The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: P6te on September 02, 2012, 11:16:01 pm
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Here is a picture of today's produce, home made OSB Sausages.
(http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n578/P6te/Sausages.jpg)
In the photo are (clockwise from front right) Italian sausages with 100% fresh ingredients (Stitch366 own recipe), Lincolnshire Sausages, Italian Sausages (pre mixed not home made) and Premium Pork Sausages. In all, just over 10kgs. :yum:
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That's a good day's work :hungry:
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They look fantastic. Can you tell me briefly what you did as mine are off shortly and I want loads of sausages although was going to let the abattoir do them.
thanks
Sally
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They look fantastic and made with naturals skins too, is it? :thumbsup:
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Lill, yes well observed, natural skins from our butcher.
Bionic - rather than me tell you, I've asked my OH (Stitch366) to come on and explain ....
Pete
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Could very happily eat 2 of each of those right now - look delicioso. Tamsaddle :sunshine:
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Yum - They look so good :yum: I'm hungry now too
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please can you cook me some put inside some doorsteps of homemade bread and email them to me please :hungry:
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They look great, we make our own when we send one away
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Hi I am P6te's OH.... This is only the second time we had a go at making our own sausages, and the first time I had a go at making up my own recipe!! and very pleasantly surprised at how well they turned out!!
The recipe for the Italian ones is as follows:
1750g Pork Cubed (preferably shoulder because you need a good fat to meat ratio)
280g jar of Sundried Tomatoes in oil (roughly chopped)
1 Large Basil plant (pick off the leaves)
8 Garlic cloves (I did mine through a garlic press)
1 1/2 tbsp Oregano (dried)
200g Parmesan Cheese (finely grated)
220g Rusk
220g Water
Salt & Black Pepper
Mix all the ingredients, except the parmesan, and process through a mincer (I used the coarse blade) then add the parmesan and mix well to ensure evenly distributed, then fill sausage casings, I use natural ones we buy through our butcher....... and enjoy!! :pig: :pig: :excited:
The other sausages were made using pre mixes that I got from www.sausagemaking.org (http://www.sausagemaking.org). I have found them very good and but there are also other suppliers on the internet. I used their Premium Pork, Lincolnshire and Italian and was impressed with them all but just thought it would be nice to try and make my own up. Thinking of a Toulouse style one next time with herbs de provence, Red wine in place of some of the water and garlic.....
Hope this helps Bionic..... good luck and any questions please ask, I am not a professional but a keen amateur !!
Cheers Linda
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Thanks Linda that was very interesting. Questions not yet over though ;D
Do you have an electric mincer? I am worried that my hand mincer might not be upto the job (well, I might not be upto the job)
Presumably you have a special tool for filling the casing. Is it stand alone or is it an attachment to something you already have?
Can't you just tell I am a complete novice, but your sausages look so professional that I am tempted to give it a go.
thanks
Sally
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My sausages always look divine when I have just made them, raw, and in natural skins, but when cooked they shrink, explode and leach fat and liquid; the latter being only the recommended amount of water, or wine, or apple juice or whatever in the recipe. Just cant seem to get it right. Using proper sausage making rusk instead of breadcrumbs has improved the consistency somewhat, but I am still far from happy with them. The taste is delicious, but they could do with looking more like a normal cooked sausage and retaining more moisture. I even wondered whether using collagen skins might help? Anyone tried them, and if so, do they taste any different? Tamsaddle
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HappyHippy is obviously getting something right as she has just sold loads at the farmers market.
Karen if we aren't asking you to divulge any trade secrets can you let us know what you do?
thanks
Sally
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well without bumming her chat it was Lillian that showed Karen how to make them and as far as i am aware it is a butcher /cutting plant that are doing them for her to sell :farmer:
sorry to disappoint everybody :farmer:
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tamsaddle Lillian will pm you latter bionic Lillian will pm you as well :farmer:
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thankyou Robert :)
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Thank you from me too, and might you be able to put in the address of the Hampshire boar in Dorset as well ??? Tamsaddle
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Thanks Linda that was very interesting. Questions not yet over though ;D
Do you have an electric mincer? I am worried that my hand mincer might not be upto the job (well, I might not be upto the job)
Presumably you have a special tool for filling the casing. Is it stand alone or is it an attachment to something you already have?
Can't you just tell I am a complete novice, but your sausages look so professional that I am tempted to give it a go.
thanks
Sally
Hi Sally
Re the mincer, it is an attachment to our Kenwood Chef and we have one of the vertical, hand cranked sausage stuffers, it does need two of us to stuff the casings, one to turn the handle and the other to 'control' the sausages !!! Re being a complete novice, don't worry just give it a go! :sunshine:
Cheers Linda
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Those sausages look fab - now going to ask for more minced pork back next week and have a go myself :fc:
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everybody has to start with something and somewhere to get fully equipped is a lot of money proper chopping block and stand mincer everybody starts with a cheap one we did as well but the meat suffers with going through the small mincers for every one degree the meat heats up when mincing is one day less on its shelf life and these small mincers do heat it up and take ages now i am not advocating everybody goes and gets a bigger capacity mincer you have a good base product why take the edge of it stuffers are another cost saver or expense the combined ones heat the meat up again and you have to work at there speed manual stuffers are quite expressive for what they are but you can work at your speed and get a better finished sausage and don't forget the knifes on the mincer they do get the edge off them and can be refaced happy sausage making and remember there are loads of competitions out there you just never know :farmer:
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Hi Robert
Could you let me know what type/make of mincer you have please as when we were making the sausages on Sunday I did find the mincing tedious and was worried the amount of meat going through would be putting a strain on the Kenwoods motor. I am quite happy with the vertical manual stuffer we have which does seem to do a decent job and is easy to control. Have you any sausage recipes you are willing to share, if they aren't a 'trade sceret' :)
Thanks
Linda
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i am the test panel for new variety's it is Lillian that is the chopper and mixer :roflanim:
the first mincer we bought was one from northern tools i think it was about £80 good enough to get you started but it was taking ages to mince a pig the new one we got is a Torrey from weshenfielder about £1000 but it saves you time 20 min to mince a pig after being cubbed minimall heat generation if at all and you can do more pigs per day and be knackered after it
the northern tools one does labour when mincing :farmer:
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Just as Robert is Lillian's tester, I'm Linda's, its a tough job but someone has to do it! :roflanim:
Regarding mincers, does anyone else have any recommended brands? Their is a big difference between an £80 and a £1000 machine!
Many thanks
Pete
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thanks for the itallian recipie, could i be cheeky and ask what lincolnshire recipie you used please. thankyou
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Just as Robert is Lillian's tester, I'm Linda's, its a tough job but someone has to do it! :roflanim:
Regarding mincers, does anyone else have any recommended brands? Their is a big difference between an £80 and a £1000 machine!
Many thanks
Pete
keep a lookout on ebay, the time differance between the two is oh diddams, deerie me, been at this for hours and still got loads to do, back knackered, feet sore, by using the bigger mincer you can get the mincing done in 20 mins and that is about 60 kilos :relief:
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Thanks Lill I will definitely keep a look out on e bay. I had a look on the Weschenfelder website at the Torrey ones that Robert mentioned and they do look good. We definitely cant keep using the Kenwood mincer attachment for any serious quantity of meat, it does take far too long and will ultimately ruin the Kenwood.
Early Bird - The Lincolnshire one was a pre mixed one that I got off this website www.sausagemaking.org (http://www.sausagemaking.org/) but others including Weschenfelder do them as well. So far it is only the Italian one I have done from scratch but am planning on giving other ones a go in the future. There is something very satisfying about it doing it from start to finish with your own meat and ingredients and knowing what is exactly in the food you are feeding the family :thumbsup:
Linda :wave:
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I am thinking of cheating and asking the abattoir to give me mince to cut out the hard part of the work.
Having said that I still intend that the abattoir makes most of the sausages for us. I just want to dabble this time round.
Sally
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Sally that is exactly what I have asked for - ready made sausages but a bit of mince to have a go myself :excited:
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thanks for the info , had a quick look it looks like a fab website will be looking at it in more detail later, this forum is great for us newbies it gives us a bit more confidence to try things, thanks
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We started off with the £80 mincer which was quite useless and kept getting blocked up. Our new mincer is made by Buffalo, cost ranges from £350 - £390; lots of the online catering shops have them. Very heavy duty and excellent for smallholder level volumes of sausages. We can mince about 20 kg of fatty pork in 5 - 10 minutes, goes through a treat, including the fat, and nothing gets hot. Was definitely worth the investment - Tamsaddle
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Sally, start of with the wee drops of mince, start small work to larger amounts ;)
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Great advice Lill, thanks
Sally
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your most welcome Sally ;)
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Look out for butchers closing down. they usually have 22 size mincer on the front counter. these are smaller mincers.
i got an Avery Berkel mincer from a butchers in NEwcastle, on ebay. its actually a mainca in a different decal. very good little unit. single phase size 22
I find Tim at weschenfelder very helpful if you need anything at all!
d
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Very helpful. great thread. Thanks. Gives me a bit of confidence to do my own sausages this year :excited:
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Look out for butchers closing down. they usually have 22 size mincer on the front counter. these are smaller mincers.
d
That's exactly how we got ours...and a walk in chill, scales, stainless steel units, butchers blocks, display chillers+++ Our local butcher sold his shop to the co-op and the co-op don't seem interested in having butchers counters, which is a pity!
The owner got some extra cash, the co-op had the butchers cleared out for them and we got everything we need to set up shop pretty cheaply....everyone was happy :)
Now I just need to figure out how to work it all ::)
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P6te - they look absolutely beautiful. you should be proud of yourself!
I too would be interested to know what machinery you employed. And did the skins keep in tact when you cooked them?
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Domsmith - Many thanks for the suggestions. :thumbsup:
Polished Arrow - here is a photo of our Sausage Stuffer. I'm not sure what brand it is but we bought it new off eBay.
(http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n578/P6te/SouthDerbyshire-20120907-00090.jpg)
Regarding sausages splitting, no, none of them have so we've been very pleased. I'm afraid I can't take the credit for the sausage .... if I do I won't get fed tonight! :notworthy: I was the handle turner and head of quality control. :excited:
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This is something we're going to be looking at trying out, so it's great to hear everyone's advice, experiences and recommendations :thumbsup:
Gemma
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Blimey Pete, that some bit of kit you have there. I was thinking of using a plastic sausage stuffer that fitted on the food mixer ;D
Sally
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two choices sally either play at it or do it right we all have to start somewhere and the cheap and cheerful way is really the starter then you get into it and get better kit :farmer:
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Robert, I'm going to start the cheap and cheerful way with just a small amount of mince.
If I take to it, next year when I get a couple more weaners I might advance onto something else.
thanks
Sally
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My OH bought a mincer/sausage maker from Argos a few years ago - cost under £100 I think.
It works really well for smaller amounts of sausages - KK amounts ;) :roflanim: & it doesn't heat-up at all - either mincing or sausaging :thumbsup:
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Sally, can you tell me where you get the ones to attatch to a food mixer, as I have never heard of those! I have ordered some pork and apple burger mix and dry cure from Weschenfelder, but no sausage mix :dunce: My head is so full of making sure I get everything 'right' for monday (bye bye day) that I can't seem to think straight ???
..............and if one more person says 'how could you do that - poor piggies' I will :rant: As if it isn't hard enough first time......
Pete the photos of your lovely sausages are keeping me focused ;D
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ppd, it probably depends on your food mixer. I have a Kitchenaid and they do sausage mincers and stuffer attachments
Sally
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ppd the first time you take pigs to the abattoir it is normal to be upset...shed a tear, remember them fondly then get excited about tasting what they produce. You'll have given them a much better life than the tens of thousands of pigs sent down the road each week. It does get easier :hug:
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"Polished Arrow - here is a photo of our Sausage Stuffer. I'm not sure what brand it is but we bought it new off eBay".[/size]
What capacity is it P6te?
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Hi Suziequeue,
The sausage stuffers 'hopper' capacity is 3 litres.
Pete
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Thank you Pebbles - it is why I did this and look forward to eating meat that I know was well looked after- and just want to know that all went well :relief:
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Sally, will look up my mixer online and see if I can get the appropriate bits for mine - thank you
Pauline
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Thanks P6te - I see that one on eBay.
I am really keen to start doing my own sausages this year. Last time we got the butcher to make them but i want a really REALLY herby one so I am going to go for it this year.
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suziequeue, just shows how different we all are. I hate the herby ones ;D
Sally
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;D ;D ;D
When you come and visit I'll remember to make some unherby ones for you :D
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thankyou :hug: