Homemade sausage

I made some hot Italian Sausage and a semi-dry Pepperoni that will ferment @ 90F for 24 hours.

What thinks thee? Anyone make their own sausage?

I never have. Is it difficult? What tools do you use?

I want to make my own chorizo, need to think of somewhere to hang them though

My roommate threw out my casings. It was in salt in a ziploc bag, inside a grocery store bag. "I thought it was just an empty bag," was his answer to my "Where the fuck is my 20$ worth of pork balloons?"

I've made some free-form sausage since, just saran wrapping and freezing for later enjoyment.

I really blew my family's minds when I made hot sausage that was bright red -- between the paprika and my own homemade smoked pepper flakes, it was spicy, but more flavor than heat.

What meat do you buy and how do you decide on what to use, seasoning etc?

Just a meat grinder and stuffer. Some people use a stand mixer to mix the spices, but you can do it by hand. The thing on the right is the manual stuffer. It'll hold hold 5 lbs and is easy to stuff by yourself.

I buy the 2 per package pork shoulders from Sam's and chunk them up and freeze them in 1 kg (2.2 lb) portions. If it calls for beef I'll use chuck. When I have venison, I'll often mix some in. The pepperoni is 30% venison and 70% pork shoulder.

I think the best place for recipes is a website called meatsandsausages.com. They have a ton of good info on curing meat and making the different types of sausages.

Ive never made the dry Spanish Chorizo but I made the fresh Mexican style that was damn good.

I much prefer the cured ones I must say. The South American style are fine, but they're just like another spicyish sausage. The curing really makes them jump up a level.

I got into sausage making last year. Had the opportunity to do a workshop with Chef Brian Polcyn. Sadly I haven't done much lately since leaving my last kitchen.

what kind of bacteria do you use?

On the semi-dry pepperoni I used FL-C.

Damn, those look good. You know how much better they taste so you'll probably get back into it. Cleanup is the only real hassle about it.

The fuck ups on this board can barely order their own fast food.

I make my own Italian, fresh cajun, and chipotle chicken

I can't get any of them to have a good texture. Always soft and kind of cakey, never a nice snap/crunch. But the taste is okay.

What size grinding plate are you using? Sounds like you could be grinding too small. Most of my link sausages I grind through 3/8". It also might be that the fat is emulsifying because it got too warm while grinding or stuffing. Possibly the casings aren't getting filled tight enough, also.

>fermenting food outside of controlled ennvironment
that's a lot of lethal shit to enjoy soon.

i made turkey sausage once for a friendsgiving a few years ago. tasted great, but an enormous hassle and something i never plan on doing again

Yes indeed, another sausagemaker here.

I've made many kinds of fresh sausage, cajun boudin, and blood sausage too.

I've never tried to make any of the fermented sausages though, I don't have a place that I trust to maintain the correct temp and humidity.

I don't grind. I buy preground mince or request it ground with whatever the pork place has.

There's definitely some fat emulsification but I thought that was normal. The best kinds of cajun sausage I had back in Louisiana were emulsified like hot dogs, while the ones with loose beef always felt loafy and too soft, kind of like my issue, except I think my sausages are much tighter than the lower grade ones I found in LA.

*with loose meat. No beef in those.

Oh yeah, and tightness is not an issue. I stuff sausages my hand (absolutely terrible experience, but it builds character) and I squeeze the meat down to pack those bitches tight. There are no baby links in my kitchen.

It's a 24 hour fermetation at @ 90F with 90% humidity which I achieve with the oven light and a tray of water. The sausage is then cooked to 154F internal. I agree, a dry, long fermentation where the sausage is eaten uncooked should not be attempted without a controlled temperature chamber with a humidistat/ humidifier.

Short fermentation for semi-dry pepperoni and summer sausage is safe this way.