Sausage Basics
Sausage Basics
Meat
Any meat can be used. Wild game, beef, pork and poultry are common. Most formulas will work if the meat to fat ratio is maintained.
Fat
I prefer pork back fat. It’s the fat trimmed from pork chops or the pork loin. Pork back fat is hard and holds up well in sausage and salami making. Softer fats will render at too low a temperature resulting in a poorly textured sausage.
Salt
I use pure sea salt from seasalt.com and I normally buy the fine grain. Kosher flake salt will also work well. I avoid salt with added ingredients. Salt often contains anti-caking agents, iodine or insoluble minerals that should be avoided.
Seasonings
Use the freshest seasoning you can. Whole seed if possible, pre-toasted and ground right before use. Mild fresh herbs are also great to use. Be careful with rosemary and other very strongly flavored herbs. Be careful using citrus, citrus juice, most tropical fruit or vinegar. All will denature the proteins and affect the texture of the finished sausage.
Blooming
After stuffing meat into natural casings, the links should be refrigerated for 24-48 hours. This is called the bloom and does a couple of beneficial things.
The natural casing will shrink slightly and tighten around the ground meat. The twisted part between links also drys. This will make the links easier to separate for packaging.
The other benefit is to allow the flavors to fully develop and blend. For example, any difference in salt because of improper mixing will equalize.
Cooking
An instant read thermometer is must have kitchen and meat processing tool. See links below to my favorites. Fresh sausage should be cooked to an internal temp of 155 F. A bratwurst sized sausage (28-32 mm) should take 20 minutes to cook. If cooked too fast over too high a heat the sausage will split. Fresh sausage can be cooked in a variety of ways; Fried, grilled, smoked, cooked over hot coals and poached are just a few.
Liquid
Many formulas call for adding liquid 3% by weight. Ice cold water is always an option. You may also choose other liquids. Beer, wine and bone stock/broth are other great options.
Equipment and Vendors
Grinder- There’s a lot of options. My recommendation is to get one from a brand you recognize or will be around. Parts do wear out and with some inexpensive grinders and itt may be difficult to find parts. Grinders I would consider are LEM, Lemproducts.com, Waltons, www.waltons.com and Cabelas www.cabelas.com. I use a Pro-cut in my shop.For home use a #12 or #22 should do the trick.
Scale- A heavy scale capable of weighing up to 100 pounds and a gram scale capable of weighing to two tenths.
Meat Lugs- if making any quantity. I believe Rubbermaid to be the best quality. Lem also makes a good quality lug. I prefer the 24”x15”x6” for easier cleaning. The deeper ones are a bit hard to find room in the sink to wash properly.
Stuffer-I think a dedicated stuffer is a must. Some grinders have attachments and “claim” you can stuff using them. That has not been my experience. Same vendors as above offer great stuffers. A manual stuffer minimum size of 5 pounds up to 25 or 30 pounds are commonly available.
Sausage pricker- Any one you can find will do. Again this is a must have item.
Thermometers- Instant read thermometers are a must have. I rely on Thermoworks products. Their Thermapen is the one I use for instant read. I also use Thermoworks Node for monitoring my freezers and the RFX for remote monitoring of cooking meat.
Thermoworks Node
Thermoworks Thermapen
Thermoworks RFX
Casings- I like Syracuse casing https://www.makincasing.com/ or Jordan Casing https://jordancasings.com/
I prefer pre-strung casing and usually buy 28-32 size for a brat sized sausage. Lamb casings are available much smaller but are a bit more difficult to work with.
Meat and fat- I prefer buying directly from a slaughter house or local butcher shop. I encourage use of local small producers whenever possible. Utah County has some great options. Springville Meat, Western Hills in Payson and Circle V in Spanish Fork.
Salt Lake County I would check with Snider Brothers Meat https://sniderbrosmeats.com/ on 6200 South and Highland Drive.
Books
The one book I would buy first is “Home Production of quality meat and sausage” by authors Stanley and Adam Marianski. The same authors also have the “Art of Making Fermented Sausages”.
