Carrot or other binders for fresh sausage?

[rjsenk]

I just picked up 30# of boneless Boston Butt at Aldi (gotta love a $1.29 per # sale) and I plan on making 15 #'s of fresh brats and hot Italian sausage. I have recently used the Carrot binder on some Cajun smoked sausage with great success but was wondering if a binder is needed or recommended for fresh sausage. I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered 100 times on this forum and I was not able to find it. Does anybody have any thoughts on the matter?

[Austin]

rjsenk There is no need to use a binder when making a fresh pork sausage.
Only time I have or would use binders in a fresh sausage is when making a low-fat chicken sausage. Any other fresh sausage, and there really isn’t a need for a binder.

[Linda Pool]

Hi Austin,
If you do not use the binder for fresh sausage!! How do you get the moisture effect ?

Linda Pool
Chef Owner
Bistroplus

[Jonathon]

Linda Pool When you say moisture effect, I assume you are asking how to keep it moist? You can add some water to fresh brats to help mix all the seasoning into the meat evenly but I wouldn’t add a lot, the fat content and the water in the meat should be enough to keep it feeling nice and moist. If you are having an issue where your fresh sausage is coming out dry then I would guess your issue would be either with your initial meat block (not enough fat) or your cooking process.

Having said all of that, you can use carrot fiber in fresh sausage (I have done it in the past as a test) but it shouldn’t really be necessary. If you are wanting to add something from the binder category then Carrot Fiber is the correct one as it is really a moisture enhancer more than anything else!

Hope this helped, let us know if we missed the point of your question?

[rjsenk]

Austin Thanks Austin. I was leaning towards no binders (I have never used them in the past, but then again, I didn’t have a few packages laying around either - lol). I just wanted to double-check. Thanks again!!