The first problem was putting the meat grinder together. It took me at least a half hour to do this. The instructions came for two different models and they would have one section for one on putting it together then a section for the other model on putting it together, then one section on what not to do (which, strangely, involved a lot of the same things from the first section for both models then it had a section on usage but it didn't take very long to figure out that they had the model numbers wrong on this section since my machine had no reverse (I looked for it in vain before figuring out that the model numbers were wrong, sigh). Anyway, I did eventually get the thing together.
Used one of my new butchering knives to cut the meat off the bone and then cut it up into pieces that could fit in the grinder.
. It just took a long time to get them all done.
Now I had watched several videos on how to twist them into links. None of them worked for me. They came unraveled every time. Maybe it was because of the collagen casings. I really don't know but I ended up tying them all which was really time consuming. You can tell when I got tired because the sausages got longer.
The plan for today was to get the smoker seasoned. It has to season for 3 hours. But we had some terribly strong wind today and some real low temperature for us (when I looked out this afternoon it said 42 degrees F which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the wind!). Can't have fire outside, even in the smoker, with that much wind. I was disappointed.
The second plan was to go shopping, get yogurt going and sourdough bread going and do the sausage at the same time. Not possible. Maybe tomorrow I can get the yogurt and sourdough bread done. There are also quail cages to clean and more work on the greenhouse to do but there will be other (warmer) weekends I'm sure.
wow thats awesome! making your own sausages is a great thing to know how to do, they look brill :)
ReplyDeleteYour sausage links are beautiful! You did a great job. I just love sausage...we make big fat links..yummy!
ReplyDeleteI have some hog casings for the larger sausage as well. I don't think I will try that this weekend though, lol.
ReplyDeleteI make my own sausage but to keep the effort and time to a minimum I do not use casings, I only make patties. It works great for breakfast, sausage burgers for lunch and the Italian sausage for pizza the patties are ready to break up and top the pizza with. But making your own sausage is great because you can adjust the spices to suit your taste and heat.
ReplyDeleteWell, considering the cost of casings you are probably way more efficient making sausage with just patties because when I add it up for just the cost of the casings and meat it is way more than sausage in the store. I do like knowing how to use the casings though for when we actually find some piglets and get to butcher them but I will probably be like you after my casings run out and make patties.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job! We make our own sausage as well and LOVE the taste. I have used casings, but we always prefer to roll them in cornmeal instead. The texture is crispy on the outside, but moist and juicy on the inside. We extrude them in the typical sausage shape, roll them quickly in cornmeal and fry them all up in just a little bacon fat (sausage is lean). We then freeze them pre-cooked which makes for VERY easy meals!
ReplyDeleteI think your sausages link great and I'm sure they will taste great too. I might have to try and smoke some myself
ReplyDeleteFor your first attempt at home-made sausages, I think that is a brilliant result! Despite the problems you have produced some very professional-looking sausages. They all look so uniform! I hope you find the opportunity to smoke some of them before too long (I know you are keen to play with that new toy as well) :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, the picture makes them look good. They aren't really uniform at all. I bet some of them are an inch longer than others but that is ok. They don't have to be pretty.
ReplyDeleteLittle Home in the Country, that is a really interesting idea I may have to try that and see how we like them.
Hooray! Excellent job. I've not used the collagen casings. Looks like they turnout out fine. What recipes are you using?
ReplyDeleteI didn't use a recipe this time. I used Eastman Outdoors boxed mix for breakfast sausage. The casings were alright but the ends of the sausage don't stay sealed so when you cook them the sausage spills out some from the end. Still tastes good though.
ReplyDeleteI am getting the smoker seasoned today and we are going to try some ribs in it. Will let you know how it goes. I did find some hickory chips but we are seasoning it with the mesquite. Very strong smelling stuff, don't think I'll be using it much. I did find some apple chips too but they were expensive and I left them for another time.
Check out "Charcuterie" which is an amazing cookbook about MEAT. Sausage, smoking, curing, and so forth. Now that you have a smoker you can go crazy with all of that! And those sausages look fabulous. You're inspiring me to get going on another batch. I have a lot of salted hog casing in the fridge, I wonder how long it lasts?
ReplyDeleteI have heard it can last a year as long as it is salted and it can last longer if you freeze them.
ReplyDeletewow, I am so impressed with this. we buy freshly made sausage that a men's group does as a fundraiser, but the thought of tailor making sausage to our tastes sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI have seen so many good ones now and have so many that I want to try!
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