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.
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
That would be great. My Dh DS haven't killed yet, so there is no hurry.
Many thanks.
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
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.
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
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. :D
" 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
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
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?
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
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
Reg :o 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.
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
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.
morning Tea. your quote " Have been doing some research and found out what prague powder is, so I will have to see if the butcher stocks that."
what you are going to find out is that there are two (2) different curing salts. PP#1 which has nitrite bonded onto the salt and PP#2 which has both nitrate and nitrite bonded onto the salt.
PP#1 is used for semi dried sausages, bacon and hams. PP#2 is used on dried sausages. it may seem confusing at first but it really is not.
usually when hanging sausages they are the dried type that require time, lower temps, 50*F and humidity in the 70% area. that is easier to attain than the 85% - 90% required for most cheeses. the sausage in one of the photos is a semi dried Polish sausage that has been smoked. very very easy to do and a fantastic tasting sausage. the great thing is that you can use turkey or chicken meat for that sausage. :-)))
either of those books mentioned are invaluable when learning about sausage making
reg
Yes I read that there were two types of prague, so I will probably get a bag of both, as long as they aren't sold in sack bag sizes, as I want to try both types.
Getting lower temps and humidity for me IS the hard part. Even in winter we barely drop below 70% humidity, so I may have to wait until next winter to make the dried sausages, as I don't have a cellar or cave here. Oh well, more time to gather everything together in preparation.
My husband is prepared to help me with the smoker, so hopefully I will get to try that out soon. Actually the cold smoker sounds interesting, and I was thinking that for the likes of smoking cheese, that would be better than hot smoking?
I just need patience. I have to get the tax done before I can justify any more time away playing ;D
i made some corned beef last time we killed a steer and i had to buy a solution because saltpetre isnt available here because it can be used in bombs and gunpowder, as saltpetre is sodium nitrate (i think or similar) i would love to know if you manage to get your hands on it.....also deals direct had a small electric mincer and sausage stuffing attachment and i remember it was cheap but alas i cant find it anymore "sob" i wanted it but couldnt afford at the time. it gets painful when you do 40kg of mince in a hand mincer!
note: just had a look and found what i think is same or similar product on ebay not sure if im allowed to post link here but someone high up can delete it with my blessing if this is so, http://cgi.ebay.com.au/NEW-1500W-ELECTRIC-MEAT-GRINDER-MINCER-SAUSAGE-MAKER_W0QQitemZ120301110705QQihZ002QQcategoryZ118201QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Hi Bec, there's only me and I'm definately wouldn't say higher up, of course you can post links, I posted a How To here (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=65.0).
Hi Bec and thanks for the link, I will look that up. The ones that I have looked at so far have been in the US, so that means postage on top, so I haven't gone any further with it. Haven't gone looking for the prague powder yet, but will post what I find later.
Cheese Head, you are definately "higher up", as without you none of this would exist. In case I haven't said it before, thankyou for this board. It has been a great source of information and learning.
morning Tea. your quote " Even in winter we barely drop below 70% humidity, so I may have to wait until next winter to make the dried sausages, as I don't have a cellar or cave here."
winter is the best time for making dried sausage. will keep you informed when we start making them later this fall. have a good one
reg
Reg, I was talking to the butcher this week, and he said that beef bacon is made from the brisket. So armed with that information, I am now on a mission. 8)
Ohh, yes, please do keep me informed of your sausage making. Very keen to see what you do, so lots of pic, pretty please.
Ok just an update on the sausages. We killed four turkeys and I minced all the meat sans the legs and wings, and made sausages. I didn't have any hard fats, but decided to go ahead anyway. Final verdict is that everyone loved them, although they were a bit dry, which we expected anyway.
Reg, I was wondering if you coule add cheese for the hard fat ingredient? I am going to experiement with that next. My SIL is setting up a smoker, so hopefully in the not to distant future, I will be able to smoke some too.
Thanks for your help.
morning Tea. don't think the cheese will do the trick in this case. sausage needs about 20% on the low side. we use around 30% plus depending on the sausage recipe itself
reg
mmm ok. Haven't had time to play around with anything else yet, but I might wait until the smoker is done first before it do anything more. Hoping to have a couple of cheese done also to smoke, so we will see what time permits.
Thanks for your imput.
Hi Tea,
Could I get the recipe for your beef bacon, if you don't mind?
Thanks!
Hi Stuart, I wish I could, but sadly I haven't got around to doing this yet. My son-in-law was going to make a smoker, and he never did that, so I am yet to make this happen. I was just going to trial a rub, brine and smoking and see what happened. From there I was going to make changes as I saw fit.
Sorry I can't help you.
Quote from: Tea on February 09, 2009, 08:21:04 PM
Hi Stuart, I wish I could, but sadly I haven't got around to doing this yet. My son-in-law was going to make a smoker, and he never did that, so I am yet to make this happen. I was just going to trial a rub, brine and smoking and see what happened. From there I was going to make changes as I saw fit.
Sorry I can't help you.
No worries. I will try making bacon with a brisket at some point, let you know how I get on :)