Sausage Fest

No, this is not a post about a party where only dudes are in attendance.  It's about our experience making Italian sausage with venison and British bangers with pork.  Jim has made a variety of types of sausage from deer and goose (no kidding), but it was Peta's first time.  Last year's three types of sausage were a bit too much work, so we cut it down to two versatile types.

We made the sausages a month ago, but our inspiration to blog about it was a viewing of River Cottage's "Pig In A Day".   It's tough to find episodes of River Cottage online and we haven't gotten around to purchasing the series from the BBC, so we were well pleased to stumble across this video.

According to these experts, we made some mistakes along the way such as not frying off a small portion of the recipe to ensure that the seasonings are correct.   But the most amazing thing was Hugh's partner in crime's ability to tie up the sausages.  Granted, he's a butcher, but we'll do the two sausage tie-up next time rather than our twist technique (fail).  On the positive side, we did pass the meat through the large-holed plate once, added the seasoning and then passed it through again.  The Kitchen-Aid grinder attachment works a treat, but it fails as a sausage stuffer.  Additionally, there was a bit of grease from the worm-gear that we saw on some of the meat.  We didn't die from it last year, so whateryagonnado?  Also, we let the sausages hang for a few days to dry off.

For both of the recipes, we used recipes from a site called 3men.com  We half expected a real "sausage-fest" to pop up, but these guys are legit and we have re-posted the recipes here.  We did not add the MSG to the Italian links and they taste great, but the bangers were not salty enough (see above: frying off).  All of the sausages were made with natural casings.

Hot-Sweet Italian

This favorite pizza topping is a coarse pork sausage, generally sold in plump links. Italian sausage is usually flavored with garlic and fennel seed or anise seed. It comes in two styles: hot (flavored with hot, red peppers) and sweet (without the added heat). It must be well cooked before serving, and is suitable for frying, grilling or braising. The recipe below is a hybrid of hot and sweet.

• 15 pounds boned pork butts
• 2 ¾ cups very cold red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon works nicely)
• 7 tablespoons kosher salt
• 7 tablespoons fennel
• 6 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 3 teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
• 1½ teaspoons sugar
• 1½ teaspoons caraway seed
• 1 teaspoon MSG

Grind all of the pork butts through a one-quarter inch or three-eighths inch plate. Refrigerate the ground pork until well chilled - ideally 32 to 34 degrees Fahrenheit.

When the meat is chilled, thoroughly mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl. In a large bowl or lug, thoroughly mix the wine and spice mixture with the ground pork. Immediately stuff into 32mm to 35mm hog casings. Hang the stuffed sausage in a cool place until the casings are dry to the touch. Refrigerate or freeze immediately after drying.

If you do not have a sausage stuffer, you can store the sausage in patties or in bulk. Refrigerate or freeze as desired.

English Bangers

Banger Seasoning

• 5 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 2 1/2 teaspoon mace
• 2 1/4 teaspoon salt [note: this should be more]
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Sausage

• 2 1/2 lb. boneless lean pork shoulder or loin cut in cubes
• 1 lb. fresh pork fat in cubes
• 1 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 3 1/2 teaspoon Banger seasoning

Grind pork and fat together using plate of meat grinder.
Add Banger Seasoning and mix well.
Grind again.
Stuff mixture into casings and tie in 4-5 inch lengths.
This mixture will be too fine to form into patties.

Bake or sauté as you prefer.

The first time we sautéed the bangers, the casings stuck to the pan, we didn't prick them and they exploded.  Then the second time, we poached them first, but didn't prick them, so half of them exploded.  The third time was the charm though!  Success.  We prick the bangers with a fork, poach them in simmering water for 10 minutes, remove the water, dry the pan and sauté until a nice brown color is achieved.

To complete the dish, Peta removes the bangers, adds onions and sautées them, adds a bit of olive oil if the pan is dry and adds a tablespoon of flour.  She cooks it to remove the raw flavor and to prevent lumps then adds whatever beer we have on hand to make the gravy.  Serve it with some mashed potatoes and some green vegetable.

Yours Sausagely,

Jim and Peta