Learning in small batches

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 23:03

Meat is somewhat expensive and not to be used carelessly. My first piece of smoked meat was a turkey thigh that turned out well. My salami A. was a crop failure but one also learns from failure. This week I am curing two (count em) chicken thighs to smoke over pear wood. The chicken was only 49 cent per pound and I could have done several pounds but a couple of pieces will confirm the value of doing a large batch.
In the book Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausage all of the recipes are standardized at one kilogram. This pleases me because I have made several recipes by the book and some I like and some I eat but won't make again.
Making a batch smaller than one Kg is not practical in my opinion because a fair amount is lost in the machinery. It is just an ounce or two but that becomes a substantial percentage in a one pound batch. In five pounds it is of little consequence.

el Ducko · Post by **el Ducko** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 03:51

I second the motion, Ross. Around two pounds seems the most practical.

Below two pounds, it's difficult to measure the spicing accurately. (You'll still need a scale that resolves a tenth of a gram, though.) Below two pounds, the residual material in the stuffer gets to be a significant portion of the batch. (You can always put it in plastic sandwich bags and pretend that it's really casing, but...)

Benefit: you can usually get two batches out of a pork butt, try two new recipes, and have twice the fun, but it's still very manageable for a quiet Sunday afternoon.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 04:20

I have been buying 8 to 10 pound butts. I get a lot of options there.

JerBear · Post by **JerBear** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 06:12

Although I haven't put this idea into practice it's something that I've been toying with for some time, I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Back in culinary school days we used to do "tasters" of the sausage mix before stuffing by rolling the sausage mix into a very tight log with plastic wrap, tying off the ends, and poaching them.

Since many sausage recipes have the same basic pork/fat ratio, what if you were to make a 2 lb batch of base, split it into 1/2 batches, spice them for each individual recipe and do testers of each. Or you could do one basic recipe with variations for flavorings. For instance, a sweet italian sausage with wine, one without, one with chili flakes and one with calabrian pepper power. Small batches so only 8 oz is toast if it's a failure, many recipes can be moved through somewhat quickly.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 15:44

JerBear I do that with the pigs in blankets that I make. Since sausage and bread go together so well I put them together for snack sticks and make different flavors. With Italian sausage the only real difference between sweet and hot is the red pepper so it is easy to make a batch of sweet Italians and divide it.

JerBear · Post by **JerBear** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 17:20

I like the pigs-in-a-blanket idea. The italian saugage was more of an example of ways a person might want to tweak an existing recipe to try new flavor combinations.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 21:10

We can buy chicken legs here for 59 cent per pound in ten pound bags. Chicken has a nice neutral taste and can be flavored for almost any taste. For experimenting it is a good choice that can only be better when made with pork.

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 19:09

I try to minimize my mistakes to keep my costs down- no easy task!

Having messed up on some earlier attempts & having 10+ pounds of not-so-great sausage, I will now do NEW recipes in batches ranging from 2.5 to 5 pounds.

If the end results are less than satisfactory, one particular household member is particularly pleased to reap the benefit of my mistakes.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 19:49

I can imagine that big lovable standing in the kitchen watching and and thinking, "I sure hope he screws up!"

Oxide · Post by **Oxide** » Sat Mar 10, 2012 20:25

JerBear wrote:
Since many sausage recipes have the same basic pork/fat ratio, what if you were to make a 2 lb batch of base, split it into 1/2 batches, spice them for each individual recipe and do testers of each.

This is basically what I do. I've been buying butts at Costco, 2 pack, upwards of 15 lbs. I have been very pleased with the freshness and quality of that pork. I grind all 15 lbs, then divide out 5 lbs for sweet Italian, and whatever is left over into hot Italian. Unlike Ross, the two recipes are like night and day, not even close to being only different by pepper. The Sweet uses Spanish paprika, the hot uses Hungarian paprika.

There really is no definition of what Italian sausage is, except with the FDA, for marketing purposes. I once read (forget where) Italian sausage is best describe as course ground pork with whatever else you want to put in it.

Talk about small batches -- traditionally, my family would make the sausage they needed, when they needed it. If someone is making lasagna or a spaghetti sauce with meat, they would grind and mix a pound of sausage.

vagreys · Post by **vagreys** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 14:58

I think it depends on the simplicity or complexity of the sausage. As Duck said, too small a batch can make adding the right amount of seasoning difficult in the case of of a complex seasoning blend, whereas making a pound of a simple fennel, or fennel and red pepper sausage might not be a problem.

When making meads, I would do one gallon test batches, because honey is too expensive (and mead takes too long) to waste on a bad recipe. I think the same applies to sausages, but I think you have to make larger test batches of complex sausages, than you do of simple ones, in order to obtain detectable amounts of some seasonings. YMMV.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 17:41

I have often stated here that I don't know much about making sausage but we have a mentor that knows a lot about making sausage so I shall quote Mr. Stan Marianski here: Italian Sausage (Sweet)

Italian Sausage is a wonderful sausage for frying or grilling and can be found in every supermarket in the USA. The dominant flavor in fresh Italian sausage is fennel and by adding (or not) cayenne pepper we can create sweet, medium or hot variety. Fried on ahot plate with green bell peppers and onions, it is sold by street vendors everywhere in New York City. Don`t confuse it with cheap poached hot dogs on a bun, Italian sausage is bigger and served on a long subway type roll. It is leaner than other fresh sausages and the US regulations permit no more than 35% fat in the recipe. Fennel, sometimes added with anise, is the dominant spice in this sausage.
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Copied and pasted from :
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... an-sausage

Oxide · Post by **Oxide** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 20:59

ssorllih wrote:
I have often stated here that I don't know much about making sausage but we have a mentor that knows a lot about making sausage so I shall quote Mr. Stan Marianski here: Italian Sausage (Sweet)

Italian Sausage is a wonderful ... The dominant flavor in fresh Italian sausage is fennel ...

... Fennel, sometimes added with anise, is the dominant spice in this sausage.

This is what I meant above when I said, "there really is no definition of what Italian sausage is, except with the FDA, for marketing purposes." The FDA requires the inclusion of fennel and/or anise in any sausage labeled as Italian. Fennel is more a Northern flavor in sausage, less so in sausages from the South. Sicilian/Italian sausage is made sans fennel or anise.

Course ground pork is the base of any Italian sausage. Whatever else you want to include or exclude is up to you. If you are going to be selling it the FDA requires that you include fennel and/or anise.

I don't know how to search this forum but I posted a list of ingredients for Italian sausage that was made by Italians for the Italian community of South-East Kansas. The recipe came over on a boat in 1903. And it does not have fennel or anise in it. And I am told it was very popular. I have never met anyone that did not love the flavor of that sausage.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Mar 11, 2012 21:45

In Stan's book Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages somewhere in the early pages states that modifying a recipe to suit your family's taste is most appropiate. In many of his formulations he explains the many variations to be found in different shops or regions. This link is very handy to have bookmarked: http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/

Oxide · Post by **Oxide** » Mon Mar 12, 2012 17:44

ssorllih wrote:In Stan's book Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages somewhere in the early pages states that modifying a recipe to suit your family's taste is most appropiate. In many of his formulations he explains the many variations to be found in different shops or regions. This link is very handy to have bookmarked: http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/

Ross, I looked at that link you provided (thanks!). Under the recipe for Italian sausage he mentioned: To read more on Italian sausages go to the Code of Federal Regulations, § 319.145.

I Google searched for that regulation and it pointed me back to Stan's web pages.

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-ty ... ns-sausage

(a) Italian sausage products are cured or uncured sausages containing at least 85 percent meat, or combination of meat and fat, with the total fat content constituting not more than 35 percent of the finished product. Such products shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (a) (1), (2) or (3) of this section, and shall contain salt, pepper, and either fennel or anise, or a combination of fennel and anise. Such products may contain any or all of the optional ingredients listed in paragraph (b) of this section.

I have always presumed the requirement for the fennel/anise was for marketing purposes within the U.S. because there are Italian sausage recipes that call for neither. I don't think fennel or anise has any curative properties.

ETA: I found the thread with the fennel-less Italian sausage recipes: http://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5623