If you want to make your own sausages from scratch, you will have to spend money first, since you will need a meat grinder and a sausage filling machine - but the result will surely exceed all expectations. Homemade sausages will not only taste better - you can add whatever you want to them. In this article, you will find several different recipes. Each of them is designed for about 2, 3 kg of sausages.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Preparatory Phase
Step 1. Prepare all ingredients
Buy meat and choose all the ingredients you need to make the sausages. It is not at all necessary to strictly follow the recipe exactly. You can exclude spices that you don't like or add others according to your preference. Get creative and experiment with your cooking.
Step 2. Get a meat grinder
If you make sausages from scratch and plan to do it more than once, you should get a meat grinder. It will allow you to grind the meat thoroughly - exactly as required in the recipe. And more importantly, a meat grinder will save you a lot of time.
- Some food processors come with a meat twist attachment, which is great for making sausages.
- Get a grinder with modes for both coarse and fine chopping, because different recipes require different textures of the meat.
- If you don't want to twist the meat yourself, you can ask the butcher to do it for you.
Step 3. Buy a sausage filling machine
This is another essential element, especially if you plan on making sausages periodically or regularly. The stuffing of minced meat in pork casings significantly improves the taste of sausages, since the taste of meat and marinade in the casings perfectly dismounts. This is completely impossible without shells. If you are confident in your skills and abilities, you can manually fill the shells, but keep in mind that this is very difficult.
- Some meat grinders come with a sausage filling machine.
- If you don't want to buy a filling machine, you can shape the meat into patties instead.
Step 4. Select sausage casings
Most often sausage casings are made from salted pork intestines. You can find them at most butcher shops and probably also online. Casings are usually sold by the meter. About five meters of intestines weigh about half a kilogram.
- You can also purchase synthetic casings, which are made from collagen.
- You can also use blanched savoy cabbage leaves as a shell if you don't want to use gut or collagen shells.
Step 5. Chill the meat and all sausage equipment
Before you begin, empty the entire freezer so you have room for meat, fat, and all the equipment you will be using, including bowls. It is very important to keep all ingredients and appliances cold when making sausages. If the fat becomes soft, it will not mix properly with the meat. This means that when the time comes to cook the sausages, the fat will be cooked separately from all other meat, in other words, the sausages will be spoiled. If you keep everything cold, this will not happen.
- Freeze meat and fat before starting work. It is thanks to freezing that the meat will remain sufficiently cold during cooking.
- Place the equipment in the freezer for a few hours before preparing the sausages.
- When you're ready to start, make sure everything has cooled down enough. The ingredients and equipment must be refrigerated enough to make them uncomfortable to work with. If things start to get hot, put them back in the freezer and while cooking the sausages. Only take them out when they have cooled down enough for you to continue working.
Method 2 of 4: Twisting the Meat
Step 1. Make an ice bath
Fill a large bowl with ice and place the smaller bowl inside. This is where you should keep the meat and fat after you cut them. As noted earlier, if the meat gets too warm, put it back in the freezer until it cools down.
Step 2. Cut the meat and fat
Quickly chop the ice meat and fat into small 2.5 cm cubes. Place the sliced meat and fat in a small ice bowl when finished. Remember to control the temperature of ingredients and equipment as you cook.
Step 3. Mix meat and fat with spices
Stir the meat and fat together with a clean spoon. Add salt, pepper, herbs and spices. Do this quickly to prevent the meat from getting warm. When all ingredients are completely mixed, remove the bowl from the ice bath and cover with plastic wrap.
Step 4. Freeze the meat mixture for 30 minutes
Do not freeze meat for more than an hour before twisting. Frozen meat will be difficult to twist. It should be slightly soft in the middle and icy on the outside so the meat will twist properly.
- If you are making a recipe with liquid ingredients like vinegar, sherry, or honey, mix and refrigerate for later use.
- If you are using sausage casings, remove them from the freezer and place them in a bowl of water to soak and soften.
Step 5. Twist the meat
Remove the meat grinder from the freezer and set according to the instructions. Place an ice bowl under the meat grinder outlet to collect the minced meat. Remove the meat from the freezer and mince it coarsely or finely, depending on your wishes.
- Some recipes make recommendations for the size of the minced meat, but most of them leave it to the discretion of the chef.
- Meat grinder attachments for food processors usually do this in rough, large chunks. Some combines have several different settings and attachments for varying degrees of chopping.
- If the meat starts to heat up during twisting, return it to the freezer for a few minutes, then continue. Be sure to monitor the temperature of the meat - it should be cool enough.
Step 6. Freeze the twisted meat
When done, cover the bowl and return the meat back to the freezer. Do not let the minced meat freeze completely - just outside. While the meat is freezing, wash the meat grinder and put back.
Step 7. Add liquid ingredients
Remove the bowl from the freezer and add the remaining liquid ingredients (vinegar, sherry, honey). Use a stand mixer, spoon or hands - stir the ingredients until the minced meat is sticky and knocked down.
- If you do not plan to stuff sausages in casings, you can cook meat on the stove right now. You can shape the minced meat into patties and freeze.
- If you are making sausages, put the minced meat back in the freezer and prepare the filling machine.
Method 3 of 4: Stuffing the sausages
Step 1. Prepare the filling machine
Take the device out of the freezer and install it according to the instructions. Run warm water through the casings and prepare them for the filling. Place one end of the shells over the machine, leaving the rest to soak in a bowl of warm water. Prepare a cold plate to place the stuffed sausages on. Once you have done all this, remove the meat from the freezer.
- When passing water through the casings, check for leaks. If you find a hole, remove that part of the shell.
- Try not to allow the shells to twist, as you may accidentally rip them when unraveling.
Step 2. Slide the shell over the filling tube
Each shell should be 50-70 cm long. The entire sheath should be worn entirely on the tube, with a 15-20 cm ponytail hanging down at the end. You will tie it later. When you start stuffing the sausages, the meat will fill the shell. In some cases, you will be able to stuff all the minced meat in one shell.
Step 3. Start the shell
Place all the meat in the machine. Close the machine to let the meat begin to come out of the tube and fill the casing. With one hand, help the casing gradually slide off the tube as it fills, and with the other hand guide the finished sausages, laying them out in circles.
- You will need a little practice to figure out how hard to press on the apparatus and how fast the shell fills. Do everything slowly at first so as not to tear the shell.
- If not all of the meat fits into the machine, put it in an ice bowl until the previous portion is consumed, then quickly load the machine again.
- If not all of the meat fits into the machine, put it in an ice bowl until the previous portion is consumed, then quickly load the machine again.
Step 4. Shape the sausages
You should now have a few long meat-filled casings. You will need to form sausages from them. Measure about 15 cm from the knot, squeeze the shell with your thumb and forefinger and make three clockwise turns of one pinched part of the sausage relative to the other.
- Measure another 15 cm further along the meat ring and, having made a clamp, this time turn counterclockwise - also three times. Continue until you have finished the entire meat section. Tie the end of the shell tightly.
- Be sure to check that you twist one end towards you, and the next from yourself. This ensures that the sausages do not unwind.
Method 4 of 4: Drying and storing sausages
Step 1. Hang the sausages to dry
Hang the sausages on a wooden or other frame to dry out. Hang so that the sausages are hanging on the jumpers, and the meat does not touch the frame. Let them dry for 1, 5 hours.
Step 2. Pierce the air bubbles
Disinfect the needle over a fire and pierce each air bubble that has collected under the sheath. This will make the shell adhere better to the meat.
Step 3. Remove the sausages for storage
Place the sausages in a container and refrigerate overnight to help flavor and juices in the meat. After 8 hours, the sausages will be ready to eat. Try to eat them within a week, or freeze them in the freezer - this will keep the sausages for up to several months.
Ingredients
Sausages for breakfast
- 1.8 kg pork shoulder
- 0.5 kg pork fat
- 4 teaspoons coarse, non-iodized salt
- 3 teaspoons black pepper
- 4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage
- 5 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 0.7 kg pork casings
Sweet Italian sausages
- 1.8 kg pork shoulder
- 0.5 kg pork fat
- 4 teaspoons coarse, non-iodized salt
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 cup roasted fennel seeds
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 head of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- ¾ glasses of dry sherry
- ¼ glasses of sherry vinegar
- 0.7 kg pork casings
Chicken sausages with apple
- 1 kg boneless chicken thighs with skin
- 1 kg pork shoulder
- 4 teaspoons coarse, non-iodized salt
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon chopped sage
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley leaves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup peeled, chopped apple
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1/4 cup calvados
- 0.7 kg pork casings
Advice
- To cook a semi-dry or dry product (pepperoni, sausage, etc.), you will need to use a different, more complex technology.
- Stainless steel sausage stuffers / sausages tend to be more expensive than plastic sausages, but they are worth the money if you plan on making sausages in large quantities.