Well,... i just struck gold.
Happens once in a blue moon when we experiment as cooks.
Wanting to make a lean sausage using a mirepoix as my 'fat', running out of casing last night,
i made a meatball, tiny ones, using up the very lean sausage meat leftovers this morning...
The meat mix was sticky but easily rolled, then in breadcrumbs. I toasted focaccia but needed more and found some breadcrumbs in the freezer from a boule and a pumpernickel i made last month. 45 min on 375 and they looked just as i had put them in as if the oven was not on...(i even checked) but took two out to taste. Yow. They were crispy like a southern fried chicken crust and moist and tender inside. I guess they sealed early on in cooking, made a crisp crust, and left the inside to cook and steam? So, so good. Only fat might be from the olive oil in the focaccia bread crumbs?. Meat balls are always a bit wet, right?. These were dry exterior and super crunchy, but tender and moist inside with so much spice from my sausage seasoning.
(need to write this one down)
Lean, non-fat meat ball with a crispy crust. (!!)

sleevendog, definitely write it down.

It is that time of year, when sausage making and canning and smoking get done and packaged. The moose sausage sounds really good, but no moose hunting here, so venison will have to do.

I don't buy commercially made sausage either, no telling what's in that stuff! Not that I'd get anything other than Johnsonville or John Morrell locally anyway....

I grind chicken for breakfast sausage, and we do a pork and beef Italian sausage. I'm kind of a heat wuss, so Elery's jalapeno and cheese venison sausage is all his, LOL.

We keep saying we're going to try kielbasa, but haven't yet.

So, I'll be watching for recipes, as we'll have beef going to slaughter the end of the month, pigs should be ready mid-December, the Princess has one more tag to fill before December 1 and the turkeys are scheduled for Tuesday!

This year I'm going to render lard too, I haven't done that in quite some time, although I add no fat to my sausage either, trying to keep it a bit healthier..

The meatballs sound like a delicious experiment, definitely write that down while you still remember, technique as much as ingredients. And then tell us!

Annie

All were excellent. That is why we cook...to control the ingredients to our liking. It was ambitious to process so many varieties. Especially the Boudin. I just organized and kept focussed. First made the spice mixes in lidded french jelly jars and labeled. Pork tips prepped friday for braising all days sat. so that went into the oven. Boudin uses the cooked pork, rice and chicken livers.
The sausages need an overnight cure so dinner saturday was braised pork with asian pear salsa and kale/w garlic chips. Now have lots of leftovers for this weeks lunches. (braised two pork tips)
I used Hank Shaw's 'Hunt,Gather,Cook' book. His website is fantastic.
That gave me the basics for the spices and a grinding lesson. Kept everything very cold and in the freezer after grinding each mix twice. Gave the kitchen a nice cleaning and took a couple hours break for yard work before stuffing.

Here is a link that might be useful: hunt gather cook

Here is the mirepoix recipe i can up with...my 'fat'.

Two large onions diced fine with a head of garlic, aprox 8 cloves diced.
Simmer on low uncovered for 1/2 hour, just a sweat, not caramelized.
Add 2 stalks diced celery and cover, simmer on low for an hour.
I used my enameled cast iron with its heavy lid.
Should be very wet and clear. Add 1/2 red and 1/2 green bell pepper and a big heaping cup
of flat leaf parsley with the stems chopped fine. Turn off the heat and cover to steam.
Ater about a half hour i uncovered and transferred to a glass container and popped in the fridge to cool completely.
This was mixed into all my sausages after the first grinding with the larger die along with the spices and fresh herbs. The boudin did get a nice full cup of chopped green onion. The lamb did get the fresh chopped sage and diced dehydrated asian pears.

Linking the Boudin recipe. I chose a different method but the recipe is basically the same.
Just used my 'fat' mirepoix above. Cooked the rice and liver separate discarding the liver liquid and chilled for later grinding with the braised pork.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cajun Boudin

Thanks, sleevendog. I happen to be one of those strange people who like chicken livers quite a lot. I'm definitely going to try the boudin, and Elery says he's going to smoke it!

So how was the moose sausage? Not too lean to successfully use your mirepoix?

Annie

We really like boudin and pick up a boatload (along wth LA crawfish) anytime we're down south, but I've not made it myself yet. I always think I'm going to because I've got all the meat to do it, but for some reason just haven't.

I really like Hank's website, too. We raise quail (for our own consumption) and I've used quite a few of his recipes, often substituting quail for other birds; not had a bad one yet. :)

Just reviewed the Boudin recipe i posted above. I added 1tbsp of Bells seasoning. I like the extra bay and sage. And the red bell pepper. Love Bells. Just getting near it reminds me of
Thanksgiving, scrapple and boudin. In fact, my scrapple recipe is near identical, replacing the rice with fine cornmeal.
Probably why i like my Boudin seared in a cast iron pan. A bit crisp like scrapple.
Bet it would be tasty with a light smoke.

The moose and lamb have a similar lean texture. The added pear/apple was a good thing. Tempted to add mushroom but did not want to mask the basic flavor further. I would prefer sheep casing for the moose and lamb, but ChefCentral only had hog.
I'm sure deer would be the same but it has been a while. We have a huge deer problem...all over my yard and roadkill all over the parkway daily. Not enough hunt zones here being state parks with massive 300 miles or more of hiking trails near me. Hikers trump hunters in real estate needs.

Hello...I usually don't post but I must admit I'm inspired by your mirepoix "fat". Very interesting way to reduce the fat content of my favorite type of meat product...sausage.

My question toy you is, how does the mirepoix affect the flavor of your sausages? Say for example i were to make a sweet italian sausage made with mirepoix. Would I be tasting the onion/parsley or would I still be able to detect the fennel seed etc of the Italian sweet?
Thanks..

As an addendum to indy's post, what is the ratio of mirepoix to meat? I would think that a small amount wouldn't flavor the sausage but like indy, we make a sweet Italian that's relatively mildly seasoned. Then again, the flavors might be very complementary.....

For casings, I use Butcher-Packer, a Detroit area company. Mostly because I live in Michigan, but their service is excellent and their products are very competitively priced. They have all types of casings along with pretty much everything else you've ever needed and some things you didn't even know you did need, like a specialty casing for genoa salami.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: Butcher-Packer

Sleevendog
Great thread. And thank you for the reference and link to Hank Shaw's blog. I think when I cook some of my frozen venison stew meat I may try Shaw's gumbo recipe.

So much info here on GW! And, like others, I love the idea of your "imitation fat."

I don't consider myself a 'stretcher' in the traditional way. -Trying to feed a large family like our parents did...I do it for health reasons. A simple can of tuna makes a dozen sandwiches with all the grapes, apples, celery, cukes, nuts and grains...and yogurt with mustard and hot sauce instead of mayo, etc...
I'm not on a fixed income and buy good quality meats, but my childhood make me frugal by nature. Less meat, good quality, more veg.
My FIL had 1/2 a dozen heart problems younger than my husband is now. I do not want to suffer the hospital bedside wife that my MIL spent so many years being. 30 years.

10 yrs ago, a country roadside butcher we know by name, made fantastic sausage that took a turn, noticed by many friends. SO salty and greasy. We even asked, as others did, to make a lower salt and lower fat version. Never happened. So we make our own.
Boudin is a 'stretcher' traditionally, using rice. So delish and less fat. Love that.

The mirepoix, my 'fat', is just a way to make something we no longer buy from market, but now have and can enjoy. Call it 'stretched', but we find it even better than market made sausage.
Annie, i made so much! The Boudin link has a pic that is a good judge to the amount of 'filler'. Keeps the meat mixture very moist and tender. A good guess would be one cup to 2 lbs of ground meat.

Thanks, sleevendog, that's where I'll start!

Annie

Annie, if you want a kielbasa recipe, I'd be happy to share ours. We've been making it for about 4 years and pretty much have the recipe tweaked the way we like it.

Malna--I'm not Annie but I would love to have your kielbasa recipe.

Thank You!

Sleevendog - I'm happy to see your endorsement of Hank Shaws site. A couple weeks ago I eyed one of his sausage recipes, and finally made it last night. I'll post more about it when I've eaten it. (I used real fat!) With only two pounds of sausage I was certainly nowhere as ambitious as you!

Malna - Ditto ci_lantro. I was just about to type the same exact thing!

I know many of you have made sausage, so I hope this isn't too detailed.

Our Smoked Hungarian Kielbasa (Kolbász in Hungarian) recipe:

10 lbs. pork, trimmed of gristle and bone and cubed (we use 90% pork butt or picnic shoulder and 10% pork jowl)
Or 50% venison and 50% pork (using venison, we increase the pork jowl, for example 5 pounds of venison, 3.5 pounds of pork butt and 1.5 pounds of jowl)
or 60% venison and 40% pork
or 70% venison and 30% pork
or use whatever meat combination you like.

For each pound of meat, these are the spices we use initially (we final season and taste it later):

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika (sweet Hungarian)
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried savory
2/3 teaspoon good garlic powder (not garlic salt)
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

For a 10 lb. batch, we use a total of these ingredients:

2 cups powdered milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon powdered mustard
2 cups liquid (we used 1-1/3 cups of water and 2/3 cups chardonnay wine)

Pictures are from an all-pork batch, so if you're using a mixture, get a good mix on the trays. Freeze the meat. Put your cubed meat into the freezer until partially frozen. This allows the grinder to cut the meat cleanly.

Shallow trays or cookie sheets work great. Keep everything very cold from start to finish. We even put the grinder parts in the freezer.

We mix the seasonings, powdered milk and the liquid together, blend well and let sit in the fridge for a while to meld the flavors.

Here’s our meat coming out of the grinder (excuse the mess :-). We like a medium grind, but it's personal preference.

Put the ground meat into a mixer or a very large pot or bucket if you’re going to mix it by hand. Add the seasonings. Thoroughly mix the seasoning liquid into the meat, while retaining the texture and not “mushing” the meat. This is hard to do when you’re mixing by hand - your hands will be numb from the cold and your arms will hurt from trying to stir with a spoon. We did it that way for years, so I literally feel the pain. If using a mechanical mixer, don’t overmix the meat. We did ours for only about a minute.

Take a small ball and make a patty for tasting. Fry in a pan until cooked through and check the seasonings. Don’t try to cook it in a microwave - you won’t get the same flavor as frying it on the stove.

We needed a bit more salt (about another tablespoon), a bit more sugar (about a tablespoon), and a bit more liquid. We mixed the salt and sugar into another 1/4 cup of chardonnay and mixed the meat for just a few more seconds. We’ve learned it’s better to slightly under-season the sausage if you’re not sure.

Here’s what our meat looks like after mixing. Still a lot of texture but the orange from the paprika is pretty evenly disbursed throughout.

Chill the meat until you’re ready to begin stuffing. You can leave it in the fridge overnight if you like. Lightly pack the meat into your stuffer. This is a hand-cranked one that holds about five pounds of meat.

Casings are pretty sturdy and they will stretch quite a bit. Stuffing is one of those things that you just have to practice.

Start stuffing. Stuffing is easier with two people - one to crank and the other to form the sausage. DH cranks and I make sure the casing is evenly filled (don’t overstuff or the casing can split) and keep as much air out of the sausage as possible. If I get any huge air bubbles in the sausage, I just prick it with a needle or pin.

We’re making “horseshoes” about 20 inches long. It also helps to put some water on the table so the sausage glides around and doesn’t stick to the countertop. When they’re long enough, stop cranking the stuffer and tie off the end tightly with another piece of string. Leave the string ends about 4-6 inches long, so you can hang these after smoking. Tie another piece of string about an inch or so away from the sausage end (this will be the beginning of the next horseshoe) then cut between the two pieces.

Put them into the refrigerator overnight, uncovered, to blend the flavors and dry the casings slightly.

The next day, we’re ready to smoke them. We have a smoker box in our gas grill - if you don’t have one of those, just make a pouch of heavy-duty aluminum foil, fill with soaked wood chips, poke a few holes in the top, and put it right on the grill. We're using mulberry, pecan and apple wood.

The fire bricks act kind of like a pizza stone to absorb the heat and they also protect the sausage if the wood in the smoker box happens to catch on fire (which happens often - keep a spray bottle of water handy).

Smoke the kolbász until the internal temperature is 150° F. It took ours a little over three hours to reach that temperature (and it was about 38° outside for reference).

When done smoking, drop the kolbász into an ice bath to quickly bring the temperature down to about 90°.

Then hang at room temperature overnight to cure. For long-term storage, we’ll vacuum seal and freeze them.

Droooooool!

Malna, that was a very helpful post; wonderful to see the process and lots of good tips. I've made sausage, but when we have pigs butchered, I have them grind the meat and then I just do the extras and seasoning. We're contemplating getting a grinder and stuffer in the next year. You, sleevendog and Annie are inspring me to do so. And of course, Hank...

I'm wondering if you shouldn't post that in it's own thread. I'm afraid it got lost being at the end of this.

Thanks, cooking2day, glad you found it helpful. Nah, it doesn't need its own post. My food/photos aren't swank enough for that ;-)

Wow, super pics and process shots. Thanks for that. I know mine will look better now that we have hit the learning curve head on. I did take a package of each to my family gathering last weekend and such a hit. It actually solved holiday gift giving ideas. My parents will be giving the grinder attachment and Hanks book to my BIL. He hunts.

And remember, all sausage can be made into balls or patties. The step of stuffing is optional.
Rolling in panko and baked like meatballs is also good. Really good. I dropped a few i had frozen into a brothy soup, late in the cooking since they were already cooked...just thawed in the broth...so good.

sleevendog, that's how I make sausage now; it's all bulk. But I would love to get a stuffer, I think. Boudin just won't be the same without casing. lol

What do you use as a grinder? I do have an old KA and the grinder attachment is pretty inexpensive...

I'd love to have your set up, though, Malna. Awesome! (sing-songy voice)

Boudin needs the casing, i agree. Just wouldn't be the same. I ran out of casing with the lamb.
Though most of the boudin recipes i googled did mention making them in balls.

I used my kitchen aid with the Chef's Choice attachment. Worked great. Ran it through the large first, then the small after mixing in spice and veg. I also used it for stuffing, with a tube i had. For small productions a few times a year, using an attachment for the kitchen aid is fine. Use the motor we have. We did not have trouble using it as a stuffer. We just made way too much in one afternoon. (i had planned to just cut up one third of the boneless leg of lamb but husband kept going with the more-is-good! mentality)
I like that the kitchen aid could be speed adjusted so easily.

We have a stand alone grinder for pups food as it grinds bones but it is sooo loud and not the best quality. Somehow has worked swell being used once a month for a few years. If/when it dies, we will upgrade for sure. It is this one...
http://www.onestopjerkyshop.com/tasin-ts-108-electric-meat-grinder-1/
I would not give it a bad review, it just 'feels' like it might give out any minute. Runs rough or seems so.

The key is to cut in smaller strips, and keep everything very cold. I made freezer room and kept the mixes in there until ready. Before grinding, along the way, and before stuffing.

Here is a link that might be useful: grinder attachment

Thank you. I ordered the grinder and am thinking about the stuffers.

Speaking of grinding for the pups (and we've got five of them and do a good bit of raw feeding), I always laugh about us purchasing a Vitamix and, although I love it when processing tomatoes, it gets used a LOT for grinding food for the baby quail we raise.