Making Sausage - It's Much Prettier Than How Laws Are Made

Living well on a college budget: Sausage

Is there anybody in the world who doesn't like some form of sausage? The delightful combination of ground meat and spices can be found in all of the world's great (and lesser) cuisines. Traditionally, the purpose of making sausage was to take junky parts of the animal or meat that has been sitting around a wee bit too long and make a food that is palatable and satisfying. Over time sausages have become haute cuisine - a true expression of a chef's skill and taste. Think Italian dry salami, Spanish Chorizo, French Boudin, and scores of other delicacies.

The sausage medium is, like a plain white canvas, receptive of the creativity of its user. Virtually anything that can be made can be made into a sausage.

Below, I will show you the moderately easy way to make sausage at home. There's an even easier way which I'll discuss later. In this example, I am making a Sweet Italian Sausage. I wish I could give exact amounts for this recipe, but I wasn't taking notes. Any reputable recipe will do, though.

You'll need:

• Ground Meat
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Crushed Fennel Seeds
• Sweet Paprika
• Granulated Garlic & Onion
• Dried or fresh herbs (Italian Seasoning if you're extra lazy)
• (For spicy, add red pepper flakes or some other spicy spice)
  

Begin by mixing together all of the ingredients in a dishwasher-able bowl. You can move onto the next step immediately if you're in a time crunch, but if you give it time, it will pay off. The salt changes the texture of the meat by, among other things, drawing water-soluble proteins out of the muscle tissue. This liquid meat extract forms a glue that binds the sausage together, leaving you with something that feels like a sausage rather than something that feels like a hamburger. If you mix this up in the morning before class and stick it in the fridge, it will be just right when you get home for the evening.



The fairly-easy method involves a fair amount of plastic wrap. Make sure that it is the heat-safe kind. Lay out a length of plastic wrap on a clean counter. Wet your hands a bit and sprinkle the water on the plastic for lubrication. Wet your hands again and grab a hunk of meat. With practice, you will be able to easily gauge the amount of meat to grab. Lay the meat at the near edge of the plastic and form it into a cylinder of even width.



Now roll up the meat log as tightly as possible, making sure to ease out any air bubbles. You can roll it thicker or thinner depending on how you like your sausages (or as style dictates). Using food-safe kitchen twine, tie off the ends of the meat tube. If you're not going to further segment the sausage, make it very tight by pushing the knots towards the center. If you are making the tube into smaller sausages, leave some slack in the plastic as seen below.



If segmenting the sausage, tie it up with twine into the desired sizes and shapes. (Note: This method is often used in the production of fresh mozzarella for making small lobes of cheese)



Here you see what two pounds of sausage looks like in a pile.



Bring a large pot of water to 170-180 Fahrenheit. This is just below a simmer. Bubbles are not a desired. Place the wrapped sausages into the pot and simmer until cooked through - around 15 minutes depending on the size of the sausages. Remove and drain the sausages and allow to cool as much as you care to. You can eat them as is (sans plastic, of course) but it's better to let them set for a while.

If desired, you can do fun stuff with your sausage now. You can grill them, add them to sauces, put them on a pizza or, as I like to, cook them in a cast iron skillet. Bring the pan to medium-high heat and brown sausages on all sides, with or without the aid of a miniscule amount of oil.



And now the even easier way:

Once you've rested your bulk sausage meat, load it into a zip-top freezer storage bag. Quart bags work for small batches. Seal the bag, pushing as much air out of the top as you can manage. Now cut off one of the bottom corners of the bag. Obviously, the higher up you go, the larger the sausages will be. Heat up the cast iron (or other heavy-duty) pan over medium heat with a tiny bit of oil. If you've ever used a pastry bag, I don't need to tell you what to do now. If you haven't, look it up. Squeeze lengths of sausage into the hot pan. To separate them from the bag, use a metal knife or other utensil or, as I did, pinch it with your fingers. Turn the sides once they're golden brown (they will also freely release from the pain at this point). Once all sides are browned, the sausages are ready to serve. Just make sure that they're cooked through.

It's fun to play with sausages because you can experiment with dozens or even hundreds of different recipes.

Enjoy!