Making Italian sausage in real time !

[Boaz]

Ok I Found some pretty good looking pork in the grocery store bargain bin on the way home . Boneless country ribs , end cut pork chops . My side by side refrigerator went out bout 3 months ago , lost all my sausage , buckboard bacon ..... Lot of meat .
Time to 'stock up' again ! Gonna make Hot Italian sausage . Have heard and been told Legg's Italian is real good .



Snagged some Legg's seasoning cheap on evil bay so we shall see . I'm also going to make Hot Italian with jalapeno and onion ..Kind of a Mex Tex experiment ? Here's what we got ...



I'm gonna get the meat boned and read to grind and cut up the jalipinos / onions . Be back pretty quick ! (hopefully )

[Boaz]

Dang it ! Just had a thought ! Italian Texas sausage ? ..........Well we shall see !

[Preacher Jim]

And I have not had anything to eat Charlie that sounds great. Who can go wrong when onion and jalapeños peppers .

[Boaz]

You dang Right brother !

[Boaz]

Ok ..done !





After boning and trimming the meat weighs in at 6 pounds 2 ounces ..bout what I figured judging by the weight on the packages . Now if I'm going to drag everything out to make sausage I usually make 10 pounds . But never used this seasoning and wanted to experiment . I'll do two batches . One regular Italian and one with the jalapenos and onions ...2 three pound batches . OH ! Meat cost $6.98 and with seasoning and onions/jalapenos it's a pretty cheap experiment ...bout $10.00 for making 6 LB of sausage . LETS DO SOME GRINDING !

[DerekP Houston]

That looks delicious, I've been itching to make some sausage again. Send us some pics once its cooked up too!

[Boaz]

It's a comin Dereck ! LOL I'll 'Critique' the finished product ...although it means little as we all taste differently .

[Boaz]

Grinding done ! You know I figured the meat might be too lean , I tried to pick 3 packages and try to get bout a 20-30% fat content . It looks really , nice light pink color , plenty of fat . I have made pork sausage with lean meat and it's no good . HEY LOOK ! Castboolits is in the background !



Nice color !



I blended/mixed 1/4 of the seasoning into the ground meat . One package is spose to do 25 lbs so roughly figured . Mixed by hand and mixed separately the batch with onions and jalapenos .



Meats warming up and want to let it marry , meld , morph ...Dang I love those 50 cent words ! I'm gonna put it in the icebox and soak up the seasoning ! See ya tomorrow and we will stuff casings !

[DerekP Houston]

You got that right on the fat content, it's where all the flavor hides! I'm pretty jealous of that grinder mine is the kitchen aid attachment...it leaves a lot to be desired.

[randyrat]

Nice Grinder..That Leggs is the Cats meow. I like the regular sausage and i can buy it local..The Hot Italian is great stuff also.
I'll be over for Breakfast

[Boaz]

You got that right on the fat content, it's where all the flavor hides! I'm pretty jealous of that grinder mine is the kitchen aid attachment...it leaves a lot to be desired.

Derek It's a Cabela's 3/4 horse ,I read folks posting bout having a 5 hp commercial and that's cool but this grinder took me bout 5 min to crank out 6 pounds of meat . It is more than I need actually . Bought it in the ..Bargain Cave for $89.00 bout 2 years ago . Far as I'
m concerned it's already paid for it's self .

[Boaz]

Nice Grinder..That Leggs is the Cats meow. I like the regular sausage and i can buy it local..The Hot Italian is great stuff also.
I'll be over for Breakfast

Randy this is my first venture into prepared seasonings ...You are encouraging ! thank you .

[randyrat]

You can always add more seasoning but you can't take it out. I've been using LEGGS for at least 35 years. I like the Bratwurst seasoning also..I add Butter milk and is just fantastic

[Boaz]

OH REALLY ! Then you have experience with Legg's ! That's encouraging . As I said ..my first attempt with prepared/commercial seasoning . Thank you . ............But the onion /jalapeno is a wild card event ..lol . I checked quite a bit and seemed Legg's was the 'premiere' Italian seasoning blend .
As an aside I have made polish with onions and bell peppers . Me and several others really liked it , will make it again .

[Boaz]

One thing I find odd about this seasoning is there are no caraway seeds , they must be ground up in the powder instead of whole . I have made a good chicken Italian sausage (well...good as chicken sausage can get I guess) most Italian recipes call for whole seeds .

[MaryB]

I use Legg's, the bratwurst is great mixed in a pound of hamburger then fried as a burger, hot Italian I use to boost the wimpy MN "hot" Italian the butcher shop makes. Breakfast sausage seasoning is good stuff too! I need ot get a whole pork butt and grind it for breakfast sausage. I make patties with a hamburger press that when fried up cover an English muffin.

[DerekP Houston]

dang with reviews like this I'm gonna track some down! Thanks for sharing yall

[Boaz]

ok , forgetting a couple of details . I'm using a 3/16 grinding plate in the grinder and scooped the seeds out of the jalapenos . It's supposta be 'hot Italian" seasoning so skipped the seeds to see where it stands on it's own . Recipe can be amended by results .

[DerekP Houston]

fry up a test patty for breakfast before you stuff the casings

[Lloyd Smale]

out of the prepackaged spices leggs and witts are the best. That said over the years ive kind of perfected what I like and do most of my own. meatman.com carries a full line of both and about any sausage making supply you would ever need and are great to deal with.