Help With Homemade Sausage Please

[LPBeier]

I am really hoping for some great advice from the diehard meat cooks out there.

Here is my dilemma. DH has intolerances to a number of things including wheat/gluten, dairy (lactose and casein), and soy, and we are trying to cut out too much refined sugar. He is also suffering from acid refulx which means cutting down on fats and oils, citric acid and other things.

I am trained in special diets and for the most part have no problem adapting meals; however, prepared meat products is beyond my capacity! Trying to buy lunchen meats has become a nightmare - Yesterday I even found the natural meats contain sugar, dextrose, corn syrup solids AND icing sugar.

So, I have started buying chicken, roasts, etc. cooking them up, slicing them on my pro slicer and freezing in "sandwich packs" for ongoing use.

I was precooking bacon and hard boiled eggs for his breakfasts, but he is finding the bacon, no matter how I cook it, is to fatty for his reflux.

I tried making my own sausage patties before, but I used ground pork. For Christmas I got a KA attachment for my Pro model 600 which will allow me to grind my own meat and has a sausage attachment as well. I think I asked a similar question before but I am really serious now and need to know everything I need to make various types of sausages and patties - meat, seasonings, procedures.

You guys are the best and I really respect your advice!

[FrankZ]

Everything you need to know and then some (like if you want to set up a commercial sausage kitchen).

#71200 Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas\

I will say the sausage stuffer for the KA was a bit disappointing when I used it, it worked but it was very slow and a bit finicky.

[LPBeier]

Thanks, Frank. Though a little overwhelming, right now I will definitely look into that.

What I am looking for right now is just tips on how to get started. Something basic.

[Aunt Bea]

Try using ground turkey or ground chicken and spicing it with standard sausage seasonings. You may need to amp up the seasonings a little.

How about Canadian style bacon instead of regular bacon?

[FrankZ]

• Keep the meat cold.
• Make a little bulk sausage and then fry it up to try the recipe before committing a lot of meat to a project.
• The casings need to stay wet to keep them from sticking.
• Try one type of sausage and then move on.
• Don't reduce the fat of the meat, it won't be as much as you think.
• Don't let the sausage setup before stuffing. Grind, water, season, stuff. It has time to set up and mingle later.
• If you plan on smoking it you need to cure it.

That more like what you wanted?

[Uncle Bob]

Maybe stay with bulk sausage until you find meat(s) and seasonings that are both tasty and agreeable to DH....Then do the stuffing process......

[medtran49]

I'll second the not cutting down on the fat in the sausage mixture. We made that mistake when we first started making andouille, thought we'd make it low fat. BLECH.....

[PrincessFiona60]

I agree with Uncle Bob, create the sausage you like before going to the trouble to stuff it into casings.

[LPBeier]

Thanks everyone. This is the basic help I need to get started.

I may be an expert with a cake pan, not bad in the culinary department and can even do some basic meat cutting techniques but when it comes to working with meat in this way (or grilling or smoking), I am a newbie all the way.

Having said that I will ask another (probably silly) question - what are standard sausage spices? Yes, I know I should know this and/or should read the book, but a few hints please?

[Aunt Bea]

I am fond of sage, fennel seed, hot pepper, salt and black pepper. Depends on my mood.