pork shoulder/butt

[carl333]

Hi

I'm into sausage making and looking for an inexpensive source for pork shoulder or butt in Montreal. thanks

[porker]

Frutta Si in Lasalle

http://www.montrealexpress.ca/Annonce...

always has whole shoulder and legs at the back of the store. I always buy legs for sausage, so don't know the price of the shoulder, although they're similar. A leg usually runs $28-$32 (I forget the $/lb), but once in a while it goes on sale for 99c/lb, maybe $20-$24 for a nice leg.

They also sell casings. Regular, salted hog casings in the meat shelves and smaller sheep casings (similar in size to traditional merguez) which you have to ask for from the butcher.
BTW, do you make cotechino?

[carl333]

Thanks for the tip porker. I will definitely visit this place. Isn't contechio a fresh Italian sausage? I just starting making sausages and my 1st attempt was a spanish chorizo (hog 32 mm casings) which I just completed a couple of weeks ago. A gusty move but then again, anyone can make a fresh sausage. It's a dry cured sausage and it came out quite well. Great with a slab of fresh crusty bread.

My next will be a variety of italian sausages mild and hot. Great for summer BBQ's. Maybe start some coppa...

Do you know it Furtta Si sell live starter cultures to make dry cured sausages? I bought an envelope for $ 15.00 from a US source good for 400 lbs of meat and I have a lot left that will expiry some time soon. if you need some...

[porker]

I don't make much sausage in the summer - mostly in the fall and winter. I dry-cure about 25% of my batches in my basement, but don't use cultures, but thanks alot for the offer. I haven't seen starter cultures at Frutta Si, but you could ask the butcher. I'm guessing they won't have it, though.

Cotechino is a fresh sausage which an old Italian friend showed me. One time, while boning out legs for the meat he said to save the skin. Later on, we passed the skin through the grinder, seasoned, and stuffed. (its a lot tougher than meat to grind - I ruined 2 electric grinders this way. Now I only grind skin on the hand-crank),
When cooked in a moist environment (I'm thinking tomato sauce, or a lentl gravy), these puppies are decadent and delicious.
This was years ago. Today, I make cotechino with 1/2 ground skin, 1/2 meat. To me, thats part of the appeal; tweaking until you get something exactly to your liking - want a leaner sausage? skip the fat. want a hotter sausage? add more chile, etc etc etc.

[Zalbar]

BSA has all that available.

http://www.bsa.ca/

BSA - Québec
6005 Boulevard Couture
Montréal, Québec, H1P 3E1

Cultures, curing salts, sausage making equipment, knives, etc.

Picked up 1kg bags of cure #1 (cure 64 nitrites) and cure #2 (nitrites and nitrates) for under $10 for both tax included.

The sales counter is right at the first part of the building next to the loading docks.

[carl333]

Thanks Zalbar, I was looking for a local source for these products especially cultures. Awsome price for the cures. What do you make?

[Zalbar]

Only fresh stuff so far. I've been making bacon for about a year or so. Currently trying a peameal bacon. Unfortunately no smoker, though I will be experimenting with using a wok on a stove and see how that goes, since I can keep the windows open for ventilation along with the fan in the hood.

Hopefully I'll be doing sausage in the fall once I decide on a grinder to buy, then I may experiment with longer cured sausages once I find/build a proper curing chamber.

[porker]

NVJim's comments here
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/859985
are interesting on stovetop smoking.

[carl333]

tks for sharing porker. interesting indeed. I would love to replicate MSM one day at home. looking for a recipe I can try. I just did a pork shoulder (pulled pork) on a barrel smoker and it was awsome after 10 hrs. at a slow burn this past weekend.

[davidpg]

Frutta Si for real. Great meat there now (as opposed to in the distant past)

[Chocolatesa]

Thanks for the info, I had seen them recommended for casings a while back but wasn't willing to go all the way there for casings when I can get them much closer at the Atwater Market (I live next to Guy-Concordia metro) but i might for some cheap pork shoulder. I've started making sausage myself lately, only boerewors and longanisa so far but I'd eventually like to try other kinds. How much fat is left on those cuts?

[porker]

The leg, very little. You gotta save the good fat when skinning (as opposed to the silverskin connective stuff) to mix in with the meat after its been boned out. Even then, it'll likely be relatively dry.
The shoulder? Since I like the meat structure of the leg, I never use the shoulder, but I assume theres more fat here.
If theres no fatback or lard in the meat display (to add to your grind), ask the butcher for some sausage fat - he'll fix you up.

I was at Frutta Si this past weekend. Their legs were running $30-$32, so I'm guessing about $1.50/lb. Besides other sale times of the year, they generally go much cheaper in the fall when people start making more sausage.

[Chocolatesa]

Cool, thanks :)

[humbert]

F Iasanza.

[carl333]

which one would you suggest? There are many locations