Chicago Italian Sausage with Fennel

[novawaly]

Super helpful.

In reading your comments, i think the main thing might've been the chunks being way too large for the grinder I was using (which was a hand crank) which lead to pushing way to hard. The connective tissue probably didn't help - i think it got caught up in the blade and just lead to it being mashed up until it became almost mushy. 

Will try this again in a week or so and report back.

Thanks for the advice

[PizzaGarage]

Also in looking a the pic of the meat in the case, that is a Shoulder Roast not Butt.  Both cuts come from the shoulder and the upper larger and more marbled part is the butt.  The lower thinner less marbled and more muscular part of the shoulder is where the shoulder roasts come from.  You want butt to get the right marbling and fat cap.

[PizzaGarage]

Super helpful.

In reading your comments, i think the main thing might've been the chunks being way too large for the grinder I was using (which was a hand crank) which lead to pushing way to hard. The connective tissue probably didn't help - i think it got caught up in the blade and just lead to it being mashed up until it became almost mushy. 

Will try this again in a week or so and report back.

Thanks for the advice

Good luck and hope it come out the way you like it next time. 

[Yael]

Hello,

And thank you for this teaching topic !
I just tried to make meatballs recently following a very similar recipe, but with other spices (paprika, mix of "oriental" spices...), and white wine instead of water. It wasn't bad.

But my question is about the pizza : do you add the meatball/sausage raw on the pizza, or you cook it first ? I added raw, so the fat melted during baking and the pizza was a little bit greasy - but not too much. But I didn't try with cooked meat, I was afraid this way would be too dry. What do you think ?

[Garvey]

Hello,

But my question is about the pizza : do you add the meatball/sausage raw on the pizza, or you cook it first ? I added raw, so the fat melted during baking and the pizza was a little bit greasy - but not too much. But I didn't try with cooked meat, I was afraid this way would be too dry. What do you think ?

Raw.  Always raw.

[novawaly]

But my question is about the pizza : do you add the meatball/sausage raw on the pizza, or you cook it first ? I added raw, so the fat melted during baking and the pizza was a little bit greasy - but not too much. But I didn't try with cooked meat, I was afraid this way would be too dry. What do you think ?

I do remember reading an article somewhere about a ny pizza place that will lightly coat the raw sausage in some flour before throwing it on the pizza to try and absorb some of that grease.

[Yael]

I do remember reading an article somewhere about a ny pizza place that will lightly coat the raw sausage in some flour before throwing it on the pizza to try and absorb some of that grease.

Raw.  Always raw.

Thank you !

[nick57]

Raw.  Always raw.

I agree!

[PizzaGarage]

I tried the flour as well because Delorenzo's supposedly does it to retain juices.  Does nothing to retain juice but does create an even browning of the sausage when cooked on top of the cheese.  Raw always as others are stating.  Too much fat and it's greasy, if you have a fatty sausage you can pre cook slightly then place on a paper towel to absorb the grease then place on pizza, you don't want to pre cook all the way you want that juice to add the flavor....

[novawaly]

My first attempt at this just wasn't sitting right with me so went out today bouncing around different butchers in the city. I think i finally found one that had decent boston butt with the fat cap still on it.

Cubed myself and made sure to use smaller pieces this time and removed all the connective tissue I could find.

Will report back after I grind

[Little bean]

My first attempt at this just wasn't sitting right with me so went out today bouncing around different butchers in the city. I think i finally found one that had decent boston butt with the fat cap still on it.

Cubed myself and made sure to use smaller pieces this time and removed all the connective tissue I could find.

Will report back after I grind

That looks like a good cut to me, I always keep all
The fat, if it is white it stays if it is silver it goes, like pizza garage said it will clog your grinder. Excited to see what happens.

[PizzaGarage]

Yep, that one looks right and a nice amount of fat and marbeling.  That's going to make a good sausage...

[novawaly]

So attempt 2 was def better than the first and the meat was night and day. Got very juicy meat for the end result but I still think Im getting way to much smearing during the grinding process.

I salted for about 14 hours in the fridge. The grinder parts were in the freezer overnight. I put the meat in the freezer for about 30 min right before grinding. Was using the 1/4in plate and was running the grinder on speed 1 (of 2).  It looks like the meat was coming out well the for the first few pieces but started smearing after.

Do you think it's something with the process or is it more likely the grinder?

That's the grinder I'm using:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077JGQ7N7/?tag=pmak-20

[Little bean]

So attempt 2 was def better than the first and the meat was night and day. Got very juicy meat for the end result but I still think Im getting way to much smearing during the grinding process.

I salted for about 14 hours in the fridge. The grinder parts were in the freezer overnight. I put the meat in the freezer for about 30 min right before grinding. Was using the 1/4in plate and was running the grinder on speed 1 (of 2).  It looks like the meat was coming out well the for the first few pieces but started smearing after.

Do you think it's something with the process or is it more likely the grinder?

That's the grinder I'm using:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077JGQ7N7/?tag=pmak-20

That is not a high quality grinder but that shouldn't be your problem because you are not doing too much, it could be that your blades are not sharp. It is important that the blade is very sharp or it is just pushing it through rather than cutting, how man times have you used the grinder? I use a cabelas 1.5 horse power commercial but those are pretty expensive and I do 400 pounds at a time, no need for that for small
Volume. I'll attach a pic of what mine looks like after grinding then after
Mixing, this is on course plate because when I dry I like the chunks of fat, but it should look the same on the fine plate. You want to see definition in the meat still instead of being mushy, then after mix you will see it bind, you don't want it too be white, I don't recall your recipe but are you blending in water? May be too much, I use wine instead.

Edit: I didn't mean to hijack this thread with my recipe and method, pizzagarage recipe is for Chicago style and mine is more geared toward dry hanging, just wanted to give my input on the grind.

[apizza]

All this got me thinking about the hand meat grinder we used when I was young, 1940's. The meat went through a die and then was cut into pieces. Various cutters controlled the size of the chunks of meat. I guess I don't understand how the new grinders can give the proper size "chunk". I don't like the pieces too fine in sausage because things can get like hamburg in a casing. You need some fat chunks for flavor and moisture.
Cutter in this picture is finer than what we used for sausage.

[novawaly]

That is not a high quality grinder but that shouldn't be your problem because you are not doing too much, it could be that your blades are not sharp. It is important that the blade is very sharp or it is just pushing it through rather than cutting, how man times have you used the grinder? I use a cabelas 1.5 horse power commercial but those are pretty expensive and I do 400 pounds at a time, no need for that for small
Volume. I'll attach a pic of what mine looks like after grinding then after
Mixing, this is on course plate because when I dry I like the chunks of fat, but it should look the same on the fine plate. You want to see definition in the meat still instead of being mushy, then after mix you will see it bind, you don't want it too be white, I don't recall your recipe but are you blending in water? May be too much, I use wine instead.

Edit: I didn't mean to hijack this thread with my recipe and method, pizzagarage recipe is for Chicago style and mine is more geared toward dry hanging, just wanted to give my input on the grind.

I did mix water in but that wasn't until after grinding when I was mixing in the spices and the was the very first time I used it right out of the box. In cleaning the grinder, I put the plate in soapy water and left it for 5-6 hours before trying to clean and even after that much time, there still fat wedged into the grinder that took me 20+ min to pull out. (Pics attached). 

I guess only thing I can think of is either the meat still has to be even cooler, but I'm def thinking this is the grinder issue...maybe I should be starting with the coarser attachment first? Either that or I'll have to just keep trial and error-ing grinders until one does the trick.

[PizzaGarage]

Couple of things. That does not look like a 1/4 plate, the holes look too small, does it say 1/4"?

And for me the biggest issue here looks to be too much fat, so opposite of the meat you got last time.  The color is wrong, too white and looks to be mostly fat in the second and remaining pics.  If you have big chunks of fat cut them into smaller pieces and mix with the rest of the meat cubes to sort of balance the fat across the cubes.  I really think these are the 2 issues as the process you did looks good.  Blades need to be sharp and agree

[Garvey]

And for me the biggest issue here looks to be too much fat, so opposite of the meat you got last time.  The color is wrong, too white and looks to be mostly fat

Yeah, looks like a forcemeat. Bologna?

[PizzaGarage]

Here is what a 1/4 plate looks like and measured, a good idea to check yours, if its a quarter inch then thats good, then you need meat with less fat.

1 grind, not 2. 

[Little bean]

Couple of things. That does not look like a 1/4 plate, the holes look too small, does it say 1/4"?

And for me the biggest issue here looks to be too much fat, so opposite of the meat you got last time.  The color is wrong, too white and looks to be mostly fat in the second and remaining pics.  If you have big chunks of fat cut them into smaller pieces and mix with the rest of the meat cubes to sort of balance the fat across the cubes.  I really think these are the 2 issues as the process you did looks good.  Blades need to be sharp and agree

This is really good advice, this should make the grind perfect for you.