Homemade sausage help

[sudsandswine]

I made some uncured beef jalapeno sausage a while back, used a recipe from the book "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages". I ground up some brisket, mixed in the seasoning, reground, then stuffed into pig casings.

I did not care for the results. Basically, its taste and texture was almost that of a jalapeno infused hamburger patty, which is something I used to make with pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, and mayonnaise. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since it was basically ground beef, seasoned, and stuffed into a casing. But the texture was off to me compared to other sausage I've had from BBQ joints. I'd say mix was probably 70/30, maybe a shade higher on the fat content, I used lightly trimmed brisket then mixed in some hard white fat at the end.

I dont know if I'm used to "cured sausage" texture like Kiolbassa brand like this or what, and admittedly I don't order sausage often when I go out for barbecue, but I know the general texture and flavor of it and mine missed the mark. Unfortunately I didn't take any "finished" pics of it, but it "looked" like what I'm used to seeing buying uncooked sausages in the store. :mmph:

Thoughts?

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Was the meat solely brisket? What you might do is add some pork (I like a ratio of 3 to 1 beef to pork) or use a binder of some sort, maybe soy protien or dry milk or bull flour. I add pork and the pork releases some proteins when you mix it. When you feel it getting tacky it should bind well. Beef alone doesn't bind well. I'd have to see the recipe. I also add cure to mine(0.25% Cure #1). I also like more of coarse texture compared to store bought sausages more like what you'd get in a Central Texas barbecue joint.

 

[sudsandswine]

Maybe where I went wrong is using the hard white fat of the briskey in lieu of pork back fat then. Here is the recipe.

 

[RandyNight]

I think if you use pork fat it will be better. We add pork fat only or fatty shoulder to venison for cured smoked sausage and we like it.

 

[Badjak]

Did you knead the mince enough? Unlike burger patties, sausages should be kneaded till it gets very sticky.
And please keep it cold!!!!

 

[sudsandswine]

It was pretty sticky, kept getting stuck between my fingers and to utensils, but I'm still pretty new to making sausages and it's quite possible it wasn't enough.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

I use brisket fat in my Texas Hot Gut recipe, but pork fat might have whatever is in the pork that makes it bind better. I find that hard brisket fat holds up better if you cook it at higher temps (225 to 250) than pork.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Myosin is the protein that binds the meat together when you mix it. I don't where I got the idea that myosin is easier to extract from pork. I swear I've read it somewhere. Either way, I've read that the finer the grind the more myosin you need to bind the sausage. So if you are grinding it pretty finely you may just need to mix it more.

 

[thirdeye]

Most beef sausages are at the bottom of my list, but I will do a mix of beef and pork, and all pork sausages are my favorite.

Using 1 cup of powdered milk for 5# will work as a binder and help retain moistness. A small amount (1 teaspoon in 5#) of Tender Quick will give sausage a nice pink tone. This is not enough to "cure" the sausage it's only for color. TQ has a salt/sugar carrier, so reduce the amount of salt called for. Also add iced water as needed, it's a feel thing not an absolute amount kind of thing.

 

[IamMadMan]

I agree with Thirdeye, pure beef in sausage lacks flavors for me. Adding fat back, or bacon will give more flavor.



But remember, according to the recipe, this is still a fresh sausage, not a smoked sausage, so it will not have a deep smoky flavor even if you hot smoke it.

 

[sudsandswine]

I made some chorizo using ground pork buttt and AC Legg chorizo seasoning and thought the taste and texture was spot on with the "authentic" stuff I'm used to eating, just with more "controlled" pig parts. So I wasn't sure if it was my seasoning mix that was to blame, or something else....sounds like it was probably more the mix of meat to blame.

 

[thirdeye]

Here are some examples, if memory serves me right..... the top one is Merguez but I used pork instead of lamb, the middle one is Kielbasa and is 60% beef and 40% pork and it has Tender Quick and powdered milk. The bottom one is another German style and is pork and bacon.

This is a hot link which was smoked, so there is powdered milk and Tender Quick.

 

[IamMadMan]

I made some chorizo using ground pork buttt and AC Legg chorizo seasoning and thought the taste and texture was spot on with the "authentic" stuff I'm used to eating, just with more "controlled" pig parts. So I wasn't sure if it was my seasoning mix that was to blame, or something else....sounds like it was probably more the mix of meat to blame.

AC Leggs / Old Plantation quality seasonings are a mainstay in my sausage seasoning cabinet. I also use some blends from The Sausage Maker out of Buffalo, NY.

 

[Badjak]

One thing I found of Marianski's recipes:
For me, the amount of spices is way too low. So I double them (except for the salt).
Otherwise, the book is very good though

 

[sudsandswine]

Here are some examples, if memory serves me right..... the top one is Merguez but I used pork instead of lamb, the middle one is Kielbasa and is 60% beef and 40% pork and it has Tender Quick and powdered milk. The bottom one is another German style and is pork and bacon.

This is a hot link which was smoked, so there is powdered milk and Tender Quick.

I added a little Tender Quick to my last batch of brats and was pleased with the results. I couldn't find any powdered milk locally but it looks like I can get some online....does it matter if you use "nonfat" or "whole" powdered milk?

 

[DanB]

AC Leggs / Old Plantation quality seasonings are a mainstay in my sausage seasoning cabinet. I also use some blends from The Sausage Maker out of Buffalo, NY.

Hi Have you tired the Ac Leggs bratwurst seasoning, if so let me know what you think.
Thanks DanB

 

[sudsandswine]

I used it when I made bratwurst last weekend and liked it quite a bit.

 

[Victory]

I like adding about 20 percent pork to my brisket sausage, the brisket I use is solely the trimmings from a Brisket cook, minus the hard fat chunks, so there is a pretty high fat content.

Ice cold meat, I usually grind when its partially frozen, makes a big difference in final texture. Also as mentioned a binder, I use dry milk, helps as well.

I also prefer to add cure#1 to beef sausages

 

[thirdeye]

I added a little Tender Quick to my last batch of brats and was pleased with the results. I couldn't find any powdered milk locally but it looks like I can get some online....does it matter if you use "nonfat" or "whole" powdered milk?

The slight adder of TQ will improve color and have a slight effect on texture, your's look good. Your grind seems finer, or possibly a double grind. When I do that, like on my hot dogs, (which have dry milk and Cure #1 instead of TQ).... I chill the meat between grindings. This way I don't over-work or over-heat the meat and I get a good bind.

I'm sure the powdered milk I use is the non-fat, and each pouch will make 1 cup. It should be available in almost any market. It's also known as "dry milk", it's usually near the canned milk.

 

[sudsandswine]

Yeah I ran one pass through a 3/16" plate on the meat used for this, the rest of the pork I ground up I used a 3/8" plate on. I need to pick up a 1/4" plate, I think that's where I prefer it. Both the meat and the grinder attachment were very cold, but it still had an odd texture when I ran it through the 3/16" plate. I spent a fair amount of time trimming each piece to keep the stringy type stuff out of the grinder as best I could. I think the AC Legg packet instructions mention using a 2 stage grind, 1 more course then mix in the seasoning, then a pass through a finer plate. I was happy with the texture but it was a bit different than what I often see (like IamMadMan's pics).