On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 336

mortadella (“bologna”) is similar. These
sausages have a very fine-textured,
homogeneous,tenderinterior,andarelatively
mildflavor.They’remadebycombiningpork,
beef, or poultry with fat, salt, nitrite,
flavorings, and usually additional water, and
shearing the ingredients together in a large
blender until they form a smooth “batter,”
which is similar to an emulsified sauce like
mayonnaise (p. 625): the fat is evenly
dispersed in small droplets, which are
surroundedandstabilizedbyfragmentsofthe
muscle cells and by salt-dissolved muscle
proteins. The temperature during blending is
critical: if it rises above 60ºF/16ºC in a pork
batter,70ºF/21ºCinbeef,theemulsionwillbe
unstable and leak fat. The batter is then
extruded into a casing and cooked to about
160ºF/70ºC.Heatcoagulatesthemeatproteins
and turns the batter into a cohesive, solid
mass from which the casing can be removed.
Due to their relatively high water content,


around 50–55%, emulsified sausages are
perishableandmustberefrigerated.
Sausage Ingredients: Fat and Casings The
fat for sausage making is generally pork fat
fromundertheskinoftheanimal’sback.Pork
fat has the advantage of being relatively
neutralinflavor,andbackfatinparticularhas

justtherightconsistency:hardenoughnotto
melt and separate as the meat is ground or
stored at warm room temperatures, but soft
enough that it’s not granular and pasty when
eaten cool. Belly fat is softer than ideal,
kidney fat and beef and lamb fat harder;
poultry fats are too soft. In standard
nonemulsifiedsausages,the30%+fatcontent
helps separate the meat fragments and
provides tenderness and moistness. The
coarser the meat fragments, the lower the
surfaceareathatfatmustlubricate,andsothe
less fat required for an appealing texture (as
littleas15%).