Homemade Sausage Making

I was interested in this recipe and had a question on the water amount. The last listed ingredient was a cup of ice water. In the instructions it says to put 2 ice cubes in the food processor with every 1.5# of meat to be emulsified. My question is, the cup of ice water, is that added in the form of the ice cubes or is it in addition to the ice cubes added to the food processor?

Hi Rick,
When making emulsified sausages like hot dogs, the amount of water can vary anywhere from 10 to 20% of the meat mass. It depends on the amount of water in the type of meat you are using and the meat to fat ratio. Beef for example will hold more water than pork and if you have a lot of fat you will use less water. Water has to be super ice cold or use shaved ice which is the best. If you are using ice go by weight rather than by volume. I litre of water, whether frozen or in liquid form, is 1,000ml. by volume and weighs 1kg. or 1,000g.

When making hot dogs I get 200ml of water ready for each kilo of product. I then add it gradually as I emulsify and stop when it looks just right. Most of the time it works out to about 15%.

Thank you for the clarification