How bad did I mess up?

[Midwest_kc]

OK, ok… I know the answer is not too bad, but I got you to click on the thread. I’m also curious what will await me.

Last night I made up about 25 lbs of jalapeño cheddar brats, and 25 lbs of pork summer sausage. After mixing and stuffing the brats, I got everything ready to mix the summer sausage, and I realized I never added water to my mix on the brats.

I corrected that and made sure to use it in the summer sausage, but I’m curious when I cook these brats up, what will happen? Will they be dry? I felt like the seasoning mixed fairly evenly, am I wrong and some will be bland and others too salty?

How bad did I mess up?

[Tex_77]

Midwest_kc No mess up at all. I have yet to water to any of the products I have made, and have had zero issues in flavor or texture. So you can rest easy.

[Midwest_kc]

Tex_77 cool. I was a bit concerned because I used carrot fiber and wasn’t sure if that would ha e some negative impact not having the extra moisture for itt o hold on to.

[Tex_77]

Midwest_kc Well since you used carrot fiber, it could end up with a different story. Why did you use carrot fiber in a brat?

[Midwest_kc]

Moisture retention. I thought a lot of people used it in fresh sausages. Maybe not, but I’ve liked my previous results with it.

[twilliams]

Midwest_kc i never use it in fresh brats. But i never used sure gel in cured meats and now i wont do any without it, so im gonna give it a shot on the carrot fiber.

[processhead]

I suspect your brats will be just fine. Probably the single most important factor in making great sausage is using good quality meat that has enough fat in it.
All the other ingredients and additives fall to a distant second in importance, IMO. Water may help somewhat with the mixing of dry additives, but if you do a thorough job of mixing the dry ingredients, they will still get evenly dispersed throughout the meat.

[Jwatts]

All the water really does is replace moister (blood)that was lost in processing and water makes mixing in the spices easier

[Nicolai]

IMHO the biggest reason for adding water is to soften your meat block to facilitate easier stuffing.

[steve4102]

Midwest_kc said in How bad did I mess up?:

Moisture retention. I thought a lot of people used it in fresh sausages. Maybe not, but I’ve liked my previous results with it.

Binder is not needed in fresh sausage.

[glen]

Carrot for fresh and sure gel for cured
Carrot will help hold the liquid in for a juicier sausage
In your case it will bind with the natural moisture and some of the fat in the meat and you will be fine however some water would have been better
As you well know Midwest_kc the biggest factor is over cooking, get them too hot and all the juiciness will be a distant memory no mater what the mix LOL

[Jonathon]

Midwest_kc Yeah, you can add water and carrot fiber to brats but you dont have to. It will make stuffing a tad easier if you add it but fresh sausage usually stuffs fairly easily.