Homemade Sausage Making

Nice work Dave! Have you got a helper to give you a hand with all that sausage, or do you make it all alone? Great looking product Texas! Beautifully uniform ropes too.
Best wishes, Chuckwagon

Chuckwagon wrote:Nice work Dave! Have you got a helper to give you a hand with all that sausage, or do you make it all alone? Great looking product Texas! Beautifully uniform ropes too.
Best wishes, Chuckwagon

Thanks Chuckwagon. No helpers, pretty much do it on my own. I like making it, although when it's time for clean up I sure wish I had some help!

Dave

atcNick wrote:Bought a hygrometer and the humidity in the house is around 45-50%

Hey Nick,

Where in Texas are you located?

Dave

Longview, but grew up in Houston.

atcNick wrote:Longview, but grew up in Houston.

I used to go up there and to Tyler quite often for work. I like that part of Texas.

Dave

Hi folks!
I like good people who make and enjoy good sausage! How about you? If you feel a little awkward pokin' around here... please don't! Some of the folks here have made sausage for years. Others haven't begun yet. One thing for sure is we are all friends here and we only wish to help each other learn how to make and enjoy terrific sausage.

Many people MISS the CHAT BOARD called HYDE PARK. The latest ongoing chat is generally found in the forum "Hyde Park" under the topic "Sticky Chat". If you are not sure where to post a topic, just place it under `sticky chat` and a moderator will move it later if necessary. Lots of people don't realize there are numerous pages on one topic. Look for the successive page numbers and click on the "Next" arrow to view the latest posts. We have quite a few new members and I'm not sure if everyone understands there are multiple pages in one topic. If you've wondered why no one is answering, it may be because you haven't clicked on the multiple pages in one topic. For example: There are several pages of pure BS (that's "bean sprouts" of course) under the topic "Hi New Guys". Be sure to check for added posts in these "hidden pages" you may have overlooked.

Have you got a question but you`re afraid it might sound silly? Don`t fret. There's no such thing as silly questions... just silly answers. Even the ol` pros started out knowing nothing about making sausage. So, don`t be shy. Fire away with your questions. That`s how we all learn!

Lots of folks are not aware of our "home page". It has all sorts of information and articles by Stan Marianski. The page even includes an automatic weight-volume and cure conversion chart for your use. You can find the page by leaving off the suffix of this site. Simply type in WedlinyDomowe leaving off the pl/en. Here's a link: http://WedlinyDomowe.com

Have you been looking for a specific topic or recipe? Our site has a great "search" tool at the top of the index page. It will bring up anything that has been automatically archived. Simply click on "Search" and be sure to read the helpful hints that come up on the page. It is case sensitive and quite specific so, if you don`t find something on the first try, back up and hit it again from another angle.

Perhaps you`ve noticed that new posts in a topic automatically go to the last page in a forum. This is so people don't have to continually click through the pages they've already read just to get to the latest posts.

If you happen to speak Polish, try putting your cursor over the Polish flag at the top right side of the index page and clicking on it. You may also click on any of the emblems to bring up other pages such as the Polish School Of Domestic Meat Processing called "Szkola Domowego Masarstwa" - the first of its type.

If you are seeking printed information about sausage making or about making bacon, ham, whole-muscle products etc., be sure to review the following publications:
"Home Production Of Quality Meats And Sausages"... by Stan and Adam Marianski
"The Art Of Making Fermented Sausages"... by Stan and Adam Marianski
"Meat Smoking And Smokehouse Design"... by Stan, Adam, and Robert Marianski
"Polish Sausages: Authentic Recipes and Instructions"... by Stan and Adam Marianski & Miroslaw Gebarowski
"The Amazine Mullet"... by Adam Marianski
"Making Healthy Sausages"... by Stan and Adam Marianski
"Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Pickles & Relishes"... by Stan and Adam Marianski
*All are available from Bookmagic at this link: http://bookmagic.com/

Why are we here? On March 11th, 2006, Stan Marianski wrote:

"The aim of our web site is to make meat products and sausages the traditional way without any binders, fillers, fat replacers, soy protein concentrates, phosphates etc. All our Polish sausage recipes come from 1958 Government archives and at that time we used only meat, salt, pepper, spices and nitrate for curing. The era of those great meats and sausages is gone in Poland and elsewhere in Europe, Germany included. We try to preserve the traditional art of making meats and we try to stay away from any kind of chemicals. If we were a meat processing plant we will have to use them to stay alive in the market, but we do it for ourselves so we try to make products of the highest possible quality."

Gosh Stan, That just about sums it all up. Thank you from a multitude of sausage-loving folks everywhere!

It's great to see you all here sausagemakers. Keep grindin', smokin', and smilin' Come along and join us in our hobby. Ask questions and learn. We`re here to help you. In no time at all, you`ll be making sausages, bacon, hams, and other meat products not only for yourself, but for your extended families and neighbors as well. Slowly, you`ll gain a reputation for being able to hand-craft better products than those found in your local supermarket. You'll also save lots of hard-earned bucks. Best of all, you`ll gain the satisfaction of doing it yourself with knowledge gathered along the path of experience.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Let's get started! Our good buddy Blackriver in Wisconsin wrote:

The only thing I have to get better at is stuffing natural casings for brats. I keep getting air in them as you can see my the pics.

Does anyone have any advice for him? He's posted some pics of the most gorgeous sausage you've ever seen in the "sausages" section of the forum. There are a few air pockets visible and they surely plague all of us as we stuff casings.

Anybody got any great solutions? Let's give Blackriver a helpin' hand here! What are some of your tricks of the trade when you crank the handle?

(Hmmm... something tells me that Blackriver is not the only one with air pockets in his (or her) brats... )

Best Wishes, Chuckwagon

It is difficult, to completely eliminate air pockets. There are however some tricks. You need to start from the last part of meat mixing, do it carefully and slowly not to mix in air. Next when filling your stuffer, you should form meat balls, which are just bit smaller than your stuffer diameter, and throw them with some force into your stuffer. Then carefully press the meet in the stuffer, before throwing next meet ball. The stuffer itself should be equipped with air valve placed in the piston. Then when stuffing, you should every few inches knock the casing near the end of the stuffing tube with the dull side of your knife blade. This will cause casing micro damage which will evacuate air. And finally whatever air pockets left, use needle to evacuate air.

IMHO, this is an issue which is rarely addressed but often a factor in successful meat preservation.
Previously frozen meat has a much greater capacity to absorb salts and seasonings. The freezing process causes cells to burst and become more vulnerable to absorption. Even ground meats can be subject to this phenomenon. Fish is highly susceptible.
In this part of the country, we use a great deal of frozen meat and by following formulations for fresh meat, we often have results that are less than satisfactory.
Having visited many forums, I believe that this may be a common cause for failure.
Just an idea, I`ll leave it for you all to consider.

CHAT AWAY RIGHT HERE...

Hi Folks,
Please take just a minute before you post to think about where it`s going. If it is a response to a specific topic in a specific category, by all means post it there. If it is chat or light casual conversation, please post it in the new sticky called "chat" in Hyde Park. Thanks smoke wranglers! This will keep our recipe pages free of "chatter".
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
___________________

There was a thread here concerning curing previously frozen meat. Is it an acceptable practice to cure the meat when purchased and then freeze it, to smoke it at a later more converient time?

Ross,
I don`t know anyone who doesn`t look for and find bargains from time to time, and then purchase meat in some sort of "bulk". Often it is frozen for later use as sausage. Yes, freezing ruptures meat cells, but how are we going to get around it unless we purchase freshly butchered meat each day? Quickly frozen meats have less ice-crystal damage than meat that has been slowly frozen. To be perfectly honest, with meat frozen only once, I cannot detect much degradation in quality myself. Heck pard, buy it in bulk, (or shoot it), then freeze the stuff. Use it within a few months and I think you`ll find the flavor quite palatable.
I knew a lady who had an entire freezer full of meat when the electrical power in her neighborhood failed. The next day, she threw it all out. What a mistake. I called the MID and they advised me that if there were still ice crystals remaining in the meat, although it was very near the "thawing" point, it was still safe to use or to even re-freeze.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

We once lost power for about four days during a hurricane. I canned the entire contents of the freezer. Had a gas stove and kerosene lanterns.

ssorllih wrote:There was a thread here concerning curing previously frozen meat. Is it an acceptable practice to cure the meat when purchased and then freeze it, to smoke it at a later more converient time?

I haven't seen a reply to Ross' question. If anyone has an answer I'm sure we would both appreciate it.

Chuckwagon wrote: Uhh... what were you doing Chef-O? Snortin' the stuff... you, you, snowbound skidplate?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thanks for the info on TQ. However, I don't get the question about snortin' the stuff. It keeps my nostril clear. And don't try to put your nickname, "Skidplate" on me. We all know about your skull reconstruction.

As far as snowbound, ya got me there.









It was twice that tall 2 weeks ago but has been thawing for the last few days. Sping is here whoopee!

A couple of months ago I bought a # 10 grinder from Cabelas. I was proud. I have used grinders many times before. When I tried to grind some pork, the ring pushed off because it didn't fit properly. So I sent it back and Cabelas replaced it with no shipping cost or hassle. The new grinder came in due time and I cleaned in and oiled it and put it back into the box. Tonight I had occassion to put it to use grinding a kilo of turkey legs to stuff into a rolled turkey breast. So the trimmed meat and the grinder went into the freezer and when the meat was rather stiff I went to work and the grinder worked perfectly.