STEPS IN MAKING SAUSAGE
Jul 24, 2015
Sausage making has been used for hundreds of years to preserve meat.
§ Comminution (Particle Reduction) Comminution is the process by which meat is ground, chopped, diced, emulsified, or reduced to minute particles for incorporation into sausage.
§ Emulsification - If a meat mixture is comminuted with salt in a bowl chopper or silent cutter, a finely chopped sausage batter is formed. In the presence of salt a meat emulsion can be formed. In meat emulsions, lean meat and fat particles are dispersed in a complex of water, proteins, cellular components, and a variety of spices and seasonings.
§ Blending - Ground meat or chopped meat, but not meat emulsions, can be placed in a mixer/blender to evenly distribute the lean and fat particles and any cure ingredients that are in the mixture. After blending, the mixture may be added to the revolving metal bowl of a chopper, where rotating knife blades cut through the meat mass and mix in seasonings and other ingredients. In this application, time in the bowl chopper is short and emulsification is not the desired result. After a short time in the chopper, meat to be used in ground products goes directly into the stuffer to be formed into sausages.
§ Forming - Some processed meat products, such as fresh pork sausage,
may be sold in bulk, in chubs or formed into patties. Others are molded into
loaves, but most are stuffed into casings. Comminuted products are placed in casings to give them a characteristic shape (like that of a wiener), to hold the product together, and to allow for further processing.
§ Tying - According to the type of meat product and the particular casing, the sausage may be tied at each end with string or fastened with metal clips. With smaller sausages, such as frankfurters casings are normally twisted or draw together either by hand or mechanically to produce links as identical in shape and size as possible.
