Sausage Making for beginners

[Canuck Cooker]

Well let me update you on the Great Southern Alberta Sausage Saga.

I had 43 pounds of sausages made in the first batch. A friend, another Brit, asked if he could try them and bought a pack off me. He cooked them up when yet another friend was at his house and they both came back and asked for 5lbs each! That was the start as the following month has seen all the rest go and I have a stack of orders for more. This was not what I intended but as I only order the ingredients and sell them I have decided to double up and do 100 pound next. It fits well with my regular work as I meet lots of people and I have 15 customers right from the start.

Anyway, a couple of questions for the knowledgeable out there in the big world.

1. Can I assume that I can keep increasing the quantities in the same proportions? I know with some catering this is not the case but cannot see any reason why this should not be feasible for sausages.

2. Can anyone tell me why you would use rusk over breadcrumbs or vice versa? I have seen the recipe on here for making rusk but cannot be bothered with the hassle at this stage. I was very happy with the rusk from sausagemaking.org but obviously this is a bulk item that costs to ship from UK. On the other hand I am wary of changing too much and ending up with what can be regularly purchased here in Canada.

3. My wife said the Lincolnshire I made was perfect for bbq and bangers and mash but a little strong for a breakfast sausage. Fussy I know but who is brave enough to tell her? I was considering making my own Lincolnshire spice - thanks to Parsons recipe - and was guessing what I could leave out to make a blander breakfast sausage taste? perhaps the sage, ginger or allspice?

Anyway regards to you all and happy sausage making.

[Oddley]

Canuck Cooker I am very happy that you are making some money out of sausages. As a non commercial producer I double up on spices to double meat without any problems.

Seeing as it is the weekend I am somewhat drunk. So this may seem a little confusing. The key to spices is percentages. Work out the percent of the spice to the spice mix and you have it cracked.

As for rusk you must do as you see fit. I know with a few modifications that the recipe posted for rusk by parson snows works.

Oh shit if you want to know anything PM me tomorrow.

[sausagemaker]

Hi Canuck

Glad to here your sausage making is taking off in such away.
As Oddley says the recipes you refer to are in percentage so you will not have any problem working out the increases.

If you want to use breadcrumb instead of rusk then do so, the use of rusk is because the product life is more with rusk due to it having used no yeast in it's production.
To make you seasoning blander replace most if not all the sage with corn starch this will enable you to keep all the percentages correct.

Hope this helps

[Robert May]

Oddley wrote

I know with a few modifications that the recipe posted for rusk by parson snows works.

The link below is for this rusk recipe
http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopi ... light=rusk

What do you think needs to be changed?

best wishes
R M

[Oddley]

Hiya Robert. Man have I got a hangover today, I feel like death warmed up...

If the nitrates don't get me the drink will...

Re the rusk recipe. I have only made it once it came out alright. but the cooking times given were far too short to dry it out properly. I can't remember how much more time it took in the oven atm.

[Robert May]

Oddley wrote

I have only made it once it came out alright. but the cooking times given were far too short to dry it out properly. I can't remember how much more time it took in the oven atm.

I appreciate that every oven is different, as to times etc. however,
First of all the rusk started off at approximately 1/2 inch thick.. baked a little then

The original recipe stated

� Remove from the oven and using the tines of a fork split in half along its thickness
� Place back on tray with the opened faces upwards

this is now about 1/4 inch thick, then placed back into the oven opened faces up for further cooking. I've made this several times and it worked out fine, thoroughly dried throughout.


best wishes
RM

ps Hope the head is getting better.

[ju44]

Hi I'm new here. i have just bought all my things i need to make sausages.i read the recipe and just wanted to know if i can use all shoulder or all belly pork does it have to be half and half.also do i need to add any fat. i have the seasoning and rusks. sorry to be such a pain

[sausagemaker]

Hi Ju44

Firstly welcome to the forum, and please you are not a pain if in doubt always ask.

As for your question you can use all shoulder if you prefer but I would not use all belly unless it is pretty lean, the reason for the two meats is so that the fat content will be about right for most people, however if you like more fat then use more belly & if you want less fat use more shoulder, it's all a matter of your own preference.
I would suggest that you use the recipe as is first & then adjust to what you want on the next batch.

Hope this helps
Regards

[ju44]

Thank you very much for your help. i can't wait to have a go at making them.
Julie

[sausagemaker]

Hi Ju44

No problem please let us know how you get on.

Regards
sausagemaker

[ju44]

I made Lincolnshire one's with the mix i bought from this site.for the first go they turned out very nice.so i'm a happy easter bunny now.
julie

[sausagemaker]

Well done Julie

I hope there better than chocolate

Regards
sausagemaker

[kevo]

Hi every one, another newbe here
I have with the help of this forum made three small batches of sausage
The first sorry to say ended up in the bin, but the other attempts have been devoured by my friends and family with great delight from myself

I use the Lincolnshire mix and recipe from this site and once all the meat and spices are mixed, I grill a small portion to sample. Everything is fine at this stage so I leave the mix in the fridge overnight to mature.
The next day after soaking my hog casings for around 7 hours and rinsing them a few times, I stuff them with the matured sausage mix, and again I grill a few sausages off to taste and check the texture which seems to be nice and juicy. However I have a problem with the made-up sausage, after they have stood in the fridge over night, the sausage seems to dry up
I feel this is a problem with the casings as I have de-skinned a couple of sausages and grilled the meat, which seems ok. I use cold water straight from a running tape, which is changed 3 � 4 times within the 7 hours.

Today I have used sheep casings, which have been soaking for around 20 hours and then stood a couple of hours in the fridge, just to see if there is any change

On a lighter note I gave no thought to putting the plug into the sink when I first tried to rinse the casings , leaving me with about 6 inches of usable casings and another 7 hours waiting time as the majority of the casing dove down the plughole

kevo
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[sausagemaker]

Hi Kevo

Welcome to the forum, I am glad to here you are now getting to grips with the sausage making.
One thing that strikes me is that you are leaving the meat to mature overnight before stuffing.
Please stuff the sausage the same day & then leave the sausage to mature, this should help you in the dryness.
As for the soaking a couple of hours & a good flushing through should suffice.


Regards
Sausagemaker

[kevo]

hi and thank you for the info sausagemaker

i will certainly stuff the sausages the same day as the mix is made up in the future


kevo