Ready, Set, Sizzle: Recipes for Making Your Own Sausage
Try these recipes for Irish breakfast sausage, lop cheong Chinese sausage and condiments.
Homemade sausages taste so much better than commercially prepared versions. They have fresher ingredients, and best of all, they contain no preservatives, additives or filler sugars. The same can be said for homemade condiments—once you make your own, you will have a hard time going back to the jarred varieties. Try these recipes from my book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sausage Making. They were developed by my co-author, Jeff King, co-owner of The Sausage Guys in Chicago.
If you find yourself in the Chicago area and need further proof of how delicious fresh, artisanal sausages can be, visit Allium at Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Chef Kevin Hickey was inspired to start making the restaurant’s hot dogs in an intensive three-day process after reading the meat-curing and sausage-making book Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn.
Irish Breakfast Sausage
This delicious breakfast sausage has an herbaceous aroma, and the eggs and bread give it a nice, soft mouth-feel. If you don’t have a meat grinder at home, buy the pork pre-ground from a good butcher.
Makes about 12 5-ounce portions.
Ingredients:
5 pounds boneless pork shoulder with fat
2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs, or substitute panko
6 ounces (3/4 cup) milk
2 1/2 tablespoons or 25 g kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, chopped
2 large eggs
Directions:
In a small bowl, combine salt and spices. Set aside. Cut meat into cubes for grinding. Toss with spice mix until evenly dispersed. Store in covered container in refrigerator or freezer for at least 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, soak breadcrumbs in milk. Set aside.
Grind meat through meat grinder fitted with a medium plate. Add breadcrumb mixture and eggs. Mix until the texture is consistent, about 5 minutes. Chill in a covered container in refrigerator or freezer. Form into patties to fry or package in 1-pound packages for later use. Can also be linked in sheep or hog casing.
Lop Cheong Fresh Chinese Sausage
This is an uncured version of the most popular of all Asian sausages. It’s a go-to sausage for dim sum dishes. It is a sweet and aromatic sausage that’s just addictive.
Makes 6 5-ounce links.
Ingredients:
4 pounds pork
20 g kosher salt
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
6 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons Chinese rose wine or Shaoshing rice wine
Hog casing or 24 mm collagen casing
Directions:
In a small bowl, combine salt, sugar and all spices. Set aside.
Cut meat into cubes for grinding. Toss with spice mix until evenly dispersed. Store in covered container in refrigerator or freezer.
Grind through a meat grinder fitted with a medium plate. Add soy sauce and wine. Mix until the texture is consistent, about 5 minutes. Chill in a covered container in refrigerator or freezer. Stuff mixture in hog or collagen casing.
