Homemade Sausage Making

OK,Thank you. Now I better understand the process.

Stefan- please thank the guys on the Polish forum. I can see the dilemma of many products being labeled >"Head Cheese"<

Trying my first batch in a casing. I've made head cheese in a pan before but never like this. I have 8 nice chunky from feet, a hock, 1 kg of lean meat, a beef tongue and some pork bones. Got it all in the can cooker and we'll see how it goes.

Great! Looking forward to seeing the results! Just make make sure to strain the broth and reduce it before adding to the meat and filling the casing. During the first few hours of chilling roll the head cheese over a few times so that the meat and aspic are distributed evenly. Press it after about 5-6 hours in the fridge and leave it for 24 hours before slicing.

Thanks Red. Will post some pics as we go. Do you just strain through a normal wire mesh strainer?

Fine cheese cloth draped over a strainer. You can buy a pack at a dollar store. The pork feet should give you enough gelatin, but if you have spme extra pork skin, use that too.

Well it turned out pretty good. A little bland, but nothing a little hot mustard, pepper and some slices of Rye bread won't fix!
Skin and gelatinous.

Lean meat and tongue to grind.

Mix

That looks good Ron! you can always adjust the spices on the next go around

That does look good. That would be a big hit around my area. People will stare in wonder at mortadella and question why it has nuts or show fat in bologna but will do flips over souse and demand more.

Looks great! Did you use some head meat? And it's best to grind the skins, but hand cut the meat. Spices can be adjusted and changed. You can make it with a Polish spice blend, German with some ginger and vinegar, French (see my fromage de tete) or hungarian with paprika. I like them all!

I didn't get a chance to get head meat it all went for dog food. I ground the skins through a 1/8" plate and the tongue and some pork through a 1/"plate. I left the tender pork as chunks but overall could have used more big chunks.

Finally made some! Strictly a city version with picnics with the addition of a few pounds of skin from a bucket of backfat I picked up last weekend. Salt, Pepper, Garlic, and caraway to which I added a bit of hot red pepper before grinding. The touch of heat sent the flavor over the top for me! Ended up with an 8lb chub.

My first salceson. Turned out very nice and tasty. Could use a little bit more salt. Don't know what happened, concidering the broth and meat were salty enough as it was being made. Used 12 pork tongues and 4 pork hocks. The butcher told me that I dont have to skin the tongues . Good thing I didnt listen to him. Slow boiled for 3.5 hrs, cooled the broth to remove the fat, chopped the meat, mixed everything and voila!!!

Joe that looks very nice! What cuts did you use and did you cure the meat before cooking the meat?

No cure for this one. I threw a little but of #1 in the pot during boiling along with the spices. I do recall reading others that have cured for 3 days or so but this was a spur of the moment project and now I'm thinking thats what the problem could be regarding the lack of saltiness. I boiled the pork tongues for about 10 min, skinned them, cut them in 1/2 and added pork hocks, covered with water/spices and boiled.

Redzed, from the pictures you posted I can see that after cooking meats, broth is very (and always) clear. Can you share "your secrets" how to avoid a foggy broth?