The act of making sausages is easy. All you have to do is run the meat through a grinder. Then take the minced meat and put it in the sausage boxes.
Although this process is not complicated but there are many modifications involved to make the best sausages. It’s an artistic way to make beautiful sausages.
Most of the hard work comes at the stage of preparing to make sausages.
So I have included a lot of useful information here to help get you started on your homemade sausage-making journey and to help you know about the grinding sausage meat twice.
Table of Contents
How To Prepare & Grind Sausage Meat
Grinding sausage begins with choosing the meat of your choice. It is always recommended that you have a good amount of meat in the fat. Generally, this means about thirty to forty percent fat in lean meat.
Keep in mind that after cutting your meat, you are likely to get rid of unwanted pieces. Tenders, muscles, and any remaining skin are the parts you will be deciding on.
Working with clean pieces of meat and fat goes a long way when you start to digest. It is best to remove anything that will jam your blade. Other than that these pieces are not something you want in your sausage.
So keep this in mind to make sure you have enough meat for your sausages. The best estimate is that you will get six sausages per pound of meat.
A fifty-pound [Eight kg] cut of meat may weigh as much as twenty pounds [Six kg] after being cut, for example.
Once your meat has been purchased and ready, all you need to do is start chopping it in the square. You want to make it into small pieces that can be easily added to your grinder.
Cutting the meat into small pieces also makes the spice more effective. As it does not take long for each piece to absorb the flavors. Grinding sausage meat twice will make it more useful.
How Much Salt Should You Put In Homemade Sausage?
Salt is not only important for the taste of sausage meat, but also retains moisture while cooking, fixing meat, and acting as a liability. So it has many helpful functions.
Most importantly you want to add enough salt, but it is easy to overdo it.
I found a general rule of how much salt should be added to sausage meat at about 1.5 to two percent by weight. That means it is the total weight of the sausage meat you intend to use. About 1.5 to two percent of that will be salt.
No wonder there is so much sodium in other meat products! Have you ever considered the size of a beef stick?
1.5 to two percent salt is the 6th rule and you can adjust that amount to your taste. If you add extra ingredients to your sausage that may already contain sodium you can lower that percentage too.
It helps to have a food scale because you will need to do the math.
First, change the weight of your meat from pounds to grams. Then subtract that number by .015 (one point five percent) or .02 (two percent ). That number will be the total number in grams to determine the amount of salt you should use.
Example
For Example: 5 pounds of meat = 2267.96 grams. 2267.96 x .015 = 34 grams of salt. Kosher salt is the best type you can utilize especially because the taste is less neutral compared to salt with iodine. Kosher salt believes or not to taste a little salty when it comes to cooking.
Let’s talk about pink salt for a moment because I won’t have much detail about using it yet. Pink salt is used to treat sausages and you only need it if you plan to cool your sausages.
Now you are ready to add your spice to the sliced meat. Prepare the meat in a bowl. Then just throw the spice in and mix it well, let’s go into more details and know what does grinding sausage meat twice means.
Seasoning Sausage Meat
Now it’s spicy and that’s where you can show your skills. There are several options when it comes to spices. If you want to make this step easier just add the ready-to-use sausage mixture.
Choose one of the best sausage mixes on Amazon.
As I said many spices can be used in sausage meat. Here are some ideas… cayenne pepper, onion powder, Italian spice, red peppercorns, and fennel seeds.
Some seeds you may not want to be crushed. So you can add fennel for example after grinding.
Should We Season Sausage Before or After Grinding?
This is a common question and is not like a debate, but a topic of strategic sharing among sausage enthusiasts.
You can taste the sausage before or after it. Either way, you’ll be mixing in seasoning or with a meat mixer from time to time.
It is a consequence of choice or how you are taught. Other procedures involve grinding the meat first, seasoning the meat, and then grinding sausage meat twice.
Adding Binders To Sausage
You could also at this point start to assess what kind of dedication you will use for the sausage. Bonds are not needed because in most cases if you have enough fat they will act as a natural obligation.
But some people swear by using a binder, saying that you will get the most delicious sausage. As it will help retain moisture and also help with perfect texture. How will grinding sausage meat help?
How Do You Bind Sausages?
Attaching sausages are made with an additional ingredient that works to hold fat & meat together. A binder or binding agent works by helping to synthesize fats, meats, and proteins that otherwise stick well. The binder is added and mixed well into the meat before adding the sausages.
Soy protein, milk powder, or bread crumbs are often used.
Chilling Meat Before Grinding
Assuming you bought the meat you brought it home immediately. It will nonetheless cool down where it was stored. But over time it can take to cuts and slices. The meat can be warm.
So you will want to cool the meat again after cutting it. The reason is that you want to digest cold meat.
Grinding sausage meat twice works best when the meat is frozen.
That is the main reason for cooling the meat. But in terms of safety, it is best to keep raw meat uncooked immediately.
Cold strengthens the meat and helps it to flow through the digestive tract. You will get a little closing this way. It also helps keep everything new and safe from getting spoiled.
Keeping your milling machines cool will also help. You can separate the grinder separately from each piece, just place it in the fridge or freezer.
How Long Does It Take To Chill Meat Before Grinding?
You want the sausage meat to be at forty degrees Fahrenheit. That when it reaches close to room temperature can take up to two hours in the fridge.
Refrigerate meat for at least thirty minutes. Alternatively, you can keep the meat for at least two hours in the refrigerator.
So I would recommend using a fridge, but it doesn’t hurt to let the meat heal and season continuously in the fridge overnight.
Adding Water To Sausage Mixture
One more thing before you start grinding sausage meat twice. Most sausage makers add water to their sausages during this time. Moisture does a lot of good when you grind meat.
As a side note, you can use beer, wine, or stock instead of water.
Water will give your sausage extra moisture which is great. You want a good sausage with water. It is also beneficial to keep the seasonings moist to prevent inflating.
You don’t want a single bite with an extra clump of spice. Waterworks in a meat grinder as they do in a restaurant.
How Much Water Should You Add When Preparing Sausage?
The simplest way to use water to get to meat is 1 oz of water per pound. About ten percent of water by weight. Just make sure you utilize cold water.
Another good way to add to water is to utilize ice cubes. They also do a good job of keeping the meat cool.
If you want to simply pour water over the sausage. Then do this after grinding or during. Adding water to the groundwater will not work, as it will not absorb enough fluid.
A solid meat grinder is required if you plan to use ice. Check out this dynamic on Amazon.
Grinding The Sausage Meat
So after cooling the meat or utensils. You should then determine the season before or after. You are ready to start grinding sausage meat twice. All you need is a grinder, meat, ice cubes (optional), and a meat grinder.
Minced meat takes up a lot of space until it is packed or pressed
The container holding the meat from the mill must be larger than the one used for holding or mixing meat.
Usually, a large bathtub made of metal or plastic for food-grade works well.
Rubbermaid food tubs arrive in many varied sizes and are a great option, check them out on Amazon.
Once you have found something to carry the minced meat you are ready to start. First, make sure that you are using the correct grinding plate for the job.
What Size Grinding Plate To Use For Sausage?
Another step before you start grinding sausage meat twice. Choose the size of your meat grinder. The options are usually nice, medium & rough, or even larger.
Unless you are making hot dogs I will use a rough or medium grinding plate. Fine is a low plate with very small, medium-sized spaces and very rough.
Medium-sized grinding plates are between six-eight mm wide. Fine plates are usually four mm or less.
How Many Times To Grind Sausage?
How often you run the meat with your grinding machine is up to you. I would say that most sausage makers do it at least twice. Especially if you plan to do a good digestion.
So here is the best answer.
Always grind the sausage once on a rough plate 3/8 ”or eight-ten wide. This is called “1st grinding” and helps to break down the first cuts of meat before further grinding. Then you can grind it a second time on a smaller plate size to get the texture of the finest meat.
You should not start with a good grinding plate like the first grind. If not, your meat will probably get stuck in the grinder. Instead, start with the so-called “grinding 1st” using a coarse plate.
Always use a meat grinder when grinding meat, they make eating meat on the grinder much safer. You can find one on Amazon.
This helps to break down the meat enough to eat a small grinding plate. Then you can work your way down. If you want a chunkier meat bite use a coarse grinding plate. Then move to a central point in the second grind.
Also, you can grind many times using a strong grinder, the meat will be chunky until you get the texture you want. Usually, grinding sausage meat twice will do the trick.