First Attempt at Breakfast Sausage

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mneeley490

Master of the Pit
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Jun 23, 2011
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Everett, WA
I made these for the first time this week, first thing I've tried with my new 5lb. LEM sausage stuffer.  Wow, that's a lot easier than using a jerky gun.

I'm happy to say that I didn't experience any of the problems that plagued Dirtsailer's. Cranking was a little harder than I expected, though. But it

worked fine, and I was happy to see how little "extra" meat there was after the plunger hits bottom. Only what was in the groove and tube.
Used the LEM mixes for regular and maple, just so I could get sort of a baseline as to the flavors they provide. I did a fry test the night I stuffed,

and wasn't real impressed with the flavor, but after a few days in the fridge, it was much better. Next time I'll probably try a real recipe. I also

discovered that collagen casings aren't very good at holding a twist.
Since I was up to my wrists in ground pork, I didn't get any pics of the process, but here is one of the finished product that I fried this morning.

 
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Heck, they look just fine to me. Ya, collagen casings are not the best for twisting links.  For links it's natural for me.  For those thinner links sheep casings are what you want but I find them hard to prep so I go with hog casings or bulk for breakfast sausage. We used to call the breakfast sausage that we made in hog casings "country sausage".  Just stuffed a foot and a half or so and coiled it up and sold it that way.  Or you can make links  the size of brats.  All good.  Reinhard.
 
if its a little hard to crank add a bit more water and mix it in well. was advice i was given on here !!!

works quite well on the 19mm pepperoni sticks..

Goliath
 
One more tip on that stuffer that works for me.  I spray the inside of the stuffer, inside of the tube, and the "plunger" with Pam or a product like it.  Makes it easy to clean everything up later.  Reinhard.
 
 
One more tip on that stuffer that works for me.  I spray the inside of the stuffer, inside of the tube, and the "plunger" with Pam or a product like it.  Makes it easy to clean everything up later.  Reinhard.
I bought some Haynes Lubri-Film Plus in a tube from LEM. A food-safe lubricant. Put some on the gasket of the plunger, but didn't think to apply to anything else. 

The texture of the meat seemed fine, it was loose and coming out of the tube easily. Maybe my son, who was cranking, was making it look harder than it was.
 
The spray I spoke of really has nothing to do with how easy the sausage mix comes out of the tube.  The correct amount of water added to per pound of mix is important in the process. Do a search of various recipes and step by steps on this site and see if you can match proper water/beer to what you made.  Over the years, I have found this to be important, especially when you use a binder and let the mix set overnight in the fridge.  Your final result before stuffing should be a "sticky" texture.  The flow of the mix should be smooth into the casings.  Over time you will find out that amounts of moisture [water/beer] will vary depending on the type of sausage you make.  Keep asking questions, there are plenty of us who will try to help you out.  Reinhard.
 
Thanks! Even with the wrong casings, I think it was a decent first try. Next time, though, I will use an actual recipe rather than a mix.
 
 
if its a little hard to crank add a bit more water and mix it in well. was advice i was given on here !!!

works quite well on the 19mm pepperoni sticks..

Goliath
Of course its an LEM....

<slaps face> I don't know where that came from.......LOL

Nice looking sausages. Ihad problems with my first breakfast links, then I learned that after freezing it sort of sets the meat or the casing whatever and they don't grow out of the casing anymore.

I also use natural casing, never tryed collegen. Only problem you have with natural is the sheep casings are a bit small and getting them started on the tube can be a pita. But as my experience increased loading and extruding them got easier for the most part. The sheep casings are a bit pricie but once you see one I can understand why that is...LOL

Neely those are some sweet looking links, you should have seen my first attempt. You might check on using Pop's recipe. Its just about perfect to me. I can sometimes add pepper flakes to heat it up or a little maple syrup to make those pancake links.... but his basic recipe I keep in my sausage making box already mixed up. I always seem to have about 3 pounds of sausage left over after a pair of butts are denboned and ground. Since most recipes are either 5 or 10 pounders around here, I seem to always have a bit left over and I think it is wonderful that way. Make andouille or smoked sausages, have a little felt for breakfast the next AM. I don't wantta make a lot, I want it to always be a pleasant by product of making other types.

Great job man. Its an adiction, but its legal and delicious!
 
Great looking links! not sure I should try to make sausage or bacon it might not be good for me!
 
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