Homemade Saugages?

[Babycakes]

I have decided I'm going to start processing my own meat so I know what's actually in it - not because of the horse meat thing (wouldnt mind eating horse) I'm more concerned about all the additives, preservatives, colourings, enhancers etc.

Now, the other half is a butcher by trade, so he's going to get me a little mincer and some sausage skins to start me off, but I dont want to buy a commercially produced sausage mix. Has anyone got any good recipes for sausage spice mix?

[Mrs B]

Oh good for you, I think Manda makes her own sausages.

[lancashire lass]

I've been happy with spice mixes from Designasausage I know you said you didn't want commercially produced sausage mix, but maybe some of the spice mixes may give you some ideas such as herb and spice combinations?

[manda]

Good on ya Babycakes....Yes we make out own sausages and I think it's really easy and they taste better as well....we've copied a few recipes off the internet that we've found have worked well....bear in mind though you might need to change the spice blend to suit your taste...but that is a work in progress as you make them more.
What I would say when you look at the amounts in a spice blend even though you might
it seems a lot go with it because you need to make them spicier so you get the taste when they are turned into sausage...I don't know why but they seem to mellow out when you sausagify them
The other thing you might want to do is where it says grind on medium you might want to go to an even smaller plate as sometimes they can feel a bit too coarse a grain when you're eating them...but again that is a personal thing...we like our sausages quite coarse but sometimes a medium plate isn't enough.

The other thing is the mixing the mix has to be cold as you can get it...and the water you use too....when you mix it once you can't feel you hands but the muscles ache in your arms we reckon it's mixed properly ..then put it back into the fridge before you stuff the casings (the sausage mix doesn't stick to everything so much then ..while you're getting the stuffer set up and your casings on etc is long enough.

These are some of the recipes we've used and found nice ..for us anyway.

Basic Homemade Breakfast Sausage

6 lbs moderately lean, boned pork shoulder
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon rubbed sage
1 tablespoon fresh fine ground pepper
1 cup ice water

Trim the pork, cut it into cubes, and grind it through the medium plate of your meat grinder.
Combine the spices in a container and mix with the 1 cup of ice water.
Pour the spice and water combination into the ground pork and mix thoroughly for at least 2 minutes.
Grind again on medium.
Once the sausage is fully mixed, either stuff it into casings or make it into patties or bulk packages.
This sausage can be used as soon as it is mixed, but it really is better to let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the spices mature in the meat.

Don't try to keep this sausage in the refrigerator more than a couple of days. Freeze it if you have made more than you can use in that time.


CUMBERLAND SAUSAGE

Per kg of Sausage:

88.4 % Pork Shoulder
21.6 % Fat Belly
(To be honest we didn't get so technical with this bit but we found that our pork mix was probably about right for this)

Of Meat
10 % Iced Water
10 % Breadcrumb
0.8 % Phosphate (didn't bother with this)

2.9 % Seasoning of which .....

52.6773 % Salt = 15.2g (76g)
5.2581 % Black Pepper = 1.5g (7.5g)
5.2581 % White Pepper = 1.5g (7.5g)
0.7236 % Cayenne = 0.2g (1g)
5.9817 % Dextrose = 1.7g (8.5g) (don't know if you can get this through the butchers otherwise brewing supplies ..which is why we had some).
5.3546 % Ground Coriander =1.55g (7.75)
5.3546 % Nutmeg =1.55g (7.75)
2.7014 % Mace =0.78g (3.9)
7.9112 % Sage =2.3g (11.5)
4.3898 % Thyme = 1.27g (6.35g)
4.3898 % Parsley =1.27g(6.35g)
*** Figures out of brackets per kg ...in brackets are for 5kgs***
Did it this way as we usually do 5kgs at a time....but started off doing a KG to see if we liked the mix. If you decide you like this (it's one we use a lot) then I found the easiest thing was to make up a mix of spice blend and then every kg you need 29g of the spice blend...just another way of doing it.

Method
• Mince cold meats through 8 mm plate into a bowl.
• Add iced water & mix, add Seasoning & mix.
• Mince again.
• Allow to stand about 5 - 10 minutes.
• Stuff more fully that you would normally and coil instead of link.


Hunter Sausage
2-lbs pork
1-lb lean smoked bacon
1/2-cup beer or water
1-tbsp whole yellow mustard seeds
2-tsp minced garlic
2-tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2-tsp sweet Hungarian paprika
2-tsp dry mustard
1-tsp kosher salt
1-tsp ground coriander
1-tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2-tsp ground ginger

Grind the meat on medium
Mix the seasoning and herbs and spices into a cup of iced water.
Combine all ingredients, mix well. Regrind on medium & stuff into casings.


Pork and Apple Sausages
1 kg pork belly
1 large onion
1 large cooking apple
2 teaspoons marjoram
2 teaspoons dried sage
2 teaspoons dried herbs
grated nutmeg (about an eigth of a nut)
ground black pepper
ground kosher salt

The recipe I found had 100 g fine white breadcrumbs..I don’t use these in small amounts of sausages but I mix the herbs and spices etc in half to a cup of iced water. If I'm making more than a kilo then I do use the breadcrumbs because they keep in the moisture and I still mix the spices with water half a cup per kg of meat.

Directions:

•Mince (or grind) the pork, then add the onion to the grinder, and finally the apple
(peeled and cored).
•Add all the herbs and nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste to water and mix in the
meat.
•Grind again.
•Fill the casings



PORK BREAKFAST SAUSAGE
Mix = for 1 kg Pork 70/30 (That's 700g meat to 300g fat)

Sage 1/4 tsp
Rosemary 1 tsp
Ground White Pepper 1/2 tsp
Salt 13grams
Sugar (Table) 5 grams
Chilli Powder 1/4 tsp
Ice Water 50 mls. (The recipe said 51...I don't think it has to be that precise !!...I usually go half a cup which is nearer 100mls as it keeps them nice and moist)

There is a really good site http://forum.sausagemaking.org/ and they have heaps of recipes (which is where I got the Cumberland recipe from) and loads of help if you need it.
Hope that helps.

[Homemade]

We have come to the same conclusion Babycakes. We are going to try and make our own, but not yet ready to keep our own pigs! Thanks for the recipes Manda.
I have seen some that use cream crackers in stead of breadcrumbs and as I have some left from xmas I might use these to start with.