around 50–55%, emulsified sausages are
perishable and must be refrigerated.
Sausage Ingredients: Fat and Casings The
fat for sausage making is generally pork fat
from under the skin of the animal’s back. Pork
fat has the advantage of being relatively
neutral in flavor, and back fat in particular has
just the right consistency: hard enough not to
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
nonemulsified sausages, the 30%+ fat content
helps separate the meat fragments and
provides tenderness and moistness. The
coarser the meat fragments, the lower the
surface area that fat must lubricate, and so the
less fat required for an appealing texture (as
little as 15%).