Chilling meat before grinding?

[drathbone]

I made my first 2 sausages on the same weekend. One use pre-ground pork but came out awful (I think the pork was actually bad).

The second one came out fantastic (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/homemade-chorizo-recipe2.html), but the texture was a bit off. Like a crumbly/not-so-sausagy texture to it.

Is the key to the "sausage" texture chilling the meat before grinding? Some recipes I read say to put the meat in the freezer for 30-45m without actually freezing it prior to grinding, other recipes make no mention of it.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

definitely chill it as much as you can before grinding. lots of reasons for this, and texture is included, to a degree. The reason for this is because the grinding action heats the meat a bit, and if it is not completely chilled (even stating to freeze a bit would be fine), the meat will squish its way through the grinder. Fat is alwso squeezed out.

Other things that - in my opinion - affect texture would be the size of the grind and the type of fat used. You want "hard" fat such as back fat (which is different from fatback). The soft, greasy kind of fat could result in a texture you describe, especially if the meat is not chilled before grinding.

Seriously, chill it to the point where it is actually freezing, but not frozen. Pre-cutting it into chunks or cubes that will fit into the grinder will help.

 

[passedpawn]

Crumbly is probably due to not enough fat. Ask your butcher for pork backfat. If you hit them up in the morning when they are trimming, they will just give it away.

I cut the pork (usually Boston butt / shoulder) into cubes and completely freeze. My kitchenaid grinder does just fine pork that's mostly frozen. Grinding it while frozen is more sanitary, plus it keeps the meat from getting all mealy when grinding. I've never had a problem.