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SAUSAGE RECIPES
Homemade sausage is better than any sausage you will find at the super market. Our perfectly balanced seasoning packs for both fresh and cured sausage can't be beat. You don't need an expensive sausage stuffer and no other special equipment is required when you ask your butcher to grind the meat for you. It's that simple.
INGREDIENTS
  • CURED SAUSAGE MIXES
  • FRESH SAUSAGE MIXES
  • SAUSAGE CASINGS
  • SAUSAGE SPICES
  • JERKY SEASONING
    		•
    EQUIPMENT
  • SAUSAGE STUFFERS
  • KITCHEN SCALES
  • STOVETOP SMOKER
    		•  NFORMATION
  • CURING MEATS
  • SAUSAGE RECIPES
  • JERKY RECIPES
  • SMOKER RECIPES
    		•
    SAUSAGE MAKING SECRETS
    Making your own sausage is just one more way to save money and get exactly what you like. Here are some tips and recipes to help you get started.
    Grinding and stuffing your own sausage meat requires a special machine. If you don't have a meat grinding tool don't worry. You can still make great sausages using patties or rolled logs. Good sausage requires better ingredients. You can use pre ground beef or pork from the supermarket but a better choice is select whole meat from the case and have the butcher coarse grind it for you. Pork Butt and Beef Chuck Roast are the best choices.
    Making un-stuffed sausage logs is easy. After the meat and seasonings have been blended according to the recipe, roll the meat into a log about 1-1/4 inch thick. Wrap the log tightly in foil and twist the ends closed. Follow the cooking instructions in the recipe.
    The secrets to making great sausages are, quality meat, quality spices, and following instructions. You can use fresh meat from the supermarket and wild game. The meat you select will determine the quality and flavor of your sausage. It is a myth that good sausage is made from the parts of animals you would rather not know about. While this is true of cheap sausage, there is no reason to eat cheap. In the long run, the cost will be about the same once you consider the health benefits, nutrition value and flavor satisfaction of good quality homemade sausage.
     
    As the sausage maker you control the fat content of your sausage. There are some tried and true guidelines you need to know about. For any sausage to have flavor, it must contain a small percentage of fat. A well flavored sausage can be made with as little as 12% fat. Using less than this amount may result in a dry character which is like eating flavored saw dust. Good sausage can contain up to 20% fat. Using more than 20% may result in a sticky, flavorless sausage which can be difficult to cook.
    It can be difficult to determine the fat content of meats in the supermarket case. The best way we have found to assure that your sausage will have the correct balance of lean and fat is to select whole cuts of meat rather than pre packaged ground meat. When selecting beef you should use chuck roast. When pork is called for use Boston pork butt or pork shoulder roast. These cuts of meat contain a nice balance of lean and fat for making any sausages style.
    You can prepare your own ground meats using an electric or hand grinder. This will give you complete control over freshness and degree of grind. Depending upon your equipment, dice the meat to fit your grinder. Usually 1 inch cubes are about right. Weight the meat and the measure out the correct amount of seasoning. Place the meat cubes into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle on the seasoning while you toss and tumble the meat. Make sure all sides of the meat come into contact with the seasoning. Add all of the seasoning. Cover the seasoned meat and refrigerate for one hour. Cold meat will grind easier and have better texture. Toss the meat again and then grind as quickly as possible. The moisture produced by letting the meat rest in the refrigerator will aid in the grinding process. If no grinder is available, you should select fresh cuts of meat from your supermarket and ask the butcher to grind them for you.
    Most sausage recipes will call for two or more types of meat. The primary meat type is the one we most associate with a sausage style. Examples are pork for bratworst or beef for pepperoni. The second meat is used for flavor and as a binder. The binder is ground very fine, almost in to a sticky paste. It holds, or binds, the sausage together. As a rule the ratio of binder to primary meat is 15 to 20%. An easy way to arrive at the right blend is to use 1 pound of binder with 4 pounds of primary meat. This will provide for three pounds of sausage which matches the recipes in this booklet. The primary meat in a recipe should be coarse ground in order to provide meatiness and firm texture to the sausage.
    Note: When using red game meat like venison you must compensate for the very lean nature of the meat. You will need at least 30% to 40 % pork binder in wild game recipes. Using 1 pound of pork binder in 2 pounds of lean red game is a good place to start.
    Very lean and healthy sausage can be made from poultry. Turkey is an excellent source of nutrition and very low in fat. So low, that you will need to add some fat for flavor and even cooking. We recommend using the skin of poultry rather than the fat. Bird fat is very oily and offers little or no flavor on its own. Adding 10 to 15% skin as binder is a good place to start. You will need to adjust your recipes to your personal taste.
    Prior to weighting and blending individual types of meat, the ground meats need to be mixed well to assure an even distribution of the lean and fat particles. Weight the two meats into a mixing bowl according to the recipe and mix them together for 1 or 2 minutes prior to adding the seasonings.
    To Stuff Or Not To Stuff
    Traditional sausage making involves stuffing the finished sausage into casings. In most cases this requires a sausage stuffing machine. You can however, make any sausage style, including smoked and dried sausage, without stuffing them into casings.
    One of the most convenient methods of storing and cooking fresh made sausage is the good old patties. After seasoning and mixing, you can form patties for the backyard grill for fry pan, then cook them or wrap them for the freezer.
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    GRILLED ITALIAN SAUSAGE PATTIES
    Stop by the supermarket meat department and pick out a pork butt shoulder roast and have the butcher coarse grind it for you. Take it home and mix in 1 or 2 tablespoons of Leener's Hot or Sweet Italian Sausage seasoning per pound of meat. Form the meat into patties and grill them as you would hamburgers. Serve on buns with BBQ sauce. WOW !
    Italian Cheese Burgers
    Have your butcher grind a fresh chuck roast for you and purchase some of your favorite bacon. Measure out 2 strips of bacon per pound of meat and chop them very fine. Combine ground beef and chopped bacon with 1 or 2 tablespoons of Leener's Hot Italian Sausage seasoning per pound of meat. Form the meat into patties and grill them as you would hamburgers. Add mozzarella cheese for an Italian cheese burger. Serve on a hard roll with warm pizza sauce.
    GRILLED SAUSAGE CHICKEN
    We came up with this great tasting idea on the 4th of July as we enjoyed one of the 7 days off we get each year. The flavor of this grilled chicken is so memorable that we had to make it for our July Homebrew Club meeting. Here's what you do.
    Take one whole frying chicken between 3 to 4 pounds and wash it well in cold running water, then pat it try. Remove the back bone so the bird can be laid out flat. Sprinkle one or two tablespoons of Leener's Hot or Sweet Italian Sausage Seasoning on each side of the chicken and rub the seasoning in. 
    Make sure to get a little seasoning under the skin without loosening the whole skin. Place the seasoned bird in a large plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator over night. Turn the package over once or twice if you think of it. This will make sure that the chicken marinades evenly. 
    Preheat your gas grill or start your fire. You want to slow roast the chicken with indirect heat so your grill should be about 300 degrees to start. Lightly oil the grill surface and place the chicken on the grill skin side down. Close the lid and reduce the heat to around 200 to 225 degrees. Cook the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes. No peeking please. For great tips on grilling and more information on outdoor cooking take a look at Perfect Grilled Meats.
    Use a large spatula to turn the chicken over and continue cooking with the lid closed until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 170 to 180 degrees. Allow the chicken to rest off the heat for 10 minutes before serving. This will greatly enhance the flavor and let the meat re hydrate with the flavored juices. This recipe will also work very well in our Cameron Stove Top Smoker. I recommend using about 1 tablespoon of Mesquite wood with this recipe.
    PEPPERONI PATTIES (pork)
  • 2 lbs pork butt (70% lean)
  • 1 Tbs. Tender Quick
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp. crushed fennel seed
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed anise seed
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/4 cup cold water or beer

    • Ground Meat Method
    Combine seasoning with water then use your hands to mix thoroughly with the coarsely ground meat. When you think you have mixed long enough, mix for another full minute. Squeeze the meat through your fingers as you mix. More mixing is better than less.    		 Whole Meat Method
    If you grind your own sausage meat, start by cutting the meat into 1 inch cubes. Place the cubes in a mixing bowl and sprinkle on the seasoning mix. Work the seasoning into the meat cubes. Make sure that all the cubes have seasoning on them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for one hour. Use a coarse cutter to grind the seasoned meat. 
    Tip: meat that is all most frozen will grind better and make a sausage with more texture.

    Add 1/4 cup of cold water or beer to the seasoned ground meat and mix well. You can not mix it enough.

    Form into patties about 1/2 inch thick. Use fresh made sausage within three days or store in the freezer for up to three months.
     PEPPERONI STICKS (beef)
  • 2 lbs beef chuck (70% lean)
  • 1 Tbs. Tender Quick
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp. crushed fennel seed
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. crushed anise seed 
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/4 cup cold water or red wine

    • Whole Meat Method Cut meat into 1 inch cubes. Place the cubes sprinkle on the seasoning mix. Work the seasoning into the meat cubes. Make sure that all the cubes have seasoning on them. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least one hour.     		 Set up your grinder with a coarse cutter and stuffing horn for 1-1/4 inch natural or collagen casings. Tip: meat that is all most frozen will grind better and make a sausage with more texture.
    Mix meat cubes again then grind and stuff. 

    Make sure to feed lean and fat meat into the grinder evenly. Place sausages on a baking rack and cook slow in a 200 degree oven for 2 hours or until then internal temperature of the sausage reaches 160 degrees. Remove from oven and immediately wrap each link tightly in foil. This will enhance the flavor. Allow to cool then refrigerate for 2 days.

    Use cooked sausage within one week or freeze for up to three months.
    copyright 2004 J.R.Leverentz
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