The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Jaymac76 on August 13, 2014, 08:57:20 pm
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Hi all,
I am trying to mince meat for sausages but have a bit of a problem, the first mince is with a 6mm die and cutting blade everything great but then I add my seasoning and chilled water remove blade, 6mm die and put a 16mm die, after mixing by hand I put it In the mincer ready to make sausages but the meat turns to paste as if I am working the meat to much. Hope someone can help?.
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It's most likely that the meat is getting too hot during the process I'd think :thinking: Especially if it's a domestic type mincer you're using. I had a similar thing so now get the butcher to mince it for me with their quicker commercial machine ;)
Put your meat in the freezer for half an hour before mincing, mince it into a bowl over ice, mix your ingredients quickly and chill again before stuffing. Keeping everything really cold is the key.
HTH
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This is worth knowing. I plan on having a go at making some sausages as I want to make gluten free ones. I thought of using rice instead of rusk.
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I had exactly the same problem and found that any fatty bits just clogged up the mincer completely. Since then I have done the same as HH, get the butcher to do the mincing :thumbsup:
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Not to sure about rice instead of rusk. During the whole process I keep the meat chilled at all times and mince in small batches but still turns to paste on the second pass in the mincer, I am going to try using a 8mm or 10mm first then use the 16mm on the second pass.
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Let me know how you get on. I won't have the option to get the butcher to mince mine when my pigs go so would be grateful for any tips!
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I think I have three options to get the sausage meat to the right texture.
1 try different die size with first mix.
2 buy a sausage stuffer.
3. Get the butcher to mince the meat and make the sausages.
If all that fails buy a burger press lol.
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I think I have three options to get the sausage meat to the right texture.
1 try different die size with first mix.
2 buy a sausage stuffer.
3. Get the butcher to mince the meat and make the sausages.
If all that fails buy a burger press lol.
Option 4 - Get the butcher to mince the meat and make the sausages yourself
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This is worth knowing. I plan on having a go at making some sausages as I want to make gluten free ones. I thought of using rice instead of rusk.
Use the heels of gluten free loaves to make fine breadcrumbs and use them instead of rusk :thumbsup:
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Are you putting it through the second time without the blade in the mincer? If so there's your problem.
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The first time in the mincer with blade and 6mm die then put all minced meat into fridge to chill for about 8 hours then out the fridge and mixed in my seasoning and chilled water then back into the fridge while I prepare the mincer. The mincer only has a 16mm die no blade and the meat turns to a paste. I am going to try next week with the fist mince at 8 or 10 mm what ever die I can get my hands on. I will let everyone know how I get on.
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Spoke to a butcher yesterday he told me use the largest die on the second mince and put the meat into the freezer to get the temp of the meat right down and crystallise the meat. Will trial this next week.
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When we've made sausages in the past we have marinated pork bits with the herbs/spices then minced. Cooled and then straight into skins???
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I have to say I don't mince it a second time as I like mine quite chunky. We get the butcher to mince ours and then I just thoroughly mix in what I want to make the sausage mince and then stuff them.
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The first time in the mincer with blade and 6mm die then put all minced meat into fridge to chill for about 8 hours then out the fridge and mixed in my seasoning and chilled water then back into the fridge while I prepare the mincer. The mincer only has a 16mm die no blade and the meat turns to a paste. I am going to try next week with the fist mince at 8 or 10 mm what ever die I can get my hands on. I will let everyone know how I get on.
The blade forms an essential part of the mechanism that forces the meat through the holes in the plate. If you leave the blade out you will get mush as the screw is trying to push the meat but it is getting stuck at the plate and not going through properly. But be very careful because it is possible to put your finger through a 16mm hole and you don't want to do that.
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The first time in the mincer with blade and 6mm die then put all minced meat into fridge to chill for about 8 hours then out the fridge and mixed in my seasoning and chilled water then back into the fridge while I prepare the mincer. The mincer only has a 16mm die no blade and the meat turns to a paste. I am going to try next week with the fist mince at 8 or 10 mm what ever die I can get my hands on. I will let everyone know how I get on.
The blade forms an essential part of the mechanism that forces the meat through the holes in the plate. If you leave the blade out you will get mush as the screw is trying to push the meat but it is getting stuck at the plate and not going through properly. But be very careful because it is possible to put your finger through a 16mm hole and you don't want to do that. Also filling sausages straight from the mincer is a two man job and never the best way. Get a sausage filler. Mince once, season, mix, then fill. No need to mince twice.
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I gave up with making sausages with my mincer just could not get it right I tried many different ways with none good enough. I now only mince once with a size 12 die in future I might go for a smaller die, I bought a sausage stuffer and used it tonight had a few teething problems you need arms like King Kong to crank the handle to push the meat down the stuffer, I over came the problem by adding a little more water I now need to taste the sausages in the morning. Hope this helps
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If you want gluten free rusk Wischenfelder .co.uk sell it and also sell all manner of seasonings, skins etc..
We found that their Lincolnshire sausage seasoning contains a lot of salt so don't add any to the recipe .
If you don't like very salty sausages perhaps do as I did .
I only used half of the recommended seasoning mix and added six tea spoons of home dried rubbed up celery leaf and two heaped table spoons of home dried & rubbed sage , some fine chopped onions sprinkled on the final mince and made up to the weight with more gluten free rusk which we made ourselves from an on line recipe .
If any anyone is looking to try their hand at hand mincing I have a very good large heavy cast iron mincer Empire 22 hand mincer that I can't use any more which has an 80 mm bore & screw anchors down onto a thick table top or bench .
It is old and has to be washed well in hot soapy water before use and again after use wash it then oil it with a decent olive oil whilst it's still warm to hold any rusting back store in a warm dry place wrapped in an old towel etc. not out in a damp cold shed where it will go very rusty in no time
Last year we spent over £90 on three brand new stainless steel plates & a stainless cutter plus another£ 38 on three brand new stainless stuffing tubes & a stainless steel stuffer backing plate . It also has a home made wooden pine stuffing tool to help you retain your fingers after the session .
They have had to be superseded with a decent electric mincer as my spine disability has started to make it nigh impossible for me to stand and turn the handle or lean over and fill the skins whilst Alison turns the mincer.
Re :- the slimy meat
Try this order of doing things.
Use ice cold meat that has been prepped of excess fat , bone , membranes & sinew a few hours before mincing and returned it to the fridge , use ice cold with crushed ice in it water to dampen the meat prior to mincing.
The colder the meat you're mincing the better it seems to mince but do be aware that shoving your hands into ice cold meat or mince can be rather painful if your cold sensitive.
Lay the dampened cubed meat out on a tray , sprinkle the rusk ,herbs and salt over the dampened cubed meat and mix in well .
Now mince it up using the big 10 mm screen .
When the mince is all through the mincer , re mince to the desired size .
Add the rest of the cold water to the final heap of minced meat after it has finally come through the mincer & you'll keep it reasonably free of slime .
We are now on our fourth or fifth 12 pound batch of sausages , sausage meat & salami.
One thing that does stand out is that any membrane on the bits of meat tends to get stripped off and collects around the cutter on all mincers ,the only way to solve that other than be meticulous when prepping the meat is switch off and remove the retainer , plate to take it off then carefully undo the wound up material that is on the cutter & the auger . On a hand mincer you might also have to take the auger out if it is really wrapped up on it.
This is usually only needed for the large 10 mm initial plate use , second and third mincing's seem to go through most of the time .
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Just mince it once and then mix by hand, it isnt neccessary to mince a second time. Rice flour works fine for gluten free
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I gave up with making sausages with my mincer just could not get it right I tried many different ways with none good enough. I now only mince once with a size 12 die in future I might go for a smaller die, I bought a sausage stuffer and used it tonight had a few teething problems you need arms like King Kong to crank the handle to push the meat down the stuffer, I over came the problem by adding a little more water I now need to taste the sausages in the morning. Hope this helps
Me too - I have now spent a fortune!!! I only mince once as I like the texture not the paste. I bought an excellent Italian stuffer that is very easy to use and the children have a go. Using the mincer with a sausage attachment is hopeless.