well i made three kinds of sausage from the same batch of meat. the mixture was ground moose meat, ground pork, pork fat, and beef fat.( i like using beef fat in sausage i've had good luck with it). i made 21# of fresh fry maple breakfast sausage stuffed in lamb casing, 16# of summer sausage stuffed in 2-1/4" collagen casing, and 16# of ukranian garlic stuffed into hog casing. the fresh fry turned out just fine, but both the cured and smoked ones came out way too soft and crumble when lightly manipulated. i have made both before and not had this problem. the only difference is that i used tap water (alkaline) and i did not know that when my wife mixes up the ice water she uses our r.o. water (pH about 5) she was at work at the time and i used tap water. the cure i use is 5% nitrite and seems to work well for everything else. could it be the pH screwing up or am i doing some thing else wrong that i am not considering?
Ok there could be multiple reasons for the crumble texture. With the info given it may be: -not enough time for meat to set after mixing I recommend over night in the fridge before cooking. -the fats may have interfered with the bind in the first place if not kept very cold! Fat will coat the protein and inhibit proper binding. -possibly over cooked -possibly not stuffed tight enough - the game meat may have been too acidic going in to the mix. This also interferes with binding Possible solutions: -Try grinding and mixing the meat first with the salt. Then add the fat in. All kept very cold. -try and keep the beef fat under 10% and total fat under 25% - don’t cook past 165 internal temp Hope this helps 👍👍
Wow! That’s delicious! Gotta make me some of that!
It warms the soul!!!
Nice hearty broth mate 👍🏻
thanks so much! :) hope all is good
i had a terrible time with sausage this weekend. is there any chance you might answer some questions i have?
Sure, what’s the issue ?
well i made three kinds of sausage from the same batch of meat. the mixture was ground moose meat, ground pork, pork fat, and beef fat.( i like using beef fat in sausage i've had good luck with it). i made 21# of fresh fry maple breakfast sausage stuffed in lamb casing, 16# of summer sausage stuffed in 2-1/4" collagen casing, and 16# of ukranian garlic stuffed into hog casing. the fresh fry turned out just fine, but both the cured and smoked ones came out way too soft and crumble when lightly manipulated. i have made both before and not had this problem. the only difference is that i used tap water (alkaline) and i did not know that when my wife mixes up the ice water she uses our r.o. water (pH about 5) she was at work at the time and i used tap water. the cure i use is 5% nitrite and seems to work well for everything else. could it be the pH screwing up or am i doing some thing else wrong that i am not considering?
Ok there could be multiple reasons for the crumble texture. With the info given it may be:
-not enough time for meat to set after mixing I recommend over night in the fridge before cooking.
-the fats may have interfered with the bind in the first place if not kept very cold! Fat will coat the protein and inhibit proper binding.
-possibly over cooked
-possibly not stuffed tight enough
- the game meat may have been too acidic going in to the mix. This also interferes with binding
Possible solutions:
-Try grinding and mixing the meat first with the salt. Then add the fat in. All kept very cold.
-try and keep the beef fat under 10% and total fat under 25%
- don’t cook past 165 internal temp
Hope this helps 👍👍