Homemade Sausage Making

I've called around town here ,which is wilkes-barre,pa. and wegman's is also the best deal I found. They asked for a couple days lead time if I wanted a 100#'s.I called a packing house and they had it for $1.65# already ground but i like the texture I get with a double grind thru my plates.

Orf , If you go on line to Wegman's you can order for pickup at the local store also.

do you have any of the big box stores such as costco or Sam's club or the like? My local place normally has 130-150# on display at any given time in 2 butt packs. Recently I've opened an account at a local wholesaler and I've been purchasing in 60# cases.

I have gotten shoulder from food basics for $.98lb. You can try calling a restaurant meat supplier some of them have cash and carry. I have used Dutch's meats in Trenton for fresh Hatfield pork.

0.98 cents/lbs of pork. The supplier even makes money on a deal like this, no wonder, poor bloody farmers are going broke.
Here in Australia, the cheapest I can buy is $ 3.99 a kilo for front quartesr or hind legs, but bellies are still around $ 8.50 a kilo.
I am interested to know how much farmers actually get for a pig on foot.
Cheers,
Jan.

Live hog market price on Friday was about $.89/pound.

It also depends on what you purchase. I've been paying around $4/lb for bellies but getting duroc or berkshire. Similarly I've been paying $3+ per lb for shoulders... and these are wholesale prices...

$.89/pound was Chicage livestock exchange rate. Local prices don't follow that at all.

and it's also for commodity pork, not premium breeds.

This morning I was frying some Jimmy Dean sausage that I bought for about a buck and a quarter a pound. I was quite surprised when it blackened in a pan that was just a bit to hot. So I checked the label and it has two forms of suger in the mince. Enough to give it a slightly sweet taste so naturally it would be easy to scorch. I like a patty that is well browned but this blackened before it had a chance for the meat to brown. We have a couple of very good local sausage makers in Baltimore and neither of them list sugar on their labels.
I wonder if milk powder will do the same thing because of the large percentage of milk sugar present.

I have a buddy that wants to make up some sausage for family that use to live in Houston area. I've never heard of this type and was hoping you guys know of a similar sounding recipe:

Here's his email to me. Any help would be appreciated.

There was a meat market down there where they lived that sold a sausage called "South Texas Sweet". A German type kielbasa, but it had a very defined sweetness to it. I'm wanting to model that. My questions for ya are: 1) do you have a good kielbasa recipe you'd be willin to share with me & 2) what in the hell should I add to make the "sweet"?? Brown sugar?? Kinda stumped, bro. Let me know

South Texas Sweet Smoked Sausages are a specialty of Stanton's Meats, located in Alvin, TX, just south of Houston. They make them in a variety of meats, including game. If it were me, I'd start with the Marianski's hot-smoked version of Polish Smoked Sausage, here:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... hot-smoked

and punch up the sugar a little bit. For a Texas sausage, I'd probably go with a pork/beef mix, too. I would expect the sugar to be regular cane sugar, but brown sugar would definitely add its own flavor profile.

A recipe for cold-smoked Polish Smoked Sausage can be found in the Marianski's books, too.

Thanks for that info!!

vagreys wrote:South Texas Sweet Smoked Sausages are a specialty of Stanton's Meats, located in Alvin, TX, just south of Houston. They make them in a variety of meats, including game. If it were me, I'd start with the Marianski's hot-smoked version of Polish Smoked Sausage, here:

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... hot-smoked

and punch up the sugar a little bit. For a Texas sausage, I'd probably go with a pork/beef mix, too. I would expect the sugar to be regular cane sugar, but brown sugar would definitely add its own flavor profile.

A recipe for cold-smoked Polish Smoked Sausage can be found in the Marianski's books, too.

Actually, I kind of like the way the Jimmy Dean Patty sausage tastes. I know it has a lot of fat but I think it's kind of yummy. I buy a premixed breakfast sausage mix from a place in San Francisco and it has a fair amount of dextrose, so I don't think having a certain amount of sugar in breakfast sausage is unusual.