Author Topic: sausages (Read 7926 times)

peteinwilts · « **on:** March 05, 2011, 09:51:24 am »

Hi Guys

I am thinking of turning some of my ladies into sausages

I am interested if anyone on hire acquires a butchers services to make them, and if so, how much it costs...

I am also interested in anyone that makes them themselves, and where they acquire the filler (and what it is!), equipment and skins.

I have heard some breeds make not such good sausages, I hope saddlebacks arn't one of them! Does anyone have experience in such matters

Any useful advice would be very welcome. apologies for the probably tiring newbie questions!

Thanks
Pete

HappyHippy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2011, 11:47:14 am »

Hi Pete,
Some butchers will make sausages for you as part of their butchery charges - check with them for prices.
As for making them yourself - it's really easy, providing you've got the right gear.
You'll need a mincer/grinder, stuffer and casings. You don't need to add filler if you don't want to and by not adding it you can sell your sausages as 100% meat and they'll be glutten free.
My grinder has the stuffer attachment and for smaller quantities it's fine - I made my first batch not so long ago http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=13095.0
Weshenfelder http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/ sell all the kit you'll need, or ebay has cheaper alternatives.
HTH
Karen x

OhLaLa · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2011, 12:23:50 pm »

Are you able to clean out the intestines and use those for the casings (that's what natural casings are anyhow)?

I make about 6 diff types at a time, have tried various 'filler' recipes (porridge oats, even baby food oats). It comes down to taste.

If you make flavoured sausages such as pork and stilton, pork and leek, remember not to add too much of those, I added what I thought was a little and it turned out to be far too much.

You'll need a mincer to grind up the meat and then a sausage stuffer to fill the casings.

oaklandspigs · « **Reply #3 on:** March 05, 2011, 01:07:06 pm »

Have sausaged saddleback sows in the past, and they taste great!

Hilarysmum · « **Reply #4 on:** March 05, 2011, 03:24:49 pm »

Only imho, but I think sows make the best sausages. For skins try your local abattoir, ours sell the skins or try the sausagemaker who will sell you everything. Whatever flavours you go for, make a small amount, fry a sample and keep doing this until you find one you like, that way you dont follow my example and make them mega hot peppery. Lovely ... if you have a fire extinguisher handy.

http://www.sausagemaking.org/

Dont use the loin for sausages, turn that into the tastiest bacon ever. If there is too much fat for your taste just go rindless!!!!

robert waddell · « **Reply #5 on:** March 05, 2011, 03:58:47 pm »

a sow fattened after having a litter of pigs gives the best bacon
a butchery supply co will sell the skins natural and devro the natural ones are sheep intestines and they stink IMHO
yes do the small batch that way you can addjust as needed and keep a note of your quantity for the big batch

chickenfeed · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2011, 07:48:45 am »

when we try a new flavour we have a fring pan on standby and cook some of the sausage meat prior to making the sausages so if they need more seasoning its easy to adjust.

as for cost our butcher includes sausages in the kill and cut price but if we want a whole or 1/2 pig it costs £40 kill and cut and 95p per lb for the making of sausages so cost will vary depending on the size of pig.

ramblerskitchen · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2011, 09:18:51 am »

I made my own at Christmas and it was a great way to spend a few evenings.
I used an old fashioned meat grinder which I bought recently for £25.00 which came with a sausage attachment. I managed to get my casings from a pig farmer I met at a local farmers market, but you can buy on-line as suggested.
I did use filler, a small amount of stale breadcrumbs (home-made bread is best as you know exactly what is in it)

Made plain pork, pork and herb (really good) Pork and chilli ( a mild one and hot one) and pork and apple. The only thing I would change for next time is with the pork and apple, after grating the apples, squeeze some of the water out, as the mixture was too wet and made stuffing the casing hard. However, i did add a small amount of water to the others.

Its great fun. Mix up your batch, fry a small amount and check for taste.

I am going to send one of the saddlebacks to turn into sausages as so many of my friends asked for some, and I can't make them to sell. My local butcher charges £1 per lb to turn into sausages.

peteinwilts · « **Reply #8 on:** March 06, 2011, 10:10:44 am »

as a butcher charges £1 a pound for sausages (£2.20 per Kg), how much do you sell the sausages for?

wicklow dave · « **Reply #9 on:** March 09, 2011, 11:46:42 pm »

Have just made a 20 lb batch of venison and pork sausages using spice mix from Weschenfelder. They taste fantastic. Very good delivery service to Ireland. Ordered and delivered in 3 days.

Olly398 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2011, 08:55:49 am »

Hello!

I make sausages regularly, using free-range pork sourced from my local butcher (don't have my own pigs yet

). I've written about it before, on my blog here.

I use one of these:

To grind up 100% pure pork - usually shoulder for fresh sausages. I season with whatever takes my fancy but don't usually add filler except sometimes some rusk (stale breadcrumbs, what have you).

I use natural hog casing bought online mailorder from sausagemaking.org

I use a horizontal stuffing machine similar to this type:

And the sausages turrn out great every time!

Enjoy!!