[Sca-cooks] Problems with sausage

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jan 7, 2008, at 1:17 PM, Nick Sasso wrote:

> Fat PLUS gelatin (soluablized callogen tissue) is far superior in  
> mouthfeel
> and tenderness than fat alone.  As Master A mentioned, liquid fat  
> just melts
> and runs away . ..  the other tissue will help hold moisture and  
> velvety
> feel.

What he said. I had intended to mention that connective tissue of the  
right sort (collagen, the translucent stuff like you get in pork skin  
and pig's feet, etc., GOOD, nasty white fibrous elastin and plain old  
abject cartilage, BAD) was a bog contributor to mouth feel.

Gunthar, the typical modern fat-to-lean-meat ratio for sausage is  
anywhere from 10-15% (10% for "lite" sausages which may well have  
fillers added) up to as much as 35%. 35% is probably too much, but  
some of the really cheap bulk sausage meat, made from trimmings, can  
be that way. Unfortunately, when you cook it, it's like you've got  
nothing left to show for your efforts.

20-25% is pretty common, and should do the job for you.

Adamantius