How to Make Homemade Sausage

Sausage History

Sausage making is pretty much as old as the hills. The word itself is derived from the Latin salsus meaning "seasoned with salt" so that puts us at least 2000 years ago.

Just as the smoking of meats came about as a method of preservation, the same can be said for applying salt to meat. When animals were slaughtered and the meat salted for preservation it was found that the cleaned out intestines, bladder and stomachs of the animal made excellent containers. No doubt it's this same evolution of discovery that led to Haggis.

Far from being Scottish however it is believed that the first sausage makers were Sumarians living in what is now called Iraq sometime around 3000BC. That said the first historical documentation of sausage comes around 500BC in China and also in ancient Greece.

From there it's been a steady evolution to what we see today. Sausage making in hot dry climates has given us dry cured sausage and salamis and all over the world sausage is made and prized for varieties using local seasonings.

Sausage Making Equipment

There are two essential (and one optional) pieces of equipment that you need for making homemade sausage:

A Grinder - this is the machine which pulverizes the meat

Food mixer - to mix the meat and the other ingredients, this is optional and can be done by hand

A Sausage stuffer - the machine which forces the prepared sausage into the casing

Meat grinder

Meat mixer

Sausage stuffer

Ingredients for Homemade Sausage

2 lbs pork with fat (1/4 diced, 3/4 ground)*

2 lbs well marbled beef (1/4 diced, 3/4 ground)*

6-12 oz bacon, optional – use if meats are leaner (can be frozen)

3 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp whole yellow mustard seed

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash or favorite salt free seasoning

1 cup ice cold water

2 natural hog casings (about 10-12 feet total)

Instructions

1.Place meats on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze 1 1/2 hours. Should be very firm, not frozen solid. Place all meat grinder parts in freezer and refrigerate mixing bowl at least 30 min prior to using.

2.Rinse casing well to remove salt and run warm water all the way through the casing. Let casing soak in warm water (90˚F water) for at least 1 hour or until soft and slick. Keep casings in water until ready to use.

3.Remove 1/3 of meat from the freezer, dice into 1/4 thick pieces with a sharp knife and transfer to your chilled mixing bowl. Chop remaining meat into 2" pieces so that it can easily go through the meat grinder. Set up your meat grinder and grind meat into chilled bowl then grind bacon.

4.Sprinkle seasonings over meat and toss by hand 30 seconds to distribute then add 1 cup water and mix meat by hand for 1 minute (or with paddle attachment on speed 1 for 1 minute), just until a light film forms on the outside of the bowl and the mixture binds to itself and can hold a patty shape. Cover and refrigerate your sausage mixture while you clean your grinder and set up your sausage maker attachment. Seasoning Tip: To test your meat for seasoning, form a small patty and saute it on a skillet to sample.

5.Lightly oil the outside of your sausage tube attachment and thread 1 sausage casing over the tube leaving a 6" tail hanging off the end. Do not tie the end - you want the initial air that comes through to escape.

6.Remove ground meat from refrigerator, set mixer to speed 4 and add meat into hopper, pushing down with the plunger and adding more as you go. Use one hand to stuff the meat through and one hand to guide the filled casings. Fill firmly but do not overstuff, especially if making sausage links. Take care not to let big gaps of air into the tube. If you get air bubbles - no problem - you can poke the sausage casing with sausage pricker as you go. Let the sausage come out in one long coil until about 6" of casing remains at the end then start with the new sausage casing.

7.Pinch, twist and spin to make small sausage links or coil the sausage for the classic kielbasa look. Tie off the ends or tie with kitchen string if desired. Prick with sausage poker about every 2 inches, especially where you see air pockets, to prevent the sausage from bursting. Sausage can be baked, grilled or sautéed right away or can be refrigerated or frozen for later. Keeps well in refrigerator for 3-5 days or frozen up to 3 months.

Recipe Notes

Important: Use meat with high fat content. Bacon should be added if your meat is leaner.

If meat starts looking pink/pasty as it enters the casing tube, it's likely clogged and you should quickly clean your grinder before proceeding Grind the bacon last (if using) - this is less likely to occur if using well chilled meat.

Meat grinder

To prepare your meat and fat for grinding, cut it up into 1" - 2" cubes. Put the fat through at the same time as the meat and this makes everything go through a lot easier.

I also grind my meat twice, the first cut I use the 6mm plate and after mixing I run the sausage meat through again using the 4mm plate once the seasoning has been added.

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Meat mixer

An important step that I will talk about later in this article is the mixing of the meat with the seasoning to help release a binding protein called myosin. This mixing process can be done by hand but it's a darn sight less strenuous if done in a food mixer.

Note: A powerful food mixer is an essential piece of kit for making sausage.

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Sausage stuffer

Haka sausage stuffer may serve you perfectly.s/s cylinder.s/s nut, /s screw. Alare strict with the hygiene tandard,and incorporate gear module make it no trouble at maintenence, new gearing system, 2 level sped , which nable the user to release the plunger for really quick and easy refilling, with 4 specifications of sausage making funnels, you can make different size of sausages, it's ideal for the home ausage maker or restaurant wanting to make a gourmet sausage.

All the sausage stuffer have got the ROHS certification

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Smoke House

So to start the hot smoking process you need to follow the first three cold smoking steps first:
Hang your sausage in the smoking chamber
Use a fan to dry the casings
Cold smoke to add flavour at temperatures below 30°C (85°F) for anywhere between 2 and 6 hours dependent on how much of a smoky flavour you desire.
Now raise the temperature in the chamber to 60°C (140°F) for two hours and this will help your sausage take on a beautiful golden brown hue. As you start this stage reduce the aperture of your top and bottom dampers to the minimum and this will help prevent your sausage from drying out.
Note: Never close the vents altogether because your smoke will go stale and deliver an unpleasant acrid taste.
Next raise the temperature gradually to 80°C (175°F) and continue to hot smoke until the core temperature of your sausage reaches 75°C (165°F). A remote BBQ thermometer is best for this stage.
Adding more smoke during these last two phases will have minimal effect on flavour.
When you've reached the desired temperature remove them from the smoker, spray them with cold water (or fully immerse them in water) until the core temperature returns to 43°C (110°F) or lower and this will help to re-solidify the fats in the sausage and prevent shriveling.
Upon reaching this temperature you can now let the sausages cool at room temperature and you'll see them take on an even deeper brown colour (known as the bloom). An hour later you can put them in the refrigerator but remember that the smoke from your sausage will impart to other contents of your refrigerator.

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Some information quotes website data

https://www.barbecue-smoker-recipes.com/

https://natashaskitchen.com/