Sausage grinding, and further adventures at at Macy's

This was a particular exciting endeavor because I got to use CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!1!

 

I will never again shop at Macy's; this is the third kitchenaid mixer I've owned since Christmas and the second grinder attachment.  Macy's does everything wrong.

Once again, I used a recipe from Charcuterie; "Da Bomb" breakfast sausage according to the authors.

5 pounds pork shoulder butt (available at most butchers, most likely behind the counter)(I always use

     Sheridan Fruit on MLK because they are awesome)

1 1/2 ounces kosher salt (3 tablespoons)

5 tablespoons peeled and finely grated fresh ginger

5 tablespoons tightly packed finely chopped sage

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons ground white or black pepper (I used half of each, but more on that later)

1 cup ice water

There is a picture of all my ingredients in my last post.

The pork shoulder I bought ended up being 5.5 pounds or so. Your first step is to dice it up into chunks that will fit into your grinder; mine were roughly 3/4".  While you're dicing, try to pull as much sinew and stringy bits as you can while leaving the fat.  I didn't do this and had some issues with sinew getting tangled up in my grinder.  Be forewarned though, dicing 5 pounds of meat takes FOR. EVER. My arm was sore by the end of it. 

Next prep all your seasonings; peeling and grating that much ginger is also a bit time consuming and messy, but it smells amazing. I love ginger.  Also note that that the recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of pepper, not tablespoons.  Oops.  I was wondering why mine is a touch warm on the tongue.  And, like I mentioned, I used a mix of white and black just for fun.

Once all your ingredients are prepped, toss everything except the water together until it's pretty well blended and stick it in the fridge for anywhere from an hour to over night. Again, see the pictures in my last post.

Everything I have read about using a meat grinder so far (Charcuterie and user reviews), has emphasized the importance of keeping everything cold prior to and during grinding; if the fat gets too warm, it will start to liquefy leading to sausage with a grainy texture.  For me this meant freezing the grinder die and blade prior to use and, as pictured, putting the mixing bowl in an ice bath while grinding.
While grinding,  and this applies to any meat grinding, you want the meat to come out in a wormy kinda texture, if it comes out like a blob and sticks to the die; you've got sinew tangled in the blade/die and need to clean it out.  I guess I should point out that I used the small die (1/8" holes) for my sausage.

 

Once your sausage is all ground; stick it back under the mixer, add the ice-cold water and mix it for about a minute or so until it has an even texture.

Now just saute up a bit to test the seasoning and you're done! yummm

I'll post a picture of it in all its cooked up glory as soon as I cook some again, but I'm full at the moment.