My meat grinder is on the way

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redwood carlos

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Mar 12, 2013
369
29
Redwood City, Ca
I made some of pops sausage from rib trimmings over the weekend with my grandmother's manual grinder. VERY GOOD BTW!!!  It was quite time consuming and messy (maybe I was doing something wrong)

As I am sure you all know it feels great to know what you are eating in your ground meats. Never being one to want to buy an entry model only to have to upgrade soon after, and based on suggestions I read here, I went straight for the 3/4 hp Cabela's.
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Looking forward to a good BBQ and grilling season of experimentation.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to share your processes and Qview so that I felt comfortable trying this out. I am so happy I did, my wallet not so much. 
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(I did get it on a sale that apparently is over)

I do have a few questions that I was hoping to get some opinions on.

Any suggestions on specific casings that work well for you or you like using?

I see many of you use a stuffer. What are the benefits if any to this, as opposed to stuffing from the grinder?

Which tubed meat should I attempt first based on success rate?

I read alot about toughening up of casings. Any personal tips to keep the casings from getting hard?

Oh and one more thing any recipes of course would be great.

Links to any threads on the above questions work well too.

Thanks again,

Carlos
 
Carlos, morning.... Congrats on the new grinder.....  You will love it.....    

Stuffer, I have the Grizzly 5# vertical... LEM makes a good one... and Sausage Maker, a sponsor on this site, has very nice vertical stuffers...  

When I make sausage, I prefer natural casings for that "Old World" sausage style... I love the "snap" you get from natural casings... 

I mostly make Andouille Sausage.... a spicy Cajun sausage for jambalaya..... we eat that alot... 

Using a vertical stuffer, makes sausage making easy... using a grinder/stuffer can be a PITA when it comes to making sausage....  If you plan on making large batches of sausage, a 15#  electric stuffer with a foot switch would be handy.... 

There are many neat tools to make you life easier.....

Dave
 
Thanks for the reply Dave. I'm looking forward to making plenty of goodies. I will have to add anouille to the growing list. Not sure I will be able to swing the stuffer quite yet, but if the grinder doesn't gather much dust, I may have to get one. I can see how the stuffer would help any man without three arms.

Supposedly it will be showing up Friday, just in time for some burgers. I plan to try the 1/3 sirloin; 1/3 brisket; 1/3 oxtail mix.
 
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Carlos, morning.... Congrats on the new grinder.....  You will love it.....    

Stuffer, I have the Grizzly 5# vertical... LEM makes a good one... and Sausage Maker, a sponsor on this site, has very nice vertical stuffers...  

When I make sausage, I prefer natural casings for that "Old World" sausage style... I love the "snap" you get from natural casings... 

I mostly make Andouille Sausage.... a spicy Cajun sausage for jambalaya..... we eat that alot... 

Using a vertical stuffer, makes sausage making easy... using a grinder/stuffer can be a PITA when it comes to making sausage....  If you plan on making large batches of sausage, a 15#  electric stuffer with a foot switch would be handy.... 

There are many neat tools to make you life easier.....

Dave
Dave's got you covered..............
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You will love the cabelas grinder I had th 1/2 hp and now sold it to get the 1 hp, they are the best out there. If you want some recipes I would get the sausage book by rytek kutas it has a lot of good info for making sausaage
 
Congrats on the new grinder! I'm pretty sure you'll love it, it's solid and powerful.
 
Congrats on the new grinder! I'm pretty sure you'll love it, it's solid and powerful.
You will love the cabelas grinder I had th 1/2 hp and now sold it to get the 1 hp, they are the best out there. If you want some recipes I would get the sausage book by rytek kutas it has a lot of good info for making sausaage
I am happy with the grinder. Finding a good place to store it is a different story. I will look into that book. I have two friends that want to get some sausages made asap. Funny how people just start letting you know what their favorite sausage is when you bring up the fact that you own a grinder. I was over at a friends family BBQ, and the dad says I really like a good garlic sausage, not too much heat though I can handle that anymore. Seems I am making some garlic sausage amongst the first batch.
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you will love your grinder!!  I use a LEM 3/4hp and love it!!

as far as recipes and general info I found this book excellent:


I ended up getting the 5lb LEM stuffer.  Once I figured out what I was doing it was simple.  The first attempt was pretty pathetic.  but you'll learn

there are also great recipes on here too.  Enjoy!
 
you will love your grinder!!  I use a LEM 3/4hp and love it!!

as far as recipes and general info I found this book excellent:


I ended up getting the 5lb LEM stuffer.  Once I figured out what I was doing it was simple.  The first attempt was pretty pathetic.  but you'll learn

there are also great recipes on here too.  Enjoy!
That is the one weinnmann recommended. Anyone with that name must know his tubed meats so I ordered it on his recommendation. Glad to see a second recommendation to back it up.

Like I said I have friends that are ready to get grinding asap.
 
It really is a great book that will teach you not only about recipes and different styles of sausage but about safety when making sausage.

Here is a simple recipe we use for sausage

5 lbs meat

1 table spoon salt

1 table spoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon sage, this will have to be adjusted to taste

1 clove of garlic minced

1/2-1 cup water depending on your stuffer, if using a horn stuffer use 1 cup if using vertical stuffer or stuffing with a grinder use 1/2 cup.

add cure if smoking, cant remember the amount off the top of my head like the rest of the ingredients.

And always disolve the cure in the water if you are using it. I also measure out the water from boiling water then add the minced garlic and put in the fridge to cool it back off, this seems to help get the garlic taste all through the meat.

Variations

we use the cure even if we are not smoking it because it gives that nice red color and makes it more appetizing

1/2 pound of high temp cheese, don't try the normal cheese at the store it turns to liquid and is not as good

usually we go a little heavier on the garlic because we like garlic, 2 cloves per 5 pounds is right for us.

from there its all in what you want, Cayenne pepper to spice it up, red pepper flakes jalapenos just don't add the juice if they are store bought ones that are cut up already some can be really salty and leave a weird taste.

As far as the book goes try the bratwurst recipe and the breakfast sausage recipe they are both good. The brat recipe is spot on johnsonville taste to me.

AI know where you are coming from with friends asking for sausage last year we did over 300 pounds for friends and family and we turned some of them away because we did not have time. It can be very fun and very rewarding when someone asks where you got the hot dogs at a bbq cause they wanna buy some and then you tell them you made them. Biggest thing for us is we try new things in very small batches to see how we like it, nothing worse than throwing out 10 lbs of meat because it tastes much different than you thought it would.

Any other questions just ask and we will try to help you out
 
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Oh and one last thing my name is a full German name and they have been known to make a decent tasting sausage over the years, some of the recipes we have are passed down for many years and if it wouldnt have been for me some of them would have been lost. No one else at my age in the family has wanted to keep it going but I still make some for the family.
 
Oh and one last thing my name is a full German name and they have been known to make a decent tasting sausage over the years, some of the recipes we have are passed down for many years and if it wouldnt have been for me some of them would have been lost. No one else at my age in the family has wanted to keep it going but I still make some for the family.
Oh boy! The fact that it is a family name gives you far and beyond the credit a screen name gives. Thank you for your posts, and recipe.

A few quick questions:

1. I plan to just grill these fresh, so I do not need the cure right?

2. 5lbs meat. Any meat?

3. I live just north of Gilroy (Nickname: Garlic Capital of the Nation and World) So, I am a bit partial to garlic. I have been known to double and triple recipes, and heck some of them I go off the scale with the garlic. What would you recommend the max amount of garlic to put in these?
 
Oh boy! The fact that it is a family name gives you far and beyond the credit a screen name gives. Thank you for your posts, and recipe.

A few quick questions:

1. I plan to just grill these fresh, so I do not need the cure right?

 Correct unless you are smoking the meat it does not need cure, I still add it just because of the color it gives but that is all.

2. 5lbs meat. Any meat?

    Usually we do 4 lbs prok but to 1 pound venision when we are making it. the venision helps lean the sausage down but you could easily use 4 lbs butts and 1 pound pork loin or cheap lean beef roast. I dont like to use just pork butts as I think it comes out to greasy that way. Some people like more fat to make it juicy but it has been my experience you do not need the extra fat if you cook it at a lower temp on the grill. I like to cook it at medium at the back of my grill because that is a cooler spot and just before its done ,155 deg if doing just pork or 165 for beef and pork, then move the front on high which is a hot spot on my grill to give it a few grill marks. This way keeps the casing from being dry and hard but also is not chewy.

3. I live just north of Gilroy (Nickname: Garlic Capital of the Nation and World) So, I am a bit partial to garlic. I have been known to double and triple recipes, and heck some of them I go off the scale with the garlic. What would you recommend the max amount of garlic to put in these?

If doing it fresh I would start with 2 or 3 cloves for the 5 lbs and then fry a burger, I have found the garlic has a stronger taste when fresh vs frozen or smoked then later cooked.

Good luck let me know how it turns out for you. Do you have a smoker to smoke sausage also?
 
Sounds good I'll probably add a bit of loin.

I have a WSM 22.5" I could smoke it in, with the mini weber as a smoke box, or an amps. Hopefully I can get up to speed on curing/smoking meats in time for my camping trip in August.
 
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Its really a taste preference but I think it can really change how a sausage tastes sometimes good and somtimes not as good. I prefer this sausage fresh but I do most of my brats smoked, no casings just a meat log smoked to form a skin and they are great.
 
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