Home made ital sausage for sons birthday party sunday

westernbbq

I actually ground this meat during holidays and froze it.   When i asked my son what he wanted for his birthday family party this sunday, he said, "Dad, i want sausage but none of that stuff in the store, just the stuff you make with all that equipment Mom complains about..."  so, thawed out 15 lbs worth of ground shouldah, mixed up some salt, garlic, red flakes amd fennel and lugged out the lem 15 lb piston driven stuffer amd heres what we ended up with

I am drinking tomorrow soooo, when these are on the bge, i may forget to take a pic of the finished product....

I also shredded some provolone and mixed it in with the meat...

Stormbringer

westernbbq said:

"Dad, i want sausage but none of that stuff in the store, just the stuff you make with all that equipment Mom complains about..."

Hahahahahahahaha!

And ... they look outstanding. A sausage maker is added to our list of gadgets to buy. Fortunately SWMBO has wanted one for a long time.

lkapigian

Props to you, by far my favorite lichen hobby...looks awesome 

RedSkip

Fantastic looking...

bluebird66

Looks great!

JohnH12

Just made our first batch yesterday. Everything went as advertised until the twisting. Had a couple of blowouts while twisting. Maybe stuffed 'em to full??
Another issue was getting the hog casings on the stuffer tube. What a pain! Had some LEM's 32~35mm casings and they refused to slide on the 32mm (OD) tube. Switched it out for the smaller 22mm tube but they were still a pain to get all the way on the tube. I had watched several videos on the subject and they all made it look easy. Not so much for me though.
A test fry of the 1/2 cup or so that was left in the stuffer was great though.
I just need to find the secret to threading the casings on the tube and the twist that won't break the skin.

Sea2Ski

Looks great!  I love making sausage because you can really alter the recipe and make exactly what you like. What size plate are you using for the grind? I am going a bit bigger anymore and using 1/4" to give it a "rougher"  texture.

@JohnH12,
If you are having the casings bursting: I have had three causes that I have experienced which I have since addressed and eliminated 99% of bursting:

1. Verify that the casings do not have any holes prior to stuffing.
2. Stuffing the sausage too tight because of human error OR;
   
3. I have noticed that if I do not add enough water/wine/beer, then I have the tendency to pack it too tight and rupture the casing.

JohnH12

Sea2Ski said:

Looks great!  I love making sausage because you can really alter the recipe and make exactly what you like. What size plate are you using for the grind? I am going a bit bigger anymore and using 1/4" to give it a "rougher"  texture.

@JohnH12,
If you are having the casings bursting: I have had three causes that I have experienced which I have since addressed and eliminated 99% of bursting:

1. Verify that the casings do not have any holes prior to stuffing.
2. Stuffing the sausage too tight because of human error OR;
   
3. I have noticed that if I do not add enough water/wine/beer, then I have the tendency to pack it too tight and rupture the casing.

My guess would be #3.
The wife mixed in the seasoning and said she didn't want it too runny. I wasn't in the mood to disagree since she's the Sweet Italian Sausage expert!
Next time I might "accidentally" spill some beer in the mix as I'm loading the stuffer.
Any tips on getting the casings on the stuffer tube? I have a Hakka with SS tubes. It came with 16, 22, 32, and 38 millimeter tubes that are about 6 1/2 inches long.

Sea2Ski

 "Lube" the tube with water, make sure the casings have soaked for a while, and load the tube right from the water it is soaking in. That is the only thing I have ever done, and I have never had an issue.

westernbbq

Stormbringer said:

westernbbq said:

"Dad, i want sausage but none of that stuff in the store, just the stuff you make with all that equipment Mom complains about..."

Hahahahahahahaha!

And ... they look outstanding. A sausage maker is added to our list of gadgets to buy. Fortunately SWMBO has wanted one for a long time.

It was too funny!  my little guys and all their buddies love the home made sausage i make, they go nuts for it to the point they will help make it and do other chores just to be able to have some

I grew up in wisconsin amd we always had johnsonville brats.    After making my own bratwurst and just using fresh meat, no chemicals and all the right spices, i attempted to eat a jv brat and nearly upchucked....it was that bad compared to what my homemade sausage tasted like


My brother was a butcher years ago and he told me that i didnt want to know what went into hamburger and brats!

westernbbq

Sea2Ski said:

 "Lube" the tube with water, make sure the casings have soaked for a while, and load the tube right from the water it is soaking in. That is the only thing I have ever done, and I have never had an issue.

This is spot on and i pour a little olive oil down the input from the cannister opening of the tube and sort of work it through the casing...ive found this to be mega helpful in sliding the casing on


Always be careful to not over stuff and keep the casings wet so they slide right off the tube....

westernbbq

@Sea2Ski,  as to size for grind it is single ground fine grinding plate for my LEM #12 grinder...which can pretty much handle all i throw at it

lkapigian

Sea2Ski said:

 "Lube" the tube with water, make sure the casings have soaked for a while, and load the tube right from the water it is soaking in. That is the only thing I have ever done, and I have never had an issue.

Yup, and I found a long soak helps as well. I use the largest LEM tube and I found the long soak, make sure to get ALL the twists out of the casing and they go right on...my casings come in a saline solution. The ones Dry Packed really benefit from a day long soak 

westernbbq

Posted elsewhere here but here is the finished about to be eaten product....

20stone

westernbbq said:

I actually ground this meat during holidays and froze it.   When i asked my son what he wanted for his birthday family party this sunday, he said, "Dad, i want sausage but none of that stuff in the store, just the stuff you make with all that equipment Mom complains about..."  so, thawed out 15 lbs worth of ground shouldah, mixed up some salt, garlic, red flakes amd fennel and lugged out the lem 15 lb piston driven stuffer amd heres what we ended up with

I love it.

On burst casings, I agree w other posters.  Liquid wont make the sausage runny, as it disperses when cooking anyway. Don't need to constipate your sausage. 

On getting casings on the stuffer, water, water, water. 

Nice work

westernbbq

Thanks @20stone...i will admit when i first started making sausage about four years ago, burst casings were a recurring problem.   Water definitely helps both for elasticity on casings and mixing with meat to help it move along.   A side benefit is that the cooked product doesnt dry out.    Juicy sausages off the bge are incredible....


When i make brats, i mix in some lager beer, and the ital sausages have about 1/2 cup of chianti per 15 lbs plus the ice cold water....

I am thinking about perhaps chorizo with dos eqquis?   Or a little tequila?   The liquor is more for flavor than liquid lubrication....but last weekend i had plenty of lubrication for my brain as i put down a few beers.....

The beauty of sausage making is that your combinations and opportunities for creativity are unlimited.   

YEMTrey

Congrats.  That's a win on many levels!!

20stone

westernbbq said:

The beauty of sausage making is that your combinations and opportunities for creativity are unlimited.   

Absolutely.  Some types of cooking require pretty rigorous adhesion to recipes to work out, but with sausage, unless you screw up the lean/fat mix or over salt, can do just about whatever the heck you want.

WeberWho

The homemade sausage looks fantastic!

westernbbq

I will see if i can find my salt spice sausage ratio guid and post it here if anyone in eggland wants to try it out.   herbs de province mix is pretty good for a nice french sausage and i am looking at making some swedish potato sausage 


Unlimited recipe combos and ill see if i can find my base mixture ratio. I think its either per lb or per 5 lb of ground meat....