Sausage additives

[KEN W]

Reinhard......do you add anything to your sausages besides the seasoning mixes and powdered milk.? Like phosphates for jucier sausages etc. Most companies have a bunch of additives to add. Are they worth the expense?

[mike89]

powdered milk was all I used, beside the seasonings...   if this helps...

[LPS]

I need to add more garlic, onions, etc to get more flavor on my sausages.  The last High Mountain fresh brats i made are almost tasteless.  Wondering if I should thaw them out and add some more seasonings and cure pink stuff and do them again.  I did not use cure the first time.  Just froze them right away.  If I do this I will smoke them too. 

[mike89]

there is no reason yours should have been tasteless LPS, seasonings, sausage = good taste generally.  were the seasonings old maybe???  yes you could thaw and redo yours too. just use the right amount of cure to meat..

and I have never used High Mout.

[LPS]

It was their German Brats kit.  I thought that would mean lots of flavor.  I did add high temp cheese.  I did a 15 lb batch so used 1/2 of the seasoning since it was a 30 lb kit.  I added 3 cups of milk powder.  1 cup for every 5 lbs.  So Ken what is that you are thinking of adding?

[KEN W]

Phosphates, Carrot Fiber Binder, or Sure Gel Meat Binder to make them more juicy.

[LPS]

Is there a flavor to that stuff?

[Bobberineyes]

That is a great question Ken.  It will ne intersting to hear different responses. Ever since tge gang here turned me onto curlys seasoning they've turned out great. One thing I don't let the casings burst while cooking, I do like a crisp casing  but it's worth not bursting.

[Boar]

yea awsome discussion, the kits ive had from curleys or owens,disregarding their directions, following reinys water and powxerd milk ratos. ive never had a problem. the one thi g to remeber, we weather we realize it or not, make much more lean sausage then store bought. which means its much easier to over come and dry out. specially fresh sausage. ive learned with fresh sausage to cook the brauts till they just start to piss.  then move to a upper rack for a few more minuets. the tricky things is when we stuff our brauts, they are not the same thickness weather we lime it or not, may for more more experienced stuffer thats not so. so over cooking with irregular brauts is easy to. but the biggest thing is the leaness, store brauts are so fatty you can char them an they will be still tasty. homemade leaner baruts, and ive done this, over coome them and they are bland and tastless almost.

[mike89]

Boar, those are all great points... if most people seen the fat in their store brats they would crap!!!

[LPS]

I used to love ring bologna from the store.  Could almost eat one myself.  Now I have to have beans to dip them in they are so fatty.  Homemade is much better.  The  butcher shop in Millerville makes a great sausage.  The Lions in Ottertail bought them every year for their pancake feed.  Course ground with lots of flavor. 

[KEN W]

You guys are all right. Store bought sausage has a lot of fat.Look at Johnsonville's and sausages like Little Sizzlers which look like all fat. Mine are much leaner. Especially if it has wild game meat. My sausages tend to be 50% wild game with no fat and 50% pork. Trying to get enough fat in them is tricky. To keep them juicy is tough. That's why I am looking at adding  an extra ingrediant to make them juicier. Or any other ingrediant that is not in the seasoning pack.

I am also going to try the method of starting them out in the smoker at 120 degrees and slowly raising the temp. So the casings don't get tough.

[mike89]

you can always take the sausage up, to 130 in the smoker and and then place it in hot water, not boiling to bring it up to temp.  that has been done too...

[delcecchi]

you can always take the sausage up, to 130 in the smoker and and then place it in hot water, not boiling to bring it up to temp.  that has been done too...

Sous vide.   

[glenn57]

I used to love ring bologna from the store.  Could almost eat one myself.  Now I have to have beans to dip them in they are so fatty.  Homemade is much better.  The  butcher shop in Millerville makes a great sausage.  The Lions in Ottertail bought them every year for their pancake feed.  Course ground with lots of flavor.

you'd like the ring bologna from plantenbergs in Richmond, and that ain't no bologna!!

[mike89]

I used to love ring bologna from the store.  Could almost eat one myself.  Now I have to have beans to dip them in they are so fatty.  Homemade is much better.  The  butcher shop in Millerville makes a great sausage.  The Lions in Ottertail bought them every year for their pancake feed.  Course ground with lots of flavor.

you'd like the ring bologna from plantenbergs in Richmond, and that ain't no bologna!!

Little falls too!!!  that is great!!!  thielens meats!!!!

[mike89]

you can always take the sausage up, to 130 in the smoker and and then place it in hot water, not boiling to bring it up to temp.  that has been done too...

Sous vide.   

not at all, this will still have smoke and the rest of flavors!!!  then you you finish!!   I have not ever cooked anything in a bag other than an omelet in a bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  so that is a world of difference in my book, in other words not from raw in a bag!!!!!

[Boar]

 i guesse ive never had a dry sausage useing rienys method. of mixi g and smoking. fresh or smoked sausage. when i have its beacause ive over cooked it or over smoked it, wbich is easy to do in big smokers wher one has to relocate for even heat distrabution. one thing im gona do is to in stall small fans in oposite corners on top and bottom for convection.

[Reinhard]

Sorry I'm late on this.  Ken good question.  I've seen the things you mention being used.  However I keep on doing what I've been doing as far as keeping the texture and the juicey links by just doing what I have been always doing.  Lean fat ration, powdered milk and the proper amount of beer or water is the key in my opinion.  I like your 50/50 ratio with venison for link sausage but I would go a tad leaner using venison for sticks and summer type saysage and that cold bath at the end is critical also.  good luck.

[Reinhard]

Ken I also have to say [I bet you do the same thing] is that I don't change my formula as I said above [juicyness and texture] but I do add stuff like extra garlic, hot pepper flakes,  high temp cheese, jalapeno's and more to different link sausage.  I'll be making old fashion franks next week [getting ready for deer camp] and more of the cooked and smoked links and summer sausage from now until next spring and then go back to fresh.  I use Curley's seasonings and they are good on their own but even with that I am not afraid to add "flavor" additives like I stated above.  good luck.

[KEN W]

Thanks for the reply Reinhard. I add some of those things also. But I just don't seem to get them as juicy as I would like. Especially the hot dogs. I do add powdered milk and 1 cup of liquid per 5 lbs of meat. They just don't seem to be juicy enough. For some I mix my own seasoning and for others I use pre-mixed.

I smoke and cook all of them at 175 deg. And I immediately throw them into ice water.

Do you start them in the smoker at a lower temp and gradually work it up to 175 or more? Might that make a difference?

[Reinhard]

I have done some in the oven when weather conditions don't allow me to use the smoker [cold day in winter] and have set the oven at 225 and they turned out great.  When smoking and I have the time [sometimes things come up and you cant low temp smoke] I do the low temp start and work myself up.  Better smoky taste that way.  I'm going to cold smoke some summer sausage this year more and then turn the temp up to finish them off in the smoker.  good luck.

[KEN W]

OK.....I might try one of the additives to keep them juicier. I am also going to start at a lower temp and try to keep the casings from getting tough.