Calculating how much fat you need to make sausage is not as simple as you might think. I have tried to write formulae that will help, but I am not good at this and I need someone who is to help by taking my formulae below and making them clearer and easier. FEEL FREE TO EDIT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT! Then I need someone to put this into a spreadsheet that is user friendly, something a home cook could use easily.
THE WRONG WAY
This is the way most people calculate how much fat is needed and it is wrong: Let’s say I have 10 pounds of lean ground muscle, like beef rump or pork loin, and I want to make a sausage that is 30% fat. If I just add 3 pounds of ground fat to the ground meat I will get 13 pounds of sausage. But that is not 30%!
If I divide the 3 pounds of fat by the 13 pounds of meat, I get 23% fat, not 30%! To get the right ratio you need this formula. I have rounded weights to one decimal.
THE RIGHT WAY
First a definition of terms
MEAT = Weight of meat (let’s say 16 pounds)
TARGET = % of fat desired (let’s say 30% fat, my favorite target)
X = Variable to be calculated
FAT = Weight of fat needed to achieve Target
MARBLING = (% of fat in the Meat * Meat) = 1.6 pounds
MUSCLE = Meat – (Meat * Marbling) = 16 – 1.6 = 14.4 pounds
TOTAL = Final quantity of sausage
So first we need to calculate the variable, X
X = 100% - TARGET
X = 100% - 30% = 70%
X = 1 – 0.3 = 0.7
FORMULA FOR LEAN MEAT
(MEAT ÷ X) – MEAT = FAT
(16 ÷ 0.7) – 16 = 6.9 pounds of FAT
FORMULA FOR FATTY MEAT
Now all this is fine if your meat is very lean like pork loin or beef rump, but if you are using a pork butt or beef chuck, you need to look at it and guestimate what the fat content is before you start grinding. It can be substantial, PERHAPS 20%, especially if there are large veins of fat. If it is about 20%, then subtract that from the weight of the MEAT to get the amount of MUSCLE. and from the amount of FAT you need to add. So here’s the formula:
(MUSCLE ÷ X) – MUSCLE = TOTAL = (14.4 ÷ 0.7) – 14.4 = 6.2 total pounds of FAT needed
6.2 pounds of FAT – 3.2 or 20% of 16 pounds = 3 pounds of added FAT needed
THE WRONG WAY
This is the way most people calculate how much fat is needed and it is wrong: Let’s say I have 10 pounds of lean ground muscle, like beef rump or pork loin, and I want to make a sausage that is 30% fat. If I just add 3 pounds of ground fat to the ground meat I will get 13 pounds of sausage. But that is not 30%!
If I divide the 3 pounds of fat by the 13 pounds of meat, I get 23% fat, not 30%! To get the right ratio you need this formula. I have rounded weights to one decimal.
THE RIGHT WAY
First a definition of terms
MEAT = Weight of meat (let’s say 16 pounds)
TARGET = % of fat desired (let’s say 30% fat, my favorite target)
X = Variable to be calculated
FAT = Weight of fat needed to achieve Target
MARBLING = (% of fat in the Meat * Meat) = 1.6 pounds
MUSCLE = Meat – (Meat * Marbling) = 16 – 1.6 = 14.4 pounds
TOTAL = Final quantity of sausage
So first we need to calculate the variable, X
X = 100% - TARGET
X = 100% - 30% = 70%
X = 1 – 0.3 = 0.7
FORMULA FOR LEAN MEAT
(MEAT ÷ X) – MEAT = FAT
(16 ÷ 0.7) – 16 = 6.9 pounds of FAT
FORMULA FOR FATTY MEAT
Now all this is fine if your meat is very lean like pork loin or beef rump, but if you are using a pork butt or beef chuck, you need to look at it and guestimate what the fat content is before you start grinding. It can be substantial, PERHAPS 20%, especially if there are large veins of fat. If it is about 20%, then subtract that from the weight of the MEAT to get the amount of MUSCLE. and from the amount of FAT you need to add. So here’s the formula:
(MUSCLE ÷ X) – MUSCLE = TOTAL = (14.4 ÷ 0.7) – 14.4 = 6.2 total pounds of FAT needed
6.2 pounds of FAT – 3.2 or 20% of 16 pounds = 3 pounds of added FAT needed
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