Sausage Critique - Mealy Texture

[thirdeye]

My buddy, his brothers and sisters and a few friends make a big batch (around 600 lbs) of German, and chile cheese sausage every February... and I get about 5 pounds.  The ratio is roughly 40% chuck, and 60% butt, and the base seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic) are the same, the chile cheese just has hi-temp cheddar and green chilies added.  This year they made a third version which used Guiness beer instead of water.  The operation and handling is as follows.  On Thursday night, the market where they purchase the meat allows a couple of guys to help with the seasoning after they grind it, then it's stored in the walk-in overnight.  On Friday afternoon they pick up the meat, package all of the bulk orders which are held in a fridge.  The remaining meat is iced down overnight, and Saturday morning they do all of the stuffed orders. Yesterday I got my usual 5 pounds (all bulk) and as a  bonus I got a ring of the Guiness flavored sausage.  I grilled the ring last night and really liked the flavor, but the texture was mealy, sort of crumbly and not firm.  Today I fried patties for breakfast, and the texture was normal.

When I make my sausage I'm a stickler for grinding icy meat, holding it in plastic buckets in my spare fridge which is kept very cold, and using iced water and shaved ice and when stuffing... only removing enough sausage to fill my barrel, then rotating the cased sausage back to the fridge.  I've never had any texture issues, especially the mealy texture I noticed.

My question is: I always thought a mealy texture was caused by the sausage that gets too warm when grinding which causes the fat and protein to separate from each other when cooked.  But if that was the case I would have expected the bulk sausage I got to have the same texture as the ring.  Is it possible that the mealiness of the ring was due to not being cold enough from Friday night until Saturday morning when it was stuffed?  We're having a warm February, and I suggested they buy additional bags of ice to keep the bus trays cold, and they held them on a table in the garage, the overnight low was in the low 40's, and I believe they said they had around 60 pounds of bagged ice atop the tubs of meat.

 

[reinhard1]

First question would be if they use a cure.  I'm assuming they did. But since you had bulk it make's me question this.  40 degrees or higher would start a bacteria problem stored over 4 hours without cure, but they had ice on top and it was in a walk in cooler, so they are probably safe there.  Mealy or dry texture in my opinion is from understuffing, lean/fat ratio, water content [or beer] and not using a binder such as dry powdered milk .  Could also be caused by smoking or cooking at higher temps than recommended.  

These are large batches you are talking about also.  Do they have a large enough mixer to mix everything well?  Unless folks have the proper equipment on hand for this it should be done in segments and not the old all at once deal.  I have seen this and some mixed large amounts by hand and that is not a good idea.  I don't make larger batches than 25 pounds.  That is what I can handle by myself.  I always recommend using a binder like dry powdered milk.  This absorb's the moisture so it stay's in the mix and in your links or rings or bulk.  This has cured a lot of folks sausage problems.  I don't think the temp has anything to do with it as far as the mealy texture.  Temps are a factor in food safety and proper internal temps.  good luck.

Edited February 28, 2016 by reinhard1

[thirdeye]

They did use Tenderquick.  All varieties are fresh and were not smoked.  I believe the bags of ice were used because the tubs were stored in the garage overnight Friday and the temps were low 40's (normally the outside temps in February are in the teens or colder).  The stuffing was fine, and the lean/fat ratio was the same for all varieties.  The mixing would have been done at the meat department when they added spices, so I'm guessing it was automated and not just done my hand.  However on the beer sausage, they would have incorporated the beer into the meat by hand, but I think it was a 25 or 30 pound batch size. No powdered milk or other binder was used.

[Kidd]

Concerning the crumbly effect:

About the only thing I can think of is temperature of the meat.  Because it was such a big batch Perhaps the equipment they were using heated up.  I certainly don't do the quantities of sausage making you or RH1 do, but I did experience the crumbly affect on a batch once so I'll be interested to see what you guy's come away with. 

Edited February 28, 2016 by Kidd
Clarify

[reinhard1]

Thirdeye, did others as far as you know experience the same thing?  the ratio of meat is fine.  Storing it in the garage at the temps you mentioned in my opinion is not the cause of the texture you experience, even though I would not have done that with the conditions you had there.  I don't think anyone knows what the temp of the sausage was before being stored in the garage in the tubs.  It takes time to cool down and maintain proper temps even with the ice on top, but that is more of a question as I said before about food safety than texture.  Somehow the moisture was lost and that is the result of not having a binder.  When I first started in the butcher buisness I seen a binder used and have always seen a binder being used.  In the buisness using a binder was a factor in profit making.  The less shrinkage, the more profit.  I use it to maintain the texture.  However you have to use proper amounts of water or beer as well when using a binder.  Over cooking or smoking can be a factor also as well as under stuffing, but I'll hang my hat on lack of a binder.  good luck.

[thirdeye]

I'll agree that a binder would have improved texture and moistness.  I've not visited with anyone else, and not sure just how many even got the beer sausage.  That said, I can say that out of all the sausage I've gotten from these guys over the years, I've never seen the mealy issue.  Hopefully it was only the beer sausage that was affected.

While we're visiting about binders, the amounts of ingredients for this German sausage produces a very mild sausage.  There is good balance in the flavor, so I'm not saying it's bland or flavorless... just very mild.  When adding powdered milk at 1 cup/5lbs, what kind of increase to you do with seasonings to adjust for the milk and some additional liquid?  Is there a percentage that could be applied?

 

[reinhard1]

I don't change a thing in seasonings.  I do in the liquid used.  For example when I make a 25 pound batch of anything In smoked sausage I mix all my seasonings and cure in 6 cups of water or beer using that one cup per 5 pound ratio of meat.  Over the years I have messed around with these batches and if you look at my page in the homemade sausage page you can see that at times I don't use the exact meat mixes using beef, pork and venison at  times using all three or a mix of two.  But I do try to keep the fat ratio the same as close as I can.  I use the eyeball method also instead of exact measurements at times. But  the recipe's I have posted have the exact amounts I use and those are the one's I suggest to use.  You can always tweek by adding to your tastes on the next batch.  This is why I like using pre-measured seasonings from someone I can trust for great flavor like from Curley's.  Even using this I add extra garlic, mustard seeds, high temp cheese, jalapenos, ect. but those pre-made seasonings are a great thing on their own and also as a base for you to tweek it even more.   For example a buddy of mine gave me a recipe of ABT sausage he wanted advice on.  Want's it to turn out like a stuffed jalapeno pepper wrapped with bacon and that is my next venture.  Going to make a 10 pound batch using pork butt, beef, high temp cheese [he wanted to use cream cheese but I said it would melt in and I want to see it] salt, black pepper,fresh cilantro, 3 pounds of bacon fried crisp and drained, cumin, garlic, chopped onions , white wine, water, fresh jalapenos, and I will add powdered milk.  First batch I will be making will be smoked and then after that a fresh batch for simmering in beer and onions for the grill.  Should be interesting.  good luck.