M
Meat Hunter
Guest
Since this is a new forum, thought I'd show any new members one of the easiest things to make, fresh sausage. This Italian sausage was stuffed into casings, but you could easily just fill some freezer bags with the ground sausage if you do not have the equipment to make links. With a good recipe, and there are many, you can turn out sausage that will rival that of any store bought, not to mention, you know whats in it ingredient wise.
I started with a pork butt purchased from sams club. When I got it home, I cut off any glands that some of the butts have, along with and small bone fragments and sinew. The large center bone was removed as well. I then cut the pork into small strips, approx 3/4" x 3/4" and however long they came out, usually around 5 inches long. To those, I added the seasoning, mixed well and let sit overnight. I remixed a few times during this. This pic is of the meat with the spices in it.
View attachment 172
Some people will grind meat twice to get the spices to mix well into the meat. When cut small enough, you can skip a second grind. Yes, it is a bit more time consuming to cut into strips, but one thing about making sausage is to maintain the integrity of the meat, meaning, the less the meat is run thru the grinder, the less it "mashes" so to speak. Some recipes however call for the meat to be ground twice, and the way I do it here is certainly not the only way to do it, its just how I do it and I find it does a great job of ensuring that everything gets mixed without the additional grind.
In this photo, you can see that everything mixed up well. Here is where you decide if you want to stuff into casings, or if you do not have a stuffer, like I said, you can simply put into freezer bags in portions you would normally use. Game bags are also a great option for this.
View attachment 173
As you can see, I opted to link mine. Linked in 6-7" lengths.
View attachment 174
After everything was done, I let these sit in the fridge for about 3 hours so they could dry a bit, then cut them apart at the link every 4-5 links and packed into food saver bags, sealed and into the freezer. TIP. When doing food saver bags with a sausage like this, it is a good idea to take whatever links you want to seal and set them on cookie trays and let them firm up a bit in the freezer, and you could go and just let them freeze solid if you like. The reason for doing this when you put fresh sausage links like these in a food saver bag, when it sucks the air out, it will actually squish the sausage to point where the meat comes out the ends. Just a thought.
If you ever wanted to try fresh sausage, weather it be Italian sausage like this one, or fresh breakfast sausage, all you really need is a grinder, be it electric or hand operated. You will never buy store bought again. :?:
I started with a pork butt purchased from sams club. When I got it home, I cut off any glands that some of the butts have, along with and small bone fragments and sinew. The large center bone was removed as well. I then cut the pork into small strips, approx 3/4" x 3/4" and however long they came out, usually around 5 inches long. To those, I added the seasoning, mixed well and let sit overnight. I remixed a few times during this. This pic is of the meat with the spices in it.
View attachment 172
Some people will grind meat twice to get the spices to mix well into the meat. When cut small enough, you can skip a second grind. Yes, it is a bit more time consuming to cut into strips, but one thing about making sausage is to maintain the integrity of the meat, meaning, the less the meat is run thru the grinder, the less it "mashes" so to speak. Some recipes however call for the meat to be ground twice, and the way I do it here is certainly not the only way to do it, its just how I do it and I find it does a great job of ensuring that everything gets mixed without the additional grind.
In this photo, you can see that everything mixed up well. Here is where you decide if you want to stuff into casings, or if you do not have a stuffer, like I said, you can simply put into freezer bags in portions you would normally use. Game bags are also a great option for this.
View attachment 173
As you can see, I opted to link mine. Linked in 6-7" lengths.
View attachment 174
After everything was done, I let these sit in the fridge for about 3 hours so they could dry a bit, then cut them apart at the link every 4-5 links and packed into food saver bags, sealed and into the freezer. TIP. When doing food saver bags with a sausage like this, it is a good idea to take whatever links you want to seal and set them on cookie trays and let them firm up a bit in the freezer, and you could go and just let them freeze solid if you like. The reason for doing this when you put fresh sausage links like these in a food saver bag, when it sucks the air out, it will actually squish the sausage to point where the meat comes out the ends. Just a thought.
If you ever wanted to try fresh sausage, weather it be Italian sausage like this one, or fresh breakfast sausage, all you really need is a grinder, be it electric or hand operated. You will never buy store bought again. :?: