Made summer sausage with high mountain kit and what I think was 27 percent fat ground beef, and it turned out perfect. I usually buy much leaner, but I thought for sausage the extra fat might be useful.
I then made another batch using a tenderquick recipe, and I know this time I used the 73/27 ground beef. I let it cure in the fridge for 24 hours, then cooked in the oven at 325 to an internal temp of 165. Finished product came out with the consistency of cold meat loaf.
I assume that the high mountain kit was using prague powder, since measurements were in the 1/4 teaspoon per pound. I found plenty of recipes for summer sausage that used tenderquick and spices in the proportions that follow. Any idea why the second batch didn't bind?
2 pounds ground beef
2 T Tenderquick
1 T brown sugar
1.5 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t cumin
1 t red pepper flakes
¼ t garlic salt
¼ t onion powder
1 cup water.
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