New To Forum -Fat Smearing???

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Butterbean
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Post by Butterbean » Mon Jun 13, 2016 14:26

That's great. It sounds like you now know what to look for when mixing and forming the bind. The process is hard to explain in words and much easier to see and feel. Sounds like you've got it down now. I think we all have been there or at least I know I have. Now I just have to remember to pay more attention to my gut and not the written process.
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Post by redzed » Mon Jun 13, 2016 16:24

K98 AL wrote:Made a batch of smoked hot links and a batch of cheese sausages. I mixed both batches well, and put meat in fridge overnight. Stuffed casings the next morning. The meat was so stiff, it was hard to stuff the cheese links. When I got to the hot links, I added another 60ml of water, worked it in well, and things went smooth. Smoked for 4 hours, finished in water. Came out perfect!
While I was smoking, I made a batch of Andouille for the next day....I ground pork and fat through very coarse (1/2") plate. Chilled, then ground 1/4 of that through the fine plate. Mixed it well, stuffed into casings. Smoked it for 5-6 hors yesterday, bringing it to temp in the smoker. Couldn't be more pleased! Thank y'all so much for your tips - my efforts have improved 300% since I first logged on here.
Hey Al, it's great to hear that you are honing your sausage making skills! What type of cheese did you use? Regular or the expensive hot temperature kind? Ana dhow about some pics of those sausages?
Last edited by redzed on Mon Jun 13, 2016 17:34, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by K98 AL » Mon Jun 13, 2016 17:32

Took pics, but I don't know how to load them here yet.
I used high temp cheese from Askthemeatman. l
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Post by Butterbean » Mon Jun 13, 2016 19:23

If you are going to make a lot of cheese sausages in the future it might pay to add a little sodium erythorbate to the mince. This will do several things but most importantly in sausages containing cheese it will keep the area between the cheese and the meat from discoloring. Not that there is anything wrong with this discoloration but it can look ugly and we eat with our eyes too.
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Post by redzed » Mon Jun 13, 2016 20:42

Butterbean wrote: it will keep the area between the cheese and the meat from discoloring
I did not know that! Image
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Post by Bob K » Wed Jun 15, 2016 15:10

K98 AL wrote:Took pics, but I don't know how to load them here yet.
Most folks use Photobucket- http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5324
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Post by K98 AL » Tue Oct 25, 2016 17:56

OK - I have a deer and a wild boar in the freezer, a bunch of meat diced up and ready to go -(it's been a good hunting season already!).

In anticipation of cooler weather and sausage season, I've been reading Marianski's "Polish Sausages" book. Page 44-45 describe curing the cubed meat prior to grinding, etc. What about the fat? I know pure white fat doesn't matter, but most shoulder fat has some meat bits attached. Would this require cure as well? Should I cure the meat with salt, spices calculated for the whole batch, then add the fat as I grind and all will be well?

Thanks for your input!
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Post by Maxell » Tue Oct 25, 2016 20:29

Thus prepared, fat does not smudge.
Pod ten adres proszę przesyłać zdjęcia i teksty. Zdjęcia muszą posiadać szerokość co najmniej 800 pikseli - wysokość nie jest istotna - ważne by były dobrej jakości.
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Post by redzed » Wed Oct 26, 2016 05:51

Venison and wild boar make excellent sausages! I wish I had some! To answer your question, in the traditional method, meat was cured with salt and nitrate and the fat was salted only. It was then cured for 2 or 3 days. In your instance if you have lean meat and fatty meat I would cure everything for two days. What you could do is make an adjustment for the higher fat percentage meat and simply use less than the recommended amount of Cure #1. For example, if the recommended amount would be 2.5g per kg, use only 1.25g of cure and whatever amount of salt you are using (1.5 to 2%).

Try ginding the lean meat through a 10mm plate and the fatty meat through the 4.5mm or 6mm. Avoid grinding fat only separately, as it might compact amd make it difficult to mix with the meats.

I hope this helps and please post a report about your sausa and make us drool! :grin:
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Post by K98 AL » Wed Oct 26, 2016 13:18

Will do just that - may be while though - I'm in Oklahoma and make sausage in my garage - kinda limits when, seeing as we are short on cold days right now.
(before you wince at garage sausage-making, rest assured I have a spotless setup)

I sure appreciate the advice here - even after reading the books, sometimes I wonder if I'm following steps as prescribed.
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Post by K98 AL » Mon Oct 31, 2016 00:28

OK - I brought everything inside, chilled it all...mixed 72/28 lean deer with pork fat. got fat pockets again.

Re-read everything, made two smaller batches today, one with egg white, one without. both mixed ice cold until the mix looked like cotton candy and stuck like glue.

Both batches had fat pockets. Maybe not quite as bad as yesterday.

All these were bratwurst, all 72/28, stuffed in hog casings, poached at 160-175. IT was 152 when I pulled them out.

I am missing something. This shouldn't be this hard.
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Post by BlueMonkey » Mon Oct 31, 2016 01:18

I may be well off target, but are you cutting your fat into small dice before freezing / mixing with the meat and putting through the mincer?

This will help distribute the fat evenly too. Big pieces of fat, though mixed with meat, can/ will still come out in a large strand, where as smaller diced pieces cannot unless they are put through in a handful, or not mixed in properly.

Hope this makes sense. Hope it is the reason, then easily fixed!
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Post by K98 AL » Mon Oct 31, 2016 12:15

Well, I read an interesting bit on this site last night. Alcohol breaks the protein bonds.

My recipe had 1000g lean meat - 387g pork fat, 163ml of wine.

The first batch of brats (Saturday) was the first time I'd made sausage with wine. Not the first time I've had fat pocket form. Never occurred to me that it might cause a problem. (still not sure it did)

When this big batch didn't turn out, I made the two small batches yesterday. Since my mix was sticky, firm, (and I thought) the way it should be until adding the wine at the last, I suspect it may be the culprit.

Any experts have problems like this before? I read that adding wine with a spray bottle prevents this, but I'd just as soon leave the wine off if it's gonna cause problems.
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Post by K98 AL » Mon Oct 31, 2016 12:18

BlueMonkey wrote:I may be well off target, but are you cutting your fat into small dice before freezing / mixing with the meat and putting through the mincer?

This will help distribute the fat evenly too. Big pieces of fat, though mixed with meat, can/ will still come out in a large strand, where as smaller diced pieces cannot unless they are put through in a handful, or not mixed in properly.

Hope this makes sense. Hope it is the reason, then easily fixed!
I diced meat and fat into 1-2" pieces, put fat in freezer. Meat was almost frozen. Ran through 1/4" plate - back in freezer. Ran through 1/8" plate - back in freezer. mix was starting to get frosty when I mixed it up, cold enough my hands hurt. Got really sticky. Son added 163ml of wine to 1387G of mix. Got softer - I thought because it was just watered down.......
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Post by Bob K » Mon Oct 31, 2016 14:33

The protein bonds could affect how sticky the mince becomes and the texture of the sausage. Your problem seems to be fat pockets or liquid fat. If you are melting the fat is has either to do with , using soft fat which would require lower temps to prevent it from breaking, or some how during the cooking-smoking process the temp gets hot enough to melt the fat.

Brats by design are a juicy sausage and are usually cooked fresh.
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