Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh pork butt, coarsely ground 1-1/2 teaspoons dried leaf thyme1 teaspoon dried sage leaves, crumbled1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepperAbout 2 ounces salted sausage casings
Directions
- In a large bowl, blend pork, thyme, sage, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Refrigerate overnight for flavors to blend. Shape into patties. Cook in a heavy skillet over medium heat until cooked through, turning once.For link sausages, purchase salted sausage casings from the meat market. Soak in cold water to remove salt; then slip end of casing over faucet in kitchen sink. Run cold water through to flush out the inside of the casings. This is more easily done if casings are cut into 20- to 24-inch lengths. Put meat mixture into a sausage-stuffing machine or into a large pastry bag with a 1/2 to 1-inch tip. Slip casings over end of pastry tip and press meat into casings; tie the ends with string.If sausage is hard to press into casings, add water to meat mixture to soften it.
Looking for a basic pork sausage recipe? Using all of the best country sausage spices, you’ll be able to make your own flavorful breakfast sausage at home.
In Breakfast with Beatrice (University of Minnesota Press, 2018) by Beatrice Ojakangas, readers will find a variety of breakfast foods for any occasion. Whether you are looking for something warm or cold, you are sure to find something you like. Find this excerpt in Chapter 2, “Savory Breakfast and Casserole Dishes.”
When farmers did their own butchering, there were lots of scraps left over and these were made into sausages. Sausages are basic to many cuisines, but especially German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Scandinavian. The taste of the sausages reflected the flavorings favored by each ethnic group. Today, about the only sausage people might make at home is from game, or just for the fun of it. For the uninitiated, the first thought would be that sausage should be made of very lean meat; not true. For juiciness, the meat should be at least 30 percent fat. If you purchase a pork butt roast, the fat percentage is about right. Grind it yourself, or ask the butcher to do it for you. Then have some fun seasoning and flavoring your own sausages.
More from Breakfast with Beatrice:
Reprinted with Permission Breakfast with Beatrice from and Published by University of Minnesota Press.
