One thing to keep in mind making sausage is 15-20 grams of salt per kg. of meat that way the seasoning will be correct every time ....then add spices herbs to play around, but keep the salt more or less constant. Keep a log of what you do you might make the most awesome sausage and never be able to repeat it.

Tracy
Calgary

Good point on the ice water very important it helps to mix the spices salt etc with the water first then mix into meat, regrind it again then stuff casings. The water helps for juicy sausages as well as makes stuffing casings much easier. I showed this to a friend who uses a cheap sausage "horn" for stuffing and he said it helped a lot as the horns dont put as much pressure as a screw type stuffer. Also if meat is slightly frozen before grinding it really helps the grinding.....reduces heat build up due to friction in the grinder and the meat cuts or shears rather than getting mushed between the blade and grinder. Also helps to get a "fiber washer" which goes on the back of the auger this puts pressure between the blade and the plate which again helps to grind better especially if the blades are a little dull--dont use dull blades!!!

Heat build up is a concern when grinding believe it or not it slightly cooks the proteins in the meat. Then when you cook the sausage because they are a little precooked the proteins dont bind together as well.result is sausage that is a little "mealy" or feels slightly like cooked crumbled ground beef.

The **holy grail** of sausage making is to create an emulsion of fat and water (including the water you add and the water already present in the meat) so that when cooked the fat and water don't seperate and the juices are retained rather than leaking out. Best to ask a butcher to explain this as it's very hard to understand and worse to explain, but trust me learning this trick will take your sausage from good to wow.