MrJack's Sausage Day

[mrjack]

Some mates and I made sausages and salami a couple of months back. Wrote about it briefly here: http://www.aussiebbq.info/forum/viewtop ... 34&t=11231
The salami was great, but the sausages were only okay.. ground too fine and my mate's experimental recipes I think overcomplicated what should be a very simple product...

All the same, I was inspired to try again on my own turf - so I bought a 0.5hp mincer, decent sausage stuffer and a vacuum sealer... and in a couple of weeks I'm going to have a few mates over and have another crack.

This will be the first time I'll be driving the process, so am both excited and a bit nervous.
Plan is to make three varieties - two pork (pure pork & chili plus one other to be determined) and one chicken. Recipe suggestions welcome, especially if they are ones you've actually made.

I want to give myself the best chance to get things right, although am more than happy to learn by my mistakes..

So for now I want to do a sense check in terms of my equipment. Appreciate any suggestions to anything I have forgotten. I will have the following:

• Mincer
  Sausage stuffer
  Vacuum sealer and bags for finished product
  Trays for minced meat straight out of the mincer
  Trays for sausages as they come out of the stuffer.
  Trays for finished product before they get vacuum sealed
  Large bowls for mixing up each mix
  Rubber gloves
  Sausage casing
  Meat and ingredients for all three recipes

I will post more as things start to come together..

[mrjack]

...one thing I'm not sure about... If I'm going to be having around 20% fat in each mix - do you still use chicken fat in the chicken sausages- or do you add pork fat to the chicken sausages?? Where do you get 20% fat on a chicken?

Similarly, for the pork.. will I need to get extra fat from the butcher, or will a pork shoulder give me a reasonable meat/fat ratio?

[Nath]

...one thing I'm not sure about... If I'm going to be having around 20% fat in each mix - do you still use chicken fat in the chicken sausages- or do you add pork fat to the chicken sausages?? Where do you get 20% fat on a chicken?

Similarly, for the pork.. will I need to get extra fat from the butcher, or will a pork shoulder give me a reasonable meat/fat ratio?

When I have made sausages before I have got a little extra fat from the butcher to make up the 20% with shoulder. Not sure about the chicken, putting pork fat in would work but may overpower a little I'm unsure.
The wiser should chime in soon and help you out.


Nath

[Bentley]

I grind the skin when I want to add fat to any chicken sausage...

[Mountain Mick]

Yes there is a lot of fat in the chicken skin and if your breaking down whole chicken there is a lot of fat just inside the gut cavity and I use that, MM