FLAVORED SAUSAGES:Their Ups and Downs

HOST Bill McDowellEditorial Director,

Meatingplace

MODERATOR Lisa KeefeEditor, Meatingplace

A BALANCED APPROACH

Roger W. MandigoAnimal Science DepartmentUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln-Lincoln

Poll Questions1. You made a great artisan fresh Bratwurst sausage

with fresh jalapenos, fresh basil, fresh leak and pine nuts, however, the inclusions all fell out after you cooked and sliced the sausage. What failed? A. Too many different inclusions.B. The Jalapenos should have been either vinegar or oil packed.C. Insufficient amount of emulsifier to coat all surface areas.D. More salt would have protected the inclusions.

Poll Questions

2. Why do fresh vegetables shrink and fail to remain eye appealing and held in place in the sausage?A. They loose the shape, and shrink because moisture cooks out of the vegetables.B. Plant materials have fresh enzymes that must be heat denatured or blanched.C. Mixing longer before stuffing will correct the problem.D. Flash frozen inclusion will not have this problem

Poll Questions3. Jalapeno peppers are available in four forms :

fresh, dehydrated, packed in vinegar and packed in oil. Name the problem associated with all of these forms? A. The seeds in the peppers cause the problem.B. Jalapeno peppers contain compounds that will not stick to muscle proteins.C. Replace the Jalapeno peppers with soluble seasonings.D. All have surface conditions that reduce the ability of the emulsifier to bind the inclusion to the meat in the system.

Poll Questions

4. Your cracked/ground spices won’t stick to the outside of your "Old World" dry sausage, Why?A. The spices were not cracked to the correct size.B. Insufficient emulsifier or protein on the surface to cause the spices to stick.C. Failed to heat the surface enough to cause the spices to stick.D. Spices won't stick to the surfaces.

Today’s AssignmentInclusions for Unique/Designer Sausages

Added Food Ingredient Objects• Fresh fruits, vegetables, hard cooked eggs, fruit, nuts,

vegetables, unique meat ingredients, pasta, other foods

INCLUSIONS• Salted, vinegar based, alcohol based and dehydrated inclusions

Added Flavor Profile• Ground, powdered, oil or water based flavors

Added Surface Ingredients• Fresh or Dried ground, powdered particulates• Oil or water based liquids

INCLUSIONS• Fresh Fruits & Vegetables

– Hot Water blanched to inactivate enzymes• Dehydrated

– Re-hydrated in water and drained/dried• Packed in Oil

– Hot water washed/dried to remove oil from surfaces• Packed in Vinegar

– Hot water washed/dried to remove acid from surfaces• Packed In Salt

– Hot water washed/dried to remove excess salt

INCLUSION APPLICATIONS• Formulation - Added Ingredients

– Concerns with enzymes, salt, oil, acids– Contribute to Flavor Profile– Usually fine chopped or ground fresh or dried– Concerns with enzymes, salt, oil, acids– Water vs. Oil soluble flavors

• Added Surface Ingredients– Extra protein emulsifier needed on surface for binding

Basic Sausages -Meat Proteins• Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, Turkey• Farm Raised Fish - Salmon, Trout, Catfish• Exotic/Novel Species

• Bison, Red Deer, Elk, Ostrich, Emu, Llama• Any specie with available contractile muscle proteins

MUSCLE FOODS !

What is Meat ?• Sarcoplasmic Proteins (water soluble)• Myofibrillar Proteins (salt soluble)

– Actin, Myosin, Actomyosin• Stromal Proteins (connective tissue)

– Collagen– Elastin and Reticulin

• Water• Fat

What is the EMULSIFIER?• Water containing:

• Salt• Salt soluble proteins

• Actin, Myosin, Actomyosin• Solubilized Protein Solution

• Binder or the "glue" for the meat system• No change in amount of protein• Borrow the protein – function as “glue”

Key Factors with Emulsifier!• Need about a 4.5% salt addition

• Too High a Concentration for finished product taste!• Most products are about 2% or less salt in the finished

product.• But only temporarily

• About half of the meat & all the salts for few minutes• Then, add balance of water, meat and other ingredients• Finish processing, stuff and heat process

Key Factors with Emulsifier!Temporary high dry salt level >4.0-4.5%

instead finished products of ~2.0%

All the formula salt, add to 40 – 50% of the lean meat, and mechanical action

Then• Water added after initial protein solubilization, and• Before rest of meat and non-meat ingredients• Final mix contains all the ingredients !

Meat Emulsion

Key Factors with Particle Size!• All surface area of all particles must be covered with the

emulsifier (glue or binder)!• MEAT: Muscle, Fat, Connective Tissue, Added Water• INCLUSIONS: Any Added Other Ingredients

• Smaller particles have greater surface area than larger particles!

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1Basketball

6 Softballs

36Golf Balls

100Marbles

1000Peppercorns

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Fat, Gel & Inclusions• Fats must be completely coated/covered

with soluble myofibrillar protein = EMULSIFIER• Gels from high collagenous materials must also be

completely coated/covered • with soluble myofibrillar protein = EMULSIFIER• Inclusions [olives, cheese, peppers, fruit, nuts & other

materials] must also be completely coated/covered • with soluble myofibrillar protein = EMULSIFIER

Poll Question Results1. You made a great artisan fresh Bratwurst sausage with fresh

jalapenos, fresh basil, fresh leak and pine nuts, however, the inclusions all fell out after you cooked and sliced the sausage. What failed? C. Insufficient amount of emulsifier to coat all surface areas.

2. Why do fresh vegetables shrink and fail to remain eye appealing and held in place in the sausage? A. They loose the shape, and shrink because moisture cooks out of the vegetables.B. Plant materials have fresh enzymes that must be heat denatured or blanched.

Poll Question Results

3. Jalapeno peppers are available in four forms : fresh, dehydrated, packed in vinegar and packed in oil. Name the problem associated with all of these forms? D. All have surface conditions that reduce the ability of the emulsifier to bind the inclusion to the meat in the system.

4. Your cracked/ground spices won’t stick to the outside of your "Old World" dry sausage, Why?B. Insufficient emulsifier or protein on the surface to cause the spices to stick.

Risco USA

For more information visit us at www.riscousa.com

For all your sausage

production needs !

IN PRODUCTION

David SamuelsOwnerEsposito SausageNew York, NY

• Started as a traditional pork store in 1933

• Store-made sausage sales started to eclipse rest of store sales

• Family divided business up into Retail Pork Store and Wholesale Sausage company

• Traditional Sausage recipes (Sweet Italian, Hot Italian) have stayed the exact same ever since

• Same Ingredients

• Still Fabricating our own CT-Butts and Pork Trim

• Specialty Sausages have been key to growing our business since the late 90’s

About Esposito’s

FUN FACT

• It is projected that 910,000 sausages were served at Miller Park – Home to the Milwaukee Brewers, the MOST in all of MLB

• Coming in a very distant 2nd was our local team – The Mets. At Citi Field they served 376,650 sausages. – If only we had that account!

POLL QUESTIONS: Growth of Specialty Sausages

• Poll Question #1: Have you or your company started to make any specialty sausages as part of your product offerings?

• Poll Question #2: Have you seen an increase in requests/demands for these specialty sausages since you started to offer them?

New Sausages as a Balancing Act• Traditional products / recipes are needed to maintain

your existing and more traditional customer base• Newer ‘Funky-er’ products / recipes are needed to

attract the next generation of customers• Questions to consider:

– Is this product going to just replace existing volume– Is this product going to introduce our brand to new

customers– Is this product really a fit for our brand

The devil is in the details• Lets talk about our first foray into Specialty Sausages

– Protein Switch to Chicken from Pork– Same Recipes– Same Casing– NEW PROBLEMS

Shorter Shelf LifeLess salt in ChickenMore Water in the ChickenEnd Result – YUCK!

Finding a new niche• Identify a “problem”

– Traditional pork breakfast sausage sales are slowing at High End Restaurants and Hotels

• Identify a “cause”– These high end customers don’t want your average pork sausage or even any pork on

their plate at all

• Identify a need– Most CHICKEN Sausages are stuffed into PORK casings

• Craft a “solution”– What if we created a alternative breakfast sausage with no Pork

• Test the market– Sample, Sample, Sample– Adjust recipe– Repeat

Lessons Learned

• Make one change at a time– Adjusting for salt?,

• don’t change pepper at the same time

– Changing Apple variety?,• don’t touch the meat block too

Lessons Learned

• Time heals causes all wounds– New ingredients can cause interesting effects

• Onions can turn GREEN• Peppers can turn BLACK• Apples become mushy, mushy, mushy,

Lessons Learned

• Pop Goes The Weasel– Make sure your specialty items fit your casing size– Match the size of your new items to your grind size if your adding

them post grind

Opportunities• The world is your oyster (oyster sausage……maybe, why not?)

– Jalapeño's vs. Salsa• Why not go for a higher margin Mexican mix?

– Hog Casing vs. Sheep Casing• The market trend this year favors developing with HC over SC

• There are no rules, just good taste– Don’t lock yourself into something just because its always been– Use these specialty sausages to create new opportunities for you– Being ‘limited’ in supply can create a increase its demand

POLL QUESTION RESULTS: Growth of Specialty Sausages

• Poll Question #1: Have you or your company started to make any specialty sausages as part of your product offerings?

• Poll Question #2: Have you seen an increase in requests/demands for these specialty sausages since you started to offer them?

Grow with the growth

• Our gross margin is up 8% overall because of specialty sausages

• Our volume on specialty sausages has shown over 100% growth each year

• Our #1 specialty item is Chicken Apple – which now has its own family of product with 4 varieties within the product group.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

FOR MORE INFORMATIONRoger Mandigo: rmandigo1@unl.edu

David Samuels: david@espositosausage.com

Sarah Miller (Risco): smiller@riscousa.com

Lisa Keefe: lkeefe@meatingplace.comBill McDowell: bmcdowell@meatingplace.com

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