Cured Sausage Equipment - Cured Sausage 102
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Cured Sausage Equipment
What is the Most Important Piece of Cured Sausage Equipment?
This depends on how you get your meat. If you are a hunter, then a Meat Grinder will be the most important as you will be starting with large whole muscle cuts. If you buy meat at the store, then it is easy to buy already ground meat, and that meat will almost always be ground twice at the meatpacking plant. I personally think that both a Stuffer and Grinder are needed to make a quality cured sausage product as, unlike with Fresh Sausage, you will have to get some protein extraction during the mixing process. This means your meat will be stickier and more bound together, which will make using the stuffing function of your meat grinder much more difficult. Still, though, because you need to grind twice and because, in theory, you could still use your grinder to stuff with, I will say a Meat Grinder is still the most important piece of equipment.
Do You Still Need A Sausage Stuffer?
Absolutely you should be using a sausage stuffer when making cured sausage. The time it will take you to stuff off of a meat grinder will be many times longer than it would take with a sausage stuffer. The stuffer will also give you a more uniform and evenly filled product than a grinder will, not to mention the unnecessary wear and tear you are putting on your meat grinder.
As a final point, many Meat Grinders do not come with an attached stuffer/horn small enough to allow you to make smaller diameter products like snack sticks.
Do You Need A Meat Mixer
Yes, a Meat Mixer is a very important tool when making cured sausage. This brings me back to one of my favorite topics, Protein Extraction. Protein extraction is what allows the fat, meat, and water to all bind together and stay bound during the cooking process. Because we are going to smoke these for long periods of time at lower temperatures, the fat will render out of the meat during the cooking process; this will cause a host of problems with your finished product, such as overly dry casings, shrinkage, and lack of taste to name just a few.
Best Grinder For Beginners
The Walton’s #8 Meat Grinder and the Walton’s #12 Meat Grinder are both good entry-level grinders that will allow you to stuff larger diameter casings as well. These grinders work best for smaller batches (5-10 lb).
$500 Budget for Equipment
In the event that you had a budget of $500 to purchase equipment to make Cured Sausage, I would buy a 7 lb Sausage Stuffer for $160 and a 20 lb Meat Mixer for $110. This leaves you with $230, but Walton’s #8 Meat Grinder for $379.99 is worth breaking the budget.
Other Equipment Or Supplies
- You will also need a Smoker at some point, these products can still be cooked in an oven or on a grill, but a smoker will give you a better tasting and more appealing product.
- For Summer Sausage and a few other products, you will need a way to close the casings. Walton’s Hog Ring Pliers is a cost-effective way to do this. For a commercial application, the Max Pac or the Bag and Casing Clipper.
Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders
Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Mixers
Shop waltonsinc.com for Sausage Stuffers
Shop waltonsinc.com for Smokers
Shop waltonsinc.com for American BBQ Systems Smokers
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Cole1996 I have seen people do it before, as long as you sterilize everything and that is the main use of both the bucket and the mixer it should be okay. Now, obviously this won’t fly if you are doing this to sell your product.
