Quote:
Originally Posted by NW Tradegunner
I had bought some chicken sausage a few weeks ago at the Strathcona Market. We really liked it. So I tried to duplicate it. I made a small batch; like 6 lbs. of chicken breasts and 1.5 lbs pork trim into the grinder, course grind. I added: 3 finely chopped onions, then fried them until brown, 2 tablespoons poultry seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon pepper, 4 teaspoons of Bradley Sugar Cure and 3 cups of mashed potatoes. Added about 3 cups ice water and mixed it all up. Some of the stuff was from taste of the sausages and some from a cooking show I had seen. I used natural casings; ~1" and that was it. When I cleaned out the stuffer the extra, I made into patties and BBQed them. Had them with bread and a bit of mayo. They were very good! My question is, man was that stuff sticky! The patties looked like, or put it this way; didn't look like nice even patties. The mixture was very sticky. Did I do it right? Any suggestions from any of you sausage makers???  |
1. Chicken breasts are low in Myosin and resist salt soluble binding
2. Use of cure in Chicken sausage will still react with Myoglobin and lock in a pinkish color that might appear to be uncooked.
3.Potato can be used as a cheap binder, but have different qualities depending on type. All starches react the same to heat and moisture-they will always Swell, Split and Soften. They have no off button. Red skin potatoes are known as waxy potatoes-low in starch and high in sugar. Knowing that starches swell, split and soften-red skin potatoes will not break down like a starchy(Russet) potato and are best used where you want then to keep their shape(sliced-diced )etc.
If you try to mash a red skin potato they will get waxy, gummy and very sticky. They are not recommended for binding use. You don't say what type you used, so this may be a contributing factor.
In summation and with respect.
Lose the spuds
Lose the cure
Use more thigh meat
Lose the pork fat and try to source chicken fat increasing the fat to meat ratio to approx. 25% ratio. Your current fat ratio appears to be 1/2lb of fat to about 10 lbs of product or 5%.This would contribute to stickiness when raw.
Read up on getting a good salt soluble bind by breaking out the Myosin with all the salt in a small amount of meat at a very low temp beating vigorously -once it firms then you can incorporate the rest of your grind and all spice and water. Adding water early on is the greatest hindrance to making a good sausage. It stalls the bind.
Good luck and have fun.
Keep salt low approx. 16 g per kg