Homemade sausage

[geezerbiker]

I've decided to try my hand at making some home made pork sausage since all commercial produce sausage has to much salt and sugar in it.

A while back I found that the grinder attachment for Kitchenaid stand mixer didn't do that good of a job so I bought a couple new grinder blades and then put it all away and didn't try again.  Today was the day to drag it all out for another try.  I bought a vacuum packed bag of pork roasts at the local store last night.  I don't remember the exact weight but it was around 4 pounds.  It took a couple tries to get the pieces the right size but cutting them in long strips did the trick and it wasn't long before I had a big bowl of fresh ground lean pork.  The new cutters are about 1000% better than the blade that came with the grinder attachment and worth the 20 bucks I spent on it.

The idea was a lean no salt and no sugar sausage.  Most of the recipes I found were pretty much the same, salt pepper, garlic and sugar.  I figured I'd experiment with about a a pound of ground pork at a time until I get something I like.  Also I'm not sure how long it should age before cooking so I cooked up a enough a couple right away to see how I did.   The first batch had white pepper, coriander, oregano, hot smoked paprika, cumin and garlic.  I wanted to add a dash of hot sauce but I'm out but I had some Korean hot chili paste so I put a little of that in along with some crushed dehydrated onion.

I cooked up some for breakfast and they're spicy but I think I'm missing something or maybe it's just the salt.  I also think I may have over done the lean.  There was only a slight amount of fat on the pork that I ground.  I'm thinking maybe I should have ground in a couple strips of bacon.  There was no fat left in the pan after cooking and I used canola cooking spray to lube the pan.

So for those of you that make your own sausage, what seasonings do you use?

[Mule 11]

3 things I like you did not mention are crushed red pepper, black pepper, fennel seed and sage... so 4 ingredients.

[Casull]

Yep, the pepper and sage make the breakfast sausage.

[geezerbiker]

I don't like sage so it's out but I'll try some black instead of white pepper on the next batch.  I'm going to skip the red pepper flakes, I have already nailed the heat with the hot smoked paprika and the Korean chili paste.

Are there other seeds used in sausages?  I seem to recall something else but I haven't seen it in any of the recipes I've seen on line.

Tony

[Mule 11]

why substitute the white pepper? IMO, just add some black. If you are ok with the flavors from other hot sources? Go ahead. After all. You have to eat it... Also never said red pepper flakes... ground red pepper. I know I said crushed instead of ground.

[Graybeard]

It ain't sauSAGE without sage. But if ya don't like it I do understand. Still just a teeny tiny bit makes it sausage and will improve the flavor. From experience I can tell you for a fact you can add too much real easy.

I don't like hot stuff so all that hot stuff you added is not to my personal liking and me and garlic don't get along at all so any of that is too much in my sausage.

To me all that is needed is a little sage, some salt and black pepper. More is just fluff.

[geezerbiker]

I've been looking at more recipes and some call for fennel seeds and other mustard or caraway seeds.  I found some caraway seeds in the back of my cupboard most likely from the time I had a go at making rye bread.  Anyway I mixed some into the remaining first batch of sausage I made and I'll try it tomorrow.

Grinding my own pork was way cheaper than buying it already ground and maybe half price of sausage.  Like I said before, it's also very lean.  I needed cooking oil spray even with a non stick pan.  I'm still toying with the idea of grinding up some bacon in the next batch.

I'm thinking about buying one of those plastic burger presses so I can freeze up some patties and toss them on the grill like the frozen burgers I get from Costco.  I might even try grinding my own burgers.  The old lady likes it when I fry burgers in red wine, and I might try adding it to the burger before I cook it to see how them turn out...


Tony

[Lloyd Smale]

have to agree with the others.  Breakfast sausage has sage period. I couldnt do it without the salt either. Salt is the core spice in any sausage. It came from the fact that sausage is suppose to last longer in storage then plain pork. A simple recipe is salt pepper sage and garlic. Anymore i just buy a 6 dollar pack of witts #10 mix that does 25lbs. For that price its hardly worth fooling with your own and it makes darned good sausage. If you want spicier then add a tablespoon of crushed red pepper to the mix.

[geezerbiker]

To each his own.  I still don't like sage and I'm on a salt restricted diet.  I have no problem vacuum packing and freezing homemade sausage once I have a recipe I like.  We're not in the dark ages anymore and we have better ways of preserving food than salt packing it...

Tony

[Lloyd Smale]

then you have flavored ground pork. this is sausage

The word "sausage" was first used in English in the mid-15th century, spelled "sawsyge".[1] The word came from Vulgar Latin salsica (sausage), from salsicus (seasoned with salt).[1]

[geezerbiker]

I don't care what you call it, I'm still making it and I plan to eat it.

Tony

[Lloyd Smale]

I don't care what you call it, I'm still making it and I plan to eat it.

Tony

no need to get pissed over sausage. Its yours you can call it anything you want. i probably cook things you dont argee are to your taste either.

[DEACONLLB]

I tried a number of ways to make sausage and it was never what I really liked. I used to use Cain's sausage seasoning mix but I think they went out of business. I finally found a brand Farmers Brothers same as Cain's they say on the label and it is great. This is what I like but we all have different taste buds.

Deaconllb

[Ranger99]

I've never been able to make satisfactory
breakfast sausage with my own mixture
of ingredients from home.
Leggs Old Plantation sausage seasoning
is the only satisfactory store bought
spice mix I've ever found

I only recently figured out a satisfactory
spice blend for regular smoked sausage

All that said,  I'm not much for pork
I use beef and venison

[DEACONLLB]

I don't use pork products I have found that I can form a deer burger patty sprinkle a little of the mix on it and then work it into the meat and cook right then it comes out pretty good. One of the men on the other site shared a Receipt that he had worked up if I can find it I will post.

Deaconllb