Homemade Sausage Making

Ped asked:

Could'nt you Vac Pac them (some if too many) and poach them then they wouldn't dilute?

I sure do vac pac mine... if there are any left over three days. It is the ideal way to keep the moisture in and fresh. Convenient too.

We vacuum eat snack sticks around here.

I haven't noticed undue pressure on the stuffer when I make kabanosy. (Mine is a 5 lb. vertical type.) Maybe that's because with kabanosy you aren't supposed to mix the meat very much. Thus the myosin is not developed and thus the mince is not stiff. The texture nevertheless comes out fine.

Jeff

I boned out a nice fat 20lb gobbler and 11 lbs of turkey legs. Ended up with 18lbs meat and a whole pile of bones. I made 10bs of all turkey meat bratwurst, Johnsonville style based on Len Poli's recipe, omitting the MSG and phosphates. Maybe the commercial producers like the stuff, but I see no reason for a hobbyist to include it. The brats are quite tasty but need something to become really good. To the remaining 8lbs of turkey I added 8lbs of pork and made Grandpa's Pork and Turkey Sausage, found on p.260 in Marianski and Gebarowski, Polish Sausages. This has become one of my favourite sausages and this batch turned out very well. I smoked it with my new Smokai smoke generator and it did an excellent job. Sure beats placing a pan of dampened shavings over an electric burner!

Those look nice.

Making me hungry ,they look excellent !

Very nicely done. I find that a pair of pliers is helpful when boning turkey legs those tendons are slippery.

Nice piece of work Chris, really professional looking batch! Does the Smokai send the smoke thru the bottom damper on your Pro 100, or are you using another unit? Since I switched computers last year I'm no longer able to open recipes on Poli's site, kind of a bummer. I click on them and the unit asks if I want to open or save it, click open and it just saves the file, never opens. I've got ten pounds of deboned turkey thigh meat in my freezer waiting for some kind of inspiration. RAY

Thanks guys. Ross, I wear my steel mesh glove on my left hand and it gives me excellent grip. Those tendons are a lot of work and time consuming. And trying to get every fragment of meet is impossible. But nothing was wasted. I threw everything into a roaster for 3hrs and then the next days added all kinds of good stuff, simmered and made about 5 litres of tasty turkey stock.

Ray, I mounted the Smokai by drilling a hole on the bottom side of the Pro. I did it in a way that it comes off and on on easily. The hole is 7/8" so a wine cork will plug it if you don't want to use it. But from the way it works and results of smoking the sausage, I don't think I will ever use the pan method again. It is simply too inefficient and you have absolutely no control over the smoke. If you convert, you will be amazed how beautifully it chugs along for hours on a few handfuls of pellets.

Hands down the smoked turkey sausage is the winner here, but the Poli version of Johnsonville Brats is pretty good too. I think that that making them with turkey works well. If the meat is lean you can add some pork fat. I did not need to since the turkey was pretty fat. The recipe is already on the MRI. CW actually posted it here as Bronsonville Brats http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?p=7803#7803

This is my latest batch of Rookworst as a trial with a fully imported spice mix.
My cousin brought the mix over from The Netherlands a couple of months ago.
The first 9 kilo disappeared rather quickly.
Cheers,
Jan

Jan, those look fantastic! Really professional. What is the texture like? Have you managed to emulsify to the texture of the continental franks you can buy? I've pretty much given up on that for now, but will have another go when I get bored.
If I get bored .......
Ursula

Very nice job, look quite professional as Ursula said !

They look sensational Jan. What wood did you smoke them with ?

Ursula, this time I minced first through a 6mm and the last through a 3mm plate only. Sort of semi-froze the meat mixture for easy mincing. No emulsifying at all. The texture was good, just as I remembered from 50 years ago.

Steve, I always use good old fashioned AUSTRALIAN hardwood and chips, straight from the Mill.
Although I have a variety of chips available I still prefer the local hardwoods.
Cheers,
Jan.

That looks great.

EEEeeewwwww! Oh my goodness.... That stuff looks horrible! Just terrible! Yikes, just look at that color - the color of El DuckO QuackO`s face when he embarrasses himself! Jan that sausage looks dreadful - just frightful! Now... box it up right this minute, put MY address on the box, and mail it to me immediately! I have a "special place" just for this sausage! Box it up right this minute and send it to ONLY me!
Oh, and yes... you must keep on trying. You must make a batch of this stuff every few days and send it to me for... uh... well, uhhh... "inspection" - yeah, that`s right... inspection. Yes, yes... one of these days you`ll get it right - but you`ll just have to practice and practice making more sausage. Remember, I'm your ol' pal and chum... your sidekick and mate... your ol' buddy and associate, ... my buddy, buddy! I`ll let you know when you get it right!

Best Wishes... good buddy, ol' pal, mi amigo!
RockChuck WagonRut