Making Sausages

Minder

Placed my first order for sausage ingredients from sausagemaking.org. Hog casings, spices, cures and rusk. Just need some good quality pork and we're away.

noby

Good stuff.
I had a look in Tesco yesterday. They have grand pieces of shoulder for around €5-€6. It states the % fat on the label, which is handy. Although, I'll stick to the butchers for the first go.

Still waiting for my mincer and casings to arrive.

noby

Well my first batch of sausages are sitting in the fridge. I went into the butcher on Friday, and he didn't have any shoulder, so made up some pork tornado (lean) with 25% belly fat mixed through it.
The mincer and casings arrived Monday, so gave it a bash lastnight. Stuck to a simple recipe - pork, breadcrumbs, water and seasoning (salt, pepper, nutmeg).

Gave the meat a mince first, then mixed through all the ingredients, fitted my stuffer tube and casings, and stuffed away. I imagined I would need two pairs of hands, but I quickly got into a routine and the stuffing went fine. I tried my best to link the sausages at the end. Got about 15 out of roughly 2.5lb.
At least I know what's for tea tonight.

The Sweeper

Let us know how they taste and how the texture compares!

noby

Well, I actually had a sneak preview lastnight. They held together well, very meaty' but tasted a little under-seasoned. Hopefully the blooming in the fridge will help a little.
I still have half my pork left, so might try a more Toulouse style tonight.

CJhaughey

Great! you are now on the way to becoming a sausage freak!
I have a good recipe for Italian sausages that is very tasty.
Scale it back to your needs I usually use 1/3 of the mix.
It is important to use coarse salt as the fine stuff doesn't seem to work as well.

* 15 pounds pork belly
* 2 ¾ cups very cold red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon works nicely)
* 7 tablespoons coarse salt
* 7 tablespoons fennel seeds
* 6 tablespoons ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon ground coriander seed
* 3 teaspoons chilli flakes
* 2 teaspoons oregano
* 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
* 1½ teaspoons sugar
* 1½ teaspoons caraway seed
* 1 teaspoon MSG

noby

Thanks. I might give that a go.

I made up a second batch lastnight with the other half of the pork. Upped the seasoning a bit, and threw in some sage and parsley, and a little less breadcrumbs.

CJhaughey

I passed through Dungarvan last night, If I had known I would have asked for a taste!!:D
I don't bother with breadcrumbs or rusk, pork belly is so cheap and I am making them for the taste not to sell.

BaZmO*

CJhaughey wrote:

I don't bother with breadcrumbs or rusk, pork belly is so cheap and I am making them for the taste not to sell.

But would a full meat sausage (Ooerr!!) not be too eh....meaty?

noby

BaZmO* wrote:

But would a full meat sausage (Ooerr!!) not be too eh....meaty?

That was my thinking. Plus I thought it helped absorb the juices, for a more succulent sausage.
Anyway, lastnight I put 1 1/2oz into 2lb of pork, so it's not exactly half full of filler.

CJ, where do you get your casings? I got Hog casings, but I wuoldn't mind getting lamb ones, for a thinner sausage. A bit pricey for shipping from the UK unless I put in a big order.

CJhaughey

The last ones I got were from Ebay and TBH they are not very good.
They are quite thick and don't fry very well.
I think the best ones I got were from a mate of mine who gets them from France.
I think you can get sheep casings from German Ebay sellers quite cheaply, I think 25-28mm are probably the size you are looking for?
The hog casing tends to run 30-35 and can be a bit big for a breakfast sausage.
If you are friendly with a local craft butcher just ask if you can buy some collagen casings they work pretty well.
A too meaty sausage doesn't exist in my book!

noby

A too meaty sausage doesn't exist in my book!

Dr.Atkins would be proud of me at the moment.

With my limited German, I've found an e-bay supplier. The sizes seem to range from 18mm to about 28mm. Works out a lot cheaper than the UK supplier by the looks of it.

Minder

noby wrote:

A too meaty sausage doesn't exist in my book!

Dr.Atkins would be proud of me at the moment.

With my limited German, I've found an e-bay supplier. The sizes seem to range from 18mm to about 28mm. Works out a lot cheaper than the UK supplier by the looks of it.

Do you have a link or a name for the German supplier ?

CJHaughty - I bought some hog casings recently but they remained in the box for a couple of weeks before I was able to get them into a fridge.

They are sealed and salted - should I use them or get some new ones ?

CJhaughey

Salted casings last pretty well refrigerated or not, I would always try and keep them in the fridge but they shouldn't go off after a week or two at room temp.
I would use them, just rinse them well inside and out.
Keep the rest in a resealable plastic tub with a good handful of coarse salt on top.
s

frobisher

Great thread! I've been considering doing this and giving them as gifts or even trying to sell them from local shops. Has anyone else tried this?

CJhaughey

Yep, gave plenty away and everyone who tried them liked them.
One guy liked them so much he went off and got himself a mincer/sausage maker!
Selling them may be problematic depending on how the environmental health officers (EHO) are in your area.
Some are very hot on meat products others don't give a damn.

olaola

Attempted my first sausage making extravaganza last night.
Was well impressed with the results - will be repeating it many times.
Made a plain sage (fab) and leek and onion (didn't try that yet) and some chorizo & saussicson (will tell you what they're like in a few weeks)
We added breadcrumbs to the sausages and still found them very meaty.

Now - I was over in a friends, where we minced our own (had some problems with the machine) so it took a while. How did the grinders/fillers from sausagemakingking.org turn out??
I would consider purchasing one if they were worth it.