Feb 13 2014
A while back I made up a batch of Mititei, Romanian sausages. Mititei means little one and the sausages are mixed up with spices and herbs, formed into little sausages 4 to 5 inches long then grilled. They are a favorite street food in Romania. Bulgaria also has their version. They can be made with ground beef, pork sausage, lamb sausage or a mix of these. They are grilled and I am sure there are many different recipes for these.
When I made mine I didn’t like the way I had them formed; they were tapered too much. I wanted some that were all uniform in diameter. I got to thinking about my PVC fatty stuffer I made. To get the stuffing formed all I have to do is fill my 2X9 inch piece of PVC pipe with as much stuffing as I want, Wrap in plastic wrap then in the fridge to set up good. When it’s time to make the fatty I roll out my sausage, use a plunger I made and push it onto the sausage then roll up.
I thought I can make one of smaller pipe and make my Mititei. I used 1 inch BVC pipe 6 inches long, two reducers 1 inch to 2 inches glued together to make a funnel; then glued to the 1 inch pipe. If you can find one adapter, 1” to 2“, it would work better. I used a piece of 1 inch dowel rod for the pusher.
Yesterday I mixed up a pound of ground chuck and a pound of pork sausage. I used a recipe for Romanian Kabobs by Ahron, (africanmeat). It set in the fridge overnight.
I just got through making the sausages. I filled a tray with 16 of them about 3 inches long each and used about 1 ¼ pounds of the meat mix. When I pushed out the first one it was too long so I cut them in half. They were a nice size for serving as an appetizer but I wanted them about 4 ½ inches long for sandwiches. I cut 1 ½ inches off the pipe and that worked well for me.
It’s a little messy but I did the first batch in about 20 minutes. I found it best to put some meat in the funnel top and push it into the pipe with my thumb and then use the pusher until full and push out onto a pan.
I thought maybe I would get them too tightly packed but I have it setting on my cutting board to fill and push down until it starts to ooze out the bottom, then give the pusher a little twist and push onto the pan. Now all I have to do is see how well they hold together while cooking.
The stuffers
Meat mixture
A view of the stuffer
Making the first batch
In the fridge
My second batch
Smokin Don
