Saturday, 14 January 2006

sau·sages

In honour of San Antonio Abate's feast day on January 17th Savoring the whole hog is holding Some Pig Blogging Weekend. I love the idea of this event. Blessing the pig. Such a good idea.

I thought I would make some pork sausages. Two kinds of pork sausages. Choritzo and Breakfast Sausages.

I bought my pork from Meat on Tory in Wellington. The pork at Meat is from Murrellen Pork in the South Island. The people at Murellen treat their pigs decently which, as their site states, proves the adage "a happy pig produces good pork". This pork is significantly nicer - nicer looking, nicer feeling and nicer tasting - than the sad standard mass produced pork so easily found on supermarket shelves.

I asked the butcher for belly meat and back fat in the ratio of about 2:1. And this is how I made the sausages :

Mince the meat and fat through the course screen of a mincer, or chop it well by hand.
Keep the meat and fat cold through out the process by resting it in the fridge or freezer at strategic points.
Put the mince into a bowl and add the flavourings mixing well, but not so well that the fat goes mushy.

These were the flavourings I used :

Choritzo :
Bittersweet smoked paprika
Hot smoked paprika
Garlic
Fresh scotch bonnet chilli
Dried red chilli
Salt
Pepper
Chilli sherry
Cumin

Breakfast Sausage :
Fresh sage
Salt
Pepper

I haven't been specific about the amounts because it all depends on your taste. The best way to test if it is to your taste is to fry a small amount and taste it.

Once you are happy with the mixture you can fill some sausage skins* or put it into a dish to be made into patties later. The mixture now needs to be rested for a day to let the flavours mingle before you bbq, fry or grill them.

* I used cellulose skins because that is what the butcher had to give me. They were easy to handle and did not require and presoaking. As much as I am looking forward to using proper sausage casings I imagine they will be a little more tricky than these cellulose ones.

5 comments:

Mary said...

I am definitely keen to know if you can get natural casings in NZ, does your butcher stock them??
Good on you for going Slow! Home-made sausage isn't difficult, just takes time. And so tasty! On a good bread roll with roasted peppers.. divine!

Kate Hill said...

Emma, I LOVE that chili sherry spike! Merci for cooking on your side of the equator and helping us celebrate the lovely, lowly pig. Don't forget to check Tuesday for all the postings at www.goingwholehog.blogspot.com!

Emma said...

Mary - You can definately get natural casings here. I can order them from my butcher Meat on Tory but they do not keep them in stock since they use the cellulose ones in house. My friend Henry gets them from his butcher on Gip Street, Karori. It might be worth checking with your local butcher? I agree with you - so delicious! Like anything I suppose where you make it exactly how you want it!

Kate - That chilli sherry is fantastic! Looking forward to reading everyones contributions!

Anonymous said...

I feel silly now for fretting about fillers in my sausage. The only sure way to know what's going in them is to do it yourself. You make it sound easy enough I am tempted to give it a go. Maybe I should stick to sausage patties though...Do you think this would work for patties?

Emma said...

Hi Sasha, I absolutely agree with you - making them yourself is the only sure way! It is easy, and I am sure that patties would work really well. Otherwise you could try making sausage shapes and rolling them in flour or breadcrumbs before frying them?
Emma