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[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe: Red-Hot Beef Sausage.
"These sausages are an ode to the famous Texas red hots. They are really rich, with a beautiful, full flavor and a lot of heat."

1 kg (2.2 lbs) beef chuck
19 grams kosher salt
4 grams paprika
4 grams smoked paprika
24 grams sugar
11 grams mustard powder
4.5 grams ground pepper
2 grams coriander
5.5 grams chile powder
5.5 grams chipotle chile powder

54 grams ice water (melted)
6 grams yellow mustard (we used sweet-hot)
(We added: 32 grams garlic, crushed)

hog casings

Assemble the dry ingredients in a bowl. Remove any bones from the meat and open-freeze for 30-60 minutes, until the surface of the meat is crunchy to the touch and the interior is very cold, but not frozen. Freeze the augur and blades of the grinder.

Cut the beef into 1" wide strips and open-freeze again for 30 minutes (if needed) to keep crunchy and cold but not frozen.

Grind the meat through the medium plate and open-freeze again, if needed. Combine the dry ingredients with the ice water, mustard, and garlic and whisk together until completely blended and dissolved. I call this the "slurry". Combine the cold meat with the slurry. Roll up your sleeves and with perfectly clean hands, begin kneading and turning the mixture as you would a large quantity of bread dough. Eventually, you will begin to notice that the mixture had acquired a somewhat creamy texture. This is caused by the warmth of your hands and the meat proteins activating and is a sign that you have finished mixing. Spoon out a few tablespoons of the mixture and return the remainder to the fridge.

Lightly fry the tablespoons of mixture over medium heat until cooked through but not caramelized. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. Otherwise, stuff into casings and make 4-6" links.

Ideally, hang the sausage overnight in the fridge or refrigerate on parchment, covered with plastic wrap, to allow the casing to form fully to the meat and the sausage to settle. The next day, cut between each link and grill or hot-smoke.

What worked: This was insanely good. Spicy but not overwhelmingly so (less than a lamb merguez, say) and I look forward to grilling them since the smoke would add a lot of good flavor to the mixture. It would also go well with a brown mustard (or sweet-hot) and maybe some Italian sweet peppers.
The "slurry" method was a total revelation: it distributed the spice evenly and using (melted) ice water meant that we could knead the meat longer to activate the protein. Not an issue when we hand chop but it helps when we grind, so we'll have to remember this method for future use elsewhere.

What didn't: We didn't let the ice water melt and couldn't get it to mix in, so we had to fish out the ice cubes and replaced with water. Next time I'll measure out and let it melt on its own.

Will I make it again? The apprentice and I have already scheduled to make a much bigger batch of these for next month's work day. The plan is to make them for the GSP barbecue (as well as his freezer). I suspect they'll be a staple for both of us.

What I'm reading: Toby Lester, Da Vinci's Ghost

Comments

[albionwood.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. This would be for a fresh or smoked sausage, but not for a cured salumi, right?

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

You do want to activate the proteins for a cured sausage, but you're right that you want to not over-mix the fat. I mostly get around the issue by hand-chopping. That activates the meat but obviously the fat doesn't need as much or it liquifies. If I'm grinding the meat for a large batch, I may still hand-chop the fat separately and then mix into the meat and spices. I haven't tried the slurry method for that yet though.