# making breakfast sausage cant find pork fat help



## pandemonium (Jan 23, 2010)

none of my local butchers sell fat?? what can i use?


----------



## fire it up (Jan 23, 2010)

I don't see why you couldn't use the fat off of a butt or picnic.


----------



## pineywoods (Jan 23, 2010)

Pork butts should contain about 30% fat thats what I use


----------



## tasunkawitko (Jan 23, 2010)

that's what i'd do ~ should be able to simply grind up a pork butt or picnic.


----------



## pandemonium (Jan 23, 2010)

yes i am using a but, but even using all the fat with it it is still too lean, when you fry a patty and it burns and there is no grease in pan means a little lean to me. hmm


----------



## tasunkawitko (Jan 23, 2010)

in that case, a couple of ideas:

first, you should be able to get back fat, i would think any butcher had trimmings lying around, or even trimmings from shoulders.

another thing to try might be adding some salt pork. i have seen a couple of sausage recipes calling for bacon to be ground up in them, but i would think salt pork would be better since it isn't cured/smoked. either way, that might add the right amount of fat.


----------



## pandemonium (Jan 23, 2010)

yes i bought a little pack of pork belly fat so will try that thanks


----------



## justsmoke2 (Jan 23, 2010)

Just add a little oil, evoo, thats what I do.  I kinda like the leaner sausage now.


----------



## bustintires (Jan 23, 2010)

grind up some bacon


----------



## hog warden (Jan 24, 2010)

Only one local store, out of about 8 different stores/chains, sells pork fat, as such. Marked as "pork fat for seasoning" @ 49 cents a pound. But they also sell pork snoots, ears, upland "oysters", chicken feet and a variety of other exotic stuff found no where else in town. My favorite place.

As for the other stores, I've had mostly no luck. Either they don't butcher or trim locally, or they use the trimmings themselves to make brats and Italian, or simply tell me "we don't sell that".

Slab bacon would be an option, as would fresh side meat or fresh jowl. One store sells 5 pound boxes of "ends and pieces" of cured bacon......but that is mostly fat. What cure there is in it would likely not be noticeable in a sausage.


----------



## cheech (Jan 24, 2010)

Often you can get pork trimmings and that will work too. Generally around 15-20% fat. 
I have a few friends that when they butcher their hogs save me the fat but before they grew their hogs I would order the trimmings. 
Also you may want to get in the habit of saving larger chunks of fat from shoulders/butts when doing pulled pork then freeze it until needed.


----------



## bbq engineer (Jan 24, 2010)

Since you will be grinding your own, this is what I suggest...

I always remove the fat cap from my butts. I do this for many reasons but the most prominent are that smoke won't penetrate to the meaty portion that I actually want smoke to penetrate, and I love the bark / smoke ring and get this when I rub the actual meat that I want to eat. Since I remove the fat cap on mine, I have started saving them back in the freezer for when I grind up a butt for sausage. If it is a little lean then I add a fat cap from a previously smoked butt. Works like a champ.


----------



## got14u (Jan 24, 2010)

If you can't find any I would do what TAZ said and find some salt pork. One thing to remember also is to save all your bacon grease and use it when frying up lean sausage. I have used a lot of straight butts and just needed to add a little pork grease when cooking. GOOD luck !


----------



## meat hunter (Jan 24, 2010)

I know what you mean there. I use all butts when I make fresh breakfast sausage, just made some the other week in fact. It is very lean, IF you compare it to say jimmy dean sausage which is loaded with fat. 

When I fry mine up, I cannot set it in the pan and walk away, it will burn as it is "leaner" than store bought. When we cook breakfast on the weekends, I'll cook up one pound of sausage that I made and there will be maybe 1/2 tbl of grease or less in the pan. 

But the trade of is, a superior and healthier product that rivals any commercial made sausage. 

If you think it is too lean, just start saving any trimmings from ribs and such. In fact, if you eat pork chops, they usually have a fair amount of fat on the edges. I have a nice "collection of fat" just from pork chops that I keep for sausage recipes. We have several butcher shops around here, and no one has pork fat for sale so thats what I have to do.


----------



## ringodad (Jan 24, 2010)

When I do breakfast sausage I go and get a box of bacon ends and pieces. If you can't find that, just get the cheapest fatty bacon you can find. I use a pound per 7-8 pounds of pork butt and it seems to come out nicely.


----------



## jerseyhunter (Jan 24, 2010)

You can always add beef fat/suet as you won't be adding much. Many sausages contain a mixture of meats.


----------



## pandemonium (Jan 24, 2010)

ok well it turned out a little fattier than last time i made it, i think the problem was the first time i made it it was from a publix but and this was a sams but, i think they trim more fat off at publix? but from now on i will save my fat cap from pulled pork buts. and that salt belly made it pretty salty but its ok


----------



## mballi3011 (Jan 24, 2010)

I have been around looking myself for pork or beef fat and I have found at Winn Dixie they will sell you fat at about .33lb and Publix will also at about .50lb but Sam's wouldn't sell you any but I'm still tring to meet the butcher kid at the dumpster and old trick we used as kids and make the switch there. Now I have found a butcher or two that would sell me some but they want 1.00lb so I don't go there unless I'm jonesing for some sausage.


----------



## dnovotny (Feb 4, 2010)

next time you are looking for fat and you can't  grind up  some pork butts  go to  sausagemaker.com and they  have a fat replacer  that's  really good.. worth  a look


----------



## b8h8r (Feb 4, 2010)

If you have any local wild game processors, they may be able to help you out.


----------



## mulepackin (Feb 4, 2010)

Ditto this. I usually get 3# packages in the bacon case of most grocery stores around here. I've used them very successfully in salami, summer sausage, polish, snack sticks. I just eyeball for a fat percentage, and calculate from there. I usually go with an 80-20 lean to fat ratio. Here are some along with some butts I used in my last (failed) batch of sticks.


----------



## bb53chevpro (Feb 5, 2010)

If you feel that you need more fat, you could just add some lard. Since it is rendered down fat. Should be able to buy it anywhere.


----------



## pops6927 (Feb 5, 2010)

What he said!  Pure pork fat with the impurities cooked out of it.  Used to save all the fat from the hog and grind it into bags for the farmer's wife to render it down (put it in loaf pans and bake in the oven, then cool, cut and wrap in oil paper and freeze).  But, if my mom knew I was cutting hogs she'd come downstairs (we lived over the grocery store) and beg for a half a bag of it if it could be spared so she could render down her own... it made THE BEST pie crusts you ever had!  She guarded that lard in her freezer (her sister would come and steal it!).


----------



## grogger27 (Feb 11, 2010)

I just usually ask for 50/50 pork trim a fews days before I need it, and the local grocery store butcher has for me everytime. He's even offered to order in some trim if I wanted some.
Good luck


----------



## rstr hunter (Feb 12, 2010)

Most grocery stores will still sell lard by the butter area as most pie crust recipes still call for lard.  Lard is just pork fat that's been rendered and then allowed to harden.  If you want pork fat this is pure pork fat that should be available at most stores.  Hope this helps.


----------



## marknb (Feb 15, 2010)

What you need to do if you can is make friends with the folks that own or run a small local meat shop.  Even better, buy half a pig from a local farmer.  I live in a fairly low population but still urban area, but I have a choice of people I could be buying locally produced critters and varmints from not that far away.  My local shop can get me whatever I need with a few days notice - the owner supplies his own beef, their pork supplier is an operation about a 45min drive from here.

The chain stores don't really cut meat like they used to in the old days (I'm not that old, 41).  I can still remember seeing actual sides of beef hanging in the back coolers at the local grocery stores.  They don't get their meat that way anymore, it comes in chunks in big vac bags.  Chances are your local chain grocery store can't get you the fat you need because it never came to them in the first place.


----------



## pandemonium (Feb 18, 2010)

Cool thanks for the info everyone


----------



## scarbelly (Feb 18, 2010)

The last time I made sausage the pork shoulder was real lean so I eliminated the salt from the ingredients and added some salt pork. Worked well for me


----------

