Author Topic: Patty Sausage....any tips? (Read 6739 times)

Witt · « **on:** November 28, 2006, 07:43:55 PM »

I've made about 20-30 deep dish pies in the last few months..and I haven't noticed much talk on here about making the "manhole sausage cover" as I call it. (one big patty under the sauce) Does anyone have any special tips or techniques on making that and the prep of it? I personally like my pizza much better with it, but it's kinduva pain versus crumble sausage or pepperoni, etc.

Right now I use nearly 1 lb of sausage when trying this technique..roll it out with olive oil (so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin). I then cook it in a large pan (in the oven) for about 3 mins just to make it take shape. For a 14 inch pie I'm making it about 12 inches around.

Thanks again.

chiguy · « **Reply #1 on:** November 28, 2006, 11:34:03 PM »

Hi Witt,
The sausage patty style you refer to is mostly used at Ginos East. Although it is personal preference 1 pound/sausage for a 12inch pan seem a bit too much. I would tend to think 8 oz should be fine. Although i am unaware of the sausage ratio being used at Ginos.
As far as preparing sausage patty, if you are using layered cheese as they do you can simply press it into the pan right over the layered cheese. I scatter about 5-6 sausage chunks over the cheese and press them down and mend them together with my hands. They do not prebake the sausage, it is placed on raw. The ingrediant sequence is dough,cheese,sausage(toppings, ans sauce. I bake my deep dish at 440F for about 24 minutes, the sausage has no problem baking through. Chiguy

loowaters · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2006, 08:11:54 AM »

I haven't tried yet but have wanted to for some time. I'm trying it later this week and the way I've decided I would attempt this is by making about a half pound patty then placing it between two piecies of Seran Wrap (or parchment paper...will that stick?) and pressing it out into a large thin patty. Then, obviously, I can just remove the top piece of wrap, flip it into the pie on top of the cheese and peel off the other piece of plastic. I hope this works. I've learned a few little secrets talking to a former manager of the Gino's on Superior downtown and one thing he told me was that originally at Gino's East they would press the sausage out on a tortilla press...I don't have one of those, nor will I be getting one.

DNA Dan · « **Reply #3 on:** November 29, 2006, 03:58:46 PM »

Geeze that is insane. Why not just skip the crust and use sausage as the crust? Just fry a sausage patty with sauce and cheese?

If this thing is going under EVERYTHING, I would suggest a par-bake, or pre-cooked patty. If not, you better cook that sucker good and long or else have some good rest room service on hand!

This sounds like a seriously greasy pizza. I gotta see pics of this one!

loowaters · « **Reply #4 on:** November 29, 2006, 04:44:56 PM »

Quote from: DNA Dan on November 29, 2006, 03:58:46 PM

Geeze that is insane. Why not just skip the crust and use sausage as the crust? Just fry a sausage patty with sauce and cheese?

If this thing is going under EVERYTHING, I would suggest a par-bake, or pre-cooked patty. If not, you better cook that sucker good and long or else have some good rest room service on hand!

This sounds like a seriously greasy pizza. I gotta see pics of this one!

Not insane, my friend, just true to the style. You wanted pics...you got one.

I tried it for the first time this afternoon. This is without question the finest pie I've ever made. Dead on to Malnati's sausage patty and my memory recall on that is all of four days old (had one on Saturday). I knew this sausage patty would shrink a bit but I didn't expect this much. I used two links of Johnsonville sweet (about 8 oz.) on a 12" pizza. I patted it out using the plastic wrap idea I described in my earlier post and ended up using my rolling pin for a little help. I thought I'd try to get it to 11" but I needed just bit more sausage so it was a hair over 10". Well, it shrunk to about 8"...lesson learned there. Tasted phenomenal! I preheated my stone for 1 hr. at 550* and cooked the pie for 20 minutes at 500*. The sausage was raw going in and fully cooked coming out

pizzoid · « **Reply #5 on:** November 29, 2006, 05:04:43 PM »

Yummmmm. What recipe did you use for the crust? Doesn't look grease logged.

I wonder if severely docking the sausage patty would help with the shrinkage problem.....?

- Al

DNA Dan · « **Reply #6 on:** November 29, 2006, 05:11:31 PM »

Wow, that looks complete different than I had imagined. How thin would you say you make the sausage? Are there holes in the sheet?

loowaters · « **Reply #7 on:** November 29, 2006, 05:28:35 PM »

The crust recipe I used is over here http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,4070.0.html although I changed the % of oils going from 15 up to 19% on the corn oil and going from 8 down to 4% on the olive oil.

How thin is the sausage? Well, I rolled it out as thin as I could without putting holes in it. Probably about 3/16" raw. I don't know if docking it would help.

Witt · « **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2006, 06:02:35 PM »

Thanks for the feedback. I've done the sausage patty about 10 times and I was looking for additional thoughts on the topic.

In my fat-person opinion I think that the taste of the patty style is better than the crumble method. I just think it tastes very complete. I've gotten down to using about 12 ounces and speading it nearly as wide as the pan (knowing of the reduction in size during the cooking). I like the idea of using the wrap, and I will try that. Since I make a Gino's style mine tends to be a touch thicker than some of the pizzas I've seen on here. I will load up an image within the next week as I cook one.

FYI..I think having holes might actually not be a bad thing....might also help cooking if any concerns.

Anybody else experienced with patty sausage?

Thanks

November · « **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2006, 07:15:24 PM »

Dan,

I was right there with you imagining a far more arterially destructive product than what it turned out to be. Instead of an instant heart attack followed by triple bypass surgery, it's just a minor stroke with a single coronary stint.

- red.november

Pete-zza · « **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2006, 07:41:08 PM »

Quote from: November on November 29, 2006, 07:15:24 PM

I was right there with you imagining a far more arterially destructive product than what it turned out to be. Instead of an instant heart attack followed by triple bypass surgery, it's just a minor stroke with a single coronary stint.

November,

LOL...Your post reminded me of the occasion where I made a "lite" version of DKM's deep-dish dough recipe, which I reported on, along with photos, at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,638.msg5914.html#msg5914 (Replies 19 and 20). I don't mean to suggest that loowaters abandon his favorite practices, but there are ways of making a deep-dish pizza more heart healthy without sacrificing much in the flavor department. I can't believe that the aboverefenced post was about two years ago and that I was aware of trans fats, which are only recently making the headlines with a big splash.

Peter

November · « **Reply #11 on:** November 29, 2006, 08:05:06 PM »

Peter,

You do realize that Crisco makes a zero trans-fat shortening, right?

- red.november

Pete-zza · « **Reply #12 on:** November 29, 2006, 08:23:27 PM »

November,

At the time of my post I apparently did not know that Crisco made a zero trans-fat shortening, or else it didn't exist at the time. Subsequently, Randy brought the change to the forum's attention, at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1467.msg13329.html#msg13329 (Reply 2).

Peter

November · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2006, 08:39:48 PM »

Pepperoni and Black Forest ham are the only two meats I even put on pizzas these days (on a regular basis). Every once in a while I make a barbecue chicken pizza for friends, a turkey and bacon pizza near Thanksgiving (to use up leftover turkey), and soon I will be in full swing with a once-a-month buffalo chicken pizza. The only meats contained in my strombolis are pepperoni and genoa salami. It has been years since I've eaten sausage. I won't even eat a hamburger unless it's organic, 97% lean, and only one burger every 3-4 months. I figure I'll just let the pepperoni kill me.

- red.november

pizzoid · « **Reply #14 on:** November 29, 2006, 09:44:31 PM »

Is it really _zero_ trans-fat, or are they playing the labelling game where it's less than a half gram per "serving" and get to round it down to zero?

Quote from: November on November 29, 2006, 08:05:06 PM

Peter,

You do realize that Crisco makes a zero trans-fat shortening, right?

- red.november

November · « **Reply #15 on:** November 29, 2006, 09:52:21 PM »

pizzoid,

I don't think it's any more a labeling game than with any other oil. All vegetable oils have trans-fat, just not enough to get worried over. Crisco Zero Gram Trans Fat shortening has about twice the trans-fat of corn oil, or 0.6%.

- red.november

loowaters · « **Reply #16 on:** December 11, 2006, 03:45:17 PM »

I think I've got this!

I used four Johnsonville links (about 15 oz.) on a 14" pie. I balled them together, placed it on parchment paper and started patting it out like a big ol' burger. Then I put plastic wrap over it, placed my pan on top of that and just pushed down with all my sizeable weight. That nearly got it to size and after some rolling pin action it was good to go. Not a lot of work at all.

I flipped it over and removed the parchment first, placed it on the dough and cheese, then peeled off the plastic before givin' it the sauce. Worked like a dream!

loowaters · « **Reply #17 on:** December 27, 2006, 03:34:29 PM »

Alright, I'm givin' this a bump only because I have a little history on the patty.

Earlier this year I met a guy that managed Gino's East on Superior years ago. We discussed the sausage patty (among many other things about how they do things) and how big a success it was at the downtown restaurant but when the first suburban store opened (I believe Rolling Meadows) no one would buy it. I think his words were "we couldn't give it away". Obviously the suburbanites came around.

vr6Dad · « **Reply #18 on:** December 27, 2006, 11:21:34 PM »

Loo, as you suggested in the other thread, I will try the patty method next time. I think it will be a treat. To be honest, I have never been a fan of sausage on pizzas until I made my first (this was my 3rd) Chicago-style deep dish. I still don't care for sausage on NY or American style pies, but for some reason love it on the ChiStyle pies.

I use Bob Evans italian sausage rolls for my regular italian sausage recipes (pizza, lasagna, and spaghetti) because it is easy to use and tastes good. I have also tried Johnsonville and other sausages cut out of their casings with decent results.

I will try about 10-12oz of the roll next time to make into one big patty. I noticed as I worked with crumpling the sausage last night for the pizza and for browning a batch for freezing, that it mashed/crumbled better if it was sitting out for about 15-20 minutes before working with. That could help make forming a patty much easier.

loowaters · « **Reply #19 on:** December 28, 2006, 08:04:18 AM »

Quote from: vr6Dad on December 27, 2006, 11:21:34 PM

I will try about 10-12oz of the roll next time to make into one big patty. I noticed as I worked with crumpling the sausage last night for the pizza and for browning a batch for freezing, that it mashed/crumbled better if it was sitting out for about 15-20 minutes before working with. That could help make forming a patty much easier.

I'm not sure if letting it sit out helps the process as I've done it straight from the fridge without problems and in fact have been able to eliminate any use of a rolling pin. However, this thought of temperature gets me realizing that each time I've made the patty I've done it in advance and placed it back in the fridge until needed. The fact that the patty is colder may help it come off the parchment and plastic wrap easier. Just a thought.