Making Sausages at Home

A while ago I purchased a Mad Millie’s Sausage Making Kit when I had to use up some expiring Airpoints and have finally got around to trying making sausages at home. I was put off for a while because when I was reading the instructions they said that it was useful to have another pair of hands so I’d been thinking I’d have to arrange for a friend who might be interested in trying sausage making too to come around. In the end I decided to give it a go myself anyway and, yes it would have been useful to have another pair of hands, but I managed it.

I had also bought a book on Home Sausage Making and found a recipe for a basic Breakfast Sausage (which is my favourite type of sausage). That recipe called for “2 1/2 pounds lean pork butt and 1/2 pound pork fat”. When I was inspired to try making sausages I popped into the supermarket and they didn’t have any pork butt (or rump or whatever it might have been called here) but they did have a super special on pork sirloin that appeared to have about a fifth of the pack that was fat so I decided to try that.

The recipes in the kit instructions call for 800g lean meat and 200g of pork fat (plus whatever seasonings you desire) which is the same ratio. Typically, sausages need to have around 20% fat. The fat keeps the sausage moist and juicy, brings out the flavours and prevents them from splitting while cooking. Pork fat gives the best flavour and texture.

Seasonings for Basic Breakfast Sausage:
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 1/2 tsp dried sage
3/4 tsp freshly ground white or black pepper
3/4 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp paprika

Cut the meat and fat into 1 inch cubes, removing any gristle. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up before grinding.

Assemble the mincer with the ‘grinding’ configuration.
Put meat and fat into the top of the mincer and grind, using the plunger to help push the meat/fat down the mincer.
If you want a finer mince, you can put it through the grinder again. One recipe did this before adding the seasonings and another afterwards, so I don’t think it matters.

Add the seasonings and mix through thoroughly using clean hands. Place in the freezer for another 30 minutes.

Cut meat and fat into cubes

Mix spices together

Assemble grinder in mincing configuration

Mince your sausage meat

Add seasonings and mix through

Reassemble the mincer into the sausage stuffing attachment configuration.
Cut a length of sausage casing. My book said to use 4 feet of casing for the recipe (which would have been too little) but the kit instructions say to use 3 metres of casing per 1kg of sausage meat (which is ridiculously too much). In the end you have to feed the sausage casing onto the stuffing attachment, so I just put as much as I could on there and repeated the exercise once I’d filled the first length of casing.

Now comes the part where it would definitely be useful to have a second pair of hands: you need to keep putting meat into the top of the mincer and pushing it down with the plunger, while at the same time you turn the handle at an even pace and hold the sausage casing just where the meat is coming out to maintain a constant pressure so that the sausage fills properly to avoid air bubbles forming (but don’t overfill). Prick any air bubbles that have formed with a toothpick.

Tie a knot in both ends of the casing. Spray water on the casing to lubricate the sausage – this helps prevent the casing from breaking when you twist off the sausages into the desired size.
Place the sausages in the refrigerator to cool and let the flavours develop for at least two hours before cooking, and preferably overnight.

My sausages were tasty but dry and crumbly, so I think next time I will pay a lot more attention to the quantities of lean meat and fat. You can also reduce the fat content but still keep the sausage moist by replacing the moisture from fat with other ingredients such as: onions, mushrooms, raisins, apples and other moist fruits and vegetables, tofu, fresh herbs, cooked rice, breadcrumbs, olive oil (use 2 tbsp per 1 kg lean meat) or low fat milk powder.

I also found that the grinder didn’t fit on the curved edges of my kitchen bench or dining table. I ended up using a folding table and managed to get it onto a corner that had a suitable notch but it wasn’t a very stable or particularly convenient set up. I will have to wrack my brains for a better set up for next time.

Homemade Sausages for Brunch