Fresh Sausage 107 - Basic Breakfast Sausage Processing
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Fresh Sausage 107 - Basic Breakfast Sausage Processing
Attend this entry-level class from Meatgistics University by watching the video, reading the article and post any questions you have!
What Is Breakfast Sausage?
Breakfast Sausage, or as it is sometimes called Pork Sausage, can be stuffed into casings to make link sausages, formed into patties to be added to breakfast sandwiches or you can use it as a ground product and add it to other dishes. Most Breakfast Sausage Seasonings will contain Sage as an ingredient if you do not like the taste of sage Locker PSS Special No Sage is one of the few Pork Sausage Seasonings that does not have any sage.
Meat Block
25 lb of Untrimmed Pork Butts (Fat % between 20-30%)
1 Bag of Holly regular Pork Sausage SeasoningEquipment
Walton’s #12 Meat Grinder
Walton’s 11 lb Sausage StufferProcess
We need to break this down into pieces that our grinder can handle, we are using the Walton’s #12 grinder so we need to make the pieces small enough to fit down the throat, the larger grinder you have the larger pieces it can handle. For this grinder, our throat size is about 2.5 inches and while pieces that size could be stuffed down there for the ease of the grinder we will try to keep them in about 2-inch pieces. Grind all meat twice, first through a 3/8" plate and then through a 3/16th plate to get the desired consistency. If you want you can mix in your seasoning between grinding but we prefer to do it after.
Casings
Now, if we are using the 22-24mm sheep casings you will need to rinse and soak them before they are being used. To do this the easiest way is to turn on a faucet at a slow stream and hold the casing underneath it, let the water find the opening and it will fill it for you, much easier than trying to find and separate the opening with your fingers. Now once they have been rinse soak them for in warm water for 30-60 minutes prior to stuffing. Or you can just use collagen casings and all you have to do is take them out of the plastic package and load them on your stuffing tube.
If you are making a ground product use a meat bag and the 38mm stuffing tube that comes with the Walton’s Sausage Stuffer.
Meat Mixing
Because this is a fresh product, meaning we did not add any cure, we do not need to achieve noticeable levels of protein extraction, all we need to do is make sure our seasoning is fully mixed into the meat. You can do this with your hands or use a meat mixer if you prefer.
Sausage Stuffing
Since we are using smaller casings we will be using the 16mm stuffing tube so we will load our casings onto the tube and then pack the stuffer canister. Once your stuffer is loaded begin cranking it down using the top gear. Try to keep an even and steady pressure throughout. While one person cranks another person should be down at the tube end holding the casing with lightly enough that the casing flows off of the tube with the meat but with enough force that the casing is filled.
Note
A great, and inexpensive way, to seal your meat bags is with the Meat Bag Tape Machine.
Thermal Processing & Smoking
Simply cook at medium heat until the internal temperature is 160° in a pan or griddle.
Cooling
If you want to vacuum pack your bratwurst make sure you put it in the freezer for a while first. If you try to vacuum pack fresh sausage without it being frozen the pressure from the chamber will crush your sausage and it will lose the classic shape.
Wrap up
Making Breakfast Sausage is a very simple process, with just a Grinder and a Stuffer you can take a whole muscle cut, like a pork butt, and have high-quality breakfast sausage in under an hour.
Additional Tips
- Make sure your Grinder Plates & Knives are sharp, in good condition and lubricated with White Oil before you start your grinder.
- You can make Breakfast Sausage with just a Grinder by using the stuffing attachment on your grinder or just a stuffer by buying ground pork from the grocery store.
Other Notes
If you like making breakfast patties you can stuff them into Ground Pork Bags and then cut them into patties as thick as you want. The form won’t be perfectly round but it is a very easy way to form a patty.
Watch WaltonsTV: Basic Breakfast Processing
Shop waltonsinc.com for Breakfast Sausage Seasoing
Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders
Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese
Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives
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Austin Jonathon In the video Jonathon says to grind once with the 3/8 plate, and then once with the 3/16 plate, but in the typed out instructions above it says to just grind twice with a 3/16 plate, so which is it? Or does it really matter?
Isaiah 5:22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks
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Joe Hell got 25# of breakfast done today. Plus 25# each of beer brats, German sausage, and hatch green chili brats! Pics to follow, and Team Blue was out in full force!
Isaiah 5:22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks
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Joe Hell got 25# of breakfast done today. Plus 25# each of beer brats, German sausage, and hatch green chili brats! Pics to follow, and Team Blue was out in full force!
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Thanks Tex_77 I am going to make the change to the article, and then delete you comment and joes and my response to pretend that I don’t make any mistakes!
Joe Hell It’s putting more stress on both your grinder rand your meat than is necessary though, plus it will get through that 1st grind even faster and switching plates and knives takes less than a minute.
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Joe Hell I do appreciate you having my back though!
Get more help with your processing questions and learn more about processing meat by subscribing to our waltonsinc.com youtube page at https://wltns.link/waltonstv I am a Gorilla, love yourself
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Joe Hell Next thing you know they will take away your blog…, then your posting privileges.
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While cooking up my last bag of breakfast links today a random thought occurred. What about pre cooking these before packaging? I guess you’d end up with a quick brown and serve. Thinking this could be done via sous vide. Not sure if the extra step would be worth it. Thoughts?
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While cooking up my last bag of breakfast links today a random thought occurred. What about pre cooking these before packaging? I guess you’d end up with a quick brown and serve. Thinking this could be done via sous vide. Not sure if the extra step would be worth it. Thoughts?
PapaSop Probably a preference thing, but I don’t always cook them in a skillet, sometimes I grill or toss them over the coals to cook. It all just depends where I am at. As we all know that cooked over the coals flavor is always a winner! So maybe do half precooked on your next batch to see how you like it…
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While cooking up my last bag of breakfast links today a random thought occurred. What about pre cooking these before packaging? I guess you’d end up with a quick brown and serve. Thinking this could be done via sous vide. Not sure if the extra step would be worth it. Thoughts?
PapaSop We cook and freeze some of our breakfast sausage & sliced bacon. We will cook on the Traeger w/smoke and then freeze on a sheet pan before vac sealing. We also freeze hard cooked fried eggs. When in a hurry, grab some sausage and fried egg and microwave for a couple of minutes, roll up in a tortilla and hit the door! We use patty paper to make things separate easily. We freeze using Walton’s vac bags with the zip lock so just open and zip back up. Usually 2-4 eggs to a bag and 4-6 pieces of sausage to a bag. We do the same with the bacon. Grab a couple of pieces of bacon, nuke for 30 seconds, grab a leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato and instant BLT.
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome! Semper Fi
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PapaSop We cook and freeze some of our breakfast sausage & sliced bacon. We will cook on the Traeger w/smoke and then freeze on a sheet pan before vac sealing. We also freeze hard cooked fried eggs. When in a hurry, grab some sausage and fried egg and microwave for a couple of minutes, roll up in a tortilla and hit the door! We use patty paper to make things separate easily. We freeze using Walton’s vac bags with the zip lock so just open and zip back up. Usually 2-4 eggs to a bag and 4-6 pieces of sausage to a bag. We do the same with the bacon. Grab a couple of pieces of bacon, nuke for 30 seconds, grab a leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato and instant BLT.
Bob Stehlik
Interesting. -
PapaSop We cook and freeze some of our breakfast sausage & sliced bacon. We will cook on the Traeger w/smoke and then freeze on a sheet pan before vac sealing. We also freeze hard cooked fried eggs. When in a hurry, grab some sausage and fried egg and microwave for a couple of minutes, roll up in a tortilla and hit the door! We use patty paper to make things separate easily. We freeze using Walton’s vac bags with the zip lock so just open and zip back up. Usually 2-4 eggs to a bag and 4-6 pieces of sausage to a bag. We do the same with the bacon. Grab a couple of pieces of bacon, nuke for 30 seconds, grab a leaf of lettuce and slice of tomato and instant BLT.
Bob Stehlik You are blowing my mind with this. Freeze hard cooked fried eggs??
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Bob Stehlik You are blowing my mind with this. Freeze hard cooked fried eggs??
Dr_Pain why not? Many breakfast items in the supermarket & places like Starbucks have been freezing eggs for years.
Improvise, Adapt and Overcome! Semper Fi
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Dr_Pain why not? Many breakfast items in the supermarket & places like Starbucks have been freezing eggs for years.
Bob Stehlik I thought most of those were just quasi poached, not really fried.
On a different note, have you smoked some protein and then freeze? My experience is that the smoke flavor mellows out big time.
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Bob Stehlik I thought most of those were just quasi poached, not really fried.
On a different note, have you smoked some protein and then freeze? My experience is that the smoke flavor mellows out big time.
Dr_Pain I’ve smoked Cornish Hen halves for years and freezing them in vacuum bags for years. I steam them to heat for serving. I think they are moist and just as good as right off the smoker. Many of the snack stick and cured sausage makers(I.e.Summer Sausage) freeze their product and never mention loss of flavor.
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Thanks Tex_77 I am going to make the change to the article, and then delete you comment and joes and my response to pretend that I don’t make any mistakes!
Joe Hell It’s putting more stress on both your grinder rand your meat than is necessary though, plus it will get through that 1st grind even faster and switching plates and knives takes less than a minute.
Jonathon I always grind first through a larger plate then smaller, really like the results.
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Dr_Pain I’ve smoked Cornish Hen halves for years and freezing them in vacuum bags for years. I steam them to heat for serving. I think they are moist and just as good as right off the smoker. Many of the snack stick and cured sausage makers(I.e.Summer Sausage) freeze their product and never mention loss of flavor.
Bob Stehlik said in Fresh Sausage 107 - Basic Breakfast Sausage Processing:
Dr_Pain I’ve smoked Cornish Hen halves for years and freezing them in vacuum bags for years. I steam them to heat for serving. I think they are moist and just as good as right off the smoker. Many of the snack stick and cured sausage makers(I.e.Summer Sausage) freeze their product and never mention loss of flavor.
That is good to know!
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J Jonathon pinned this topic on
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