7 Tips for Making Sausage at Home
At first glance, making sausage at home seems like a simple procedure. However, making great sausage that people keep coming back for can sometimes take a little more effort.
Tip 1: Prepare Your Ingredients
Before you start cutting or grinding anything, take the time to prepare everything you need for the entire sausage making process in advance. Choose your cold meat cuts, flavorings, spices and herbs and have them laid out ready to go.
You should also be sure you have all your tools ready as well. Sharpen the knives you'll be using, have your chopping board prepared, and be sure your grinder is clean and the blades are sharp.
Sausage variants can be found in every meat-eating culture in the world, simply because it's a highly effective way to use all of the meat from an animal. Traditionally sausage was made using the scraps of meat left over from bigger cuts and put into a casing.
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TIP 5: MIX THE MEAT
It can be tempting to put your ground meat into a food processor to mix in any other ingredients you want to add. However, there's the risk that a food processor or mixer can get too warm, which could begin to melt the fat and change your textures.
Instead, put your ground meat into a bowl and add any herbs, spices, seasonings, or other flavorings you want to include. Then use very clean hands to mix the ingredients gently.
When you first put your ingredients into the bowl, you'll see that each ingredient is distinctly separate. After you've mixed the ingredients for a while, they'll start to combine, until they become one big sticky mass in the bowl.
READ MORETIP 6: FORMING YOUR SAUSAGE
Once you've finished mixing your sausage and you're happy with the texture, it's time to form it so it can be cooked. You can go ahead and cook it as it is, or maybe you might prefer to crumble the sausage over a pizza before sticking it in the oven.
Alternatively, you can form the sausage into patties and put them straight onto the grill, or you might want to form little meatballs to put into a pasta sauce. Of course, you might also prefer to stuff your sausage into casings and twist them into links.
If you're using a sausage stuffer, work carefully to establish a good speed and rhythm. It's important not to work too quickly, as you risk bursting the casing. Likewise, you also don't want to work too slowly, as the casings could be too loose, but they also might end up too tight and burst.
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IF YOU'RE USING A SAUSAGE STUFFER...
If you're using a sausage stuffer, work carefully to establish a good speed and rhythm. It's important not to work too quickly, as you risk bursting the casing. Likewise, you also don't want to work too slowly, as the casings could be too loose, but they also might end up too tight and burst.
The key is to find a happy medium that lets you fill the casing so you're able to pinch a link with your fingers and twist it to form individual sausage links. Twist each link several times so they won't unwind.
TIP 7: COOKING YOUR SAUSAGE
If you've gone to all the effort of making good quality sausage, it makes sense that you also want to cook it right to highlight the flavors you've created. There are plenty of different ways you can cook your sausage, such as searing, poaching or smoking, but no matter which option you choose make certain you do it low and slow.
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WHETHER YOU...
Whether you choose to sear your sausages on the grill or in a frying pan, do it over a medium-low heat.
Cooking sausage over a high heat can make the juices inside start to boil, which makes the meat expand. Not only will you risk bursting the casing, but you'll also lose many of those juices.
If you're pan frying, keep the heat on medium to low. If you're using a grill, place your sausages near the back away from direct heat. You'll still get that great sear you want on the outside. It takes a little longer to achieve, but the results are worth the wait.