I like sausages. I think I've always liked sausages. I like sausages so much I came to the idea that I wanted to make my own … it's simply ground meat and spices stuffed into a casing right? So, my friend Ashley and I decided to give it a go. I mean how hard could it be? Well it turns out … not very!
Bit squeamish about grinding up meat and intestinal things? Here's a completely different post.
Onward!
I have my parents original Kenwood Chef A701 which incidentally is as old as I am … give or take … and amongst the myriad attachments they had bought for it (many of which are still in their original boxes) is a mincer attachment. Please excuse the phone-pics π
OK … mechanism for grinding meat? Check!
Next we need some meat. This is roughly 2kg of pork forequarter prior to being coarsely cubed.
And after… some fat was left on to assist with the cooking…
And first pass through the coarse grinder…
Flavours … We went with fresh, finely cut sage and thyme (about 2tbsp of each), some nutmeg and ginger and about 2tbsp of sea salt. The salt is the critical one … too little and the sausage tastes like straight cooked meat and too much … well, too salty … see, I do something once and standing on the shoulders of Google Giants I sound like I actually know what I'm talking about! The spices were mixed through by hand with the addition of about 150ml of iced water which serves to congeal the fat. I didn't take any pictures of that bit for fear of encasing my phone in ground meat.
OK … the next stage involves putting the filling into the casing to make sausages. What to use? Synthetic or gut? I spoke to my local butcher at Lyneham, makers of the famous Country Pride sausages and they supplied us a length of sheep intestine for the casing with instuction to run a little cold water through before fitting to the nozzle. As we did so it swelled up like … well … like gut… Ashley is seen here threading the casing onto the filling nozzle. In case you're wondering it is exactly like fitting a very long and slippery organic condom… there … you always wanted to know that huh?
Here's the nozzle fitted to the end of the mincing attachment ready to be stuffed. I'm not going to share what I thought this resembled…
OK! Fire that sucker up and lets make a sausage!
Certainly looks like a sausage! And here's where we ran into trouble (and it wasn't because I was too busy documenting to notice what was going on π ) but the Kenwood mincer with the nozzle attached kept getting blocked necessitating the regular dismantling every 40cm length of sausage or so. The reason is the design of the grinding filter and I think the worm screw was pushing meat to the plate faster than it could be pushed through. After several dismantles and scraping out of tangled meat … definitely not a job for the squeamish … and the application of brute force, we had … you guessed it! Sausages!
We then cleaned up (how responsible is that!) poured some more wine and set about cooking a couple to sample them… it was about midnight by this stage…
And the result!
And they tasted bloody fantastic! It's always a cool moment in creation when you stand back and look at something you've made and think 'We did that!'. Going to do it again? Absolutely! The only part of the process I didn't enjoy was the repeated dismantling and hand-clearing of the mincer during the filling of the casing. The Kenwood really isn't the machine for that part of the job. It did great on the initial grind … just not the filling. I'm looking into a dedicated sausage stuffer and we'll try again after that. In the meantime I'm off to a BBQ this afternoon where our sausages are the guests of honour π
Dee-lish!
Looks like this was a feast! Hubby is on his way out to buy some for lunch, we have company; cheers, Crina
It was a feast this evening … general consensus was that the flavours were perfect but perhaps a little more fat … we get obsessed with low fat but I think they had a point … fat makes a sausage. Enjoy your company (and your sausages) π
hmmm, sounds (and looks) great. someone else obsessed with food? I wonder why π xxxo
After reading your recent posts (and diversions!) I’m thinking I must be sexually frustrated too be so obsessed with sausage (and food in general!) … mostly I like to eat … so I cook. I like to look at pictures… I make pictures π
Not a sausage fan. What vegetarian (village idiot who cannot hunt or fish) is. Fascinating process – but for sheer beauty yes, I did much prefer the alternative post. And also love gerberas. Thank you for both.
It gets pretty meaty … primal in it’s own way … don’t get much more reductionist than grinding bits of an animal up and filling another animal’s intestines with it. I totally get that it’s not for everyone and you’re welcome for both posts π
Since I'm a vegetarian, it's hard to relate. Although I'm a cook's cook (whatever that means), and spend joyous hours creating in the kitchen. There you are, I can relate to your creative eforts.
Thanks Sally,Β I appreciate the effort despite the content perhaps being a little on the turning side … I find with cooking (as with most creative pursuits) there comes a moment when when what you’re making becomes what you’ve made … when a dish comes together if you like and you think wow … that actually looks and smells like I think it’s supposed to … I love that moment π
Oh me, oh my. I should have known you'd try something like this, Geoff! And you answered my question as to if you'd do it again. Good for you. At least YOU know what's in them. π
So true Ginnie … I do know what’s in them and they were dee-lish!
Now, that's an interesting one and certainly looks like you guys had some fun in the kitchen. Also brings back some memories from old times. When I was still a little one, behind the wall in East Germany, my Bulgarian grandmother came over every now and then to visit us. She would bring some food she made like pickled roasted peppers and sometimes she would make a special Bulgarian sausages called Lukanka which would then hang all over the place to dry. The grinder we used was completely mechanical, nothing that 'fancy' …I think I enjoyed eating the sausages more than making them but my brother loved it.
I can honestly say that making the sausages wasn’t entirely pleasurable especially cleaning the grinder between filling but the end result was worth it. That satisfaction of having made something that you’d never made before … that you’d considered making every time you ate one made by someone else … that was worthwhile … did I mention I like eating? My grandparents were Ukranian and so my visits to them were surrounded in the scent of dill, steamed cabbage and smoky meats … the smell of those takes me right back to that time.
This looks like great fun and I can only imagine the wonderful taste, and the cooking aromas. The first time is always the hardest, I am guessing, and I am sure you will have the production running smoothly in no time! This post reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when Kramer and Neuman tried their hands at sausage making!
It was fun π
Though not quite as chaotic as the Seinfeld episode, it had its moments. Next investment is a sausage stuffer and then we’ll be rockin’ it π
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon (also known as green bacon). Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, or it may be boiled or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon is typically cooked before eating. Boiled bacon is ready to eat, as is some smoked bacon, but may be cooked further before eating.*
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Er … thanks for that Jacqueline.
NICE SAUSAGES!!! GOOD JOB!!! TOO BAD I AM SO FAR AWAY?!
They were all eaten up by the time I posted the article! Sorry about that π
well, i am a very convinced vegetarian myself, but i am ALL into DIY! cool! (and then you can also choose what and who's meat you put inside, which is a great way of influending of course!)
Oh it’s very DIY! And I love that too π
I totally get that it doesn’t appeal to everyone and I thank you even more for taking the time to say hi.