Sausagemaker's beginner's guide to sausage making.

[jarma]

if everyone looked at this first, life would be much easier on the forums, great job done by posting this for all to share.

[Spuddy]

Ditto J.
Life would be easier for us too, answering the same old questions over and over.

[DanMcG]

Thank you Spuddy for posting this link and Richard for taking the time to compile all the great info and recipes. I found a number of recipes that sound good that I want to try.
Dan

[cchapo]

This is a wonderful book and as a beginner it gives me the answers to some of the problems i have been experiencing, i now feel confident that i can eventually produce a perfect sausage and have many hours of fun trying.

[spudeye]

Spuddy & Richard I have read and I think digested this pretty well many times, but have a couple of questions.

ADDITION OF CHILLED WATER.
As U say "do not attempt to make sausages without additions of water" where there are no mention of adding in a recipe, would U suggest the beginner not add or add until the texture is softish and the mix is well mixed and water is absorbed.

ADDITIONAL FAT.
Some recipes in the book dont have a requirement so is it expected that the meat selected with its % of fat ie Pork Shoulder has enough so no more is added. If the Base Meat is lean by definition then we would be expected to add hard fat up to 20-30% total. Can U infact add to much.

PDF file page 28
Smoked Chicken (I have this mission to produce a 400% better than purchased chicken sausages - not for low fat reasons)
Chicken Baarder - is bits and pieces right so thighs would be OK with or without skin? (cheapest I can get hold of here)
Dont have Sodium Erythorbate so OK to leave out?
"Mix for 2-4 min. Do not over-mix batter."? Can U actually over mix I thought to mix and create the Myosin was great and to take it a little further was better still....? So how do I detect I have over mixed, will be using kicthenaid, have I missed something.

Devro * Sausage Recipes
from page 53 going fwd.
I find that I'm attracted to any recipe that has additions of water and fat, thats whats been drummed into me from reading the posts on texture and juicy sausages. If there is additons of Rusk or bread crumbs with no water I move on discounting the recipe. Am I just to inexperienced to read between the lines here or am I being stupid in my selection criteria.

MASTERS recipes
page 125 Turkey Recipe.
Turkey extremely expensive like prohibitive here so will use Chicken -whole boned.
There is no water here but Brandy so liquid is added - fine.
Bacon but no fat, but substite used Ok with that.
But the egg whites, are these a binder? if so I could sub in low fat dry milk powder, if so how much would be a goodly amount for 6 egg white - 1/2 a cup?
Know this and above are not you Guys recipes but would be interested in your thoughts on what and why.

Cheers spudeye
Singapore

[sausagemaker]

Hi Spudeye
answers in bold italic

Spuddy & Richard I have read and I think digested this pretty well many times, but have a couple of questions.

ADDITION OF CHILLED WATER.
As U say "do not attempt to make sausages without additions of water" where there are no mention of adding in a recipe, would U suggest the beginner not add or add until the texture is softish and the mix is well mixed and water is absorbed.

Water should in my opinion always be added, if you have a recipe without it then remove some of the meat say 10% & replace with water.
This along with salt is needed to extract the protein (Myosin) which gives texture to the sausage

ADDITIONAL FAT.
Some recipes in the book dont have a requirement so is it expected that the meat selected with its % of fat ie Pork Shoulder has enough so no more is added. If the Base Meat is lean by definition then we would be expected to add hard fat up to 20-30% total. Can U infact add to much.

Yes you can add too much fat & the wrong sort, soft fat or extra fat may leak out during cooking giving a dry crumbly texture.
Lean meat should have around 15 - 20% fat

PDF file page 28
Smoked Chicken (I have this mission to produce a 400% better than purchased chicken sausages - not for low fat reasons)
Chicken Baarder - is bits and pieces right so thighs would be OK with or without skin? (cheapest I can get hold of here)
Dont have Sodium Erythorbate so OK to leave out?
"Mix for 2-4 min. Do not over-mix batter."? Can U actually over mix I thought to mix and create the Myosin was great and to take it a little further was better still....? So how do I detect I have over mixed, will be using kicthenaid, have I missed something.

1. Thigh would be great for a baarder replacement
2. Ok to miss out Sodium Erythorbate or replace it with sodium ascorbate.
3. Yes you can over mix the meat & this will give a tight texture rather like a hard bratwurst, so it really depends on what you want out

Devro * Sausage Recipes
from page 53 going fwd.
I find that I'm attracted to any recipe that has additions of water and fat, thats whats been drummed into me from reading the posts on texture and juicy sausages. If there is additons of Rusk or bread crumbs with no water I move on discounting the recipe. Am I just to inexperienced to read between the lines here or am I being stupid in my selection criteria.

Rusk or breadcrumb without water is in my opinion a silly thing to do.
If you want to keep these in then add water at twice the rate of rusk & 1.5 times the rate of breadcrumb.

MASTERS recipes
page 125 Turkey Recipe.
Turkey extremely expensive like prohibitive here so will use Chicken -whole boned.
There is no water here but Brandy so liquid is added - fine.
Bacon but no fat, but substite used Ok with that.
But the egg whites, are these a binder? if so I could sub in low fat dry milk powder, if so how much would be a goodly amount for 6 egg white - 1/2 a cup?
Know this and above are not you Guys recipes but would be interested in your thoughts on what and why.

As for the Master recipes these are a collection from the web & can be found posted all over the place.
You really need to use these more of a guide rather than a solid recipe.
as for egg white yes this is a binder (it is the nearest protein to meat stucture) you could replace with soya or try without it as poultry does not really need any help.

Cheers spudeye
Singapore

Hope that helps

Reagrds
Richard

[spudeye]

Thanks Richard.
Appreciate that & I'm sure my Sausage experience will be better for it too.
Just one further questions on the Addtion of Fat.
Am I right to lock in the head that I should be looking at 20-30% most of the time. Unless we are heading down our South African friends dryer ones.Thanks again.

Hopefully will be active this weekend.

cheers Spudeye.

[sausagemaker]

Yes 20 - 30% fat is fine

Regards
Richard

[jeffersonc]

thanks! loads of great info

[Tisino]

Thank you for the PDF. I will use it often!

[Stoned Temple Pilot]

Wow, after reading this I realise we made almost every mistake in making our first sausages from other guides

Flavour excellent but texture like sawdust, very much looking forward to using this guide for our next batch

Thank you to the appropriate people !

[jacker]

Just found this, brilliant all I need to know, is there one for bacon?

[wheels]

Yep, try here:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4835

HTH

Phil

[Banjoe]

As a beginning beginner, I really appreciate the effort put into this production. Many thanks!

[Ringburner]

Thanks!