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Operation continued:
12. Slide a prepared
fibrous sausage casing
onto the sausage tube.
13. Double check to make
sure the drain valve on the back of the sausage stuffer is off. Crack open the intake valve until
you see or hear water running into the sausage stuffer.
14. Slower is better as
minimal water pressure forces the meat forward and out the sausage
tube and into the casing.
15. Hold the casing
tightly and keep the end of the sausage tube buried into the meat
while as you fill the casing.
16. Continue to fill the
fibrous casing
until there is and inch remaining.
17. Tie off the casing with
butcher twine or crimp with a hog ring. Continue the same procedure
with the rest of the meat.
18. Unscrew the
sausage stuffer headcover
and tip the cylinder downward into a sink or bucket. Crack open the
shutoff valve and use the water to push the piston out of the
cylinder.
19. Shut off the water, unhook the
hoses, disassemble and clean your Dakotah Sausage Stuffer with hot soapy water.
|
 The Dakotah
Sausage Stuffer operates on minimal water pressure (as little as
15# PSI). Precision injected to exact
tolerances from food-grade ABS plastic. Listed as a 10 lb.
capacity sausage stuffer. One person operation!
For
maximum performance always stuff your
sausage casings
immediately after mixing the ground sausage meat and fat (if it is
wild game) together with the sausage seasoning, binder, salt, water
and Prague Powder (curing salt). If the sausage
mixture should set up and stiffen, add more water and remix until it
is again soft and pliable. This will make it easier to stuff
and increase the life of your Dakotah Sausage Stuffer.
Using the sausage
meat mixture immediately after it is mixed with the sausage making
ingredients should be the rule of thumb for any sausage machine
including the horizontal sausage stuffer and the upright stainless
steel sausage stuffers as well as the rest of the sausage stuffers
available today. Gears can break on any sausage stuffer when the
sausage mixture is has set up overnight or is too dry!
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If you are making sausage with an
electric meat grinder or a
manual meat grinder, on the other hand, regardless of the brand
name, the sausage meat mixture should be allowed to set up overnight
so that it is easier to get through the meat grinder. And let's not
forget that meat grinders were not built for stuffing sausage into
sausage casings! They were built to grind meat.
All sausage meat including beef, pork, venison (deer, elk) and fat
to be used for making sausage should be fresh or fresh frozen and
thawed. For the best results make your fresh or smoked sausage in a
clean and cool environment. Temperatures from 34 to 38 degrees is
preferred for sausage making. Refrigerate the sausage immediately
after it is mixed and stuffed into the sausage casing. The same rule
applies for fresh bulk sausage.
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Meat
preparation tips: When you're trimming
beef and pork for meat to make sausage, cut away as much gristle and tendon as you
can. If you want a sausage link that is leaner than most
store-bought sausage cut away as much of the outside fat from the
meat as you think necessary. I prefer beef chuck, minus the outside
fat, for pepperoni, salami and summer sausage recipes while lean
pork trimmings make the best fresh sausage such as Italian,
bratwurst and breakfast sausage links.
When I'm
working with venison my formula for smoked sausage
is 90% lean to 10% beef fat for salami, summer sausage, pepperoni
and thuringer type sausages. This combination may be too lean for
some but it's definitely healthier for you.
Unlike beef and pork, venison (deer and elk) has tallow instead of
fat. Tallow taints quickly and should be trimmed and discarded.
Tallow also tends to stick to the roof of your mouth and tallow that
is tainted will ruin your sausage.
My
venison formula
for fresh sausage is 12%-15% pork fat to
88%-85% lean venison which is about half the fat in most
store-bought pork sausage links. When you fry a sausage patty or
sausage link using my 12% to 15% fat-to-lean ratio you'll have
enough fat for a moist sausage patty, providing the sausage patty is
not overcooked, and it won't be swimming in an inch of grease like
the majority of most store-bought sausage patties or sausage links.
I use the above
fat-to-lean ratio for
smoked
sausage links as
well. This fat-to-lean ratio produces a meaty sausage link that's
much healthier than store-bought sausage links. Commerical smoked
sausage links may contain as much as 20% to 30% fat.
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Another advantage when you make your own homemade sausage is that
you have total control of what goes in your sausage recipe. You can
reduce or increase the amount of fat and you choose the meat. You
can also reduce the amount of salt, at least to a certain extent.
Too little salt produces a bland sausage whether you are making
fresh sausage or smoked sausage. Experiment with different sausage
seasonings and sausage spices until you create a beef sausage recipe
or venison sausage recipe that suits your particular taste.
My formula for
smoked venison
sausage chubs such as summer,
salami, thuringer etc. is 88-90% lean to 10-12% beef fat. This
combination produces an excellent sausage with a great texture and
taste. However, if you're into the commercial beef sausage and like
your sausage fatty, my formula will likely be too lean to suit you.
Experiment with sausage making until you come up with a formula that
works for you. Experiment with different beef sausage recipes and
venison sausage recipes as well. The more sausage you make the
better it will become.
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When I'm making
old-fashioned bologna
or franks I use upwards
of 20% pork fat to 80% lean venison. I use a #32 meat grinder with a
large throat so I don't have to force the meat through the system. I
grind the lean venison and pork fat for bologna and franks once
through a coarse meat grinder plate and three times through a fine
1/8" meat grinder plate or four times through a medium 3/16" meat
grinder plate.
To achieve an
acceptable emulsification
as close to
store-bought bologna and franks as you can expect without a
commercial bowl cutter, you can add flaked ice to the final grind at
the rate of 1 lb. of ice for each 5 lbs. of meat. I prefer
old-fashioned type bologna and franks and the process is messy so I
seldom add the ice. I only mentioned it as an option for those of
you who are trying to obtain a store-bought type of frank or hot dog
type consistency rather than the old-fashioned bologna and frank
consistency most home sausage makers are trying to achieve.
Don't expect to make bologna or franks with the same consistency
like you buy at the store but you can produce a close second. And
you can also match the flavor of a store-bought bologna and frank
and even enhance it to suit your taste with some experimentation.
There are excellent bologna and frank seasonings on the market.
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The most
popular sausage casing used by home sausage makers
including hog casings and sheep casings (natural casings). Hog
casings come in a variety of sizes with the most popular being
33-36MM which is commonly used for Polish kielbasa, German sausage,
Italian sausage, Bratwurst, Chorizo, Pepperoni, franks and more.
Sheep casing in the 22-24mm size is used to make breakfast sausage
links, snack sticks, beef sticks, pepperoni sticks as well as other
small diameter sausages. Natural casings are edible and don't have
to be peeled away before eating the sausage.
Hog and sheep casings are generally sold to the home sausage maker
by the cup or hank. The amount of hog or sheep casing in a cup or
small bag is usually enough casing to make 25 pounds of sausage
links depending on the individual manufacturer. You should note that
sausage casings sold in the smaller cups and bags are short strands
generally no more than 8 or 9 ft. in length.
A hank of hog casing is enough to stuff 100-110 lbs. of
Italian sausage links and a hank of sheep casing is enough to stuff
about 70 lbs. of breakfast sausage links. The casing strands in a
hank are considerably longer then the casing sold by the cup.
Fibrous casings
are non-edible and sold in an assortment of
different lengths and diameters. A 1" fibrous casing is mostly used
for pepperoni, 2" to 2 1/2" fibrous casing for summer sausage and 3"
to 5" fibrous casing for salami or bologna. Choose your length size
according to the length you can hang in your smoker or smokehouse
and still have ample space above your heat source.
The most common size of collagen casings are 22 to 32MM. Use the 22
to 23MM for beef or venison snack sticks, 26MM for breakfast sausage
links and 32MM for Polish sausage links. There are smaller diameter
collagen casings but you may have to unravel them onto your sausage
stuffing tube to make them work, depending on the size sausage
stuffing tube you have.
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maximum
performance
electric meat
grinder
preparation tips
working
with venison
venison
formula
fat
to lean ratio smoked
smoked
venison
old
fashioned bologna
acceptable emulsification
popular sausage casing
A hank
of hog casing
Fibrous
casings
1. Remove the
sausage stuffer parts from the box. Instructions included.
2. Screw on the black
shutoff valves to the rear of the sausage stuffer.
3. Attach a short garden
hose (6 ft.) to each shutoff valve at the back of the sausage
stuffer.
4.
Stretch the O-rings over the sausage stuffer piston and pop into the grooves as shown in
the picture.
5. Lubricate the
sausage stuffer piston and the mouth of the sausage stuffer cylinder
with vegetable oil or shortening.
Do not use food-grade
grease or silicone as a lubricant.
6. Insert the
sausage stuffer piston into the cylinder
with the flat side of the piston facing outward.
7.
Mix & knead the ground meat, water and sausage seasoning together until you
obtain a soft pliable sausage mixture. For the best results
use fresh beef, pork or venison.
8. Push the
piston to the rear of the
Dakotah Sausage Stuffer. Pack the cylinder with freshly mixed
(squishy) sausage meat.
9. Slide one of the sausage tubes
(3/8" or 3/4") into the black coupler until it locks into place on
the tube.
10.
After the sausage tube is secured by the lock nut groove, screw the
sausage tube & nut
assembly onto the sausage stuffer headcover as seen in the above pic.
11. After you've packed
the freshly mixed sausage
meat into the cylinder, screw the head cover into the sausage
stuffer.
next
step
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