I've used the 1/8" for the fattier pieces and a larger for the other but not usually
I have done it once but different and that was when a friend was helping me figure out a good recipe for
Linguisa. He's of Portuguese decent and his grandparents used to make it. I had a recipe from a book and ground the meat with 3/4-1/2 and 3/8's dies in three different batches then mixed them together before adding the spices and liquid (small batch).
Here's my dies:
Attachment 267646
When I got the sausage made and gave it to him to try, he said it was close but not right but he had some frozen that they would buy in an ethnic market somewhere in California so I took a chunk home to try and with some playing I made another small batch and took it over and they were thrilled!
However while his store bought linguisa was ground; traditionally it was hand cut so I made a 20# batch all cut by hand! What a chore!
My friend told me that his parents were driving up for a couple weeks visit and he'd called his dad and said: "When was the last time you had linguisa that was hand cut?" His dad said not since his parents had died and my friend told him "Well you'll be having some when you get here!
I guess my friend sent a bunch of frozen back with his folks in an ice chest and dry ice.
His parents raise olives and almonds in CA. A few weeks passed and a large package arrived via UPS, his folks had sent me a couple cases of canned olives from the company that they grow for. There were un-pitted olives, stuffed olives, mammoth sized etc. There was also a 1/2 gallon mason jar with home canned olives!! Those homemade weren't the prettiest as they were green with brown splotches on them but they were better than Any Canned Olive I've Ever Tasted!
There also sacks of raw almonds, slivered almonds etc.
Well my friend and his wife later divorced and he moved on so I haven't made any linguisa in a few years, I may have to do that this fall.
The next time I make some sausage I'll give the 1/2 & !/2 different grinds a try.
Thanks for the tip :tu