Sausage Making, Second Attempt

Botch · January 2014

I talked about my first attempt at sausage making awhile back; I choked a few of them down but they were so salty I ended up tossing about half of them and haven't been interested in making, or eating, more until now. I noticed that all the Charcuterie recipes use a similar amount of salt, anyone else think its too much? Today I tried their Hot Italian sausage recipe, stuck to it except I reduced the salt by 2/3rds; a small pattie fried up before stuffing tasted just right to me.

First the good news. The grinding portion went great this time! I didn't even have to push anything through, I just dropped the cubes of pork and pork fat down the tube, the auger pulled them in, and it ground right up like its supposed to; didn't have to stop to clear any clogs at all. Big Thank You to @twlangan for suggesting just tightening the grinder nut, it sure seemed to solve the problem. I also remembered to push a slice of bread through the grinder at the end, it made cleanup much easier (and the little pork-n-bread pellets that came out of the grinder got me to thinking, hmmm, if I fry those up, bet it'd be kinda tasty!)

I used a 3-lb butt this time, it filled my Artisan's mixer bowl nicely but didn't overwhelm it like the 5-lbs did; that'll be my new go-to amount from now on.

The bad news? It took even longer for the stuffing to happen this time; after 35 minutes I only had about a 3-link length. I gave up and shut everything down, have three links and 15 patties in the freezer now. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Someone here posted a pic of his sausage-stuffing tool, it was a metal funnel and you used your thumbs to push the meat in, that would work faster than my setup! I have to push the meat into the hopper so many times it warms up and the fat melts, which supposedly is not a good thing for sausages. I don't know if one of those crank stuffers would be worth the money, they seem to work well but will I do enough sausages to make it worth it? :-S

So, I'm still not there. Arms, clothes and kitchen are clean now, and the Italian gravy is simmering away, anxious to plate up supper tonight. Smells wonderful!

Little Steven · January 2014

That has been my experience too. I have a Bradley puck thing and everything I've done is too salty or too smokey. I swear I'm gonna get it right.

twlangan · January 2014

Glad the grinding worked out better for you this time.

I'm in the same boat that you are. In a way, I'd like to do more links but the KitchenAid stuffing method is pathetically slow and I doubt I'd do enough of them to warrant getting a dedicated stuffer. I really don't see the point - it's the same meat, why not just do patties? The casings just add more expense and work. I guess if I continue to make links it will just be for the challenge of trying to get them right and find a more efficient way to stuff them.

The thought has crossed my mind to do homemade brats though - and brat patties just ain't right.

Canugghead · January 2014

I posted the thumb-filled sausage making experience; for my second attempt I found the sausage funnel that came with the grinder and it was easier than thumbing!

Did you remove the grinding blade and disk when stuffing? Did you have enough liquid in your mix?

A friend on the other forum just finished her 4-day sausage making adventure and posted her experience, check it out:
http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1352115&catid=1

laserdoc85 · January 2014

I have a LEN 5 pound stuffer works great. With a crank you can easily control the flow and even back off to stop if need be

Sausage Making, Second Attempt

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