Tips on making your own sausages

[flyingjase]

Just bought myself a commercial meat grinder as I was bored with the manual one taking ages / getting stuck every time I make my own burgers. It has come with 3 different sausage filler attachments.

Not sure where to start or even where you buy the sausage skin from/

Does anyone here make there own? and can they share some tips on getting it right?

Thanks

[ibisti]

Getting skins is easy, just look on eBay for sausage casings or skins. Go for the natural instead of the collagen, gives much better results. When young ring the meat keep it cause to get more texture. Also the better the ingredients the better the sausage. Use decent bread crumbs made from a good loaf of bread, you will need roughly 10% of crumbs to meat and then some cold water mixed in to keep them moist. Also part freeze the meat as it will mince much better cold. Have a look on YouTube and there are a few vids of people sausage making which I found interesting when I first started making my own.

[Output Flange]

I sometimes get my casings from the local butcher - they make their own sausages, so they've always got them.

As said, the meat gets warmer when you mince it, so start with it well chilled.

Getting the right ratio of meat to rusk takes a bit of practice, as does getting the seasoning correct. There are plenty of good recipes on t'internet though - have a look at ::SausageMaking.org:: for starters.

You'll also need a bit of practice in filling the casings properly - on a motor-driven machine it can come in fits and starts as you feed it through, and you need to avoid air pockets.

Just experiment and have fun - you'll soon decide how you prefer yours.

[flyingjase]

Thanks for the info & link.

As you say, I guess it's practice, I have 3 different sizes of sausage nozzle, I guess the casing as 1 size fits all.

Anyway, I think I'll just give it a go and make a fool of myself to start with.