Go to the Recipe: Homemade Sausage: Like a Master, With a Master
One question regarding the spice mix. If I understand correctly there are equal parts of all the spices and salt in the mix - so equal parts of coriander, caraway, marjoram, rosemary, and salt. I my presumption correct?
Big hello from Slovenia (also a big sausage country )
I am also wondering this. Hello from Utah. Visited Slovenia last year, great country. I need some more Blejska kremna rezina.
Favorite purveyor of hog casing?
Hehe... awesome I am glad you enjoyed it...
I'm wondering why the recipe doesn't include adding some water to the meat mixture? Most recipes I've seen for sausages includes some proportion of water to even out the mix and, supposedly, to moisten.
What do you mean by 2.5% seasoning to meat ???? i.e. 2.5 grams of seasoning to 100 grams of meat???? or 25 grams/ kilo? Thanks
In the video it seems his spice mixture is its own thing and he eyeballs the salt. My question would be: are the herbs equal portions by weight or by volume?
Both are correct. If you're using 100g of meat, then use 2.5 g of seasoning. If you're using 1000 g meat, then use 25 g of seasoning. If you're using 427g of meat, use 10.675 g of seasoning.
@Kevin K It's unnecessary.
@Ryan Jordan always by weight
@Tadej Puntar That's How I read it. For example, mix 1 g coriander, 1 g caraway, 1 g marjoram, 1 g rosemary, and 1 g salt.
Hi Jerry, Probably both, if X=the weight of meat then 0.025X= the weight of the seasoning so yes 2.5g per 100g of meat or 25g per kg
I would have thought that all water would do is dilute the flavour and come out when cooking.
Weight for sure
Thanks guys...are these "fresh herbs" (marjoram and rosemary) or dried?
Is the salt part of the 2.5% equation?
Where are the amounts and or weights for the ingredents?
I learned my sausage recipe from a butcher in Thuringen (Home of the famous Thuringer bratwurst). He absolutely insisted that real Thuringer bratwurst was 35% fat. Discussions with other sausage makers in Thuringen seemed to confirm that idea as they disdain low fat sausage. Fat carries flavor. A tiny bit of nutmeg and white pepper were also a part of the recipe. Always write down the EXACT weight of your spices so that you can duplicate your recipe. If you blend the spice in a cup of ice water it distributes evenly though the meat. And yeah, salt is a good thing. In Thuringen they use salt from the famous Merkurs salt mine. We have been making 200lb batches for about 28 years (I have a German made F. Dick stuffer similar to Uli's). The 35% fat content has served us well.
I am concerned you have not listed the Temp you used to Sous Vide, since you guys still haven't got with the modern times and that means a 230v machine we in the real world would love to know your temp and cooking time... but 10 points for a great write up, we wont hold the antiquated equipment against you at all ;-)
@Norm Morgan Well you can just install joule app on your phone. You can see the temp and time in the app. I am also waiting for the 230V Joule If you don't want to install the app, it's 80 C for 20 minutes... I hope that helps you out...
Dried, unless you want to experiment with fresh
Cheers Tader for time and temp. Sort of not much point of installing the app without machine ;-)
@Norm Morgan On the contrary, as ChefSteps posts more recipes there than they do in the recipe gallery on the website, there's plenty of reason why there is a point to have it, even without the device.
I was surprised by the 176 degree F sous vide temperature being the only one shown in the app. Serious Eats suggests between 140 and 160 degrees F. So far I've only gone with the lower end of that range. I guess I should experiment with some various temperatures myself.
Some great suggestions from Uli! Thanks for putting this together. I would love to see some specific recipes added for various types of sausages in the future.
Does "coriander" in this recipe refer to ground coriander seeds? Or the dried leaf?
Anyone use fresh collagen casings - recommendations ? (looking for Pork alternative for a specific client)
I've been watching, helping, or making sausages, especially kielbasa, for most of my 70+ years. We finally bought the grinder attachment for our Kitchenaid stand mixer (one of the larger bowl-lift styles). This has turned out to be one of the WORST tools I have ever used in the kitchen or shop. I know to seriously cool down the grinder and all its parts and that the meat should be almost frozen before grinding it and/or stuffing it into casings.
I'm not kidding here - it takes my wife & I TEN MINUTES to stuff about 3 feet of casings! I have to fight and cram the cubed or already ground meat to get it thru the "grinder". When stuffing the sausages, I use a "kidney bean" plate that has 2 large holes and should offer almost no resistance to the meat coming out into the casings, yet it is a huge fight. After trying to use this device 3 times we have had stop & get out the old manual grinder, cool it down, & finish the job the old way - in a relatively short period of time.
What could I possibly be doing wrong? (We bought the Kitchenaid attachment after seeing many cooks use it with apparently no problems on many different food TV shows.)
I've religiously followed Michael Ruhlman's advice on this - Kitchenaid grinder is great for home use as a grinder - it is NOT up to snuff as a stuffer.
Try this - recommended by a Serious Eats author, who has felt your pain.
LEM Products 5 Pound Stainless Steel Vertical Sausage Stuffer
Also, Ruhlman recommends a few minutes in the stand mixer, with chilled bowl and paddle to distribute fats and seasoning evenly, then into the fridge to prevent smear, while you fry a test patty.
Try other animals. Lamb casings should work. Serious Eats Merguez recipe mentions the same issue - he mistakenly offered pork casing around his kosher lamb sausage. Oops.
I had an answer, but now I honestly can't decide - judging from the video, he used dried herbs in his mixture. I generally assume coriander refers to the seeds, vice the leaves. They do recommend blanching fresh herbs to maintain color, if used.
Guess it's time to ask Chefsteps.
Butcher and Packer.
Water helps make sure that the spices are evenly distributed. If you dont use any water, typically you will have clumps of spice in your mix and parts that arent seasoned properly. The water is in a very low ratio. We're talking 100g per KG of sausage.
No
I am looking for a sausage recipe that is mildly spiced. In Dayton Ohio it was said to be an Old German recipe that was called Waldorf sausage. Can anyone help?
The instructions fail to mention that the mixing of the sausage after the grind is critical. Too little and the sausage doesn't emulsify and is grainy, too much and the emulsification breaks and the fat leaks out. It should be tacky and look sort of furry. Found this out the hard way. Also salt should be done by weight .081 % of weight of meat. Spices are more flexible. And Mike, you are right, the Kitchenaide is a horrible tool for stuffing; o.k. for grinding if meat is small and semi-frozen, but tying to use it to stuff overheats your mixture and breaks it.
I have. They are somewhat fragile, and sort of dissolve when you cook the sausage, so no real "knack" to the bite, but they don't affect taste at all. I used them for my non pork eating clients for a smoked duck sausage.
In the other sous vide sausage page in the app, the following are suggested (all 45 min - 1 hr):
158°F - tender
167°F - firm
176°F - well done
In the US, where CS is located, coriander refers to the seeds not the leaves (the latter being cilantro).
I think your ".081%" must be a typo, which would be almost no salt. Perhaps you meant 0.81% (low but not unreasonable)?
This a radically good cooking video. Uli's expertise and sense of humor shine through!
