First time Brats w/Q-View - Thanks Princess!!

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hilbillyinca

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Feb 8, 2009
93
11
Martinez, CA
Ok - - Kicked off my second run at Sausage with much better results. Many thanks to Princess for the Green Bay Brat walkthrough.

I didn't follow your recipe exactly, I kind of hodgepodged it with a couple of others I found on our fourms. 

Mine came out great, but I might have over-seasoned just a bit. (Perhaps I should followed Princess' recipe to the T.

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spices all lined up and ready to go!  Spice mix, egg, milk, finely chopped onion and garlic.

d38ddca4_brat2.jpg


The Meat: 3.5lb Pork Shoulder, 3/4lb Ribeye, 1/2lb Bacon.

8d2416d1_brat4.jpg


The Grinding:  This was my first grind with my new grinder. I tried the smaller grind size first and it just turned to mush.  I had put my meat in the freezer for an hour or so, I think it should have been a little bit colder. Specifically, the bacon. It seems to warm up very quickly.

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Primed and Ready. Wet ingredients and spices mixed in with the meat.

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Little soldiers all in a row.

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The end result. Who needs Veggies!!

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Very Juicy, definitely enough fat.  I think I'd like it to be a little more "chunky" inside. I'm thinking after another couple of runs, I'll go ahead and make the investment in a better grinder.

I definitely love the process, and the results.

I bought a cheapo 30$ ginder/stuffer because I didn't want to sink a lot of $$ into something I might not use.  Well now I know.

Thanks again to everyone who posts on this forum.  What a great place!
 
Thats some great looking sausage. Like ya said and now that your hooked you can go get that grinder , you wont be sorry. Thanks for the pics, have to go to kitchen and have some chips or something. LOL
 
Actually if I'm seeing this correctly, I'm not sure you need another grinder (not that an upgrade wouldn't be nice if you are going to do any size volume).  Instead, you mentioned that you wanted the meat corser.  With your grinder also being your stuffer you really are grinding the meat twice, which I do on hotdogs and pepper sticks, but not on brats.  I'd say invest in a vertical stuffer so you only have to grind once if you want to leave things corser.  Just my 2 cents.  Great looking brats though.
 
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Hillbilly Great Looking Brats...

Are you using a stuffing plate with your manual grinder?

You should be using a plate like this when stuffing and not the same plate you used to grind the meat with...

 
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Thanks, and actually, I'm using something similar. It's a 3 pronged star (not the blade) that came with my stuffer. I had a previous post on here asking exactly what this piece was for. The fine folks here on the forum explained to me that it was used to stabilize the auger.

So yeah, I was not "grinding" the meat a second time, but I have a feeling, the Auger-style stuffer is still really breaking down the texture of the original grind as it pushes the meat through. 

Well, overall, not too shabby for a second run. If improve as much on the second-to-third run as I did on the first-to-second run, I'll be a pro in no time!
 
Hillbilly Great Looking Brats...

Are you using a stuffing plate with your manual grinder?

You should be using a plate like this when stuffing and not the same plate you used to grind the meat with...

 
Personally i don't like to use my grinder as a stuffer to much meat gets left behind i have a separate stuffer!! But those are some great looking sausage. Man homemade sausage is the best you'll never go back to that store bought stuff!!!
 
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Yea I would say that you need another grinder unless you like the fore arm workout. Then your young to. But us old fat guys like the new electric grinders and the vertical stuffer is the bomb. Now your sausage looks awesome and I know it taste good cause I have been on a sausage making kick lately. I have about 80lbs in the freezer for now. When you look for grinders northern tools has a good one with metal gears too. Don't get the small grinder from Gander Mtn. for they can't even get parts an pieces for their own grinders. But a word of wisdom don't try to grind up the dog or cat the wife will get really mad. I have a dog now we call tri-pod.
 
Hillbilly, What size grinder do you have (#10, #8, #5 etc.)?

What size plate did you do the initial grind trough (Hole Size)? 

If you are not sure the size of the grinder what is the diameter of the grinding plate?

You may just need to use a larger grinding plate to increase the coarseness (Texture) of the meat.  These hand grinders were used for many, many years before the electric grinder came along...
 
Be wary of the meat grinders that have any plastic on the body.  Especially the ones that boast "2000 watts" or something similar.  I have personally bought 4 different grinders.  

1 Really cheap one that melted 10 minutes after using it (i was trying to do a whole deer) 

2 $75 version that didn't melt but it took me 2 hours to grind a deer.  It would have been less work to use a hand crank model.  Like most electronic devices that anger me: it gets shot.

3  $300 Cabelas 1/3 HP.  This ones all SS and works OK if you cut the meat into small pieces.  The throat is maybe 3" in diameter  It'll stuff larger sausage OK, but sucks for snack sticks and smaller stuff.  If you have 2 people operating it, you can pump out a 15# batch of sausage pretty quickly.  This ones OK but I wouldn't buy it again.

4  Commercial model that was bought at an auction for $40.  I estimate that it was built around 1762.  Motor weighs in at 125#s and the grinder head assembly is easily 40#s.  Business end is 6"  and motor states 1/2 HP.   I trimmed an entire deer just to see how fast it would grind it and couldn't feed it fast enough.  Not very portable but you can feed this thing 2x4s

My 2 cents would be to use the hand model as long as you can and spring for a nice one.  Keep your eye out for a medium sized commercial model.  You see em every once in a while on Craigslist.  You can also find grinders that have a wheel on them to attach to an electric motor with a belt.

Hope this helps!
 
Hillbilly, What size grinder do you have (#10, #8, #5 etc.)?

What size plate did you do the initial grind trough (Hole Size)? 

If you are not sure the size of the grinder what is the diameter of the grinding plate?

You may just need to use a larger grinding plate to increase the coarseness (Texture) of the meat.  These hand grinders were used for many, many years before the electric grinder came along...
I agree with beer-b-q. Most of my sausage is ground with a 7mm plate. The size should be located on the side of the plate. check to see what sizes came with your grinder. I used a # 10 hand grinder for years which I still use occasionally. I had to go buy the 7mm plate for my hand grinder. It only came with the 4.5 and 9mm plate.  I would keep the grinder. try it again with a 7mm plate and stuff. If it still mushes when filling I would move up to a 5lb vertical stuffer.

oh!!! had to edit....Nice job on the sausage. Looks tasty

 .
 
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It's a #10 LEM from Bass Pro.

All metal, not stainless.

I'm not sure the diameter of the grinder plate, but I wound up using the bigger of the two.

I think the biggest reasons are did not get a really pretty grind are:

1. I didn't let the cut up meat sit in the freezer long enough. I few of the outside were getting a little hard, but the majority of the meat wasn't as cold as it should have been.

2. I need something better to push the meat into the grinder with. Using my hand, was just warming up the meat before it went in.

But, as I think I said earlier, if I gain as much knowledge from this run, as I did on my first run, then my 3rd batch will be phenomenal!
 
Hillbilly, What size grinder do you have (#10, #8, #5 etc.)?

What size plate did you do the initial grind trough (Hole Size)? 

If you are not sure the size of the grinder what is the diameter of the grinding plate?

You may just need to use a larger grinding plate to increase the coarseness (Texture) of the meat.  These hand grinders were used for many, many years before the electric grinder came along...
 
Wooo!! Great work and congrats to the Vondervul Vorld of Sausage!! I am so glad! Whoo! Were they more moist this time?

If I add bacon or salt pork to my sausage mix, I usually freeze and fine dice the fattest parts and DON'T grind them. I just grind the meaty bits. Maybe it's the way I make my bacon, but bacon fat turns to paste WAAAYYY too fast for me!

Cheers!

-Princess
 
Great looking, beautiful juicy little sausages, if you ask me !

I could stand a few of them fraternizing with 2 or 3 eggs on my breakfast plate!

Thanks for showing,

Bear
 
Yuppers, they were actually a little toooo fatty methinks..  I glossed over the part of your original thread that listed the Shoulder as being "trimmed".. I took that big ole fatty side and ground it right in there!

Next time, I'll be using the Nonfat milk powder approach as well.
Wooo!! Great work and congrats to the Vondervul Vorld of Sausage!! I am so glad! Whoo! Were they more moist this time?

If I add bacon or salt pork to my sausage mix, I usually freeze and fine dice the fattest parts and DON'T grind them. I just grind the meaty bits. Maybe it's the way I make my bacon, but bacon fat turns to paste WAAAYYY too fast for me!

Cheers!

-Princess
 
In my 1st Summer Sausage post (there are two of them) I show how much is lost to trim and the like. Deciding what goes and what stays is hard!

I'm also putting together a post on the Care and Feeding of an Electric Grinder and I show what Too Much Fat can do to your grinder's die... icky fat schmear. :P

Cheers!

-Princess

 
Yuppers, they were actually a little toooo fatty methinks..  I glossed over the part of your original thread that listed the Shoulder as being "trimmed".. I took that big ole fatty side and ground it right in there!

Next time, I'll be using the Nonfat milk powder approach as well.

 
 
I went back and looked at your picture of the first grind. It looks like there is something not going right there. Ive been making sausage for a long time and some people put meat in the freezer before grinding. I'm not saying its not a good idea but I never had the need to pre chill the meat. I always just cut it up in 2 inch chucks and pushed it in with my fingers like you did  with my #10 hand grinder and it ground just fine. Look at the grinder, inspect the rear nylon bushing and see if it is not mashed from the auger. The meat coming out of the grinder lookes like the cutting blade had backed away from the grinding plate. Even without chilling the meat it should not look like that. are you adding the liquid before grinding. adding liquid should be done after the meat has been ground...... just a thought
 
 some people put meat in the freezer before grinding. I'm not saying its not a good idea but I never had the need to pre chill the meat.
I'm one of those freezer-people I just do it to keep it cold-cold-cold.  I don't like my meat to get over that 40 degree mark if I can help it.

-Princess
 
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