Before we had our last steer butchered I went to great trouble to source an organic sausage mix for the butcher to use. Ideally I would just make a sausage mix, but there are a few problems with this when you do a homekill beef steer.
Firstly the butcher doesn't have all morning to fiddle around with bespoke sausage recipes. He likes to just tip in a premix, add the water and churn out the sausages. Secondly, when you have 50 kg of sausages to make, you get ONE chance to get your special sausage recipe to work, otherwise, you ruin all those sausages. So while I'm all for experimenting with my own sausage recipes, butcher day is not the time to do so!
The alternative to buying a sausage premix was to buy a sausage maker and make our own after the butcher had packed up. Have you seen a butcher making sausages though? That is a SKILL that you need to work at. We have attempted to make sausages before with our auger juicer that also has a small mincer/sausage making attachment. It is only a small hobby thing and we managed to overfill the sausages to the point that they exploded when we tried to cook them. They tasted nice, but looked funny, I didn't really want to have to make 50 kg ourselves. And so began the search for an organic premix.
Actually I didn't care too much about the organic status, I just didn't want any MSG, food colouring, flavours or preservatives in my sausages, and I had no success searching for additive-free sausage mixes, so I had to go with organic (which is a better option anyway). Just in case you are ever searching for an organic food, a good place to start is the directory on the Australian Organic website. I emailed lots of companies that I thought might make a sausage mix and only one replied. But I can't complain because not only did they send me two free samples that were enough to cover nearly all the sausages, the results were also fantastic, so I'm very happy to share their details with you.
The sausage mixes were supplied by Berger Ingredients, we tried Herb and Beef flavours. Both had only natural ingredients and are absolutely delicious. They have a slightly different texture to the usual sausage mix (meatier), but we prefer it. If you would like to find out more about their products, they don't have a website, so just get in touch with Werner and see what you can arrange:
Unit 2, 17 Willfox St Condell Park NSW 2200
t +61 2 9709 8893
e werner@bergeringredients.com.au
http://bergeringredients.com.au
Another thing that we did differently this time was use natural sausage skins. That is, intestines. We bought them from a butcher supplies shop and followed the instructions. They came vacuum packed about a week before we needed them, so we kept them in the fridge. The night before we took them out of the vacuum pack, rinsed off the salt and soaked them in a large pot of water. We were very lucky that our butcher didn't mind using them and was experienced with how to use them as they are slightly different to the collagen casings. If you're interested in using natural skins, check with your butcher first.
Have you made sausages? Or tried any organic sausages mixes? Any thoughts on using natural skins?
**2017 update** I can confirm that Berger Ingredients is still around and the only place I can find to buy organic sausage mix for home butchering.
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| Yum :) |
The alternative to buying a sausage premix was to buy a sausage maker and make our own after the butcher had packed up. Have you seen a butcher making sausages though? That is a SKILL that you need to work at. We have attempted to make sausages before with our auger juicer that also has a small mincer/sausage making attachment. It is only a small hobby thing and we managed to overfill the sausages to the point that they exploded when we tried to cook them. They tasted nice, but looked funny, I didn't really want to have to make 50 kg ourselves. And so began the search for an organic premix.
Actually I didn't care too much about the organic status, I just didn't want any MSG, food colouring, flavours or preservatives in my sausages, and I had no success searching for additive-free sausage mixes, so I had to go with organic (which is a better option anyway). Just in case you are ever searching for an organic food, a good place to start is the directory on the Australian Organic website. I emailed lots of companies that I thought might make a sausage mix and only one replied. But I can't complain because not only did they send me two free samples that were enough to cover nearly all the sausages, the results were also fantastic, so I'm very happy to share their details with you.
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| The butcher making our sausages.... |
The sausage mixes were supplied by Berger Ingredients, we tried Herb and Beef flavours. Both had only natural ingredients and are absolutely delicious. They have a slightly different texture to the usual sausage mix (meatier), but we prefer it. If you would like to find out more about their products, they don't have a website, so just get in touch with Werner and see what you can arrange:
Unit 2, 17 Willfox St Condell Park NSW 2200
t +61 2 9709 8893
e werner@bergeringredients.com.au
http://bergeringredients.com.au
Another thing that we did differently this time was use natural sausage skins. That is, intestines. We bought them from a butcher supplies shop and followed the instructions. They came vacuum packed about a week before we needed them, so we kept them in the fridge. The night before we took them out of the vacuum pack, rinsed off the salt and soaked them in a large pot of water. We were very lucky that our butcher didn't mind using them and was experienced with how to use them as they are slightly different to the collagen casings. If you're interested in using natural skins, check with your butcher first.
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| natural skins soaking |
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| sausages packed up and ready to freeze |
Have you made sausages? Or tried any organic sausages mixes? Any thoughts on using natural skins?
**2017 update** I can confirm that Berger Ingredients is still around and the only place I can find to buy organic sausage mix for home butchering.
Yes we have made sausages. Our butcher has let me have a sausage day and come in and put garlic and parmesan cheese etc. into one of my own homemade mixes. I don't always have time though - we have recently come across a butcher who does our meat with preservative free sausages ( the company name on the packet is Neild and Co Pty Ltd) and the ingredients are all good . It took me absolutely ages to find this mix, I have been googling everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to look up the one you found though.
Home made sausages are the best!!!!!
that sounds like a good mix too, why are they SO hard to find?!
DeleteYes I too have had a go at making sausages. It took me quite a while to get those twists right! I will pass on this information to friends of mine who also make sausages. I'm sure they would prefer an organic mix. Thanks:)
ReplyDeletehaha, those twists look tricky! Good on you for having a go :)
DeleteI really want to try this. To be honest my hold up is the intestines. I want to make it using them, but I am a little nervous. Have you ever known anyone to make them with deer intestines?
ReplyDelete-dan
blog: www.the-outdoorsman.org
Hi Dan, sorry I didn't reply sooner, I put the question on facebook and there were no answers. Personally, I don't see why not, so its worth a try! Cheers, Liz
DeleteLiz, thanks to you writing this post, I went on the search for a preservative free sausage mix when we butchered our latest steer last week. I was able to buy Bio-sausage mix from our local Bake & Brew shop and we made our sausages yesterday. (We scored a fantastic sausage filling gadget from a local op-shop a couple years ago for $5 that I saw on the butcher's supplies website for $295!!!) Tonight was the taste test, and YES, we finally have sausages that we LOVE. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to mention that we used collagen sausage casings this time. Usually we use natural skins made from hog intestines, and we have even used our own casings saved from when we killed a sheep. These were not successful as they were so very difficult to clean properly, salt, vinegar, soaking, it still gave the sausages a horrible (poo) taste. The natural hog skins are easiest when twisting the long strands of sausage into links because they are stronger and don't break easily. The collagen skins taste lovely, are easy to use, but are a little softer and fragile when twisting. The twisting part gets easier once you learn the rhythm and with practice. I learned how to from YouTube, but I still need to hold my tongue just right and stand on one leg.. ;)
ReplyDelete