TheHardWay
Lil-Rokslider
I tend to use spices from butcher-packer.com. Their packets are made for 25 lbs of meat, but I discovered there wasn't enough flavor to my liking, so I us it for 20-23 lbs ( 16-17 pounds of elk meat and 4-5 pound of pure pork fat to get me in the ~20% fat range)
For sausage, I blend the seasoning with 1.5-2 cups of water before adding the mixture to the meat. Water helps to keep the sausage mixture from being too solid/sticky when stuffing into casings.
For grinding, I prefer to coarse grind the meat and then the fat separately. Then combine the coarse ground meat, coarse ground fat, and seasoning and then mix throughly by hand. Next I'll do a fine grind of the mixture (helps it to stuff casings consistently, and breaks up/removes more of the tougher silver skin bouncers. I hate taking a bite and getting a chunk of rubbery meat! Final step is to use a stuffer to put the sausage into casings. I found it goes a lot smoother with an actual stuffer rather than trying to stuff casings with a grinder attachment. If using fresh hog casings, be sure to thoroughly rinse off the salt, and soak the casings for 45-60 minutes in lukewarm water before attempting to stuff. This will make the casings really flexible and less likely to burst when stuffing.
I also like to add some diced Hatch green chilies and hi-temp cheese to my sausage (5-7%). I'll do this after the fine grind and before stuffing so the the chunks of chilie and cheese don't get ground up in the grinder.
I use the same process for loose sausage, such as breakfast or italian for spaghetti sauce except I'll shoot it directly into the poly bags out the grinder during the fine grind step.
For sausage, I blend the seasoning with 1.5-2 cups of water before adding the mixture to the meat. Water helps to keep the sausage mixture from being too solid/sticky when stuffing into casings.
For grinding, I prefer to coarse grind the meat and then the fat separately. Then combine the coarse ground meat, coarse ground fat, and seasoning and then mix throughly by hand. Next I'll do a fine grind of the mixture (helps it to stuff casings consistently, and breaks up/removes more of the tougher silver skin bouncers. I hate taking a bite and getting a chunk of rubbery meat! Final step is to use a stuffer to put the sausage into casings. I found it goes a lot smoother with an actual stuffer rather than trying to stuff casings with a grinder attachment. If using fresh hog casings, be sure to thoroughly rinse off the salt, and soak the casings for 45-60 minutes in lukewarm water before attempting to stuff. This will make the casings really flexible and less likely to burst when stuffing.
I also like to add some diced Hatch green chilies and hi-temp cheese to my sausage (5-7%). I'll do this after the fine grind and before stuffing so the the chunks of chilie and cheese don't get ground up in the grinder.
I use the same process for loose sausage, such as breakfast or italian for spaghetti sauce except I'll shoot it directly into the poly bags out the grinder during the fine grind step.
