Homemade Sausage Making

sawhorseray wrote:

Rick wrote:If I was going to stock-up on extra meat, I would think that a good vacuum sealer would be a nice piece of equipment to have.

A good shrink-wrapper is a fantastic piece of food-saving equipment. One large enough to hold something the size of a whole porkbutt would cost a fortune, that would only be for someone in business. Most vac-sealers use up to a eleven inch wide bag, when you go up to the ones that use fifteen inch bags and will freeze liquids the cost increase is considerable. As you can see from the picture the cling-wrap method works pretty darned well for a period of at least a year. Another method that works well is to debone the porkbutt and cube the meat so it's ready for the grinder, weigh out five pound bags, vac-seal them and toss them in the freezer. The only meat that's ground that goes into my freezers is stuff that's already been processed, such as sausage and burger patties. Heck, I'll be making some sausage patties in a little while, just having trouble deciding on my exact recipe. RAY

In addition to shrink wrap you can also place the wrapped meat in a large plastic bag and submerge it in water. The force of the water will cause the bag to adhere to the meat then you can tie it off good at the top. Not exactly a vacuum but pretty close.

We have a festival coming up at church and I plan to make breakfast sandwiches with pancakes, sausage and fried eggs. I figured to make a breakfast sausage in a large diameter bake it just barely done slice it and brown it for the sammys. This was my work for today. A # 303 can makes a good funnel for a 3.45 inch fiber casing. Just a little bit under 5 pounds.

Hey ol' pal,
I remember when we made these as part of a project. You called 'em "Bricks And Mortar Ham Sausage". Remember? They were fantastic and tasty! They are at this link: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5134
Nice goin' Ross. I know they'll turn out just fine and you'll probably be called to do it again! Best of luck

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

That looks really good Ross!

Looking very good Ross.

baked it last night at 170°F until it hit 135°F inside. This morning I will test it. QC is so necessary.

That Ross, is a "sausage".

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. This worked very well.

Has anyone tried making sausage from Lion's Mane or Monkey's Head mushrooms?

I had some today for lunch in a vegetarian restaurant in China, and you would have sworn these were port. They had a fibrous texture that was very meat-like and were seasoned like a sweet and sour pork dish.

I'm always looking for alternative vegetarian sausage for sale in this part of the world, and the texture alone of these really intrigued me.

Any experience?

-Tim

Hey Tim,
That sounds fascinating. I've never heard of it. Perhaps Redzed has (our resident mushroom expert) - or someone else here?...

I've ordered some dried mushrooms for experimenting. Not sure I could get fresh in Malaysia. The fibrous texture of these was very interesting.

I had "steak" made from a TVP variant that I've only seen in China that I'm also trying to source. Getting closer there...

Tim

Interesting project Tim. I have used mushrooms in liver sausage, bratwurst and salami, but have never considered a mushroom only sausage. Somehow my cultural background does not associate the term "sausage" with anything but meat.

Although the lions mane (Hericium erinaceus) is native to the area where I live, it is not that common. I have collected it but a few times, Last year I found three small specimens and came across a few that were past their prime. Flavour is pleasant and unique, the books say it has a seafood taste, but to me that is a bit of a stretch.

After your post I learned that it is very high in protein content, so that is why it might be a compatible sausage ingredient. This autumn I will look a bit harder for it, dehydrate it and see what it will taste mixed with ground beef.

This mushroom can be successfully cultivated and that is why it is widely available in Asian markets. If you craft this sausage, make sure you post the results!

Penang is a great place to find interesting and varied foods that are a fusion of several cultures. I spent five days in Georgetown nine years ago and it was more enjoyable to eat at the outdoor food stands (hawker centres) than to sit down and eat at a restaurant. That way we'd get to taste several foods each evening and have a lot of fun. I will be in China next week on a short holiday and look for this mushroom sausage there.

I will definitely follow up on this one. I get regular requests for vegetarian sausages and everything I've tasted to date is really awful!

Opened a 10kg bag of cayenne pepper this morning, only to find several thousand little beetles!

Called my supplier who will be replacing the order, then started looking around online to see how odd this was....or not. Turns out these little beetles love "red" spices, and I've been lucky not to get them till now in paprika as well from what I read.

The red spices are now in the walk in, but I was just wondering if any of you have seen this, and if you would sift and use the cayenne pepper or not?

I sifted out the bugs and with them an equal number of red casings where apparently they hatched.

The spice went into a 250C oven for 10 minutes, but I'm still reluctant to use it - though I can't explain why really. I know that bugs get into lots of food and in general won't hurt anyone...

I've turned out today's sausage without going into this batch of cayenne, but won't have enough for tomorrow without buying $$$$$ at the grocery store before my new supply arrives.

Comments?

I wouldn't mind too much if there are just a couple of them. Just sift them out.
If it is full of them, I would throw it out.
We tend to get weevils in a lot of stuff, so I have had to start keeping my flours in the freezer as I don't use them quick enough.
Whenever I take ground chili eppers with me to Holland (my dad loves the stuff), they get thrown in the freezer for a week or what to make sure than any potentially nasty dies.
Hope that helps somewhat, your climate must be similar to mine, although you might have a higher humidity