Lessons learned making sausage...

[CWS4322]

I recently purchased a Cuisinart Waring Meat Grinder because I had already purchased pure hog casings a year ago with the intention of crossing "make sausage" off my bucket list. I chopped up all the pork shoulder into 1-1/2" cubes, removed the skin/rind and bone. The bones are getting made into pork stock, the rind rendered into lard (I may be adding that to the dogs' food over time).

I weighed the meat and started with a recipe for breakfast sausage that came with the grinder. I added the seasoning and put everything in a large ziplock bag. Left that in the fridge overnight. Around 8:30 I put it outside on the porch because the porch is colder than my freezer. Last night I put all the parts to the grinder outside. I started grinding at 1:00 p.m.

I thought I would run the meat through the coarse blade and then the medium and then stuff the casings. Running the meat through the coarse grinder was a breeze--didn't work going through the medium grinder and I literally ended up shoving the sausage in the casings by hand (with the help of the wooden cone from my Krumkake iron). Lesson learned-with this appliance, one grinds and stuffs at the same time. I'm about to do the next batch of sausage--Italian Hot Sausage using the medium blade and stuffing at the same time. Hopefully these will not take me 5 hours. Yes--everything should be cold, cold, cold (I had to put my hands under warm water at one point). It is a great meat grinder, but I'm not impressed re: filling the casings (or the instructions on how to do so). We'll see if my opinion changes with this next batch now that I have an idea of what I'm doing.

[Aunt Bea]

If your grinder does not work well for stuffing you can pickup a sausage funnel for under $10.00 that will do the job quite well.

Now that you have done pork are you going to experiment with shrimp, turkey or c*****n?

[CWS4322]

Originally Posted by Aunt Bea

If your grinder does not work well for stuffing you can pickup a sausage funnel for under $10.00 that will do the job quite well.

Now that you have done pork are you going to experiment with shrimp, turkey or c*****n?

It has a funnel (three, in fact). I am going to grind and stuff this next round.

[buckytom]

mmm, cranberry, thyme, and c*****n sausage...

[CWS4322]

Originally Posted by buckytom

mmm, cranberry, thyme, and c*****n sausage...

I was actually thinking turkey, cranberry, and other seasonings. We don't mention the "C" word in front of the ladies.

[buckytom]

turkey's even, umm, i mean t****y's even better.

[PrincessFiona60]

Chicken

[Addie]

Originally Posted by PrincessFiona60

Chicken

Thank you for clarifying that for me. It took me a while, but now I understand what the "C" word is. Blame it on old age. at the wheel!