It’s this dissolved protein that subsequently cross-links with other proteins to cause a sausage to tighten up, giving it its springy, resilient texture On top of this, with some of their proteins loosened up by the brine, the muscle fibers are able to hold on to much more moisture than before (see “Experiment: Meat, Salt, and Time,” here) In Good Time What about timing? Does it matter how long you let your salted meat rest? To test this, I divided one pork shoulder into eight different test batches The first batch was left unsalted The remainder were salted for intervals of time ranging from 24 hours all the way down to immediately before grinding I then cooked all the different ground meats in vacuum-sealed bags in a 60°F water bath and weighed them after draining them As you can see in the chart above, there’s a pretty clear advantage to letting your meat rest before grinding and forming sausages A wait of hours saves you half of the juices that would otherwise be lost, while 4 hours saves you a full 75 percent Not bad Beyond hours or so, the changes become incremental, shaving off a half percentage point or two before finally maxing out at around a 3.6percent moisture-loss level after a few days of salting Fear the Smear A meat grinder is the best way to grind meat for sausage (though a food processor will just fine), but it’s not as simple as throwing chunks of salted meat into the hopper Before you start grinding, you must remember the most important rule in sausage making: everything must stay cold at all times Why, you ask? Let me warn you that the picture you are about to see is not pretty I’m almost afraid to show it to you ...them after draining them As you can see in the chart above, there’s a pretty clear advantage to letting your meat rest before grinding and forming sausages A wait of hours saves you half of the. .. 3.6percent moisture-loss level after a few days of salting Fear the Smear A meat grinder is the best way to grind meat for sausage (though a food processor will just fine), but it’s not as simple as throwing chunks of salted meat into the hopper... wait of hours saves you half of the juices that would otherwise be lost, while 4 hours saves you a full 75 percent Not bad Beyond hours or so, the changes become incremental, shaving off a half percentage