taste being the areas he went on and on about the most).

As I'm not using any preservatives what would be an appropriate timeframe in terms of eating them and not getting something nasty?

[Jonty]

Diann,

here's a link to the kenwood cheff sausage attachment instructions. I think I saw somewhere that yours was a kenwood.

Hope this helps:

http://www.kenwoodservice.co.uk/instruc ... -multi.pdf

Keep those fingers clear and good luck.

Cheers

[Parson Snows]

You asked

As I'm not using any preservatives what would be an appropriate timeframe in terms of eating them and not getting something nasty?

1) Keeping them in the fridge at 40 deg. F (4 deg. C) - 4 to 7 days
2) Keeping them in a freezer at less than 32 deg. F (0 deg. C) - 1 to 2 months (after this you run the risk of the salt turning them rancid) NOTE: most commercial suppliers/manufacturers recommend 1 (one) month on their labels.

I hope that this information is of some use to you

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Diann]

Thanks so much for the link to the instructions. I've printed them out and thumb tacked them to my forehead so I don't lose them! As it turns out, I'd winged the mincing part of it. The snags haven't happened yet, but I minced myself into a stupor yesterday and then made a heap of rissoles that I took to a friend's place to BBQ. I have been declared the rissole queen!

Diann