Grinding chicken question

[sudsandswine]

I’ve had a meat grinder for a long time yet have never ground any poultry with them. I am wanting to make some chicken sausage and bought a 6lb tray of bone in thighs, which left me with about 4.5lbs of meat after deboning and removing cartilage. I have not pulled the skin off the thighs yet.

Some of the recipes I’ve seen call for mixing dark and white meat in the grind - I do have a whole chicken in the fridge I could break down and take the breast meat from if necessary...is that necessary? Also, should I run the skin through the grinder separately from the meat and then mix in, or leave it on and run it through all together? I have a LEM 5# grinder and it’s a pretty stout little grinder but uncooked chicken skin is pretty tough too.

Unsure on what the sausage will be yet...probably apple Gorgonzola and spinach feta.

Thanks in advance for the tips!

 

[BGEChicago]

Suds....

Skin on or omit... Great question and I'd like to know as well!

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Titch]

Skin on equals flavour,

I have never ground Breast, for no particular reason, except its dry meat to me

 

[sudsandswine]

Skin on equals flavour,

I have never ground Breast, for no particular reason, except its dry meat to me

That was my though as well...why put the boring white meat in there :becky: but maybe it’s just filler for the rest of the delicious dark meat.

 

[Gimmethecash]

I’ve ground a lot of beef & pork, but never chicken. I’d throw a thigh in there & see how it goes. Skin might make things a bit messy if you leave it on, maybe not. I’d try one without skin first. I’m also a dark meat guy, and would leave the breast out unless you feel or find you need to add it.

 

[thirdeye]

I make a Santa Fe sausage that has thighs and pork butt, with a lot of fresh ingredients. I generally do it in 5# batches, and give some away so I don't have to freeze it. But.... partially freezing the thighs works great when grinding. I do alternate chicken and pork in the hopper .

 

[Jason TQ]

I only do boneless skinless thighs since they are so easy to break down into chunks and the thighs have so much more flavor. Messing with bones sucks and I've never even tried breasts since they can be dry. Luckily the cases of boneless skinless thighs I get from Restaurant Depot have a decent amount of fat left on too.

Here's on of the last batches when I made 20lbs of chicken sausage. I think I enjoy the chicken sausage more than pork or beef currently :-D

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281402

I haven't ground up any skin as I think that would make a fairly large mess and maybe clog the grinder, even with my large one.

 

[sudsandswine]

That thread is what finally convinced me to do some poultry sausage :thumb:

I would’ve opted for boneless skinless thighs but Sams hasn’t had any lately, which they usually do :crazy:

 

[BGEChicago]

That was my though as well...why put the boring white meat in there :becky: but maybe it’s just filler for the rest of the delicious dark meat.

Ha Ha, I'm cooking two birds tomorrow night.... The family will eat the dark and we will feed the white to the dog :-D

Thanks,
Greg

 

[Jason TQ]

That thread is what finally convinced me to do some poultry sausage :thumb:

I would’ve opted for boneless skinless thighs but Sams hasn’t had any lately, which they usually do :crazy:

I'm stealing you apple gorgonzola idea :becky:.

Small batch thigh deboning isn't awful. My Sam's meat section hasn't been as stocked as normal for months. Costco has been decent.

I ain't making beef sausage anytime soon with those prices :biggrin1: