Sunday, March 4, 2012


OK, fellow Sausagemaniacs! Here we are in March already! I decided to start a new post because the original was getting a bit dragged out.

So please feel free to continue with your excellent comments, advice and questions!

41 comments:

  1. Used your design for motorizing a 22 grinder with a small variation. I mounted the grinder on blocks like yours but then mounted this to a 5&1/2" by 8" board which I made (2) two 1/2" by 3" slots. I then drilled two holes in the main base board and mounted a 10" length of aluminum flat bar which I drilled and tapped for 1/4 inch bolts and screwed 2 quarter/twenty studs in it. This I attached to the underside of the main base board lining up the grinder to fit over the studs. I also mounted two pieces of flat bar on each side of the 5&1/2 by 8 board. This keeps the grinder inline when tightening the belt making removing and mounting the grinder much easier and faster.

    Russ From Shelton

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  2. Hey Russ,

    Sounds like a great design! How about sending me a few photos, and I'll post 'em.

    Send to: sausagemania@gmail.com

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  3. does anybody know of a good recipe where pickeling spices & tart apples are used in smoked pork sausage!
    sincerely
    Alone in Idaho

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  4. Getting ready to make portuguiese linquica this morning using your recipe. we will be making 20 lbs. half with Sherry half with Port
    any last min. sugestions

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  5. Nope, no suggestions. Let me know how it turns out.

    Good luck!

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  6. It turned out great I like the sherry better
    I will smoke some today

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  7. Dear Sausagemeister,
    I cook pork sausage often for my dinner guests. Usually I'll boil them in their vacuum-sealed bag until they are firm and then fry them up so the skin is all crispy. Yet one of my guests always seems apprehensive to eat the sausage because it's a little bit pink in the middle. I tell my guests that it's OK if it's a little pink in the middle. It doesn't mean the sausage was undercooked.

    Do you agree with me? Or should pork sausage be brown all the way through?

    Sincerely,
    Knit Nat

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  8. Dear Knit Nat,

    In the "old days," when pigs were fed raw garbage, the recommended temperature for cooked pork was 185°, to avoid all risk of trichinosis. Interestingly, because fat was not a bad word in those days, hogs were raised with much fatter meat, so 185° pork was still moist and tender.

    Nowadays fat is a bad word, so pork is sold as "the other white meat," with much less fat. Also, nowadays slops fed to hogs must be sterilized by heating, and therefore the risk of trichinosis from eating commercially-grown pork is non-existent.

    As a result, pork can be now cooked to lower temperatures, just like beef or lamb. Most palates will not tolerate "rare" pork, but pink pork is not only "allowed," but has become the norm at high-end restaurants.

    That means that pork cooked to 150-165° will be slightly pink and also moister than "brown all the way through" (actually "gray all the way through").

    So, in answer to your question, I agree with you: pink in the middle is OK.

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  9. Dear Sausagemeister,
    I'm making sausage sell hotdogs in a tiny dinnery but I dont want to buy the comercial stuff so I'm making my own, people really like the taste but I'm having problems with the consistency, any advice? some gum perhabs?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, I have never made hot dogs.... they require an extremely fine grinding plate and emulsification. I simply have no experience here.

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  10. Hi, was wondering if you have any good basic beef frankfurter recipes? A little apprehensive about using cures since they aren't regularly available around here. Thanks!

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  11. You got any good chicken sausage recipes?

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  12. Sorry, no chicken. Just pork, pork, pork!

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  13. Where can I buy tripe for the sausages in Florida?

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  14. Can you use a electric mixer like a large hobart with a paddell mixed for mixing sausage before putting in the sausage stuffer

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  15. You betcha!

    I can think of no better way to mix sausage than a large Hobart with a paddle blade. I wish I had one, if you are talking about a floor stand model.

    Specialized sausage meat mixers are available from The Sausage Maker (www.sausagemaker.com); I tried one, but it was not adequate to mix 50 lbs of meat, so I sold it on eBay.

    Send me a photo of the Hobart beast in action!

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  16. I have a question about sausage stuffers... I own a weston 20 lb. stuffer and when the piston is fully compressed there is still about 3lbs. of sausage in the bottom. Not due to an opperational problem but due to a design problem in the bottom of the can... Do you have the same problem with the F Dik? Or do you know of a possible solution, short of buying a 3 lb. horn for the meat left in the botom? I would prefer to buy a single unit that didn't do this.
    I apologize if this is a repeat question.

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  17. Ok, I'm starting to get hooked. My sweet lady wife came home today with the news that Costco sells pork shoulder for under $2/lb in bulk. I'm starting to think seriously about this.

    (I'm motivated to make my own British Bangers. No one in town sells authentic bangers. I've got a great recipe though.)

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    Replies
    1. Dear Dave,

      Make the bangers and tell us how they come out!

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  18. If I use tubed hog casings do they need to be wet or soaked or anything prior to stuffing? or do I stuff them dry?

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    1. Dave,

      Never use dry natural casings. Soak them in warm water for at least 30 minutes before stuffing them. This is true of tubed or non-tubed casings.

      Delete
  19. i'm just getting into sausage making, and have LOTS of questions. i too live in anchorage. if i give you my contact infomation, is there some way i could speak with one of you? thanks
    jamie

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    Replies
    1. Dear Jamie,

      I am in Mexico until December 3. Send me your contact info and I'll give you a call when you return.

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  20. my email is jamieblom@charter.net. please drop me a line and i'll give you my phone number. thanks

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    Replies
    1. Jamie,

      Well, we both know it's no longer necessary to reply to this message, since you actually visited Sausagemania Central last week and help turn out about 100 lbs of Italian and Alsatian sausage!

      Delete
  21. Just found your blog, any hope for a new posting soon? Maybe something about sausages in Mexico?

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm. Sausages in Mexico.

      I am afraid I am not a big fan of Mexican sausage. Funny thing is, Mexican cooks almost always tear off the casings and use the sausage loose. Odd… Why stuff it into casings if you're just gonna toss the casings away?

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  22. Hi There,

    Just getting started and wondered what your thoughts are concerning plates in the grinder. In your directions you say you grind with a 3/8" plate. The standard plate I have with my Chop Rite grinder is 3/16th I think. Is this far too fine a grind for regular sausage consistency?

    Thanks,

    Sean from Ohio

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  23. Hi Sean,

    You are right! Standard grind is with a 3/16" plate. 3/8" is medium-coarse.

    Please tell me which page the mis-statement is on and I'll fix it.

    Regards,

    Sausagemeister

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  24. Hi Again!

    Well, I don't know if I would really call it a mis-statement. I may have simply not understood what you were trying to convey.

    In your photo tutorial, the following is stated:
    "Next, unless you buy ground pork, you'll want a few good, sharp burtcher's knives to carve the pork butts into chunks and strips that your grinder can handle. Our over-powered, motorized Chop-Rite #22 grinder can handle 2-3" chunks, and churns out 400 lbs. of grind an hour with a 3/8" plate, but chances are you don't need such high-octane performance."

    So that's where I got it from. If I will do well with a 3/16", then all the better for me, because I don't need to buy a new plate. I just ordered the stuffing horn and stuffing plate from Chop Rite, so hopefully that is more than enough to get started. I do get the impression that using a grinder to stuff with may be a slow process, but I figured it would be better to see if this hobby sticks before I buy an expensive stuffer. Besides, with five kids, I have ten arms to keep the auger turning, so I shouldn't run out of "steam" any time soon. Kills me though--I had an opportunity to pick up an old Chop-Rite stuffer--the biggest one they make--for the price of just removing it from someones basement. I kept meaning to get over there and never did. Now its gone. Oh well, live and learn!

    We made your breakfast sausage recipe for dinner last night and simply shaped it into patties. It was delicious! I have about 100' of casing on the fridge. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend????

    By the way--have you ever heard of a recipe for fresh mett or mettwurst? It's the most popular sausage where I live but is very regional. Ask someone outside of southern Ohio and they likely have never even heard of it. Several local companies make them as well as most every butcher, but nobody wants to share the recipe. There are fresh and smoked varieties. Smoked is cured and I'd rather stay away from nitrates / nitrites (one big reason for making my own)so the fresh recipe is really what I'm after. You cannot beat it as the perfect accompaniment to a big plate of homemade kraut.

    Thanks for the help and advice. Your site is great!

    Sean

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  25. Too bad you didn't pick up that Chop-Rite stuffer, which, if I remember correctly, is also a cider press.

    Thanks for the kind words about SausageMania and good luck with your stuffing session this weekend.

    Let us know how it turns out.

    Regards,

    Sausagemeister

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  26. Oh, yeah. Forgot to answer about mett or mettwurst. Sorry, but I don't know a thing about it. My omniscience extends only so far…

    Sausagemeister

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  27. I want to thank you for your site. I have used it for several years. We make Sausage and Bratwurst once a year in large quantities and your site is a god-send reminding us how to do it. I have used the spreadsheet and modified it - adding my personal recipes for different bratwurst into your calculations. Thank you so much for continuing this endeavor.

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  28. Dear Gregory,

    Thanks for your kind words about SausageMania.

    Best regards and have a great New Year!

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  29. Hi, im new to makng sausage, ive tried both hog and collagen casings, but my sausage casings always burst during cooking...what am i doing wrong?. Ive tried to fill em loosely. Is my batter to dry, or is my casings of bad quality? Or what? Any ideas on rookie mistakes...
    Thx :// Jim

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  30. Dear Jim,

    You may have too much water or too much fat in the mix, so that when you cook them especially if you cook them at high heat) the water vaporizes into steam and blows out the casing, or the fat, when liquid, bursts the casing.

    Try pricking the sausages with the tip of a sharp knife just as soon as you put them in the pan (or in boiling water) and see what that does.

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  31. Greetings

    My name is Rotem and I am the owner of the "culinaty-diy" store that Located in Israel,
    The store provides ingredients & equipment for home preparation of beer, cheese, sausages, Etc.
    I browse your web-site and I was very impressed from the professional articles and the high quality Instructional methods.
    I request your permission to translate your text to Hebrew and to use it in my store

    Sincerely yours
    Rotem zin
    culinarydiy@gmail.com

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  32. I'm new to sausage making but I love it. Thank you for all the recipes. My problem is measurements, like .1 tsp. I think .5 would be 1/2 tsp. but I don't understand .1, .3, 1.3

    Also when you make large batches don't you need curing salt #1?

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  33. Those tiny amounts are for one pound of ground pork. When you enter the actual weight of the pork you are using (the orange number), all the amounts will be re-calculated to measurements that make sense.

    Curing Salt #1 (a.k.a. Prague Powder) contains sodium nitrite. It's required in all commercial fresh and dried sausage to prevent botulism. The makers of commercial fresh sausage have no idea how a consumer will handle (or mishandle) the sausage, hence the requirement. For your own fresh sausage, I don't recommend it, though you can use it (it will also cause the sausage to have a rosier color when cooked).

    If you are making dried (cured) sausage, which will be hung for weeks, I would definitely use sodium nitrite.

    Good luck and thanks for the kind words about Sausagemania.com!

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