Having jumped the gun and stuffed sausages last month for the Charcutepalooza challenge, not realizing we were only required to grind sausage meat, I had hoped to build on my stuffing knowledge this time around. Instead, I feel that a bout with Maple Breakfast Sausages has only left me with more questions than answers.
Since I had already tried a stuffed sausage recipe from Charcuterie, I pulled this recipe from Home Sausage Making by Susan Mahnke Peery and Charles G. Reavis. In fact, it's pretty close to the basic Garlic Sausage recipe in Charcuterie – minus the garlic but with sage, mustard powder and maple syrup.
I persist in finding it easier to grind with the old-fashioned manual grinder than with the electric one. We bagged the ground meat in three batches as it came out and popped it into the freezer so none would sit very long on the counter.
The whole thing does make me feel a little too much like Mrs. Lovett, and I do wish that it were possible to see raw meat contamination; as it is, I find myself imagining it's everywhere, and compulsively scrubbing surfaces at every opportunity, which is far from my usual kitchen behaviour.
To fill the casings, I once again used the Waring Pro electric stuffer/grinder. Whereas last time the stuffing went quite smoothly, this time my co-stuffer Niamh and I experienced a range of challenges. We got a lot of big bubbles into the sausages, and managed twice to burst the skins (which didn't happen last time). I had soaked the casings for quite a while first, and they came from the same source as before, so I'm puzzled.
Also, we didn't manage to solve a problem I encountered last time: some of the sausages refused to hold their seal, leaving us with filling pushing out one end. Were we filling the casings too full? Was I twisting the links too tightly? Did I use too big a pipe to fill them?
Niamh is keen to try again, so perhaps we will answer these questions ourselves. Meanwhile, I plan to read up on other Charcutepaloozan experiences to see whether I can find the answers to these and other intriguing sausage questions.
Photos by Niamh Malcolm (for which many thanks!)
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Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting dilemma. Does your electric stuffer let you control its speed? This is one variable I can think of that might cause the air bubbles and the splitting in one batch but not another.
Also, there's some technique to how quickly you fill the hopper and force meat down the tube that seems to affect bubbles. I can't really describe what I do other than to say (and I know this is aggravating) it's just something you get the hang of. Remember that it's perfectly acceptable to poke bubbles with a clean pin to release air either mid-stuffing or once a casing is full.
You might also want to try waiting to tie the bottom end of the casing until you finish stuffing it (but before you remove the other end from the feed tube). If you're working with two people one of you should be able to hold it closed except when occasionally letting some air escape.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean about the sausages not holding their seal. Do you mean that the links are leaking into each other? I've had this happen and the best thing to do about it is be diligent about spinning the links in alternating directions so that you don't "unspin" links A and B when you're "spinning" link C.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
-David.
Thanks, David! I am sure 90% of the problems solve themselves after you've done this 50 or 60 times.
ReplyDeleteThe problem we're having is the twisted end of the casing untwisting and opening up so the filling pushes out one end. It happens with about one-third of the sausages.