Sausage making!!!

I love making homemade hot and spicy and unusual sausages, as a seasoning for dishes. Its just yummy and I can't stand almost all processed foods and don't crave much meat. This week I made a TRUELY screaming hot NY Italian sausage,,,,its HOT!!! I bet it would melt most northerners ears off.

 

Steps huh? Oh boy, now your in trouble.

I got a electric meat grinder, for Christmas, cause I didn't know my own strength, I guess, and turned the handle on my manual one so hard it broke. LOL. This is what I got http://www.amazon.com/Waring-Pro-MG...1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1235927323&sr=8-1 BUT, unless you are gonna stuff your sausage you don't really need one. (see below, I typed this in special for you Forrest). You only need to stuff your sausage if you are gonna poach and/or smoke it. Otherwise, bulk sausage, in patties or whatever is good to use.

I also have a sausage making book, which is pretty good but I like to add 'extras' to my stuff so I use it as a guide. http://www.amazon.com/Bruce-Aidells...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235927444&sr=8-1

Homemade sausage is GREAT cause it doesn't have all the extenders and preservatives and is much lower in fat (even if you make it with the added fat in the recipe book).

First you grind or chop up your meat. If using a food processor, cut the meat and fat, into 3/4" cubes. Process in small, about or less than 1 lb batches. Use the pulse switch setting. Do not overprocess. You just want chopped chunks.

Then you add the spices and stuff. Knead with your hands, squeezing and turning the mixture. Do not overmix, as this could cause melting problems with any fats you use and make your sausage ugly looking.

Make a small patty and fry it. (If you used fat in your sausage, then put the patty in a cold pan and fry it w/o anything). Taste it to make sure you got your spices and seasonings the way you want. Adjust, if needed.

If you are putting it in casings do it the day it is ground or it will get quite stiff and hard to handle. If you are friggerating or freezing it, as bulk, it takes about 24 hours for the spices and seasonings to infiltrate the meat so 'cure' the meat in the refrigerator 24 hours before you use or freeze it.

Walla, your done!!!

NOTE: The sausage book says you 'need' to add fat for your sausage to taste right and the fats to use are pork shoulder, pork back, bacon, OR, if making poultry sausage, bacon fat or (gasp, puke) the poultry skin. You just drain it off anyway, right? Well, whatever. I generally buy the leanest cuts of meat I can find and cut the fat off. I use things like roasted peppers, mushrooms, onions and stuff instead.

Here is the last recipe I made. I left out the fat and added the pepper stuff (both in parentheses).

NY Italian

3 lbs pork (butt is called for, I used lean loin chops)
(3/4 lb pork back fat)
2 T anise-flavored liqueur, such as Sambuca (optional)
2 T anise or fennel seeds ( I used 3 T with 2 part anise and 1 part fennel)
1 T minced garlic (can use granulated it mixes up into it more uniformly)
1 T+ red pepper flakes
(4 T salt, I left this out cause I never use added salt)
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (more is better:evil
(1/4 C water, I didn't use this)
(instead of water and fat I added about 1/2- 3/4 C of mexican peppers in chappoli sauce, hot stuff)
(I also put a bunch of green onions in mine)

If you are interested I'll 'publish' the recipes I make as I go through them.

On the list are Thai Chicken/Turkey, Spicey Louisiana Poultry, low-fat (as described by Aidells) Chicken and Apple Sausage.

 

Thai Chicken Sausage

recipe calls for
1.75 lbs boned chicken thighs w/skin
1.75 lbs boned turkey thighs w/skin

I used 3.5 lbs of boned/skinless chicken thigh meat
1 bunch (4-6 oz) of cilantro - I was on the low side and its a bit too much)
1/4 c Southeast Asian fish sauce
3 T chopped fresh basil (I used frozen cause my fresh is going to seed now)
3 T chopped fresh mint (I used 1T of dry, mighta been better with a little more)
1.5 T chopped garlic
1.5 T fresh grated ginger (well like crimanie, I got to this point and found my ginger had gone bad so I used 1 T of dry)
1-2 T Thai green curry paste (I used 2)
1 T kosher salt (I didn't use this; well like I need more salt when the fish sauce is cooked anchoives with added salt, lol)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Comment: Well like wow, when made like this is tastes only like bad fish with cilantro! Sorta. :evil: OK not that bad but its too fishy.

So I added 4T of lime juice and it turned out really good. Nice and spicey hot. The lime juice toned down the fish quite a bit and the cilantro just a tad. It also brought out the mint real well and lent a mild gingery taste to it. Makes me wanna stuff some grape leaves or something. Alas, all I have is fresh banana leaves right now. Anyways, I cooked it all up (cause its chicken and it seemed like a good idea) and froze it in about 1/2 lb batches which is what is called for in most recipes.

I guess I've never made or eaten poultry sausage before. Its actually nice and juicy good but next I'm making Bratwurst which I'm gonna smoke on the grill. Sounds like a party!!!

 

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, MAKE THESE

Bruce Aidells', Complete Sausage Book, 'Hot Links' pg. 43
" " , Hungarian Paprika Sausage (Debrecini)

Yuke, gag,,,,I'm surprized my dogs will even eat them. LOL.

I got some casings too and stuffed some. I told the dude at the butcher shop I only wanted enough to make like 4-6 lbs of sausage (2 different kinds). He packaged up the smallest size they had. Good grief. It makes up to 150 lbs of sausage but lasts a REALLY long time. I should like live soooo long. LOL.

 

New sausage recipes, these are all very good.

MEXICAN BEEF CHORIZO w/vegi SAUSAGE RECIPE

4 lbs beef, ground
1 C chopped yellow onion
2 C chopped green pepper
3-4 cloves minced garlic or 1 T granulated garlic
3 T commercial chili powder
2 T paprika
1 T kosher salt
1 T dried oregano (Mexican)
2 tsp- 1 T dried red pepper flakes
½ C cider or red wine vinegar (I used this) + ½ C ice water

grind meat w/medium plate
mix in onion and green pepper

combine spices in 1 quart container and mix w/the vinegar and ice water combination (I put it in a jar and shook it up, then let it rest for about 30 minutes)

pour the liquid spice mixture over the ground beef/vegi combination and mix thoroughly for at least 2 minutes

put in refrigerator overnight

stuff into 35 mm casings, make into patties or bulk packages

add curing salts if you are going to smoke it.

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MODIFIED SWEDISH MEDVURST OR GOTEBORG SUMMER SAUSAGE

4 lbs beef, ground
5 tsp salt
2 T brown sugar
4 tsp ground mustard
5 tsp coarse ground black pepper
4 tsp ground Cardamom seed
1 T granulated garlic
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 T liquid smoke (unless you are going to smoke it)
1 T onion powder

grind meat though ¼ inch plate
add remaining ingredients and mix well

put in refrigerator overnight

stuff into 2 ½” large beef casings, artificial casings or shape into ‘logs’ and wrap in aluminum foil (that is what I did)
place the foil covered rolls on a rack over a drip pan after you have punched a row of holes (with a fork)in the bottom of the foil covering
bake in oven for 1.5 hrs at 350 degrees F

OR

Smoke it at 130 F for 4 hrs, raise temp of smoker to 170 F and cook to an internal temp of 150 F
Remove from smoker and shower or dip in ice water until the internal temp is below 100 F. Then allow casing to air dry.

Refrigerate at least 12 hrs before slicing

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ITALIAN BEEF AND GARLIC SAUSAGE W/VEGIS

4-5 lbs beef, chuck
3 C bread crumbs
2 C ground parmesan cheese
3 raw eggs, lightly beaten
10 cloves garlic (I used 5 T granulated but could use more)
¼ C chopped parsley
1 tsp of salt (optional)
2 tsp black pepper
2 C chopped green pepper
2 C chopped red pepper
1 C chopped white onion
4 T Italian seasoning


Chill the meat to 40 F and grind through 3/8th inch plate.
Mix well, refrigerate overnight and stuff into hog casings. If the mixture is too thick add water before stuffing.
Freeze if you aren’t going to use w/in 3 days.

Supposed to be good on hotdog bun w/marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.