Making sausage from frozen ground meat

[largerack]

I have a bunch of meat that was ground and frozen at processor that I want to use for making sausage. I am going to mix it 50/50 with pork that I grind myself. I have had this done many times in the past by a commercial sausage making facility and it always turns out great. I just don't know how I should do it myself. I am thinking to thaw the already frozen ground in the fridge and then course grind the pork, then mix thawed meat with ground pork and chill in freezer and run it through for a second grind.

Anyone done this before with success or have any thoughts on my plan?

 

[Soj51hopeful]

The meat you have already frozen has it only been ground once?

 

[largerack]

Yeah as far as I know. It is course ground for sure, but I am not sure if once or twice. I have used the same processor many times in the past, but never asked about the grinding process. I assume it is just ground once course and stuffed.

 

[Soj51hopeful]

If that’s the case then I see nothing wrong with your plan. Try a small batch and see how it goes.

 

[largerack]

If it was ground twice but still course (like ground twice through the same course plate), how would that change things? I am trying to learn...

 

[bigbassfish]

My first batch of sausage I course ground twice before stuffing, and most of the links turned out more of a hotdog texture than I would've liked but that also could have been because of meat warming up, I think next time I'll try only course grinding once before stuffing them into casings.

 

[Wrench]

The more you grind or mix the more fine the texture becomes. You can turrn it into hotdog consistency if you 3x grind it.

I'd cook a bit of your ground meat and see how coarse it is. If it stays together, double grind the pork and mix them in a tub.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have done it many times. I use 30% pork fat when making sausage. Make sure all meat is partially frozen and all grinder parts good and cold.

 

[cnelk]

First - when you say 'sausage' what is your end result?
Summer sausage, breakfast sausage?
Stuffed casings or package ground sausage?


Im doing smoked summer sausage this week.
20% pork fat

I have 8lbs of once ground venison.
2lbs of fat from the butcher.
I dice up the pork fat into small cubes, add all the seasonings, fat, cure and mix with meat.
Run it through my grinder, then stuff casings, and put the casings in the frig for 24hs before I smoke them.

 

[journeyman713]

2 coarse grinds is right, to keep the texture you very much want.
I've done this before, using those cheap 10# tubes of hamburger from Walmart, in place of fat, which is almost the same thing anyway.

You didn't say if the ground meat have, has fat already added, hopefully not. If you are going 50/50 with lean game meat, I wouldn't use pork fat alone, use pork butts.

 

[largerack]

My meat is just lean whitetail nothing added. I was going to mix with pork shoulder or pork belly (eventually try some with each to experiment), and make hot links sausage in 32-35mm hog casings that I will then dry and smoke before freezing.

 

[Jtb.kfd]

My meat is just lean whitetail nothing added. I was going to mix with pork shoulder or pork belly (eventually try some with each to experiment), and make hot links sausage in 32-35mm hog casings that I will then dry and smoke before freezing.

I do exactly what your OP states every year. When processing our game animals I don’t have time to do our different sausages. I wait until after all seasons are over then do it. If I use already ground burger (1x course, then 1 more fine) I use the same process you outlined. Run the pork (I use pork butts from Costco for breakfast sausage and pork belly for summer sausage) through a coarse grind, mix together with burger and run it all through a fine grind. I haven’t experienced what others have with hotdog like consistency. May be my grinding plates aren’t as fine?

 

[largerack]

Ok, great. Sounds like I should be good to go.

Do you thaw the already frozen ground meat in the fridge for 24hrs or what? And do you just drain off the liquid that is inevitably released during thawing before mixing with the pork?

 

[Jtb.kfd]

Ok, great. Sounds like I should be good to go.

Do you thaw the already frozen ground meat in the fridge for 24hrs or what? And do you just drain off the liquid that is inevitably released during thawing before mixing with the pork?

I set my burger packs (round 2lb tubes) out on the counter for a couple hours to let them slightly thaw. When they are still mostly frozen but softer, I slice 1/2” discs off them on a cutting board. Those discs are easily broken up into smaller pieces that I toss into a bowl to mix. The outer part is softer and the inner part of the tube is still pretty firm, but sliceable and easily broken apart. Mixing those burger chunks with the pork won’t look perfect, but once added to my meat mixer with spices added it blends together nicely (or do it by hand). The frozen burger is all broken up at this point and everything is ready for a final fine grind. I don’t have liquid coming out as everything is still so cold. I stuff that mix soon after, but sometimes have to let it sit for a brief period if its still too firm otherwise you can tear breakfast sausage casings while stuffing. You want the meat soft, but cold. For summer sausage it can be very firm, those casing are way tougher than smaller casings.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

I have done it many times. I use 30% pork fat when making sausage. Make sure all meat is partially frozen and all grinder parts good and cold.

This is for summer sausage.