Courser cut of meat in sausages - HOW?

[gordy100]

I'm starting off making sausages and have a mincer and have now bough aq secondhand stuffer.. The mixer does a good job of what it says, mincing, but I'd like my sausages to feature a courser cut of meat in them. I don't think this can be achieved using a mincer, unless you use just meat on a course grind and then mix it in with previously minced meat and fat.

I hope I am making i clear about what I'm trying to achieve.. I'm still getting my head around the terminology...

[SteveW]

Hi Gordy,
You may need a plate with bigger holes if you wan't very coarsely ground meat. Welcome to the forum by the way.

Steve

[wheels]

Hi,

I hope that I've understood you correctly; the answer is to use a mincer plate with larger holes.

The plates come with a variety of hole sizes. Typical sizes are 3mm, 4.5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm (others are available up to a massive 20mm).

I hop this helps.

Phil

[Oddwookiee]

If you're doing small batches at home and want some textural variation, grind part of your meat through the plate you have, then chop up some by hand. A big chef's knife in each hand and a two-handed alternating fast chop like a triphammer will buzz through meat in no time flat. Then just mix it back into your fine grind when it's reached the desired size. It takes a little practice, and a good cutting board, but it's a hell of a lot of fun to do

[gordy100]

Thanks for your quick replies... The mincing plates that came with the machine are 4mm and 8mm... so I will try using the 8mm and see what the results are..
A nephew of mine in the food machinery trade is telling me to invest in a bowl cutter, but they are a little expensive.....
I made my first batch of sausages last week and was a little disappointed with the result.. But I must admit my enthusiasm got the better of me.. and instead of breaking down the meat 4kg of meat I bout into 1kg batches and experiment, I did the lot in 1 go..
Nice to find this forum...I hope I'll be a good member..

[crustyo44]

Gordy,
Let us all know what sausage recipe you used. All the knowledgeable members on the forum will help you improve the taste and quality of your sausages.
You will never go back to the rubbish supermarket varieties.
Good Luck,
Jan

[corromant]

I generally use an 8mm plate to mince through as I prefer a courser texture in my sausages & I only mince once.

[johngaltsmotor]

if you like more texture you don't really want a bowl cutter - those are great for making frankfurters and homogenized pâté.

I agree with wookiee, when I what texture (like in fresh kielbasa) I grind maybe 60% and hand cut the rest. I machined some custom grinder plates with 10 and 15mm holes that I'm hoping will eliminate the need to cut.

[wheels]

I agree, a bowl cutter isn't needed at all.

Mincer plates come in all sorts of sizes. You can do most jobs with just a few.

I have from 3mm to 12mm:



The smallest 3mm one is a recent acquisition; before I had it, I just used to put the meat through the 4.5mm one twice. I use the 6mm most. I put the meat through once for course sausage, and twice, for my 'everyday' mix.

Forum member, Parson Snows, posted this handy guide:

If you don't have those specific plates, I'm sure that you can do your own 'mix and match' to get different textures.

HTH

Phil