Homemade Sausage Making

I was working about ten miles from home yesterday and a farm stand had a sign out for bell peppers at 3 for a dollar. I had to stop and check and I found the nicest large heavy bell peppers a man could ask for. Too large to carry two in one hand and just begging to be stuffed. In Maryland we define stuffin' just a little differently. I cut a pepper into four sections and fill each section with a savory mix of meat and spice. Just pile up a nice mound so that you get more meat than pepper.
The recipe that I used for seasoning was the chaurice recipe but with the addition of fennel , black pepper and coriander from the Italian sausage and I used Italian seasoning in place of the thyme and marjoram. The meat was 1:1 ground beef 20% fat and pork butt as it was cut to make the recipe. I used 6 pounds of each because I got the beef for $2 per pound and the pork for $1.30. Cut a nice roast and a slab for bacon.
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... an-sausage
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/chaurice
I cooked the bone and trimming and used the stock for the water called for in the mix.
Nancy declared it 4 stars. And suggested that I make patties for burgers from some and just package the rest for use as opportunity calls.
The stuffed peppers average about 3 ounces of meat each.

Makes me hungry Ross! Enjoy those low pork prices because they are not going to be around in six months! Feed prices have gone through the roof and pork producers are bailing out.

This store has promiced the price on butts for the rest of the year.

I stopped this morning at the same farm stand as last year and they had very fine bell peppers for 10 dollars for a ½bushel. I bought a basket and then went to Wegman's and bought 2 butts for $1.30/pound. I have the meat deboned and in the freezer to stiffen up for the grinder. the 20 pounds should make about 100 pieces. Sounds like a lot but is only 2 a week until next year.

It must be those Three Mile Island bell peppers. ...big ones! ...and, thinking about how low the prices on pork are there, maybe the pigs are huge, too? (...suggests a late '50's era Japanese horror movie about SowZilla, the monster who came from the river instead of the sea, and trampled Baltimore instead of Tokyo.)

But seriously, folks (Yeah. Right.) I don't know how you do it, Ross, but you consistently find bargains on delicious stuff, and make delicious food out of it. If only we could get you to go to work on the rest of the items in the Consumer Price Index... !

I grossly cut and boned the butts yesterday and put them in the freezer until bed time and then moved them to a fridge to warm up to 32°F, still frozen but soft enough to cut easily. This morning I reduced them both to small cubes and placed them back into the freezer to harden them for an hour or two while I clean up the first mess.
Next will come the grinding and weighing and another clean up.

el Ducko wrote:...SowZilla, the monster who came from the river instead of the sea, and trampled Baltimore instead of Tokyo.)

elDucko, too, too funny. You are the main reason I keep coming back to this forum. Love your humor.

Ross, unbelievable how you find such great bargains. Sure wish prices on the West coast were this cheap.

As to food bargains sometimes it is serendipity and other times it is a matter of knowing where to look. Whenever there is a major holiday go around to the stores early the day after. They often over stock and sell off just to recover a little before they trip over the use-by/sell-by date. One time I was in the Safeway and they were selling some kind of meat "this store only" for about 30 cents on the dollar for perfectly fresh meat. I asked and was told that someone had misplaced a decimal point and they had gotten ten times what they had ordered.

I am up against the limits of the amount of sausage I can mix by hand in a bowl or large tray. 20 pounds challenges my determination and persistence. I had thought to divide this project into two parts but proceeded to do it all in one effort. Working entirely by hand at my size a ten pound batch is enough. A ten pound batch would be a one day project but 20 pounds makes it a two day project. I guess a man has to know his limits.

This is where the work stops.


Wrapped with pressnseal and ready for the freezer. 4 pounds of mince and 18 pieces. The peppers only average 10 pieces to the pound.

I would offer to help, but my help would be limited to helping you two eat it! (Sorry about that. ...looks delicious.) My brother solved a similar problem by buying a meat mixer. Now the problem has become freezer overflow. Maybe that's not the real answer, huh?

'scuse me. "Eh?" (...for my Canadian friends, assuming any of 'em are left!)

Duk

The best answer is smaller batches.

Looks amazing Ross! Do you ever include cooked rice in the meat mixture, and have you tried melted cheeze over the tops just before serving them?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

I push a cup or two of cooked rice through the grinder to clear the meat and incorporate that into the mix. Rice, pasta, or potatoes are cooked or served with the stuffed peppers, they are also thawed, chopped and sautéed with onions and served on a bun.

Beautiful job Ross, looks to be a lot of darned work! RAY