• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Home Made Sausage, Cured, and Smoked Meats

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071
Just cooked our first one. Sauteed on low medium, caramelizing the casing, and used an insta-read thermometer to bring it to an internal temp of 155. My god, so good. The texture is so perfect, it was so juicy, and the cilantro is so pleasant. First try = complete success.

Thanks for participating in the thread and sharing my interest in this. If anyone wants to try this, I can now help with equipment and sourcing.
 

DNW

Distinguished Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2006
Messages
9,976
Reaction score
6
Originally Posted by Piobaire
If anyone wants to try this, I can now help with equipment and sourcing.
Eh? How about just boxing up a six pack of those and sending them my way? I don't have time to do the work.
smile.gif
 

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071
Originally Posted by DarkNWorn
Eh? How about just boxing up a six pack of those and sending them my way? I don't have time to do the work.
smile.gif

laugh.gif
We were just joking about the people that stand outside some stores, selling homemade tamales, as we have a recipe for chorizo and could go sell that in parking lots.
laugh.gif
I will be trying that recipe as if the texture difference is as great between store bought vs. homemade as these sausages, it will elevate chorizo to a heavenly food.
 

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071
Originally Posted by texas_jack
Ok, I'm into this. I just got my first sausage maker. I'm looking for a straight forward recipe for a basic tasty sausage. Any reccs?

First, I can't recommend Ruhlman's book, Charcuterie, enough. I'll assume you've got info on the basics, and just need a recipe. Here's his "master" recipe ratio for fresh sausage:

5# meat and fat
40 grams Kosher salt (he's big on weighing, as salt comes in so many size grains, so volume is problematic)
Seasonings
1 cup ice cold water

This is the first recipe he gives:

5# pork butt
40 gr Kosher salt
10 gr black pepper
54 gr (3 tbsp) minced garlic
1 cup chilled red wine

Use 10 ft of hog casings to stuff.
 

Douglas

Stupid ass member
Spamminator Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2007
Messages
14,243
Reaction score
2,166
I assume the purpose of the cold is for antibacterial purposes?

I have only participated in the making of sausage once, at a hog "slaughter" I suppose you'd call it. I work with some country folks, and one of them and a few of his friends all raise hogs and a few head of cattle and over the course of a few weekends in December/January, they slaughter all the hogs and break them down into meat for the year. It's an impressive event - several families, the men, women, and children together, all show up and everyone has a job. Some of the more experienced guys are cutting the big pieces like hams and ribs on a band saw, others of us were at big tables trimming skin, bones, cartilage, and fat off the smaller pieces and scraps, everything in its own bucket. Meanwhile, some of the girls are boiling the head and the other bones, and the head parts and other small scraps get swept up into corn meal for scrapple, the skin and fat are cooked on a giant burner so the fat renders out into lard, which of course gets used, and the skin turns into "cracklins" aka pork rinds. The bigger chunks of meat are mixed on a giant table and turned into sausage. All along, others are working to vacuum seal all the cuts and put them in a freezer. I left in the early afternoon, as some of the hams and bacon were headed for the smokehouse, a small wooden building about the size of a generous outhouse.

The cold is taken care of because we're working in an un-climate-controlled garage in wintertime.

I'll be damned if every single shred of each hog didn't get used for something. It was a great way to learn to respect the source of the meat I consume.

Looks like a lot of work, Pio, but fun, and no doubt very rewarding.
 

kwilkinson

Having a Ball
Joined
Nov 21, 2007
Messages
32,245
Reaction score
884
Originally Posted by Douglas
I assume the purpose of the cold is for antibacterial purposes?

It's mostly because that gives it the best texture. Keeping it cold keeps the fat from melting and smearing all over into the meat mixture. You can make the sausage without it being cold, but it wouldn't be as fine a texture, but more rustic. It's like making pie dough.
 

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071
Originally Posted by kwilkinson
It's mostly because that gives it the best texture. Keeping it cold keeps the fat from melting and smearing all over into the meat mixture. You can make the sausage without it being cold, but it wouldn't be as fine a texture, but more rustic. It's like making pie dough.

That is how it is explained and I followed the precautions strictly. I have to tell you, the texture of this sausage makes all store bought seem like garbage. It was a great revelation for me. I think my careful, gentle saute and monitoring internal temp to only 155 played a part too. Fat was not lost in the cooking and it was just the juiciest, best textured sausage I've ever had. Ruhlman waxes poetic in his book, and now I know why.
 

why

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9,505
Reaction score
368
Originally Posted by Piobaire
Fat was not lost in the cooking and it was just the juiciest, best textured sausage I've ever had.

Some fat should be lost -- that's the purpose of the extra fat in most sausages. Otherwise the sausage tastes like boiled meat. I'm sure this is the case of what happened with yours, so don't take that as an affront.

The only sausage I make at home regularly is livermush because I can't buy it north of the Mason Dixon line. There's a few really good butchers around here that make great sausages (except for blood and livermush). Kielbasa, smoked bratwursts, Italian, etc.
 

Piobaire

Not left of center?
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
81,723
Reaction score
63,071
Originally Posted by why
Some fat should be lost -- that's the purpose of the extra fat in most sausages. Otherwise the sausage tastes like boiled meat. I'm sure this is the case of what happened with yours, so don't take that as an affront.

The only sausage I make at home regularly is livermush because I can't buy it north of the Mason Dixon line. There's a few really good butchers around here that make great sausages (except for blood and livermush). Kielbasa, smoked bratwursts, Italian, etc.


Some fat was lost, but it was minimal compared to what often happens. Part of this was due to the careful cooking; split casing leads to a dry sausage. Again, I have to say, this whole thing has been a revelation in just how good a sausage can be.

Yes, you are lucky with the current food scene in Cleveland. Some old school places are still there, and some quality newer ones have developed.
 

Douglas

Stupid ass member
Spamminator Moderator
Joined
Aug 17, 2007
Messages
14,243
Reaction score
2,166
Originally Posted by kwilkinson
It's mostly because that gives it the best texture. Keeping it cold keeps the fat from melting and smearing all over into the meat mixture. You can make the sausage without it being cold, but it wouldn't be as fine a texture, but more rustic. It's like making pie dough.

Ah, I understand now. Makes sense. Thank you.
 

why

Distinguished Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9,505
Reaction score
368
Originally Posted by Piobaire
Yes, you are lucky with the current food scene in Cleveland. Some old school places are still there, and some quality newer ones have developed.
Outside of a few, it's not all it's cracked up to be. The old ethnic stuff is great, but the West Side Market is pretty crappy outside of a few vendors that now do most of their business through their own storefronts. There are too many imitators. It's nice to see Michael Symon not let his celebrity get to his head and keep his restaurants as they were pre-Iron Chef. I went to the Velvet Tango Room again a few weeks ago and it was so affected and crowded we just left. I'm talking most of the girls dressed up as vamps and the kitschy paintings purposely hung lopsided kind of contrivance.
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,161
Messages
10,579,019
Members
223,882
Latest member
anykadaimeni
Top