Reg's Sausage Making

[Tea]

I don't mean to harass you, but when you get a spare minute, would you be able to post those turkey sausage recipes please. 
Also I was wanting to try making some turkey and beef bacon.  Any hints, suggestions, recipes that I might need to know?
Any help much appreciated.

[reg]

sorry Tea i had forgot to post that recipe. heading out of here in a few minutes but i promise that this week i will post the sausage recipe and some bacon recipies.

reg

[Tea]

That would be great.  My Dh DS haven't killed yet, so there is no hurry.
Many thanks.

[reg]

Tea i take it you don't eat pork but here are a few ideas. for bacon you will need to make a curing brine first. this recipe you can use for a small test before getting into larger batches.

120 oz (by volume) clean water
1 1/2 cups coarse salt
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon pickling spice
2 tablespoons prague powder #1 (this is your curing agent)
3 cloves of garlic

Bring everything to a simmer until the salts and sugar has dissipated. cool to 38* before use

not sure what sections of beef you might be thinking about making the bacon out of. talk to your butcher and see what he thinks. the time curing will depend totally on the thickness of your product. pork bellies take about five days submersed in the brine. after that they are rinsed under cold water and patted dry before cold smoking.

the turkey sausage needs 25-30% fat or it will crumble and be mealy. here we use pork shoulder but you can use chicken or turkey fat. without the fat it will be bland bland bland ! the skin on poultry contains the most amount of fats. if you partially freeze the skins they will grind a lot easier

Smoked Turkey Sausage 10lb batch

7 1/2 lbs dark turkey meat
2 1/2 lbs pork butts  (this is were you will have to sub turkey fat)
salt - for any sausage i use 1 teaspoon per lb of meat
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon dried sage
2 teaspoons of Prague Powder #1
3 tablespoons dextrose
1/2 cup soy protein powder (can sub powdered milk)
2 cups cold water.

mix all the ingredients in a quart jar and shake to mix. add this to the ground meat and mix well. stuff into casings and link to whatever length you like. let the sausage dry before smoking at 130*F after one hr increase the temp to 180*F and continue to smoke until the internal temp of the sausage reaches 160*F. best thing to do then is to shower with cold water so the casings don't wrinkle up. let the sausage 'bloom' overnight in the fridge before using. you will notice the sausage is redish, this is caused by the curing agent and the smoking process.

this is my favourite all time sausage. we make it with pork but again you can use turkey as long as you have the fat to mix in

Fresh Italian Sausage 5lb batch

5 teaspoons coarse salt
2 teaspoons cracked fennel seeds
1 teasoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons dextrose
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed pepper flakes (this amount will give you a med warm sausage)
1/4 cup soya protein concentrate (sub dried milk)
1 cup icewater

mix all the spices in a qt jar and shake to mix well. add the mix to the ground meat and work in evenly. stuff into casings or make into paddies. these are good grilled

just thinking out loud here but you could more than likely make pastrami out of your turkey breast. you can also make pastrami using duck breast

charcuterie is a fantastic hobby just as making cheese is. we have been making our own bacon, hams and sausages for many many years and there is nothing like it at the supermarkets i can tell you.

if there is any other items that would interest you just let me know and i hope i can help out

reg

[Tea]

Oh Reg thankyou.  I made about 5kg of sausages yesterday, just practising getting ready for the turkey.
I was reading where water needs to be added to the mix, but only just enough to blend and not be sticky.  Yesterday I stupidly added the recommended amount all in one, without checking if the mix needed it all, and I thought that in the end it was a little sticky.  I noticed that while cooking I could see water droplets boiling away under the casings, which I don't think is a good thing?  I have been cutting away all the fat from the meat, but from what you are saying, I should leave some for a better end result?
I have been buying the requirement from a wholesale butcher here, in premixes, and can get a bacon brine already to go.  Haven't heard of prague yet, so I will have to enquire if I can get it.
One of the beef bacons that I was looking at had a glaze, and I was thinking that that would be most likely applied while smoking, right?
Anyway many thanks for the recipes I'll keep you informed.

[reg]

morning Tea. the moisture/water will not hurt at all. don't forget it does not have to be water it could be turkey stock, think about what that would bring to the party.

in sausage making we are looking for the meat mix to get sticky. the term used is called myosin extraction and its very important we reach this stage.

when using the proper % of fat your sausage making experiences will improve by a big %. i could not stress this enough

Prague Powder is a curing salt. if you are making fresh sausages you don't need it. if you are making cured or smoked sausage it is a MUST. if you can get the premixes for bacon brine i would bet a lot of money that the curing salt is already added in the mix

the glaze that you seen on the beef bacon could have been applied but my guess would be that it is a 'pellicle'. this is a smooth shinny tacky surface that happens on the surface of the product after curing and before smoking. it is best to wait for the pellicle to form before smoking. 

i would like to know more about this beef bacon. around here there is no such thing as far as i know. i'm guessing that it is cut from the under belly of the animal ?

if you or anyone else is really interested in sausage making and meat curing you should pick up two books, the first is called Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas. the second a fairly new book by Michael Ruhlman and Bryan Polcyn called Charcuterie.

hope this helps some

reg

[Tea]

Reg many thanks for your reply.  So is curing salt, different to brining salt.  I use a product that I buy in bulk that is a brining salt.
I was reading a recipe for sausages that used red wine and cheese, and that got me think that as long as there is moisture, it doesn't really matter what I use.  SO that did indeed get me thinking of other things.  Your post confirmed what I was thinking, so thankyou.
I am not sure what cut is used for the turkey or beef bacons, I am going to have to look this up somewhere.  I have used turkey bacon before, but a friend was telling me about beef bacon that she buys from her butcher, so it got me thinking "why not".  So when I find out I will let you know.
Thankyou very much for the books too.  Would have been great to have had all this knowledge at my finger tips when we used to kill our own meat, but I guess, better late than never.
Now if someone could help me find a way to add a couple of extra hours to a day, that would be much appreciated thanks. 

[reg]

" Now if someone could help me find a way to add a couple of extra hours to a day, that would be much appreciated thanks."

lol. have a good one Tea

reg

[Tea]

Thanks Reg I will.
You have given me lots of information to look up, so give me some time, and I probably will have some more questions for you later.
Many thanks again for your help.
Tracey

[Tea]

I keep forgetting to ask, when we were talking sausages, you said that once I get the correct % of fat added to the sausage it makes all the difference.  What would be a base % to work at, and I would assume that it would change with the different sausages?
If I can't get suet, would the rendered tallow be acceptable?

[reg]

morning Tea. the fat should be a minimum of 25% with 30% being the better percentage in my book. actually that percentage should be used in all fresh sausages.  i'm sure that you have already told me that tallow is rendered beef fat right ? as long as its a hard fat and can be ground/ mixed in with the meat you should be fine. if it is soft it will smear and drive you crazy when trying to work with it

going to send off a photo of the setup i use here at home and hopefully CH will post it

reg

[Webmaster]

Email and pictures sent in by Reg:

Morning CH. Attached I have added some photos of the setup used here for making sausages. If you could post them in the lounge forum Tea would have a good idea of the setup.

Thanks in advance.

reg

[Tea]

Reg    lol, I'm dying here.  That's your home setup??  I can only dream. 

Ok minimum of 25%, is that for texture and flavour?  I will try this with my next batch, and see what the difference is.

I think it is going to take me the rest of the day to get over those pics. wow.

[reg]

yes the 25% is for both texture and flavour.

that setup is not very expensive. grinder about $60, mixer about $120 and stuffer about $120. i picked up the 6' SS table used for $175. all these were purchased over time.

best bet is to try some small batches and stuff the casings using a funnel. if you decide that you want to go bigger then buy the hand grinder, then the stuffer and so on. i would love to have a good power grinder but i'm not about to put out $1000 at this point. been doing it by hand for years and it ain't killed me yet lol

reg

[Tea]

Well you might want to sit down before I tell you what the price is for the equivalent machinery here to buy.  I had to smile because when I when to the wholesale butchers to buy a few things I pointed to some machinery and said to the girls, "You know what the next things are that I am going to NEED", and I open you pics and there they are.  lol
My friend picked up a secondhand mincer from a butcher here when he upgraded, and it works off hydrolics.  They just connect it up to the garden hose and away they go.
Have been doing some research and found out what prague powder is, so I will have to see if the butcher stocks that.  Also found one of the books that you recommended, so plan to get that too.
Just a question, to hang your sausages, what do you need to do that?  A cold room? I am guessing that you also smoke some, just wondering if it would be possible here.