Homemade Sausage Making

Hi there. I registered on the forum a few hours ago, and I just wanted to check in and say hello from the vicinity of Dallas, Texas.

I'm a neophyte sausage maker with very little experience thus far. I've made bulk fresh breakfast sausage and Mexican Chorizo a few times, and I recently made my first stuffed sausage, a hot Italian and a sweet Italian. I want to expand my horizons now, and make a lot of new sausages. I want to stick with fresh, unsmoked sausages for now. Some that I have in mind for starters are chaurice (Creole), Cajun green onion sausage, English bangers, and Mexican Longanisa. I also want to make Mortadella. Later on, I'll expand into smoked sausages, and maybe eventually I'll try some fermented sausage making.

I'm happy to be part of the forum. I hope to learn a lot, and to contribute as best I can.

Hi Tasso,
Welcome to this great forum. We have a few characters as members as you will see as time goes buy but their advise is always 110% spot on.
Add Csabai to your fresh sausages, it's great as fresh, smoked and dried.
Start asking questions my friend.
Cheers,
Jan.

Thank you for the welcome, Jan.

I'd never heard of Csabai before, but after reading a bit, it looks like it will be right up my alley, taste wise. It's now on my list!

Howdy Tasso, and welcome! You'll have a good time here, nice folks with lots of knowledge they're willing to share. Don't be afraid to ask anything, and be sure to post pictures of your efforts, makes life more fun. RAY

Thank you for the welcome, Ray. I am certain I will have some questions as I plan my next couple of batches of sausage. I'll search the forum for answers first, naturally. I'll definitely take pics too.

Welcome Tasso Hyde park has a recipe index with a bazillon recipes and are great to do. You will meet CW (chuckwagon). It is a good thing to listen to him as he has helped us all. If you like, go to project B and B-1 and read CW's information on bacteria. It will keep you above ground. Good luck

Thank you for the welcome, grasshopper. I've just started reading through the Old "Project B" (August 2012) For Beginners thread. There is a ton of info there. It should keep me busy for a while. I didn't see a B-1 thread, but I'll look for it.

Welcome aboard Tasso. I didn't get you properly welcomed in the New Guys forum yesterday because I ran into a dentist with no sense of humor! Geeeezzzze! I think I just put his kids through college, paid for his wife's fake boobs, and sent him to the Bahamas for a couple of weeks vacation!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Thank you for the welcome, Chuckwagon. I know what you mean about dentists. I get the same feeling every time I go, not to mention a sore mouth for the rest of the day. But we need our teeth to enjoy our sausages, so they have us over a barrel. (A pork barrel, naturally.) And I think they know it!

Did someone say mortadella??? I was taking a nap and got a shivery feeling. Logged on and sure enough. Hey Tasso, don't feel bad about waking me up. Go to the members recipe index on Hyde park and snatch NorCal's recipe for same. You'll never need another mortadella recipe. You can get the casing for it from butcherpacker.com and lots of other sites. You can make it with or without powdered milk. It's amazing.

Welcome!

Jeff

Thank you for the welcome, Jeff.

I found and read through NorCal's recipe a couple of days ago. It's a great instructional thread, and the pictures of his mortadella definitely make you want to give it a try.

I'm leaning toward using just pork for my mortadella, as my limited research thus far leads me to believe that beef is not very commonly used in Italian mortadella. I have wondered if the addition of beef is for its flavor, or for its water-binding capacity. Anyway, I'm not totally decided on that yet.

Meanwhile, I got 124 mm fibrous casings from sausagemaker.com. My smallest grinder plate hole size is 4mm. I'm hoping with that and careful use of a food processor I can get a decent emulsification.

Tasso wrote:Thank you for the welcome, grasshopper. I've just started reading through the Old "Project B" (August 2012) For Beginners thread. There is a ton of info there. It should keep me busy for a while. I didn't see a B-1 thread, but I'll look for it.

Try B2 or B-2. We kinda got bogged down and haven't finished it, but there's some good stuff there too. Enjoy!

Thanks el Ducko. I missed the B2 thread at first because it wasn't sticky'd like the B1 thread. It looks to be as interesting as the B1 thread.

BTW, I'm slowly reading through your great Chorizo thread. That is a massive amount of info on Chorizo. I've made my own TexMex style, but I wasn't completely satisfied with it, so I'm likely going to try some of the recipes from your thread. I like the bulk meaty styles better than the chorizo fino types, although I tend to buy and use both. I've never made a Spanish dry fermented style, but that's on my list for the future.

Welcome Tasso!
I am pretty much a novice as well and learned a lot here!

And planning on blowing some new life in project b2 real soon!

Thank you for the welcome, sambal badjak. I've been reading the first B thread with interest, and I'll soon be reading the B2 thread as well. I am in awe of the depth and thoroughness of instruction that Chuckwagon undertakes in those threads. The results obtained by participants testifies to the effectiveness of the regimen. I'm certain there is no other forum on the internet that undertakes to educate newbies so well.

I look forward to seeing your results in that thread. Good luck!