Jimmy Dean?
March 9, 2013 7:19 AM Subscribe
I have been going to butchers having my own ground chuck (mince in England) and sausages made. I would like to try to make a sausage mixture that matches Jimmy Dean Premium Pork Hot Sausage and Pork Light Sausage. Ingredients are clearly closely guarded secrets. Any taste reflections or recipe suggestions? Detail: Jimmy Dean is only known for Big Bad John and Little Black Book in Europe.
I know these two sausages are really salty. I would like to experiment.
I know these two sausages are really salty. I would like to experiment.
Seconding heavy black pepper and sage. Also quite a bit of rosemary. Make sure you gets lots of good-quality fat in there, too.
posted by cooker girl at 8:54 AM on March 9, 2013
posted by cooker girl at 8:54 AM on March 9, 2013
Response by poster: Pork fat obviously. Do you think they put in cold fat or that it's ground from cuts?
posted by parmanparman at 9:58 AM on March 9, 2013
posted by parmanparman at 9:58 AM on March 9, 2013
Epicurious.com has a recipe that should give you a good head start.
They use a food processor. My grandmother always used a hand-cranked grinder or the food grinder on the giant Kitchen Aid mixer. She ground once without, and then once with the seasonings.
The words, "chilled" and "cold" always seem to play a big part in any sausage recipes I have ever read, so I'm guessing very cold fat.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 10:41 AM on March 9, 2013
They use a food processor. My grandmother always used a hand-cranked grinder or the food grinder on the giant Kitchen Aid mixer. She ground once without, and then once with the seasonings.
The words, "chilled" and "cold" always seem to play a big part in any sausage recipes I have ever read, so I'm guessing very cold fat.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 10:41 AM on March 9, 2013
I have made a few sausage mixes for other things, you really want the fat very cold before you grind it it's the difference between nice little pieces of fat even sprinkled throughout and fat puree. On review what halfbuckaroo said.
posted by wwax at 12:28 PM on March 9, 2013
posted by wwax at 12:28 PM on March 9, 2013
If you're using pork shoulder, usually there's a good amount of fat to it, but you should aim for 25-30% fat in your mix.
The cold/chilled thing is brutally important. If you're having the butcher grind for you, you should be okay. Doing it yourself, it's important to freeze the metal parts of the grinder, put the meat/fat in the freezer for a little bit to get it cold/stiff, and to grind into a metal bowl set in ice. If the fat gets too warm, the texture of the sausage will be ruined. The flavor will be okay, but the texture will be awful. The first couple times I made sausage at home, I had a 25% success rate, and the neighbors dogs were very happy.
As for breakfast sausage, sage, a bit of ginger, and chili. Cayenne is good, but feel free to try around with other chilis like ancho or chipotle for different kicks.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:56 AM on March 10, 2013
The cold/chilled thing is brutally important. If you're having the butcher grind for you, you should be okay. Doing it yourself, it's important to freeze the metal parts of the grinder, put the meat/fat in the freezer for a little bit to get it cold/stiff, and to grind into a metal bowl set in ice. If the fat gets too warm, the texture of the sausage will be ruined. The flavor will be okay, but the texture will be awful. The first couple times I made sausage at home, I had a 25% success rate, and the neighbors dogs were very happy.
As for breakfast sausage, sage, a bit of ginger, and chili. Cayenne is good, but feel free to try around with other chilis like ancho or chipotle for different kicks.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:56 AM on March 10, 2013
It's not a Jimmy Dean copycat as such, but to me it tastes like good American sausage, and I'm invested because I (now) keep kosher and can't have the real stuff: sage, cumin, and red pepper.
40% fat for something like this...my family of origin makes sausage every year and 30% is like shoe leather, suitable only for snacking. Bulk sausage like you're describing is 40% or close to it.
posted by skbw at 7:36 AM on March 10, 2013
40% fat for something like this...my family of origin makes sausage every year and 30% is like shoe leather, suitable only for snacking. Bulk sausage like you're describing is 40% or close to it.
posted by skbw at 7:36 AM on March 10, 2013
I've used the seasoning from this recipe with pork sausage mince from the butcher and it tasted sort of like what I remember.
posted by mosessis at 4:16 PM on March 10, 2013
posted by mosessis at 4:16 PM on March 10, 2013
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You might want to search "Jimmy Dean Pork Hot Sausage" + "copycat" - a lot of people devote a large amount of free time to concocting home versions of commercial products, and "copycat" is usually the name they use for the result.
posted by Miko at 7:27 AM on March 9, 2013 [1 favorite]