The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: cloddopper on October 28, 2014, 12:54:52 am
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I've been making sausage today .
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5678_zps34d58b6b.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5678_zps34d58b6b.jpg.html)
Initially I had a hell of a job for the mincer kept gumming up and the pork was turned to mush instead of being chopped mince.
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5682_zps91b51dcf.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5682_zps91b51dcf.jpg.html)
After taking the darn thing apart for the umpteenth time , finding that the plate and cutter were bound solid with sinew and marbling I was ready for chucking the towel in and making hand chopped salami instead.
After washing out each strip down and using a wooden BBQ stick to clean out the plat holes I finally laid everything out in order to try and understand what was happening , for last time I used it it was the bee's knees .
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5684_zpsee5f807f.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5684_zpsee5f807f.jpg.html)
Then the penny dropped ..see if you can see what it is in the picture taken after I'd minced the 4.4 Kg of pork ?
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5685_zpsded190c4.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5685_zpsded190c4.jpg.html)
Spotted it yet ?
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5680_zpsb4639ae5.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5680_zpsb4639ae5.jpg.html)
That little spring makes such a difference ..it keeps the cutter flat on the plate & helps give a clean cut . I didn't realise it was missing when I assembled it to start the mincing up .
I later found out Munchkin had been in the cupboard , moved & dropped the little open cardboard box of parts on the bed and it must have fallen out . It took me a good hour to empty & search the cupboard and the bedroom .. till I found the spring on the carpet halfway up under the bed ..
One last thing . Due to having had several bad food poisoning events in my life ( whilst out and about in our HMF ) I have a rather high level of champlybacter bacteria ( SP ?) in me and it's easily tripped into disaster . Knowing this I have to be scrupulous in hygiene . That cutter pressure spring was chock-a-bloc with sinew & marbling as you can see in the picture the only way to open the ends of the spring is to press a cooking knife in the coil and when it opens up enough use a pointed BBQ stick to remove the offending flesh etc.
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5687_zps35839802.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5687_zps35839802.jpg.html)
(http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b597/splodgit/IMG_5720_zpseb895531.jpg) (http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/splodgit/media/IMG_5720_zpseb895531.jpg.html)
Final shot today I made 76 decent sized thick sausages out of the mixture .
Currently they have been cut from the links and laid out individually on trays and put in the freezer, tomorrow I will be bringing them inside and heat seal vac packing them in packs of three .
That should last us abut six months if the electrical power to the property supply stays settled.
Before making the sausages each batch of sausage meat was sampled , the resulting patty fried in the frying pan ..Hardly any fat came out and they tasted fantastic .
For a cost of about £22 in total , that's not a bad price for 6 months of decent sausages.
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I'll be round for breakfast on Sunday. I'll bring the home- cured bacon. Now, who'll bring the eggs? :yum: :yum: ;D
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Those look good sausages :thumbsup:
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They are not quite as nice as we'd hoped . I put the mince into two equal weight batches and added 1/2 teaspoon of ground up lavender to the regular sage & thyme , nutmeg , salt & black pepper seasoning . The lavender is not to my mind an enhancer
One other thing in the pictures is you can see there is hardly any fat ( as I'm on a low fat life due to blood clots) . That meant the sausages had lost a lot of flavour .
Fortunately I rendered the crackling down and have 1/2 a mug of fine pork fat to smear the frying pan with for future meals .
Having laid the sausages out in separate units on trays last night and freezing them , I've put them in heat sealed vac pack bags to night and ended up with 22 meals worth for the three of us.