Sausage grinding?

[phatch]

This is only the second time I've made sausage, and it was a bigger batch, about 5 pounds. I'm using a kitchenaid with the grinding attachement and stuffing horn attachment.

I was grinding on the small plate, about 1/8 inch holes. And it got very hard to feed. When I finished, I found that my plate and cutter were fairly obstructed on gristle/silverskin and such that was flexible enough to just slide around and tangle and not press through.

Is this fairly common? It sure made it tougher than it should have been.

Phil

[Jock]

I generally don't do more than about 2# at a time and my plate (I use the coarse one) gets pretty clogged up. Not enough to plug the holes entirely but I can see how grinding 5# with the smaller holes could be problematic.

What speed do you use? I used to grind at 1 or 2 but I found I got better results at speed 4. Faster grinding and less overheating.

Jock

[Pete]

If you are using a smaller die you need to make sure that you are grinding 2 times. Once through a larger die and then again through the smaller one. That should help considerablly. Also make sure you are cleaning your pork pretty well before hand and cutting it into smaller cubes. All will help with your problem.

[redace1960]

it's supposed to do that. thats everything you don't want in your sausage. when it sounds like the motor is starting to labor stop and clean off the plate. i already did mine for this year with a hand grinder. i'm a bit of a luddite; but you won't beat me in arm wrestling!

[phatch]

Thanks for the info. I'm just a newbie at it all. I have found that I would prefer the coarser grind for most sausages now but a few will still get the fine grind.

Phil

[Pete]

Even for those sausages that require a finer grind, make sure you run it through the coarse grind first.

[phatch]

Yes, that was clear even before I posted my question.

PHil

[chrose]

Phil I had that problem one time on a large Hobart grinder. The problem actually turned out to be that the blade was on backwards! Check that and I'll bet you your problems ends!

[shroomgirl]

what are you making? Are you using Aidell's recipes? I've a dear friend that makes French boudin....I prefer cajun, he also makes marguez....his sous chef used to make pigs head pate with aspic and parsley that was phenmonial....

[Jock]

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the KA meat grinder blade is 2 sided so you can't put it in backwards.

Jock

[phatch]

Jock is right.

I was making a sampler, just for kicks. Recipes from Jeff Smith and the internet. I did 1 pound batches followed with some ice to clean out the system and cool things down and distinguish between the sausage types in the casing.

A bratwurst with a coburger twist. Traditionally cooked over pine cones, I went with a rosemary, pine nut and bay leaf accent as I didn't have any pine cones I trusted on hand. Was VERY well liked.

Luganella, much praised my Marcella Hazan, but with a recipe from Jeff Smith. This was a very impressive sausage to me. Mild mild mild, but pleasant with the parmesan and wine. Very nuanced but without the brashness common to most sausages.

Chorizo, just for kicks. This needed extra fat in my pre-stuffing taste tests.

A standard and hot creole style sausage, mostly to satisfy some chileheads. It takes a lot of seasoning to make a sausage hot enough for a chile head. And I still came up short on the heat for two of them.

Phil

[chrose]

Originally Posted by phatch

Jock is right.



Phil

Yeah, yeah, yeah Too bad for you, my answer was simpler
I'll let you in on a little secret. The reason that I know that about the blade being in backwards on a Hobart is that I put a 35# Top through it backwards and pretty much turned it into consomme raft material as opposed to burger meat! Took me about 90 minutes too! Oh well another day, another reason for the Chef to hate me . Well that was a long time ago, and I've since learned!!!

[Pete]

Phil, which kind of chorizo? Mexican or Spanish? I love both. Used to make a lot of different sausages at a couple of restaurants I worked at. Just recently bought the grinding and stuffing attachements for my new kitchenaid and can't wait to try it out. Would love if you would share the recipe for the luganella!

[phatch]

The Chorizo was more of a mexican flavor than spanish. It tastes pretty close to what I can buy in the Hispanic groceries around here, but with a more eurpean texture. And lacking the oddball material from the head and organs. I was surprised how close the taste and color was as Jeff's ingredients were heavy on chili powder, not ground dried
chile.

The Luganella is an interesting story. I had just been in the thrift store shopping for cookbooks. Turns out that lots of estates kids don't want the older cookbooks and so they get given to goodwill type stores. They sell them for a buck or two a piece. I got More Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan for a buck and the Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine for 2 bucks on a different but recent trip. M. Hazan talks a lot about and cooks with Luganella. Jeff Smith has a recipe for Italian Sausage with Parmesan and Wine that matches fairly closely what Hazan talks about. So, here is Jeff Smith's recipe, which I scaled way down.

4 pounds de-boned pork shoulder/butt
1 tablespoon coarse ground fennel (which I omitted as MH indicates it shouldn't be there)
2 bay leaves, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/4 cup dry red wine
4 yards sausage casings

Grind meat with the coarse blade. Mix all ingredients together and allow mixture to sit refrigerated for at least one hour before stuffing into casings.

He's using a pretty small casing to get a yard per pound. Adjust as needed for your casings. I wanted my cheese a bit chunky, so I crumbled it by hand and was a bit more generous with it than the recipe calls for. I used more wine too

[phatch]

Cabelas opened a store near me. They've got a number of different sausage casings so I picked up some collagen casings to give a try. I stuffed them tonight. I'll be having a pre-Labor day barbecue meat fest on Saturday. I'll smoke some ribs and a bit of pork shoulder, some trout and these sausages. My guests volunteered the sides. Don't know what I'll end up with except for a good time. In reading up on collagen casings, I found this site that looks pretty good.

http://home.pacbell.net/lpoli/ His recipes are in the Formulations sections. Thought you would all enjoy it.

Phil